Going part-time at work

aeg85

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice, I'm a bit stuck as to what to do now. I currently work full time as a Web Developer and for the past year I've been doing the same kind of work so I feel that I haven't progressed my skills as much as I'd have wanted to. I have extended my role to senior level by taking on more responsibilities and mentoring another member of staff. However, my last review was disappointing and I was told I wouldn't be getting a pay rise even though they recognise the work I've been doing and how I've developed. Anyways, after chatting to a fellow developer who freelances, they have offered me the opportunity to work for them. It's a big risk to go from a secure job so we agreed that if I went part-time in my current job I could work the rest of the week with them and see how it goes and potentially work with them full time. I spoke to my current work about it and they were great and said it sounded like a good opportunity for both me and them. I was thrilled, however my concern now is that they're totally dragging their heels about sorting out a new contract for me. It's been over 3 weeks now and I have to keep prompting my supervisor about it who keeps saying they "need to catch the boss to chat about it". We don't necessarily have a dedicated HR department so I'm at a loss as to what to do now. My supervisor has said that I can start my part-time whenever I want to but I really don't want to do anything until I have it in writing. I'm aware that my hours will need agreeing to, I'll need a recalculated holiday allowance, etc. There's so much to consider and when I email my supervisor asking him these questions he doesn't reply and I know it's because he doesn't know what to say. I also haven't been hounding him about it, reading this back it's the impression I may give off but we last talked about it the beginning of last week and then I asked him again about it yesterday. I just don't know where to go from here, I realise I need to be patient about it but I just want it sorted, I feel like I'm in limbo. Any advice? Thanks in advance.

agrinnall

Either you do or you don't have a HR department, so I'm not sure what the 'necessarily' comment means. If you do have one then it would be their responsibility to draw up the new contract and work out holiday allowance, neither of which should be that difficult for them, but only on the instruction of someone with the relevant authority. If there is no HR department then it may be trickier, as the job will fall to someone who may not be familiar with what needs to be done, and probably has other tasks that are felt to be higher priority.

I'm not sure there is much you can do other than keep reminding your supervisor that it's outstanding. While you say that they feel it's a good opportunity for them, in reality you have far more to gain from it than they do so it's never likely to be the most important thing for them to get done.

marybelle01

In my experience some managers are better with being given solutions than question. Write to him detailing your proposed hours / days, and felxibility in that, holiday entitlement based on the new hours etc, and ask him to confirm this. Then the work is done for him.