compressed hours - grounds for rejection

[StrawberryAddict]

I am just about to apply to work compressed hours and saw a couple of comments on here over the last couple of years from Flowery and others about how these types of request are usually able to be rejected by the employer because they cause bad feeling with other staff members.

Can any of the HR experts tell me which of the specific grounds for refusing a flexible working request this would fall under?

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for making an application for compressed hours more attractive or at least palatable to an employer?

It's not so much the bad feeling - although that is a practical consideration. It's that, if no one else works just their contracted hours, what you are asking for is actually far more of a reduction than it looks like.

At a technical level, it could come under lots of headings. Detrimental impact on performance, or on qualitty spring to mind.

I think the starting point for making it attractive is to understand how your work place works. What sort of hours do others do?

Hello RibenaBerry, thanks for your response. Most people in the office tend to work 9 to 5 as I would tend to do (and would certainly plan on doing more firmly if my application was rejected). Others might squeeze an hour more work or so in after they have gone home in the evening from time to time when needs arise. And a couple of real girly swots do work every hour there is because they want to give that image of themselves to people.

I am struggling to understand how others choosing to work more than their contracted hours could mean that I am refused compressed hours. Surely that's their choice, nobody makes them do that and they are not contractually bound to do so. It seems strange that a couple of people intent on crawling their way up the career ladder by working long hours could impact on my application. I would definitely still be working more than my contracted hours even on compressed hours.

But I guess if it's an excuse that can be used, they will use it I suppose.

It's not really about if a few people work silly hours.

Take being a lawyer. My job is officially 9-5. I have worked 9-5 maybe half a dozen times in all my years there. 9-6 is pretty much your minimum. Often people work much, much more. That's just the nature of the demands of the job. If someone asks for compressed hours and says "well the working week is 35 hours and I'd like to work 28 over three days" they are officially asking to do 4/5ths and be paid accordingly. The reality is that they are asking to do more like the reality of 3 or 3.5 days, hence getting a disproportionate advantage.

You also have to watch out for the fact that someone on a compressed hours contract may expect to only ever do their hours, so not only do they have benefit from working fewer hours than the reality, they aren't ever doing overtime.

That's where the resistance comes in. Your job sounds rather different to that, so it might be less of an issue.

Also assess the tasks they do. Some work naturally spaces itself over days - you send something out, client reviews it and sends it back, say. Another reason for refusing a request can be if there's not actually the right pattern of work for three really long days and two days of nothing (in my example). This is easier if you do work with longer deadlines or timelines and can plan your workload, or if you work in a role like, say, dentistry, where people might be grateful for a dentist who wants to cover a disproportionate number of late shifts so that others don't have to.