Part Time Query

NaughtySausage

Hi guys - This raises its ugly head again

my contracted hours end at 2.15 every day which leaves me 30 mins to drive home, park car, walk to school,collect little 'uns.

a team meeting was booked to end at 2.15. i informed my team manager that i would need to leave the office at 2 15 otherwise my children would have no one to collect them. she just said well, you need to tell another manager. Unfortunately mega busy day and I just plain forgot.

went to meeting, waited until a few minutes before 2.15 and then said 'sorry, I need to go. I am going to miss school pick up time' and left the meeting to nip back to my desk, close computer down, lock drawers etc. left office at 2.15.

next day, i was chastised by manager for leaving at 2 15. she said that she thinks my house is only 20 mins away and that i should have stayed. i stuck to my guns and insisted that this was not the case. I had to leave. she said she was fed up that i just walked out.

then we talked about my role in the organisation where she pointed out that in my role i would be expected to stay late when required. the fact is, i was promoted on those hours so clearly it wasnt a problem then so why is it now????? i think the answer to that question lies in all of my previous posts! my contract ends at 2 15 as i need to leave at 2 15. surely what i do after that is my business!

we then talked about my workload - she said if its too much i need to work extra hours during the easter hols to get the job done - she feels i will have sufficient childcare during the hols to support this. again - surely this is my business!

she would not be asking a full timer why they are leaving at 5, what they are going to go and then deciding whether their job is more important!

what are peoples thoughts on the above? (Sorry its so long!)

pjread

NaughtySausage wrote: »

what are peoples thoughts on the above? (Sorry its so long!)

They sound out of order, but I've met plenty of people like that. A lot of it is probably jealousy. I'd love to down tools at 1415 and not think about work until the next day, but it would be very wrong for me to take any frustration out on someone in a position to do so, especially when in a position of seniority to them.

I don't know what your job is, but unless it's strategic or mid to high managerial then essentially if there is insufficient time in your contracted hours to do the work then they have a resourcing issue to deal with. Unless you both can and want to help them by varying your hours, that's your bosses problem.

And if you do decide to 'be nice' and help out - make it clear and ideally in writing that this is you assisting voluntarily and should not be seen as a precedent or agreement to do the same at any other time.

NaughtySausage

thanks for your thoughts, chick.

i have been trawling the net to find out if they are being unfair/illegal or even if what they are saying is fair and acceptable. i have a phone number for hr which i plan to call but (ironically) the person with whom i need to speak works part time!

x

Yorkie1

Others have previously advised that you contact / join the Union. Is there one, are you a member, have you spoken to them yet?

NaughtySausage

there is no union at work. just an employee consultative thing which (in the past) has proved to be a little bit pointless!

we do have an assistance programme thing which can offer advice to employees. I plan to get their number on monday x

YORKSHIRELASS

OK lets say then you can make arrangements to stay until 2.15 this time, then next time they need you to stay until 2.30 then before you know it every day you are working until 3pm. Before you know it you are working nearly full time. It happened to me, I tried to compromise but it didnt work out.

My gut feeling is that you should stick to your guns.

getmore4less

Going back to the first post you suspect there is a back motive to remove part timers.

What has changed about the work load that is making it more difficult to complete in the hours, is this being targeted at part timers.

Whats the arangement for paying for these extra hours.

Are meetings being organized to make these issues happen

Record everything and look out for anything that could be considered bullying/controlling.

Watch out for time critical task that don't fit your hours, either make sure these are done or avoided.

Be carefull of being distracted by stuff that is not that important so the real important stuff gets missed, they may lie on the importance of things, make sure you have any priorities in writing, especialy changes that impact other activities.

if multiple deliverables make sure that the people that expect them know they have been given lower priority and to expect delays.

Look for ways to be flexable but be very wary of where you give a bit of flexability.

KiKi

NaughtySausage wrote: »

next day, i was chastised by manager for leaving at 2 15. she said that she thinks my house is only 20 mins away and that i should have stayed. i stuck to my guns and insisted that this was not the case. I had to leave. she said she was fed up that i just walked out.

Actually, I'm with your employer on this. You were supposed to tell another manager, but you didn't. So as far as they're concerned, it looked like you just walked out. I can understand why they're annoyed about that, and I think you're in the wrong.

then we talked about my role in the organisation where she pointed out that in my role i would be expected to stay late when required. the fact is, i was promoted on those hours so clearly it wasnt a problem then so why is it now????? i think the answer to that question lies in all of my previous posts! my contract ends at 2 15 as i need to leave at 2 15. surely what i do after that is my business!

What you do outside of work is your business, yes. But if there are now new requirements for you to sometimes work later than required in order to get jobs done, then maybe they do have a good business reason to ensure there is someone with greater flexibility.

Did you ask them why it's a problem now? You need to ask and find out what their motivation is, not just guess and assume they're being unreasonable. It may be that there's a real problem with work not being done that you don't know about.

we then talked about my workload - she said if its too much i need to work extra hours during the easter hols to get the job done - she feels i will have sufficient childcare during the hols to support this. again - surely this is my business!

Your childcare arrangements are your business, but work delivery is obviously theirs, too. It seems that they think there is an issue of workload, and they are allowed to address that, perhaps by issuing a new contract or pursuing other routes to ensuring work is completed.

she would not be asking a full timer why they are leaving at 5, what they are going to go and then deciding whether their job is more important!

She might if they were leaving at 5pm and there was still work outstanding or not being done. You're making an assumption that she wouldn't do that; you don't know she hasn't - or that she wouldn't.


What I'm saying is that it sounds like (from your post) that you're immediately assuming they're in the wrong for asking these questions and being cross at you for walking out of the meeting. I think they were understandably annoyed that you walked out without telling anyone which you were supposed to do, and I think it would help to take a step back for a moment.

Are they asking questions and being off with you because they just don't like part timers? Or is it just possible that there are issues with completion of work, things not being done, and a good business requirement for greater flexibility? Because if it's the latter then they may have reason to need more flex and to want someone who is prepared to consider that rather than refusing to work a minute past 2.15 (which is how it sounds in your post!).

If you aren't prepared to be / can't be flexible, and they have a good business reason to justifying requiring that, then you may find that the stuff in my previous post comes about: ie, issue of a new contract which you'll have to either sign and stay on or resign.

KiKi

NaughtySausage

thanks for the replies peeps.

my only defence for not mentioning the issue to the other manager was that I plain forgot. In fact I had a meeting with a different manager (too many managers!) earlier in the week where I explained that I was starting to struggle with my workload to the point that I am just getting bogged down with what I need to do etc etc. By their own admission this is because they have insufficient qualified staff that I can delegate my work to.

i suppose what is really annoying me is that I did offer to work extra during the easter hols in exchange for time in lieu. This was point blank refused and was I told 'you do your contracted hours,no more, no less' and now look whats happened. To be clear, the arrangement I proposed benefited the company and myself (which my manager agreed, but another manager refused it).

This is a minefield!

x

agrinnall

Whether there is union recognition by your employer or not is irrelevant to your ability to join a union, and indeed have them represent you in certain situations. Almost everyone is entitled to join a union and the employer cannot prevent this. So find a suitable union for your job or industry, join it, and get some proper advice.