Work rejected my request to reduce my hours - unsure what to do now.

Hi all,

I currently work in the Civil Service, decent grade, decent pay however I do not really enjoy the job and it's a 40+ mile commute each way (by car). As such, I've recently applied for and gained a place at a local University course doing Engineering full time.

I asked to reduce my hours at work from full time (37) to 20 in order to give me a part time job on the side to supplement my maintenance loan. I'm doing a Foundation Year so I don't think it's too involved and my job is fully flexi as long as it's between 07:00 and 19:00.

My request was rejected for some wishy washy reasons that essentially were they didn't think I would keep my hours due to the course I was going to study, the course didn't benefit them, they knew I would leave at the end of the degree and that it would mess with their budgets.

I'm now at a loss as to what to do. I can appeal the decision if I want, however I need to work a 4 week notice period and the course is due to start on 16th September. Or, my other option is to quit and find a part time job elsewhere, but this would equate to less money per hour than remaining here - roughly 2/300 a month less. Alternatively I could just sack of the course and remain here, but I don't really want to do that as I see no opportunity to progress here whatsoever.

Any thoughts?

Do you have any holiday left to take? Hand your notice in and look for a more student friendly job

Don't sacrifice your education for a job you don't enjoy. They can find their cover, you don't have to worry about inconveniencing them at all. Hand in your notice asap and work up until you start your course on the 16th. If the notice period takes you past your course date, just don't work those days. Because you're in university now, you're a student first. Don't let them mug you off. While you're working your notice period, look for other part time jobs that suit your needs. Or just work a student friendly job like above suggested, it may be little pay compared to what you have now but at least it's something that you can easily work around your studies.

Any way you could study with the open university part time for 2 years instead of the access course? That way you keep an income (plus pension scheme) for an additional couple of years.

.............

I had thought about the OU but I feel like a subject such as Engineering I would rather have face to face learning involved due to how complex it is rather than distance learning for the full modules. I looked into doing A Levels as evening classes too but it seems like there really isn't any options for that around where I live, they mainly only offer Functional Skills classes and things such as that.