Andrea said:

Our Head Groundsman would like to change from a 5 to 4 day working week on health grounds as he suffers with high blood pressure which has been brought on by a stressful relationship with his line manager.

To be honest I would be looking at the root cause first and dealing with that rather than teh symptoms. So dealing with the relationship with his manager.

Andrea said:

The second request is from the Head's PA who has asked for a temporary reduction of 5 days to 3 per week as her mum is terminally ill and will probably not be around next month

I wouldn't treat this one as a FWR but as a short term compassionate need. And frankly unless you do she's quite possibly going to go off sick anyway. I would see what flexibility you can arrange for her at this very difficult time outside a formal change in contract. 

In reply to Keith:

Great advice, Keith, which I hope will help Andrea  push back accordingly.

In reply to Keith:

Thank you for your comments Keith. I have provided the Head with some flexible absence options to consider for her PA. Our Head is new this academic year and is quite rigid in her approach, so unless she is prepared to be flexible her PA will probably go off sick for as long as she needs to cope with her mum's situation, which will be less than ideal for staffing the office.

The Groundsman is planning to retire in a couple of years so is looking to reduce his working hours anyway. His line manager has difficult relationships with the majority of his team (and other colleagues too) it is only a matter of time until his autocratic management style is addressed by the new Head.

In reply to Andrea:

Hi Andrea,
If your Groundsman is looking to retire in a couple of years, the pension scheme may allow "flexible retirement" by which he can reduce his hours and be paid pension for the non-working days. But assume it would sstill need to be a flexible working request - I'm not sure that just because it is "possible" to take flexible retirement, it "has to be approved" without consideration as a FWR. But as Keith says, maybe looking at the root cause and dealing with the manager is a priority as resolving that may mean the individual decides to stay full time till retirement.

In reply to Keith:

Agree with all this, but would also want a health professional to tell me that your Head Groundsman's high blood pressure has been caused by a stressful relationship with the line manager, before drawing that conclusion. It feels like a dangerous assumption otherwise. I'd also want that same OH professional to confirm that reducing to 4 days a week rather than 5 would solve the problem - does one less day at work reduce blood pressure? And as Keith said, if the relationship is the root of the problem, prioritise dealing with that.

I find it hard to even respond to the second matter. The way we respond to people dealing with bereavement and grief tells you everything you need to know about an organisation. It's the absolute lowest bar to be compassionate when someone is losing their mum, surely? She's not even trying to do this on the company's pay, but to reduce her hours temporarily!

I work in an independent school, and I understand that flexibility isn't normal in this kind of environment - and when it's full on, it properly is. But there's not a chance that I would support the refusal of that second request.

Good luck. Sounds like you have a lot on!

Nina

In reply to Andrea:

Andrea said:

His line manager has difficult relationships with the majority of his team (and other colleagues too) it is only a matter of time until his autocratic management style is addressed by the new Head

Given the Heads approach to her PA in a period of profound turmoil, I have some doubts the Head will effectively deal with the Groundsman's manager.

In reply to Helen:

Thank you for your comments Helen.

In reply to Nina Waters:

Hi Nina, thank you for your advice regarding the Groundsman. A day later and the Head has not provided her PA with a response to her request. The PA has now left for the weekend to drive from Bournemouth to Kent to help her elderly father look after mum. The PA has booked an appointment with her GP for next week and she feels like she is going to let everyone down if she is signed off. I advised her to make sure she looks after herself and not worry about work too much (because they're not worrying about her!)