Flexible / Part Time Working

I've had a couple of reasons to think about this in the last few days and this is a quick blog, hopefully I will follow it up with more soon.

One friend, a teacher, has just had her first baby.  She's applied to go to a four day week but her superiors were making noises that they weren't too happy about the idea.  The school has always granted this for other mothers when they have requested it but my friend is an assistant principal.  Her concern is that they won't grant her the leave because she is too senior. 

Another friend works in the construction industry.  She (in my opinion) already works her socks off everyday.  This may be her personality, her diligence but it may also have to do with being a woman when most of her colleagues are men.  She is currently trying to work even harder to justify asking for part time work in the future when her family circumstances change.

I am no expert at all but I know that policies are in place so that everyone who cares for someone, be it a child, a sick relative, an elderly parent has the right to ask an employer for flexible working.  The employer doesn't have to grant it but they do have to give proper reasons and there are legal procedures for you, in your request and them to follow.  The best source of info is the government website.

Types of flexible working include:
Job sharing


Working from home

Part time

Compressed hours

Flexitime

Annualised hours

Staggered hours

Phased retirement

Employers can reject an application for one of the following reasons:

• extra costs which will damage the business
• the business won’t be able to meet customer demand
• the work can’t be reorganised among other staff
• people can’t be recruited to do the work
• flexible working will have an effect on quality and performance
• there’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times
• the business is planning changes to the workforce

This must be done in writing and should inform the employer on how to appeal.

There's loads of information on the Working Families Website also.

And for those of us who don't care for anyone - care for a cup of tea? no not like that obviously, the government website also sets out that anyone can ask their employer if they will consider flexible working. Read about 10 powerful women and men working part time in this article from the Telegraph.