Career Advice: Dealing with Reduced Work Hours
Posted by Diana Needham on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
We continue sharing career advice today with information on how to deal with a request to reduce your work hours.
Based on the current business environment, your company may be asking you (and other employees) to cut your hours to avoid layoffs. Or perhaps you expect this may be what is coming next.
What questions should you ask the company so that you have all the information you need to make the decision of whether to accept this offer (assuming you have a choice)? Then what do you need to ask yourself to determine how to deal with this change?
Reduced Work Hours: Key questions you want to ask the company
- Why are the reductions necessary? Understanding the rationale behind the company’s decision will help you put this situation into perspective. Is this a step required to keep the company going? How will this benefit the business?
- How long will the reduced hours last? Knowing this will allow you to determine how long you need to be prepared to be in this income situation.
- When do the reduced hours begin? This will tell you how much time you have to assess the ramifications to your budget, time, and family before this takes effect.
- How will we be informed of the status and any changes to the reduced hours situation? Here you want to know how much notice will be given if the timeframe for the reduced hours is extended longer than first planned.
- How does this affect my retirement, medical insurance, and other benefits? Find out how the reduced salary will affect the amount going to your 401K and any impacts to insurance coverage and other benefits.
Once you have this information, you can then figure out how this change will affect you and your family.
Reduced Work Hours: What does it mean to me personally?
Now that you have the answers from the company, what does the reduced work hour situation mean to me personally? Here are some things to figure out next.
- What will my new take-home pay be? Figure that out as best you can estimate, so you know what you will have to work with.
- What are the impacts to my personal budget? Do an assessment to identify things you could eliminate or reduce the amount spent to make up for the shortfall.
- How do I want to invest the extra time I will have? Are there projects you want to complete but have not started? Opportunities to expand your skills? Volunteer?
- What actions will I need to take if the reduced hours timeframe is extended longer than the company now expects? Be prepared for a longer period of time by identifying what you and your family will need to do if this happens.
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