working student mum with redundancy looming - looking for a little advice please

marywooyeah

McKneff wrote: »

You can ask for flexi hours but the company can say no.

Why dont you just give him the information he asks for and then see what happens.

You dont seem to understand how lucky yu are to have such a flexible job and actually what seems like a great understanding of your situation.

I do see that up til now it has been good, thats why I am so worried about losing the job! Yes I will give him my timetable and show him how I have worked out which hours I can work, I am just worried that they will make me redundant

marywooyeah

dmg24 wrote: »

Your uni hours are your problem, not your employers. They need to the shop to be adequately staffed, and half an hour at lunch time is a massive difference if they have a queue of customers.

What would the shop do if all staff wanted to dictate their hours?

I understand this, the problem is I cant change the uni timetable system, whatever group I changed to it would still have this problem of only being able to work at set times, I dont know what to do other than to give them the hours I can work a month in advance. I understand your point if all the staff wanted to dictate their hours, but its only me asking for flexible time, and due to my circumstances I think that they should allow it, the implications of redundancy for me and my family would be awful

dmg24

marywooyeah wrote: »

I understand this, the problem is I cant change the uni timetable system, whatever group I changed to it would still have this problem of only being able to work at set times, I dont know what to do other than to give them the hours I can work a month in advance. I understand your point if all the staff wanted to dictate their hours, but its only me asking for flexible time, and due to my circumstances I think that they should allow it, the implications of redundancy for me and my family would be awful

It is not your family circumstances that are dictating your hours though, it is your uni course.

The implications of redundancy are awful for anyone, family or not. You are coming across as if you think your situation makes you more important than anybody else - it does not.

See what they say at your meeting. If you cannot reach a compromise, I would start looking for a job somewhere with longer opening hours, so you can be more flexible.

Oldernotwiser

marywooyeah wrote: »

hi there, as far as I am aware the set shifts are to be either 9-5:30 or 12-4, so if I can work 12-4 two days a week (which does mean me dictating which hours I can work) why would this be a problem? or if I finish uni at 12 I could manage 12:30-4:30, half an hour isnt going to make a massive difference to the shop, and this is a reasonable request which tbh I dont really see why they couldnt accept it.(

You could just as well argue that you could explain your situation to the university and leave early at 11.30.

I'm not trying to be unsympathetic but you seem to expect your employer to be the only one who's flexible in this situation. You need to bring both the university and your husband into the equation.

marywooyeah

dmg24 wrote: »

It is not your family circumstances that are dictating your hours though, it is your uni course.

The implications of redundancy are awful for anyone, family or not. You are coming across as if you think your situation makes you more important than anybody else - it does not.

See what they say at your meeting. If you cannot reach a compromise, I would start looking for a job somewhere with longer opening hours, so you can be more flexible.

I am aware that redundancy is bad for everyone, and in now way do I feel that I am more important than anyone else. If I dont finish my degree I wont progress to a good career, I dont want to be 30 and working in a shop! I dont know if you saw but I stated earlier that we are looking at buying a house, if I get made redundant I will lose childcare, will lose my wages (so no chance of getting a mortgage), will lose my degree, which will lose my career path.
I am aware the job is not the only job in the whole world, having another job will allow me to progress still, although I worry about getting a mortgage if I start I new job (I was under the impression you needed at least 3 payslips to be considered) but its getting a job that is the problem. then if I get a job which is open longer, what about evening lectures! and the same will happen where I can only work certain hours! It just seems like such a mountain to climb with a new job, and what about things like statutory holidays that I have taken? will I still get help for childcare while I look for another job? when do I look for another job - if I do it too early will I lose redundancy pay? its confusing!

marywooyeah

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You could just as well argue that you could explain your situation to the university and leave early at 11.30.

I'm not trying to be unsympathetic but you seem to expect your employer to be the only one who's flexible in this situation. You need to bring both the university and your husband into the equation.

hi to be honest I feel like I am being pulled from a lot of angles, my son is my number one priority. second is uni, third is work. I have not missed a single seminar yet, and tbh as bad as it sounds I am not prepared to miss out on learning to go to work as uni is going to get me a good career. I have said to my OH that sometimes I may need to work sat and sun, however that makes 14 hours, sat is 8 sun is 6, so i would still need to fit in 2 hours somewhere in the week, which would require me telling them what i can and cant work! OH said he felt second best, work want me to be more flexible, uni not being helpful. I dont know how to please everyone, I knew it would be hard and I am prepared to put the work into uni, just not sure how to do everything else. I'm not looking for sympathy, just some advice and I agree I can see it from work's point of view, but feel that they should allow me to be flexible becuase of uni and family (I also have to work my hours around son's nursery times as the different nursery sessions are charged at different rates and i only get a certain amount towards his childcare)

Oldernotwiser

marywooyeah wrote: »

hi to be honest I feel like I am being pulled from a lot of angles, my son is my number one priority. second is uni, third is work.

............

OH said he felt second best,

Given your first statement, he could have a point!

Did I see you say something about evening lectures as well as classes changing all the time? Where on earth is this university - I've never heard of anything like this!

Morgan_Ree

Is working a Saturday completely out of the question?
I know you said you're partner would moan coz he's left looking after the baby (by the way thats real nice of him) but surely he's aware of the situation and therefore needs to compromise

Indie_Kid

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Did I see you say something about evening lectures as well as classes changing all the time? Where on earth is this university - I've never heard of anything like this!

I've never heard of this either. Admittedly, two classes of mine do change next week; but that's the way the module works.

uni not being helpful.

There is only so much they can do. Whilst they can change seminars; they can't change lectures.

Amanda65

How much longer is your degree course ? Surely your OH is prepared to 'be left olding the baby' if it will lead to a better lifestyle for the future for you all

As an above poster, I have never heard of a uni timetable being so erratic !