Flexible working hours denied - no reason i can see!

cord123

Hi,

I spoke to my boss today about channging my hours from Sept when my son starts school. I currently work 8.30 - 4.30 4 days (mon to thurs) I have asked that i do 8.30 - 2.30 4 days, meaning i drop 8 hours a week. My manager was fine with this as we are so quiet and dont have enough work.

He said no, even saying that friends are there to help out and should collect my son from school. He also said that when the new company starts we maybe busier meanign that he will hirer a new accounts person to do that.... he also said he doesnt want to set a prescident. There is only one other person with a child in the office, she used to work 4 full days but changed one day to the hours I want to do (and she does this day from home as well!)

I am so upset - there is absolutely no reason that i can see that he should have refused this, my work is solely mine and will my work times do not impact on anyone, it will be no hassle to do the work within these hours at all. I told him that I will actually be worse off having to work these hours as the childcare will work out more than I will take home for those two hours (after tax etc) thats when he suggested friends do it!
This is a small company and we have no HR department so I dont know where i should go from here....
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Tiddlywinks

But... You haven't asked for 'flexible' working, you've asked to reduce your hours... Entirely different.

If the business feels they cannot support the reduction what do you expect them to do?

You made a request, they considered it but found it to be incompatible with the business needs... Unfortunate for you but not breaking any laws.

andrewjf

Sounds like the decision is made, but you could argue that there's already another person doing these hours, so the precedent is already set.
We had issues like this in my company, and we used to be a lot more flexible in home working. However they've now clamped down on it, and one person has even left because of the more rigid policy. Not much you can do if management have made up their minds though.

notanewuser

How are you planning to do 32 hours work in 24?

cord123

But what i cant understand is how it isnt compatible with the business needs... i dont have enough work anyway so in my eyes it is reducing his bill. His wife does 10 - 2.30 and she is on the payroll so could that be an argument?
It think I will start looking for a new job - maybe the easiest thing to do!

cord123

I dont have 32 hours work.... my day consists of sitting on the internet all day.... i have told him in my appraisal and other occasions that i dont have enough work - i could do my job in 15 hours easily let alone 24! xx

Bangton

Is there another way you can do it, as in maybe drop less hours by working 8.30 - 2.30 on a Friday, rather than just dropping those 8 hours? They we would then be losing less hours and financially your not losing out too much either?

Does your child's school run an after school club that your child could stay at until you are able to collect on the days you work?

Do you have a partner who could maybe ask for a flexi working shift on a couple of days to enable him to collect?

andrewjf

cord123 wrote: »

But what i cant understand is how it isnt compatible with the business needs... i dont have enough work anyway so in my eyes it is reducing his bill. His wife does 10 - 2.30 and she is on the payroll so could that be an argument?
It think I will start looking for a new job - maybe the easiest thing to do!

You already said that the boss thinks the company will get busier. It's easier to deny your request now than to change established working patterns in the future.

Openwind_Curse

The manager's decision to not accept your request could have various reasons. I know for a fact that some small businesses in my area have a very static bookkeeping layout, where it's an absolute pain to change anything. While his reasoning that he doesn't want to set a precedent for other employees could be totally true, it could also be that he doesn't want to bother with the effort needed to make this change.

Additionally, as he said, they expect business to be picking up. What if business picks up to the extent that your 32 hours would just barely meet their needs, but here you are requesting to work 24 hours instead. How will he make up for these eight hours? Should he hire another person for less than ten hours a week?

If you're really unsure about it, you can request another meeting and ask for a clarification, explaining that you're a little confused about the denial and the reasons behind it. I'm sure your manager won't mind providing a little more details and you can, if necessary, ask him what your options are besides having your friends pick up your son. Maybe you can move your shift a couple hours over, or split it up so that you come back after the affairs with your child have been handled each day. Who knows?

With that said, there isn't much chance he'll be budging on the denial, so it's best to look into what you can do to still work your normal hours while providing the best you can for your son. Inform yourself and of course, best of luck!

ohreally

Reasons for refusal are prescribed...

Applications for flexible working arrangements can be refused only for the following reasons:
• the burden of additional costs
• detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
• inability to reorganise work among existing staff
• inability to recruit additional staff
• detrimental impact on quality
• detrimental impact on performance
• insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work
• planned structural changes."

Takeaway_Addict

Openwind_Curse wrote: »

The manager's decision to not accept your request could have various reasons. I know for a fact that some small businesses in my area have a very static bookkeeping layout, where it's an absolute pain to change anything. While his reasoning that he doesn't want to set a precedent for other employees could be totally true, it could also be that he doesn't want to bother with the effort needed to make this change.

Additionally, as he said, they expect business to be picking up. What if business picks up to the extent that your 32 hours would just barely meet their needs, but here you are requesting to work 24 hours instead. How will he make up for these eight hours? Should he hire another person for less than ten hours a week?

If you're really unsure about it, you can request another meeting and ask for a clarification, explaining that you're a little confused about the denial and the reasons behind it. I'm sure your manager won't mind providing a little more details and you can, if necessary, ask him what your options are besides having your friends pick up your son. Maybe you can move your shift a couple hours over, or split it up so that you come back after the affairs with your child have been handled each day. Who knows?

With that said, there isn't much chance he'll be budging on the denial, so it's best to look into what you can do to still work your normal hours while providing the best you can for your son. Inform yourself and of course, best of luck!

Its not upto the employer to sort someones childcare arrangements out. The OP needs to come up with the suitable alternatives.