Only freedom will do

Karmacat

Not heard of it before, Ed, but it sounds a really interesting way of doing things, avoiding redundancies and keeping the skillsets of current employees. Though if you do take it, you're telling them you don't want to work for them in the future ... you've wanted out of there for a long time, has that taken a back seat for a while? Is it time to move it up a gear?

And ooh ... Bruce Springsteen. I'm sure I wouldn't appreciate the traffic, though

edinburgher

KC, how is buying an extra week or two off telling them that I don't want to work there in future?

They're selling it as 'promoting work life balance' and the examples given are all fluffy crap like 'Donna wants extra time to prepare for her wedding', or 'John wants to take a once in a lifetime trip'. In reality, it saves them wages and reduces their NI bill.

Yes, new job possibilities have definitely taken a back seat. House, baby and life got in the way over the last year

It was a perfect night for the Boss, I bet the beer was flowing liberally...

hiddenshadow

I've done this in a different setting - while contracting I'd work steadily for X months and then take a few weeks/months off in between projects. I could have upped my annual salary by at least 10% but it was nice having those breaks (even though I ended up using one for surgery/recovery which was not very relaxing!).

Rough math indicates there are ~230 working days in a given year (accounting for regular holiday + bank holidays). An extra fortnight gives you 216 working days, and £90/mo is £1080/year, which handily works out to £5 each working day. At any given day at work, would you be willing to pay £5 on that day to have the extra holiday time? (Assume it comes out of your personal spends so doesn't affect the rest of your budget.)

Personally I wouldn't do it for two reasons: 1) I quite like my job so don't mind doing it for long stretches 2) I suck at planning/taking holiday as it is, so having more holiday time to manage would probably be wasted. Tangential reason 3) the impression that gives to the employer, as Karmacat said. If you're confident it wouldn't affect your job stability, though, that's cool, and it doesn't sound like 1) or 2) apply to you.

Darpett

I worked for organisations that have done this - and they have also allowed the flexibility to sell back or carry over unused holidays when times are good and labour is in short supply. It's not usually viewed negatively or positively for the future. They generally want people to take these offers up for cash flow rather than go through more radical cost cutting measures and they are often short(ish) lived offers.

Your direct team might grumble or 'have a view' if they have to cover but then they also can take up the offer.

If you are not currently after promotion there, the money isn't critical, and you and your family get to spend more time together, I would say take it - you can't buy back time you missed with your family for work.

Should things change in the future and you get a burning desire for promotion you can ramp up the effort and go back to standard hours I am assuming

Karmacat

edinburgher wrote: »

KC, how is buying an extra week or two off telling them that I don't want to work there in future?

They're selling it as 'promoting work life balance' and the examples given are all fluffy crap like 'Donna wants extra time to prepare for her wedding', or 'John wants to take a once in a lifetime trip'. In reality, it saves them wages and reduces their NI bill.

Yes, new job possibilities have definitely taken a back seat. House, baby and life got in the way over the last year

If they're promoting it as a short term thing, maybe it doesn't impact their view of how you see your prospects there, in that case. I was thinking that they expect total dedication 24/7/365, but maybe they're genuinely trying to move away from that, as well as solving any cash flow problem they may have. More power to your elbow - and you have the perfect reasons, with a little toddler and a new house.

It was a perfect night for the Boss, I bet the beer was flowing liberally...

I bet it was :j:j:j

edinburgher

Apparently our parent company has always offered it, it's just a new thing for our offshoot of the world. One of the positives of a dull admin job is the fact that I can be out of the office without causing offence. A lot of my colleagues aren't so lucky (expectations of being on call etc.)

Like any sort of workplace flexibility, I suspect the key will be couching the request in the correct corporate jargon?

Darpett

Like any sort of workplace flexibility, I suspect the key will be couching the request in the correct corporate jargon?

Sadly, I think that is part of the territory these days, and checking your payslip carefully if it is agreed.

edinburgher

Darpett wrote: »

Sadly, I think that is part of the territory these days, and checking your payslip carefully if it is agreed.

I am the master of checking my payslip correctly! Successfully identified 3 mistakes in my pension setup that would have cost me ££££ if I'd missed them

Wish I didn't have to be, but as you say, seems to go with the territory these days.

smallholdingsister

Ed may I ask where you bought your asbestos testing kit?

edinburgher

eB@y - came complete with everything needed (my only complaint would be that the thick plastic sheet for standing on/catching dust was a little small). Think I paid £59? for testing of 2 samples including postage etc.

Results were incredibly fast, so :beer: to the seller.