Returning to work after mat leave number 2

[OMaLittle]

Wrote in my email that I assumed it was acceptable to do the same hours I did last time i.e. 7.30am-5pm (most on desk work roughly 8-6). There were never any problems last time and I had good appraisals and substantial salary and bonus increases during the 18months I was back.

Boss has requested that I come in to talk to him about my hours prior to return as he 'needs to give it very careful consideration'.

Where do I stand? Frankly I would love to get made redundant (and they are doing redundancies) but I suspect they are trying to 'offer' me a position I can't realistically accept. Am I not entitled to 'terms and conditions no less favourable'? I am returning (just) within OML, by the way.

Hi OMa. Whilst waiting for Ribena to come back with her comments, a couple of things seem to stand out (I speak as a someone with 2 kids and long commute also working on the trading floor....)

1. What he is doing sound pretty much like discrim to me, esp if it has worked before, and esp as he is now linking it to a non existant 'performance' issue
2. BUT BUT in 20 years I have never seen a banking client-facing job work long-term for mums - you DO need to be flexible for clients (am quite surprised you actually were allowed flexi in the first place) - obv there are some excpetions but it is I think quite difficult, so I can sort of see why he is being an arse about it
3. All the mums I know in City who are still highly respected and get promotions DO work very flexibly - always with either live-in nannies or nursery + au pair combo (I have nanny and AP) - city just doesn't clock off at a given hour. Short-term you can get away with it, but it really does damage your standing if you are inflexible.

So I think you need to think of what you want to happen here if returning on old hours turns out to NOT be a realistic option (the implication if you accept the letter you have been given is that you are accepting that you have a performance issue, and it will dog you every year going forward if you insist on same hours) sound like option is kick up a stink, btui then what? Sex discrim case? Redundancy? Grievance? You need to be clear about what you want to achieve before taking next step.

Have to dash to meeting - will watch thread. Have just done a masters in HR and did research on flexi working in the city so am v interested in what happens to you here....

I agree with Squiffy and think you need to think about two sides to this: the legal and the commercial. Commercially, you need to be honest with yourself about what is (and isn't) necessary to succeed in your field and what you want long term (an exit, to stay where you are, to bide your time and move to another company...)

On the legal side, I think it is concerning that your boss is using this as an opportunity to performance manage you, and suggest you pull them up on this. My response would be something like:

"I am committed to my job and, of course, to delivering a high standard of client service. However, I am becoming concerned that what I thought was a straightforward discussion regarding my return from maternity leave - to the same job and on the same hours as I had before I left - seems to have turned into a performance warning.

Before I went on maternity leave, I was working on a 7:30 to 5pm basis for 18 months. During that time I [then explain details of your performance, appraisals and bonus]. There was never any discussion of my hours being a problem or my performance being unsatisfactory before I went off on maternity leave. Since I have sought to return from maternity leave, I have been told that you thought that the arrangments never worked and am now being told that my performance needs to improve (as an aside, we also didn't specifically discuss impact on client portfolios during our meeting). It really isn't clear to me how I can be getting strong appraisals and bonuses before going off, and return to be told that there is, and always was, a problem with performance.

You are also now telling me that, because of these performance concerns, you need to change my working hours. Surely this is a disicplinary sanction against me and something that would come at the end of a performance management process and targets, not something you would simply impose on a maternity returner straight out of the gate? If there are issues with my performance, I am happy to understand those and work on them to improve, but since these have come out of the blue for me, I think it is only fair that I return to work on my current terms and conditions and, if there are performance issues, we work on them from there, when I have a genuine opportunity to understand and address them. I do not think that changing my terms and conditions is a fair first step.

I would be happy to meet with you again to discuss this further."

Or something like that...