Any HR type people?

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coling

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My workplace promotes a work/life balance policy, so I thought I'd take advantage of it. Been wondering for a while why I work 5 days a week when I can manage on less.

I put a request in to drop a monday, and also this day would have minimum impact because someone could cover the day ( i work in a project, 2 days directly with people, 3 days co-ordinating it in the office).
Request was accepted and i gave plenty of ideas for cover for me.
Now it turns out my manager basically wants me to drop a day in the office so I'm doing the same work in less time. NOT my idea of work life balance.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?
 
my colleague asked for it a while back in a previous company. They fought back tooth and nail because they didnt want to set a precedent. She put her case forward in a really structured manner as well. I did notice though that 4 day weeks are getting increasingly common, so hopefully employers are warming to the idea.

Good luck :thumbs:
 
Sounds like a typical manager to me. Explain why you want a four day week and why you've chosen the day you have, then tell him that if you can't have the day off you want you might as well stay doing five days and he can keep paying you for it.
 
Kev M said:
Sounds like a typical manager to me. Explain why you want a four day week and why you've chosen the day you have, then tell him that if you can't have the day off you want you might as well stay doing five days and he can keep paying you for it.
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I can have the day off I want but she wants to restructure the week. Basically it means dropping a day in the office which is key to the job role. Anyone can cover the other 2 days and there is no knock on effect. The knock on effect of dropping an office day is the same work in less time. Either that or she is insinuating I'm skiving one of the days.
The more I think about it the less chance of me accepting these conditions.
 
Are you being paid the same?

If not, then don't do it. Suggest you should be working compressed hours, whereby you do the same number of hours but over a four day period, instead of five. So do an 8 till seven shift for 3 days and one 9-5 instead of a 9-5 five days a week.
 
Not sure why you need an HR type person on this . . . sounds like more of a general question.
(I'm NOT a HR type BTW, but I am qualified in employment and contract law)

If I understand this, it's been approved for you to reduce your hours by one day a week.
Your preferred solution is to split the new 4 day week as 1 day out of the office and 3 days in the office. Your manager is proposing 2 days out of the office and 2 days in.

Have you asked her why she thinks this split is preferable over your proposal - or put the case to her for your own preferred solution ?

coling said:
Anyone can cover the other 2 days and there is no knock on effect.
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Really? Is there no knock on effect on the workload of the person covering?
I don't know the specifics of your situation, so I admit to playing devil's advocate here. But bear in mind that your manager has to consider the workload and work / life balance of the whole team and not just you.
 
Sarah
Sorry, wasn't very specific. I basically meant that the day I was proposing to drop (it's identical to another day), anyone could cover if they had capacity. There is plenty of people in our organisation who would jump at the chance of working a monday as they are part time. Obviously it would have to be organised properly.
The knock on effect I referred to was my workload.
As we stand if I stopped working a monday it creates an opportunity for someone else and has no knock on effect on my personal workload.
If i drop an office day it means I've got the same workload over less days as this day can't and won't be covered by anyone.
 
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Lawrie
No absolutely not, that's the problem. I'd be dropping a days pay. But my manager has obviously seen this as a way of saving money but in my eyes it is scant reward for the effort and loyalty I have put in.
There is no way I'm agreeing with it and am getting angrier by the minute.
 
To me at least, working 4 days is a privilege not a right... so to a degree I think people ought to do it on their employers' terms
 
yes, but our organisation promotes a work/life balance policy and is happy to accept the awards from governing bodies for doing so.
If the condition is that you do the same work in less tme then I will withdraw my application. There are other perfectly good solutions which will even benefit other people.
 
just to clairify - are you intending on reducing your working hours by 20% i.e. 35 down to 28 (for example) or are you looking to do "compressed hours" - working the 35 hour week in 4 days by doing something like 8.30 to 6 etc...........

There is often quite a difference in HR / managements attitudes to the two (with the latter often being more favourable despite the salary bill not changing.)

Will all depend due to your contract, the nature of the business and your role in it as to what is acceptable or not. For example if you were a role directly acting with the public it may not be feasible compared to some "back office" roles..........

e.g. You work in Jessops. (:lol::nono:) they open 9 to 5.30 and you are employed as a salesperson to offer expert advice etc etc. Would it be practical to compress your hours - whats the point of you being there at 8 to 6 if the shop is shut for some of the time....... however you now work at Jessops head office, number crunching sales stats for weekly reviews etc - sure why not do it in 4 days not 5.........
 
coling said:
yes, but our organisation promotes a work/life balance policy and is happy to accept the awards from governing bodies for doing so.
If the condition is that you do the same work in less tme then I will withdraw my application. There are other perfectly good solutions which will even benefit other people.
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They will promote it and rightly so

the problem they have though is if you go down to 4 days work your employer is seeing you can do the 4 days work in 4 days so putting the idea forward as it would be easier for them (or your manager) for that to stay the same

if oyu are working solid for 4 days a week what is it that you wouldnt do on the other day (Monday) that you would have covered elsewhere?
 
do the two days out of the office generate the work for the three days in the office?
 
Work life balance - pile of crock most of the time.

My employer do it - they are having 'discussion forums' about the subject this week actually. These discussion forums are 1.5 hours long timed perfectly to conincide with our (unpaid) lunch break... go figure.
 
dod said:
do the two days out of the office generate the work for the three days in the office?
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+1

Without knowing what you do on an office day, what you do on a people day and the relationship between these two types of day I'm not sure either what you're asking for by specifying the split you want or what it really is that your employer is offering.

At the moment.. you're paid for 5 days and do 3 days in the office and 2 "people" days. To state the blindingly obvious.. but chop that back to 80% and you get 2.4 office days and 1.6 people days. It's a close call, but rounding off to the nearest whole day and the answer is 2 office days and 2 people days.

You want to do four days and get paid for four days. Does it really matter what those four days are?

Could you counter-offer with 2.5 office days and 1.5 people days? Can your work be split into half-days?
 
RichardtheSane said:
Work life balance - pile of crock most of the time.

My employer do it - they are having 'discussion forums' about the subject this week actually. These discussion forums are 1.5 hours long timed perfectly to conincide with our (unpaid) lunch break... go figure.
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When an ex boss of mine tried a similar thing, I told him I would be billing him for the time at double my hourly rate. Several co-workers agreed with me. Funnily enough, the meeting was rescheduled for during the working hours!
 
BigSoy said:
To me at least, working 4 days is a privilege not a right... so to a degree I think people ought to do it on their employers' terms
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i would tend to agree with this if i where a mill owner, :D


Merc:wave:
 
oooh, lots of replies thanks.
I co-ordinate a project which supports disabled adults. Mon and Wed I work directly with the group, the other 3 days I am "office" based. I line manage staff, volunteers, students etc and am responsible for health and safety and risk assessments, deal with social workers, referrals, supervisions (staff and volunteers), appraisals, casual staff..........................

I would like to drop the monday and this would have no impact on my working week. In fact it creates an opportunity for someone else and saves money because I am on a co-ordinators wage. 3 projects are coming to an end (funding issues) in our organisation so this would give someone an extra days work.

The days I am "office" based are not covered by anyone else so if I dropped one of these I would have the same work to do in less time.

I confronted my manager today and basically asked was she implying I did nothing on one of the office based days. I told her I would withdraw my application unless something was sorted.

Yes there is scope for negotiation, I'm very loyal to the organisation. It proves that hard work and loyalty count for nothing sometimes.

You want to do four days and get paid for four days. Does it really matter what those four days are?
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Yes absolutely, hopefully the above explains it.
 
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You should try being a farmer. I work six days a week for 8 months of the year!
 
mercmanuk said:
i would tend to agree with this if i where a mill owner, :D


Merc:wave:
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That's approximately my view of the world tbh :cool:

What annoys me most is when you want to email / call someone and it's like... oh well I'm here... what farking use is that!
 
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