kjorg,
Before you ask, make sure your "shorter week" isn't going to be an inconvenience for anyone else. My co-worker was granted a shorter week and no one took into consideration the burden it placed on me. No one asked me if I minded covering her work or if it would cause me any problems in completing my own work. As it turned out, I could get nothing done on Fridays because I had to do her job of answering the phones. Friday afternoons weren't to bad but the mornings were non-stop - especially if we had bids the following week. What made me so upset about the situation was she told me it would be occasionally and after one week, it turned into every Friday with no one but me asking why she was being allowed to have this arrangement when she is our receptionist. It also upset me because when I was given my promotion last year, it was with the understanding that she would start working all week, not just the four days she started out with and I would only cover on lunch hours, vacation days and sick days. Two weeks ago we had very important visitors here for a meeting that I got called into and the girl that would normally help out was off site doing her own job. It caused a major headache all around and presented a poor image of our company to these visitors.
I can understand your need for time at home. I'm fortunate that I get to go home for lunch if I choose to do so. However, I'm one that believes that if a business is open certain hours, those are the hours the employees need to be at work or at least at the office during the hours of their shift (unless their job is one that doesn't require them to work in an office). If I have personal business to attend to that can only be done during my work hours, I take a vacation or personal day to handle it. Everything else can be done at night or on the weekends. I'm here to work for my company on their terms and hours. Call me old fashioned.
Michelle
