WWYD working from home question

amother

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 1:41 am

amother Forsythia wrote:

Dear employer who cut my hours - I am considering taking a second job to make up for the lost pay. I would need to give my second job my full attention at that time, and therefor not be able to respond to email related to your company at that time. Do you have any concerns?

Thank you, and to all the others who replied.
For some reason I prefer not to tell him that I am getting a second job. Is there any reason not to disclose this information?

Brit in Israel

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 3:38 am

I wouldn't say,
You have to say that I can only work set times, or be compensated for being available the full amount of time.
You can say otherwise I will look into other work

amother

Plum

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 3:56 am

I have a part time job that I work either in the office or home but paid Salaried.
I tend to give approx 3 hours a day on Mon, Tues and Thursday and then rest of the time I have email and vm going to my phone and I check and if important will respond to it.
I get paid a very nice amount a week and have real flexibility on the timing. Some weeks it’s less hours if not busy.
I can technically take on another job but Im busy juggling a baby etc.

notshanarishona

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 5:59 am

Why do you feel obligated to work through out the day? Unless it’s something that’s an emergency, it should wait for the next day for a response.
For example, I have a secretary who works a few hours a week flexible from home. When I send her tasks, she can do them whenever she wants as long as she responds within 2 business days. I pay her for when she works, I don’t expect her to sit down for 5 minutes every time a call comes in. That’s the reality of many small businesses (that they don’t have someone answering the phone or emails all day)

amother

cornflower

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 6:10 am

Are you being paid to do a certain job or to be available certain hours?
If you are paid to finish certain work, you can choose when to do it. If you are paid to be available for calls, he has to pay for every minute you are available.

If he has cut your hours, a polite email saying, please let me know which hours of the day you'd like me to be available on my new schedule is totally in place. You don't need to say anything about what you're doing the rest of the time.

amother

Forsythia

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 9:09 am

amother OP wrote:

Thank you, and to all the others who replied.
For some reason I prefer not to tell him that I am getting a second job. Is there any reason not to disclose this information?

The way I wrote it was "considering a second job" - the boss really needs to understand the impact to you of the hours cut.

Everytime you read a work email - its work. You're not an owner, your not a well compensated employee - why should you be 'on-call' all the time.

Of course you can say nothing at all - but you need to figure out what your goal is.

amother

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 9:59 am

amother cornflower wrote:

It's both- I'm paid to do tasks in a specific time frame because they don't want customers waiting too long.

amother

Mustard

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 10:11 am

amother OP wrote:

It's both- I'm paid to do tasks in a specific time frame because they don't want customers waiting too long.

Is there anyone else doing those tasks who can do them the hours are not working?

If something is urgent, can u have that other employee on an email chain or tell the customer to call their extention?. I think thats the only solution

I think u have to be responsible to make sure to tell customers. " I leave for the day in an hour, if u need to reach someone call my coworker chani at extention 4. " if u don't leave them this info it can lead to the situation u are describing-where u are held responsible for them getting upset.

amother

Forsythia

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 10:15 am

amother OP wrote:

It's both- I'm paid to do tasks in a specific time frame because they don't want customers waiting too long.

If their business model is to have quick customer response times, then their business model needs to include paying someone to be on call and respond.

amother

Clover

Fri, Nov 03 2023, 11:08 am

I don't know what field of work you're working in, but responding within 1-2 business days is still considered fast. I would say if you only check your emails the next morning and deal with it then, it's also a fast turn around.
I will often check my emails in the evening quickly and look at the subject line to see and then only look at them properly the next day.

amother

Mustard

Sun, Nov 05 2023, 8:53 pm

amother Mustard wrote:

also adding- on your email you should put your work hours in your signature

Are you doing things like his op?

wtvr

Tue, Nov 07 2023, 3:29 pm

amother Mustard wrote:

also adding- on your email you should put your work hours in your signature

Are you doing things like his op?

This. Set up an auto reply that messages are answered between within 1 business day between the hours of x and y.

amother

Tue, Nov 07 2023, 3:31 pm

amother Mustard wrote:

How is it going op?

I haven't said anything yet because I wanted to wait to have a better idea of what's happening before I comment on it. I am taking into account all the advice here.

B'Syata D'Shmya

Tue, Nov 07 2023, 10:38 pm

amother OP wrote:

I work from home in customer service.
The hours of my full time job were recently cut in half so that I now work only a few hours a day. If I calculate the exact amount of time that I spend on the work, it may not exceed the amount of hours I am paid for- but the nature of the job requires me to be available and check emails etc. which requires more availability than just the specific hours I am paid for. Is this arrangement fair? Or how can I make it fair? I feel that I am still doing the same work, but just being paid for half my time.

You need to be paid for the total time you are required to be available for emails etc. I once worked in a similar situation and they first paid me for the time, then they decided to pay me per incoming phone call. I left. I found something better. I am not telling you to leave, but start looking....