Full or Part time UK...Help!

[mammywannabee]

I currently work full time and will be 20 wks pregnant on Wednesday. Since fallen pregnant Iv had so much time off sick with ms, uti, vertigo, sickness bug and ear infection. (My immune system seems to have left the building).. I work in a call centre And work 7.15 hours a day 5 days a week when Im there lol.. I work with targets and have been unable to hit them since December!! Iv always hit my targets and beyond but since Iv lots of time off haven't really been able to take the bull by the horns n get stuck in plus current climates n people not been able to afford extras on top of their home insurance etc etc..
Any how Im currently trying to decide wether or not to request cutting my hours by 7 to 10 hours a week in order for my targets to be lowered and to hopefully lessen the amount of time off in sick.. I honestly do feel crap having been off work so much in the last 4 months, at the end of the day mine and Darcys healths more important..
Thanks for taking time to read sorry its long winded and boring

 

[WoolyJules]

Hey there,

I was feeling very similar and have been really struggling to keep up with my workload without running myself down.
I spoke to my boss and we looked into a few options. The best for me was to use my remaining holidays. I'm 22weeks with mono/di twins so I'll probably be lucky to last till mid/late July. It's been really tough so far and I'm having a lot of back problems sitting at my desk.
I've 22 days left inc bank holidays etc and if I take 2 a week I can take a full day off and start at 11 the other days. It helps take the load off me physically and mentally and is also better on the company as they have a better idea of where they stand.
Apparently Maternity pay is worked out on your last 12 weeks salary, so had I gone part-time I would have suffered and lost a fair bit.
This was the best option for me but you might find other solutions are more appropriate, just be careful about the possible implications of part-time once on maternity.

Good luck. Hope everything works out, It's all difficult enough without added stress.

xxx

 

[CordeliaJ]

Hiya hun, well first of all, any time you take off sick during pregnancy cannot be counted against you as normal sickness would at any other time, so you're allowed to take as many sick days as you need. Technically if you are unable to do your job they are supposed to re-evaluate your position (temporarily of course) and have you doing things that are less stressful/tiring etc.
I work full time, and from about 16 weeks I have taken at least one days holiday a week plus extra on some weeks when we have more staff. I don't think I could've coped this long without that because I work in a shop standing on my feet all day long.
Also, this bit I'm not clear about, but if they actually cut your hours, surely that would mean less maternity pay for you? At least that's why I haven't asked for my hours to be cut - I just use a mixture of sick days and holiday (mainly holiday though because I feel so bad taking sick days when they're understaffed and not expecting it).
I would speak to your boss though and work something out, just so it gets a bit easier for you.

 

[Louise88]

Hi I was very similar in my last pregnancy with a few hospital admissions I worked full time in a bar and dropped down to part time when I started getting ill all the time, at 28 weeks the doctor at the hospital forced me to take early maternity leave which I found was the best thing in the world and funny enough I ended up being find in those last 12 weeks (but I was on antibiotics for the rest of my pregnancy) if you don't feel you can cope full time I'd defiantly drop to part time I found over working made me worse and if you can try and take an earlier maternity it means returning earlier but once lo is 6 months I found I was more then ready to return to work