Notice of change of hours at work

-Mike-

-Mike-

-Mike-

Soldato
Joined
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Minehead
Hey all,

Just received a whatsapp message whilst on holiday which states that our working hours will be changing as of my date of return.

Now I'm a tad irritated by this message as that doesn't give me enough time to make childcare arrangements to cover the extra time and as far as I was aware - a change of hours should be discussed first with an employee and the notice given should be equal to the duration of notice required to leave? I'm also on holiday so don't have the option of going in to speak to them.

Any thoughts or suggestions as to how to respond would be great as I'm not massively clued up on employment law.
 
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What are you current hours and what's in your contract in relation to working hours?
 
If its not in your contract, it isn't enforceable. That said, you may want to keep it amicable (I don't know who the message is from or what your relationship with this person is like) so just respond saying that its too short notice, you will have to make new childcare arrangements and get back to them, assuming you don't mind the hours.

On a side note, how professional is a company which tells their staff stuff like this, on WHATSAPP(!!!) whilst ON HOLIDAY(!!!).
 
Ignore the message and return as normal, as if you weren't aware of the change. When they bring it up say "what message?" then have a discussion about it and explain your childcare issues.
 
tom_e said:
What are you current hours and what's in your contract in relation to working hours?
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My working hours were meant to be 8:30-4, they now want to add an hour on the end and the next change they intend to make is adding working saturdays. It's all well and good but given that her indoors starts work at 6pm and finishes at 8am it doesn't give me enough time to get home.

Diddums said:
If its not in your contract, it isn't enforceable. That said, you may want to keep it amicable (I don't know who the message is from or what your relationship with this person is like) so just respond saying that its too short notice, you will have to make new childcare arrangements and get back to them, assuming you don't mind the hours.

On a side note, how professional is a company which tells their staff stuff like this, on WHATSAPP(!!!) whilst ON HOLIDAY(!!!).
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This company is the same one that gets arsy when you ask for health and safety gear because your old stuff has worn out. I'm trying desperately to leave but nothing has come up so far.

Also as to what is said in my contract - I don't have one. Yes you read that right. I bought this up some time ago and they said "you do have one, we just don't know what to put you down as because you have so many roles here"

tom_e said:
http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/the-law-when-an-employer-asks-you-to-change-your-hours/
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Thanks for this link.
 
-Mike- said:
My working hours were meant to be 8:30-4, they now want to add an hour on the end and the next change they intend to make is adding working saturdays. It's all well and good but given that her indoors starts work at 6pm and finishes at 8am it doesn't give me enough time to get home.
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So, are they paying you extra for that hour? Ignoring that for a moment, if you can't do those hours, tell them you can't do them.

This company is the same one that gets arsy when you ask for health and safety gear because your old stuff has worn out. I'm trying desperately to leave but nothing has come up so far.
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Speak to your union rep. Who's the H&S rep there? Union person or company man?

Also as to what is said in my contract - I don't have one. Yes you read that right. I bought this up some time ago and they said "you do have one, we just don't know what to put you down as because you have so many roles here"
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Say hello to a nice compensation payment then :-) That's your next holiday sorted.
 
amigafan2003 said:
So, are they paying you extra for that hour? Ignoring that for a moment, if you can't do those hours, tell them you can't do them.



Speak to your union rep. Who's the H&S rep there? Union person or company man?



Say hello to a nice compensation payment then :-) That's your next holiday sorted.
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I'll get paid extra yes, but half of it is being added to lunchtime so that half hour won't be paid. Requires me to pay an extra hours childcare so I'll be losing money by this hours change.

I'm scouring job sites currently, I've asked for more money there and that was denied with "the money is what it is" despite co-workers being paid £2 hour more than I am!
 
How is this for a reply?

Hi Andy. I am indeed on holiday and it was going ok thanks. Unfortunately your proposed changes to my working hours are not with enough notice for me to attempt to cater for this change. I need time to see if I can work this out as far as childcare goes and to consider whether I am agreeable to this change. I believe this is something that we can discuss next week when I am actually back at work. Thanks
 
I was called into the office about 6 weeks ago and they changed my hours starting from the next full working day..
 
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-Mike- said:
How is this for a reply?

Hi Andy. I am indeed on holiday and it was going ok thanks. Unfortunately your proposed changes to my working hours are not with enough notice for me to attempt to cater for this change. I need time to see if I can work this out as far as childcare goes and to consider whether I am agreeable to this change. I believe this is something that we can discuss next week when I am actually back at work. Thanks
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Hi Andy. I believe this is something that we can discuss next week when I am actually back at work. Thanks

Job done.
 
chaparral said:
I was called into the office about 6 weeks ago and they changed my hours starting from the next working day..
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Assuming you are still getting paid the hours stated in your contract (assuming you were working more than the minimum required) to do then that is a bit different.
 
Mike or Toms replies got it.Would jsut send that back and go back to relaxing.


Changes to places or work must be reasonable and accommodate change to any prior commitments that the company is aware of. Since you do not have a contract, they probably do not have anywhere with proof of prior arrangements but you are still entitled time to sort it out by the law.

Sounds to me that what happens depends completely on if the employer wants to strong arm you or not but worse comes to worse, if you sought legal advice, you will be at an advantage if it came to it (not that it should given the situation)
 
Avenged7Fold said:
Mike or Toms replies got it.Would jsut send that back and go back to relaxing.


Changes to places or work must be reasonable and accommodate change to any prior commitments that the company is aware of. Since you do not have a contract, they probably do not have anywhere with proof of prior arrangements but you are still entitled time to sort it out by the law.

Sounds to me that what happens depends completely on if the employer wants to strong arm you or not but worse comes to worse, if you sought legal advice, you will be at an advantage if it came to it (not that it should given the situation)
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Its a tricky one without a contract - without anything specifically stated it would likely come down to how long he has been working those hours (if its a few years than ostensibly he might be covered by custom and practise, etc.) and what would be considered a reasonable amount of time to give notice of a change could be a lot longer never mind the manner of it.
 
Rroff said:
Its a tricky one without a contract - without anything specifically stated it would likely come down to how long he has been working those hours (if its a few years than ostensibly he might be covered by custom and practise, etc.) and what would be considered a reasonable amount of time to give notice of a change could be a lot longer never mind the manner of it.
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I've just received the same message via text, so he's obviously unhappy that whatsapp no longer reports when I've read messages.

I've worked at this place for over 5 years now, far too long infact and this is the nail in the coffin for me. I've been spoken to like a piece of .... by this guy before now, over a 33p lucas key of all things being lost when I was actually removing cryptowall from a machine the day it went missing.
 
I wouldnt respond to it in any form. I would delete the message and return to my holiday and await for it to be brought up when I return to work.
 
As others have said, I would ignore it also. it is bang out of order to try this when you are on holiday!!
 
Bang out of order texting you this while on vacation in my opinion, if a manager interrupts your UK employment law 20 minute break during a 6+ hour shift, the clock resets on your break.
 
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