One week into the job and I want to give it up.

[mumsareglam]

As the title says, I want to pack it in.
I posted before I started about negotiating start times. Official hours are 9-5:30 however and i was hoping for some flexibility
I was told that's no problem and I can work whatever hours suit me. However in reality they work closely with the states so always seem to work late.
i,e next week I have meetings scheduled from 5-6pm each for the whole week. They seem to come in late i.e from 9:30 to 10 and work late till 7 or 7:30.
That just cannot work for me. If I had known about the time zone issue I would not have accepted the role.

They are lovely but I just cannot see how I can fit in.

My options as I see them are

1. Resign
2. Offer to split my day in two. i,e 8:30 - 3:30 and then do any calls from home (not sure if this work or is fair on my two young DCs)

Any suggestions are welcome..., I am dredding the morning already.

Thanks

I would go in tomorrow and book an appointment to talk to your line manager. Write down the issues described above, so that there is clarity about what the meeting is for. That way, you won't be seen as someone who is jumping ship after one week because you can't cope (remember, you may want a reference). Make it clear that you enjoy the work and the people, but that it wasn't made clear to you what the hours are, and that you want to resolve this.

I wouldn't resign after one week. Try to find a solution with them.

I think that VioletHill makes a lot of sense.

I used to work in a job which involved phone calls with the states, and had a colleague who said it was fabulously family friendly - he left work early each day, spent time with the children while his wife worked, and then did phone calls in the evening.

I wonder if when you said you wanted flexibility, they assumed that you wanted to start later and end later? (It is often seen as a massive perk by people who work in this type of company)

What did you actually want in terms of start and end times when you said you wanted flexibility? Did you want 8 till 4.30? Can you offer 8 - 4.30 3 days a week, and 10 - 6.30 two days a week?

Don't worry about them staying late, go home at 5.30. I have lots people in my office staying late, so What?? I am going home at 5.30!

Thank you all you've helped me re-focus and start to feel a lot more positive about taking control and making it work. I guess I'll need to be a bit more organised but it's down to me to make it work.

Thanks again...