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I have been in my current role for around 3 years.

I have been accepted for an inter-company transfer to a different department. My current contract is 40 hours per week and is based on 12 hour rotating shifts (one week will be 60 hours, the second week 24 hours).

The new role is 09:00 - 17:30 and is an entirely different job role with an increase in responsibility, it is NOT shift work anymore.

I had an informal chat with my current manager who said that they'd just extend my current contract and I would still be on a 40 hour week (although everyone in my new department is on 37.5 hours).

I expressed my concern for this and said I was unhappy and would like a new contract. Could you offer any advice on this please, am I right in asking for a new contract?

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  • This seems probably illegal. Ask a lawyer about the situation and which options do you have.
    – Sebastian Aguerre
    Feb 14, 2019 at 16:44
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    Why exactly do you need a new contract? Why is the old contract, amended to meet your current role (work-hours, salary etc.) not sufficient?
    – rath
    Feb 14, 2019 at 17:00

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Yes, you are within your rights to ask for a better contract as you are moving to a position that has more responsibilities. However, you are no longer doing shift work, so this has a price too (rotating shift work typically offers more pay).

Bottom line is you certainly can and should ask, but they can also say no. When you discuss a new contract with them formally, do so in a calm and factual manner.

Be prepared for them to say no too.

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Welcome to the workplace!

This might be country dependent...

Last workplace I was working as a process analyst and moved to Application Support Analyst instead. I did not get a new contract but did receive a contract amendment letter, which stated what changed in my contract, in my case only the job title.

Reading your contract might show you that it isn't explicit the hours you have to work, for example I went from working 12:00-20:00 to working 09:00-17:00 and didn't have a contract change because the contract stated that I was expected to work 37.5h a week between 08:00-20:00 Monday to Saturday as applicable.

If your original contract was broad enough, you may only need a contract amendment letter.

Workplaces can get around contract changes not being necessary when the contract points to a different document sometimes called "Job specification sheet" which is where the responsibilities, and all are added.

Raise your concerns with HR regarding this but in reality, this is something you should have discussed prior to accepting the change.

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  • Thanks for the response! I was accepted for the role in April 2018, it has taken them this long to finally accept me moving across. So far, i have not discussed any changes to them as of yet. I believe my contract states '40 hours per week on a shift basis'. However, the new role description is 'Core office hours, 09:00 - 17:30', core office hours being that of 37.5 hours a week. No one seemed to know when i was meant to be moving, including the Managing Director. I'll schedule a meeting with the new role's head of department and have an informal chat to him about it. Thanks again
    – Tom Sampson
    Feb 14, 2019 at 15:02
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    @TomSampson see, the problem there is that if you are working 09:00-17:30 with probably 1h lunch in there, you are theoretically still working 40 hours per week on a shift basis, it just happens that your shift is always the same. The broader approach of the contract encompasses those times just fine.
    – fireshark519
    Feb 15, 2019 at 9:15

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