Making a work schedule that works for your family
I like working early. I do not particularly enjoy waking up early, but I like beating the rush hour and I like getting home with extra time to spend with the family. Like most people I started off my career with a schedule where my work hours began somewhere between 8 and 9 am.
If you decide that you want more time with your family, one of the easiest ways you can accomplish this is by shifting your work day to start earlier in the day. Don’t just march in saying, “Hey, boss man or lady. I need to work earlier in the day so I can play with my kids more.”
First off, most people don’t like being called a man or lady. It is normally easy enough to tell their gender. Use the correct title.
Secondly, they probably do not really care how much time you spend with your kids. Some might, but a lot really do not care for you once you pull out of the parking lot. They have their own life to try and deal with.
You have to find a way to make your goal benefit the company. At the time I initially made the switch, I was working on a computer system that customer service used throughout their day. Some of them started their day at 6 am. If there was a problem overnight, they had to wait until I arrived. But, some of them started their day at 9 am, and their problems in the afternoon needed attention, too.
So, I got out my handy dandy spreadsheet and started keeping track over a couple of weeks. Then, I was able to present to my boss that most of my support issues were from problems that happened off hours early in the morning. I showed how I could help the company by arriving at 6 am and getting these issues dealt with as early as possible. I also pointed out how many of the afternoon problems could have been handled by people that were already working the normal shift.
My boss agreed to let me do it on a two week trial basis. I made sure that everything went very smoothly during those two weeks and she never mentioned my schedule with me again.
If you are looking to get better hours from your employer, what benefits to the company can you provide other than just being a happier employee?
