Advice needed - Partner ill, flexi hour rights?

Cairndow

My husband has just had bypass surgery which has been a bit of a shock.

I am currently signed off with stress but intend to return to work in 2 weeks. I wish to speak to my employers this week.

I work part time but these are mostly 24 hour shifts. Say 3 until 3.

Our boy is in nursery. My husband looks after him at home. Often my shifts fall at weekends. This is really where my problems begin.

My husband will not be physically fit to look after our son fully for a few months. We can muddle through here and there but in general I would like no weekend work and as few nights a possible for 2/3 months. My hours only total 20 and I don't want to be unreasonable.

Trouble is, indications from my employer, are that I have a contract and they will make me stick to that. They are not approachable at the best of times. Ironically they are a charity and I am a carer.

Has anyone faced a similar situation? Can anyone suggest where I can begin with them? I intend making an appointment for early this week. I have already spoken with ACAS.

Thanks

DomRavioli

You can ASK for flexible working, but they are under no obligation to give it to you if it is detrimental to the business (both on parental and carers grounds).

Unfortunately, if your contract states flexible hours they can hold you to that, and if you don't turn up to work then they can follow disciplinary procedures against you which may end in warnings or dismissal.

whitewing

I am not too clear on what you actually want from your post (this isn't a criticism, just that you know the practicalities of your situation). I am also confused that you work 24 hour shifts but only 20 hours (a week?).

Are you effectively saying that you are happy to still work 20 hours a week, but it needs to be split out between the hours of, say 9am and 5pm Mon - Fri, so that you are, for example, able to drop and pick up your child from nursery?

What days and hours do you think you would be able to work and how does that fit in with the routine of the charity (ie if the charity provides only night staff then it would obviously be difficult).

I am just thinking that if you are clearer about what you are asking, then the organisation will be able to work around it a bit better. You want to avoid a situation where they think they are meeting your needs with a set of hours and then you spring something else on them that you haven't mentioned before. You will also need to be open to compromise yourself.

pmlindyloo

Although your employers do not have to agree to flexi time they have to give it very serious consideration and have good reasons to refuse it.

I know you have spoken to ACAS but this link covers the procedure very well.

http://www.hr-legal.co.uk/Flexible%20working%20hours.php

If you can put forward ideas how this can be achieved (maybe someone would 'swap' shifts with you for a while) then this may be helpful.

Nebulous2

Social care employers, whether they are charities or not, should look after their staff as well as the people they are caring for. It creates real issues though, as the vast majority of staff want weekends off, and if you work less of them somebody else has to work more.

There are particular demands of caring. As one of my staff once said of the person she supported, "She is not a machine. We cannot switch her off for the weekend and leave her in a cupboard until Monday morning."

While we provided some flexible working, we turned quite a few down. The ones that were successful were the ones that made the best case and often were people that got their colleagues on side. Small stable teams with good relationships will often be willing to cover for somebody, especially like in your case where it might well be time-limited.

Cairndow

24 hour shifts aren't fully included in weekly total.

So 3 till 10 - 7 hours. 8 till 3 - 7 hours. 14 hours in total more or less with the other hours making a back shift or early shift.

20 hours is not set in stone.

We know what we'd want ideally, 20 hours between 9-5, nursery hours. But we would also be flexible. We don't want a 24 hour shift starting Sat afternoon and ending Sun afternoon. It wouldn't be possible!

The organisation works 24 hours. It's constant care at a number of sites.

The question is really about approaching an employer that, at a local management level, is difficult to deal with. In normal daily operations they will only change rota days in dire circumstances. 2 or 3 weekly rota schedules are only given out 1 week in advance. This makes it almost impossible to organise swaps with what is a workforce of part timers and bank workers!

Would obtaining my employers policy to this problem help? How could I do that. Would it antagonise them? Would I be better going through HR at national level?


By the way, I've had no sick days in 2 years.

Savvy_Sue

I can't see the harm in asking HR if there's a policy for this kind of thing. Fore-armed and all that.

I also think it's worth making it clear that this is a time-limited request, and that you expect to be able to return to weekend working in x weeks. (and I'd be conservative in that estimate!)

Hopefully they'd rather have you working than still signed off with stress! I know my employer would respond helpfully, but then we're not offering 24/7 care, and when we were it could have caused a lot of difficulty to change the rotas to accommodate such a change. Mind you, our rotas were prepared a month ahead so swaps could be sorted out!