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OnlyUseMeWhistle

OnlyUseMeWhistle

RefChat Addict
Level 3W Referee
Those of you who have had to ask employers for flexibility, how did those conversations go?

If I get my 3w I will inevitably have to ask for some around midweeks so I can meet expectations for availability and don't really know how to approach it.
 
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All depends on how amenable they are to whatever you want to do (ad hoc or regularly leaving early / half full days off at short notice?). Some won't allow it full stop, others might allow it regularly or infrequently as long as lost time is worked up or holiday taken.

I was always jealous of those L4s who got to do the midweek academy games that I never could but my boss was understanding (and a big football fan) so if I needed to get off early for a midweek evening game it was never an issue.
 
OnlyUseMeWhistle said:
Those of you who have had to ask employers for flexibility, how did those conversations go?

If I get my 3w I will inevitably have to ask for some around midweeks so I can meet expectations for availability and don't really know how to approach it.
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What do you do?
 
Most employers should allow you to put in a Flexible Working Request, but given what you are requesting this would be a non-statutory one eg it's not for child care, dependants etc.

A good employer is likely to still follow the same framework, but is under no obligation to accept your request.

My advice is to do the prep and consider the impact it might have on colleagues and think of ways this can be eliminated or mitigated. In all honesty, an employer that makes it work tends to be in a better position supporting an employee with something they are keen to do, than one that makes it harder. Retention is much much easier than recruitment at the moment!

You can search the web for the FWR framework to guide your thinking or DM me.
 
It depends entirely on two things, what you do and who your boss is. I was always very fortunate in that when I was L4 / L3 I had a job that wouldn't cause an issue if I wasn't there, and had a football fanatic as a manager. There wouldn't be any issues if I left at 2pm to get to a game, and he understood my passion. With the manager I "acquired" later in that job, but luckily after I'd stepped down from L3, there is no way on earth he would have agreed to me leaving early, he was a stickler for the rules and hated football.

Had I been in a service role, or had a manager that didn't like football, I fully appreciate that it would have been a lot harder for me. Not really relevant now, but in my current role holiday is booked by the hour, so would have made it a whole lot easier to leave early if I couldn't do it through a flexible agreement.
 
I've been quite lucky in that my last job was 13 hr shifts 3 days a week so if I was working I wasn't reffing. I managed to get it so that I didn't work any Tuesdays, which allowed me to ref when appointed or play 6 a side with mates.

My new job is Flexi time so basically, unless I have planned meeting that I can't move about then I can work around appointments. I also work in 2 weekly sprints so I've rarely got anything planned beyond 2 weeks

I do always talk to my employers about refereeing. For 2 reasons it forms a massive part of my work/lifestyle balance and secondly it's technically a secondary employment ( being on a "self employed basis") so they should be informed.

I think you have to work around your employment if your employer doesn't or can't play ball with your refereeing commitments and just make sure that you keep your availability up to date. Full time employment (or whatever form of employment you have) has to take priority really and refereeing commitments are secondary to that
 
I was speaking to a 2B referee who is on the ERDP about it and he said he had to change jobs to go part time when he was offered what he has been for refereeing. I think that is the first situation where refereeing can then be put above your day job. Up until then, the day job has to take priority (unless you're fortunate enough to be in a financial position where it doesn't have to)
 
JamesL said:
I think you have to work around your employment if your employer doesn't or can't play ball with your refereeing commitments and just make sure that you keep your availability up to date. Full time employment (or whatever form of employment you have) has to take priority really and refereeing commitments are secondary to that
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Yeah I am full time employed, work from home 2-3 days a week and have a two hour commute (each way!) when I'm in the office.

It's a job I could move to freelance/part time but 3w doesn't seem the level where that is financially viable or a very wise thing to do just yet.

As you can probably tell from the WFH, my employer is mostly great for this kind of thing, my line manager is letting me WFH on a day I'd usually be in next week for a midweek fixture I have.
 
OnlyUseMeWhistle said:
Yeah I am full time employed, work from home 2-3 days a week and have a two hour commute (each way!) when I'm in the office.

It's a job I could move to freelance/part time but 3w doesn't seem the level where that is financially viable or a very wise thing to do just yet.

As you can probably tell from the WFH, my employer is mostly great for this kind of thing, my line manager is letting me WFH on a day I'd usually be in next week for a midweek fixture I have.
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Would it be worth giving yourself a temporary location of wherever your office is on MOAS for days when you're in the office and would that enable you to do midweek games with no issue?
 
RefereeX said:
Would it be worth giving yourself a temporary location of wherever your office is on MOAS for days when you're in the office and would that enable you to do midweek games with no issue?
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Ah that's a very good idea, didn't realise that was an option!
 
OnlyUseMeWhistle said:
Ah that's a very good idea, didn't realise that was an option!
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I've never used the feature myself (I don't tend to leave my town much!) but as I gather if you set a temporary location for your days in the office and then still close the morning and afternoon then obviously it would mean you could pick up and evening match travelling from your office rather than your home. The only caveat to this would be, say you may get sent an hour's travel from your office in the opposite direction from your house giving you a much longer journey home at the end...
 
My employer is not understanding at all. Twice a week I pick my son up from school and have to return to work to finish off, sometimes bringing him with me. I had to book half a days holiday so that I could assist on a county semi final the other week. Even then they kept ringing me and wouldn’t leave me alone.
 
RefereeX said:
I've never used the feature myself (I don't tend to leave my town much!) but as I gather if you set a temporary location for your days in the office and then still close the morning and afternoon then obviously it would mean you could pick up and evening match travelling from your office rather than your home. The only caveat to this would be, say you may get sent an hour's travel from your office in the opposite direction from your house giving you a much longer journey home at the end...
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That's okay, easier to persuade my wife I'll be home late than my boss I'll be leaving early!
 
I'm able to shoot off from work any time of day or night to referee/line/observe, attend training & development events etc. just so long as my work gets done. 👍 Never a problem for me.

It's probably worth mentioning at this stage that my Line Manager is also a referee/observer ... ;):D
 
Kes said:
I'm able to shoot off from work any time of day or night to referee/line/observe, attend training & development events etc. just so long as my work gets done. 👍 Never a problem for me.

It's probably worth mentioning at this stage that my Line Manager is also a referee/observer ... ;):D
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If I get promoted enough at work then this could be an option on all days bar recording/publication days!
 
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Also worth keeping in mind you won't be getting lots and lots of WNL games.

My first season at WNL level this year and I've had:

1 Midweek Middle, 1 WFA Cup (proper rounds) Middle, 1 PGA Middle
4 Sunday AR, 2 Midweek AR, 1 PGA AR.

My availability was really good, no Sunday dates were closed and midweek only closed on odd occasions, PGA midweek daytime was closed for Jan/Feb but open all others months.

As such you probably wont need that many favours to meet what's asked of you. One caveat I would add is that being in Kent we dont have a lot of WNL teams so that would have hampered my ability to be given games.

The changes to the promotion scheme's and the "pools" of referee's they are going to utilise next season may well hamper you next season too so I wouldn't worry too much or make any big decisions work wise. Get to that level first then see how it pans out, you'll probably find its not going to have too big an impact.

Ste
 
If you go on the women's pathway bear in mind that men will be "positively discriminated" against at some stage.
Not my choice of phrase, it was said by Joanna Stimpson Women's Game National Referee Development Manager
 
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