Not Working Much, but Getting Paid
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:34 pm
It may be apparent to some of you that I have a lot of time on my hands at work.
I am a contract specialist who happens to be an attorney, and my job is to support a business unit of the company with any contractual matters that come up. I produce a portion of business proposals, review clients' contract documents and negotiate contracts, and assist in resolution of claims and disputes (which are relatively rare). Since I have been doing this for almost 40 years I rarely see anything I haven't seen before. I know all of our customers very well, I know what they want, what they will accept, and how to get them where we want them. As a result, tasks that used to take my predecessor many hours or days, I can get done in a very short time. Usually within the hour.
I work for the Legal department, which is headquartered in another state, but I work in the office of my primary "client," which is close to home. But still, most of the people I support are remote from me, and 90% of the work I do is by either e-mail or phone.
One other relevant factor in my current-life situation is that I have a shitload of stuff I could be doing at home. My house is 27 years old and I've never done any significant maintenance, and I also enjoy biking, golfing, running, hiking, and working out at my gym. I also have a son who is extremely busy and with two young children can occasionally use some support from his dad.
So when I got my performance review in December, I offered to switch to part-time, hourly. I told my boss that I could easily do everything asked of me in about 24 hours a week, but I'm prepared to work as many hours as necessary. So just make me hourly with a minimum of 20 hours a week. The company can save money (and benefits), and I can free up some time in anticipation of retirement.
He politely declined my offer. His concern was that he doesn't want to broadcast the fact that one (or more) of his subordinates are not fully utilitzed. When I do retire in a year or so, he could never get a part timer replaced by an FTE, so he just didn't want to do it. He suggested that maybe I could benefit from working from home.
Hmm. Working from home would free up 40 minutes twice a day, save on gas, and allow me to do a lot of productive and recreational things mid-day (we take an hour for lunch).
I thought about it for a couple of months and now that the weather is about to break I called him up and siad I'd take him up on his offer. Fine with him.
So I sent out a memo to all of my internal clients, telling them that effective April 1 I would be working "primarily from home." I would come into the office every Wednesday (when we occasionally have staff meetings), but otherwise I would work from home unless there was a specific reason why I need to come into the office on a particular day.
The head guy in this group immediately responded that he would not go along with it. He "needed" to have me in the office during all normal business hours, "just in case." I'm meeting with him later today. I've put together a couple of talking points to go over with him, but honestly, in my year and a half with the company, I have had maybe 5 times when anyone came into my office asking for face-to-face consultation, and even in those rare cases, a phone call would have been sufficient.
Because the company is international, we NEVER have any significant meeting without at least two people calling in remotely (from Europe). So having me call in by phone should not be an issue.
I could, since I have my boss' concurrence, take a hard line on this, but they are paying me a good salary and I want to keep everyone happy. Darn.
I am a contract specialist who happens to be an attorney, and my job is to support a business unit of the company with any contractual matters that come up. I produce a portion of business proposals, review clients' contract documents and negotiate contracts, and assist in resolution of claims and disputes (which are relatively rare). Since I have been doing this for almost 40 years I rarely see anything I haven't seen before. I know all of our customers very well, I know what they want, what they will accept, and how to get them where we want them. As a result, tasks that used to take my predecessor many hours or days, I can get done in a very short time. Usually within the hour.
I work for the Legal department, which is headquartered in another state, but I work in the office of my primary "client," which is close to home. But still, most of the people I support are remote from me, and 90% of the work I do is by either e-mail or phone.
One other relevant factor in my current-life situation is that I have a shitload of stuff I could be doing at home. My house is 27 years old and I've never done any significant maintenance, and I also enjoy biking, golfing, running, hiking, and working out at my gym. I also have a son who is extremely busy and with two young children can occasionally use some support from his dad.
So when I got my performance review in December, I offered to switch to part-time, hourly. I told my boss that I could easily do everything asked of me in about 24 hours a week, but I'm prepared to work as many hours as necessary. So just make me hourly with a minimum of 20 hours a week. The company can save money (and benefits), and I can free up some time in anticipation of retirement.
He politely declined my offer. His concern was that he doesn't want to broadcast the fact that one (or more) of his subordinates are not fully utilitzed. When I do retire in a year or so, he could never get a part timer replaced by an FTE, so he just didn't want to do it. He suggested that maybe I could benefit from working from home.
Hmm. Working from home would free up 40 minutes twice a day, save on gas, and allow me to do a lot of productive and recreational things mid-day (we take an hour for lunch).
I thought about it for a couple of months and now that the weather is about to break I called him up and siad I'd take him up on his offer. Fine with him.
So I sent out a memo to all of my internal clients, telling them that effective April 1 I would be working "primarily from home." I would come into the office every Wednesday (when we occasionally have staff meetings), but otherwise I would work from home unless there was a specific reason why I need to come into the office on a particular day.
The head guy in this group immediately responded that he would not go along with it. He "needed" to have me in the office during all normal business hours, "just in case." I'm meeting with him later today. I've put together a couple of talking points to go over with him, but honestly, in my year and a half with the company, I have had maybe 5 times when anyone came into my office asking for face-to-face consultation, and even in those rare cases, a phone call would have been sufficient.
Because the company is international, we NEVER have any significant meeting without at least two people calling in remotely (from Europe). So having me call in by phone should not be an issue.
I could, since I have my boss' concurrence, take a hard line on this, but they are paying me a good salary and I want to keep everyone happy. Darn.