Applying for flexible working

[Patrick1964]

I currently work five days a week, 8am - 4pm with a half hour lunch break. I would like to ask to work an extra half hour Monday to Thursday and have an early finish on Fridays. My girlfriend is a specialist Dr who is trying for Consultant, this will require a lot of extra work over the next couple of years and having the Friday afternoon off would enable me to do a lot of the shopping, cleaning and other domestic work without impacting on family life (she has two teenage kids). Is my request reasonable, or do I need to find further justification for my request to be taken seriously ?

[Wing Commander]

My understanding of it, from a layman's POV, is that the reason is not important - in fact, you don't even need to give a reason. What you do need to do, in order to maximise your chances of getting it, is prove to the company that they do not have any reason to not approve it. That is to say, show them that there is cover at work for things you would normally have to do on site etc. Add in something about the company can benefit by having cover for longer hours on the Monday to Thursday and show them they will actually benefit, and you may have a better chance.

Good luck!

[edc]

https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working/overview In practical terms, whether your request is reasonable is of far less relevance over whether the company can and will actually accomodate it. Nobody here is in a better position than you to understand your team/department/organisation dynamics/requirements.

[anonymous-user]

Patrick1964 said:

I currently work five days a week, 8am - 4pm with a half hour lunch break. I would like to ask to work an extra half hour Monday to Thursday and have an early finish on Fridays. My girlfriend is a specialist Dr who is trying for Consultant, this will require a lot of extra work over the next couple of years and having the Friday afternoon off would enable me to do a lot of the shopping, cleaning and other domestic work without impacting on family life (she has two teenage kids). Is my request reasonable, or do I need to find further justification for my request to be taken seriously ?

Why not a Monday - Thursday afternoon off? Your problem I would suspect is that you've chosen the most popular day off to be your half day. If you don't work in a business that needs a certain number of people to cover you may be ok.

[Vaud]

If you can afford it, get a cleaner in on the Friday afternoon for a few hours. Starting the weekend with a clean vacuumed house is good for mental sanity. Even 2 hours can make a big difference.

[bint]

Often it's more the fact you have dependants under 16 (or you're a full time carer) that determines if an employer will consider flexible working.

What you're asking for sounds very reasonable IMHO. Although I have to agree re. Cleaner. I went back to work after 12 months mat leave changing my hours from 9-5.30 to 9.30-4 (effectively a 4 day week over 5) and still found I had to hire a cleaner to do 2 hrs a week to keep our sanity.