EMPLOYEES:  NEGOTIATING PART-TIME HOURS

 

Investigate:

1. Ensure you know your rights:  be aware that under the Employments Rights Act, the employer is not obliged to change the employee’s hours again for the next 12 months, so you need to be certain beforehand that your agreed reduced hours can be met. Having understood that, if you are negotiating to work from home, please be aware that the employer is under no obligation at all to allow staff to work from home, so you may need to be tougher in your negotiations and more specific about what you want.
2. The reduction of hours will result in a reduction of income – can you afford this? Of course, if you are working from home, you save on transport costs but spend your own electricity, for example.
3. Under the Employment Rights Act, once the hours are changed, they are permanent.  One would need to renegotiate changing the role back to a full-time position.
4. Find out from colleagues/staff policy documentation (usually accessible in a staff booklet or Intranet), whether the company is open to part-time employees.  Find out if there are staff already working part-time/or from home.  This will highlight which strategies you can discard and which you should pursue in your approach with the employer.
5. Before presenting your case to your employer, ask your superior, (in a low-key, off-the-record tone), how you might approach the management about changing to work part-time.

Prepare your argument:

6. Explain to your colleagues what you are planning to do.  Be straight with them and address any of their objections.
7. Make sure you know exactly what you want, what you don’t want and prepare to be flexible.

When negotiating:

8. In any negotiating position, you need to put yourself in the other person’s position and think about how your proposal would benefit him/her.  Offering various options (which suit your needs) will show that, although you want to cut your hours, you are keen for it not to be detrimental to your employer.  Demonstrate how it would be beneficial and sell the idea to him/her.
9. Identify your strengths/unique skills and use them as leverage.
10. If you are negotiating working from home in this new flexible hour role, identify all the benefits this will have for your employer, ie, you will have more time available to you to work because you have no need to travel.
11. Do NOT use emotional blackmail – so don’t tell your employer you are “desperate to be with your kids” or “I’m missing Tiny Tim’s baby years”, etc. You might lose the argument before you’ve begun.
12. Be mindful of how you word the request.  For example,

            "If you let me do fewer hours, I know it means I will do less work but I'm sure Jane could help out"....

                                    

              Or

             

              “If you let me work from home, I’ll be able to get all those other household tasks done too”

       

                                            does not quite sell the idea as well as,

      

             "I will deliver the same results, for half the salary, if you let me work half the amount of hours wherever I work"

 

12. Consider asking for a trial period both parties can work with for, say, twelve weeks.
13. Be specific about what you agree to with regard your hours, salary, performance and bonus and make sure you get it in writing, otherwise, the deal could be lost if there is a management change.
14. Once all is agreed, discuss with your employer how, together, you will manage potential negative reactions from colleagues.

AND REMEMBER:

15. Once you are working your part-time hours, don’t ruin everything by working full-time or over time. Stay focussed when working and keep to your part-time schedule.