An employee has returned from maternity leave and had requested part time work. We granted this on a 6 month trial basis as she works in an area that we believe would suffer from part time work. We understand that we have to have sound business reasons for refusing p/t work and want to evaluate the position correctly which is why we have given it a 6 month period. If it is found to not work out after the 6 months we thought we would try and consider a engaging someone else on a job share basis to ensure the post is covered throughout the week. The employee is concerned however, that if we got to this point and couldn’t find anybody to actually job share would she be made to return full time? Also, supposing we couldn’t find anyone suitable to jobshare and only found someone who could do a full time role would this mean that she would have to return full time or risk losing her job by engaging a new person. I want to try and alleviate her fears but need to understand what our position would be, this is all hypothetical at this stage but equally don’t want to risk discriminating in any way. Any advise greatly appreciated.
kirsa edwards