Negotiating a Flexible Schedule

What happens if you need to scale back to part-time and you hand in a well-thought out plan that addresses your company's needs as well as your own – but an inflexible boss gives you a thumbs-down?

That question was posed and neatly answered in a recent post on the Management Issues Web site by work-life balance author Cali Williams Yost. A questioner wrote to Yost saying his boss had rejected a carefully prepared proposal to go part-time with the comment, "You're too valuable to the company and I need you here full-time."

Yost sensibly points out that the manager's remark conveyed the no doubt unintended message, "You're too valuable to me, so you need to leave." This type of self-delusion is, unfortunately, all too common among managers – especially those unaccustomed to flexible work arrangements.

So how can you overcome your boss's delusion without creating bad blood? Here is Yost's advice:

Take the knowledge of your value and use it as leverage to restart the conversation. In a very non-threatening way, point out that you hope the two of you can come to some agreement on your proposal because it's very important to you. And, calmly tell him or her that if you can't, then you may have to consider alternatives that would give you more of the flexibility that you need.

Once the reality that you might leave without more flexibility sets in, you will be pleasantly surprised how fast your negotiation restarts. Be patient, and emphasize that even though you will not be physically in the office a couple of days a week, you will still get your work done. And set a review date in six months to sit down and review how your new arrangement is working.

Too Valuable to Be Flexible [Management Issues]