I want to cut my hours from FT to PT is it too soon?

[VinegarTits]

Have been with my current employer for nearly 6 months (so more than 20 weeks)

When i accepted the job it was 37 hrs a week, they work 8 hours mon - thurs and 5 hours on fridays, it sometimes takes me 1 hr 15 mins to get to work and then when i get here i dont have a parking space in the company car park so i have to park elsewhere and walk 10 mins across a busy road (they didnt tell me this when i accepted the job)

So i am out of the hours for more than 11 hours, 4 days a week, am a single parent to a 2yr (who i just dont see anymore during the week )

So what are the chances of my employer letting me go part time? ideally cut back to 30 hours a week, have fridays off and work 7.5 hrs per day (instead of 8) mon - thurs?

Is it too soon to ask? how do i go about asking?

TIA

You have to have been continously employed for 26 weeks, so it's still a bit early. Not long to go though. Your employer should have something somewhere about flexible working, a policy or procedure, maybe in your handbook if you have one, or on the intranet.

Alternatively, there is a basic statutory procedure you must follow. See workingfamilies website there is a good online guide and an excellent factsheet about flexible working telling you the procedure and giving guidance on making a good case to maximise the chances of your request being accepted.

Do you think your job could be done in 30 hours? You will need a good proposal as to what happens to work done in the other 7.5 hours, which should not include dumping stuff on other colleagues. Think about technology, different ways of working, tasks that could be done differently. Also be prepared to compromise, especially on the 'Fridays off' bit. Lots of people want Fridays off and your request might be more likely to be granted if you have a different day off.

Out of interest were you under the impression that your job came with a parking space in the company car park? Or is it first come first served in the mornings and just not enough for everyone?

Thanks Flowery, i work a a software developer/analyst, so i work on projects that i set time scales for myself, so i wouldnt be dumping work on other collegues, i would just be setting my time scales/deadlines for a bit longer, how would this work when setting a proposal?

The car park is not first come first served, car park passes are allocated depending on the length of time you have been with company, so if someone leaves, the next on the list gets their pass, new employees have to wait until they move up the list iykwim. I wasnt aware of the limited car parking until my first day in the job, when they told me oh you have to park across the road on such a street as you dont have a car park pass.

Also, do you think it would be better if i propose to sprend the 30 hours over 5 working days (so just work shorter days) to start with? as at least i would be able to leave in time to pick ds up from nursery instead of getting my mum to do it for me.

Might not be as bad as saying to my employer that i only want to work 4 days a week? i would even be happy to just reduce my hours to 33 hrs per week, so i can leave an hour early each day on mon - thu and still work same hours on fri

What do you think?

Ok, so the issue would simply be that projects would not be delivered quite as fast? I think in terms of a proposal it would just be a case of explaining what you would do, give examples of how much deadlines would be extended for, if that's possible.

It sounds as though it could work fine, the only issue being whether your employer will be happy to wait slightly longer for pieces of work.

In terms of the hours, whether shorter days would work better, it really depends on the situation, how much interaction you have with others, queries to answer, meetings, that kind of thing. Would it be irritating for people not to be able to contact you one day a week? Would other people find it more convenient to have you available everyday, even if for slightly shorter time?

What you could do is work out what would be the ideal situation for you, put that in as a proposal, and have a couple of other scenarios that you could offer up as compromises should that be required.

Thanks fbb, so how much longer do i need to wait until i can put forward a proposal to my boss?

Have just worked out that i have been working here for 28 weeks now

Thanks for your advice