Flexible working for parents is great. But child-free people need it, too



HellsBells said:
He sounds like a monumental twat. Even if you didn’t have kids, you’d each take turns Shirley.

Doesn’t the person who approves your holidays tell him to fuck off?
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Nah it’s first come first served. I don’t want all those days, I only find out about Xmas shows and that the week before so I can’t get in first.
 
I always seem to have loads of things on at home, jobs that need doing, hobbies I want to explore further but never have the time. It crossed my mind that I might look at taking a month unpaid in a few years, or even do it every 5 when I’m 45, 50, 55, etc. I mentioned it to my boss in passing and she pointed out that as I have kids I am entitled to a certain amount of unpaid leave on request. People without kids do not have that and it seems unfair really.

Within my team, everyone works hard and I’m happy to be flexible with all of them. A few times I have had to push them to work from home. Especially when snow is forcast. We can do 90% of our job remotely. If the roads are jammed in bad weather then the whole team can be out of action and out of easy contact until 10. From home, everyone is safe, warm and working.
 
DaveH said:
I always seem to have loads of things on at home, jobs that need doing, hobbies I want to explore further but never have the time. It crossed my mind that I might look at taking a month unpaid in a few years, or even do it every 5 when I’m 45, 50, 55, etc. I mentioned it to my boss in passing and she pointed out that as I have kids I am entitled to a certain amount of unpaid leave on request. People without kids do not have that and it seems unfair really.

Within my team, everyone works hard and I’m happy to be flexible with all of them. A few times I have had to push them to work from home. Especially when snow is forcast. We can do 90% of our job remotely. If the roads are jammed in bad weather then the whole team can be out of action and out of easy contact until 10. From home, everyone is safe, warm and working.
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Have you thought about doing a flexible contact? For example 10 in 9 so you can do something for you every other week for instance?

Dave Herbal said:
Nah it’s first come first served. I don’t want all those days, I only find out about Xmas shows and that the week before so I can’t get in first.
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Have a word, man.
 
Arthur80 said:
Two weeks paid leave and three weeks unpaid leave whenever they want in the first two years.
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That's not normal, sounds like you've got good terms there.

DaveH said:
It crossed my mind that I might look at taking a month unpaid in a few years, or even do it every 5 when I’m 45, 50, 55, etc. I mentioned it to my boss in passing and she pointed out that as I have kids I am entitled to a certain amount of unpaid leave on request. People without kids do not have that and it seems unfair really
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Aye, parental leave, I've taken a bit of it. Unpaid but handy. It's good for Christmas time as they can't pull their usual trick and say they're unable to authorise until November.
 
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HellsBells said:
Have you thought about doing a flexible contact? For example 10 in 9 so you can do something for you every other week for instance?


Have a word, man.
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Not at the minute, I became the team manager just over a year ago and it has been really busy. Part of that has been learning the new job and recruiting a new team. I might look at more time off later though. I do get 35 days holiday plus bank holidays, so I can’t complain too much.
 
Edinburgh Black Cat said:
People send too many emails. It's a bad sign when wandering over to someone's desk to ask a question is deemed negative.
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Ideally we'd have enough quiet spaces where I can go and do a code audit or whatever and people would give me time to concentrate.
Instead we have an open plan office, 8 desks in a row back to back and a constant background of people gibbering away - headphones in I get it done in an hour, no headphones it'll take me at least twice as long and more likely to make mistakes.
 
I work from home most of the time, but in current job i have just started will probably end up visiting our offices around EMEIA every couple of weeks.

Take jollies when I want, start and finish when I want, and I schedule the events I attend with the other teams to suit me.

Before Christmas I was totally demotivates and ended up doing about 3 days work in 3 weeks and spent about 9 hours a day looking at RTG, Christmas presents and holidays!
 

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