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I work part time for a company. Recently the company was acquired, and the HR department is in another country/time zone.

I reported an incident to HR. Now they want meetings with me and for me to provide them with documents etc. These meetings are interfering with my (paid) work for another job. I'm going to have to reschedule on them again and I'm afraid it will antagonize them.

How can I approach this? Should I just keep rescheduling or suggest we stick to email? I don't think the HR rep realizes how part time I work for their company. Also I use my personal phone and do not want to pay for an international call, so they have to call me. I've had to reschedule once and now I need to reschedule again.

In general, when speaking to HR, should it be paid for or done during a paid work day?

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  • It sounds like your employer may not be aware that you are also employed elsewhere. Be advised, depending on contract and jurisdiction this may introduce further problems, e.g. your taxes are calculated from all your jobs, not per job individually, some contracts forbid working for someone else simultaneously etc. I assume this is further followup to the sexual harassment / social media / confidentiality agreement question chain?
    – Koenigsberg
    Commented Nov 9, 2019 at 9:49
  • @user109861 I'm not sure why this is getting so many downvotes. I've edited it to add paragraphs, in case people felt it was a wall of text. Please revert my edit if you disagree.
    – Player One
    Commented Nov 9, 2019 at 12:09

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In general, when speaking to HR, should it be paid for or done during a paid word day?

Since this is a work-related issue, it should be performed "on the clock" and you should be paid.

Find an on the clock time that works for both of you. Propose that you speak with them during that time period. Make sure that you are providing enough time to meet their needs as well as yours.

Augment that with emails as needed.

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Any meeting should be billable time.

The rule of thumb I use is "would I be doing this if I wasn't at work?". If the answer is no, then I charge for it.

So for example, things like eating lunch, or going to the gym are not billable time, even if they happen during work hours.

Administrative meetings (for example with HR) are billable time. You're only attending because your employer has asked you to. Your employer should be charged for any of your time that they use.

It's also always a good idea to make that clear before you start working with a client - if they disagree, then you'll have to make an assessment of if they're really worth working for.

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  • Probably best to ask the manager or whoever is going to be billed rather than trying to explain to people offsite
    – Kilisi
    Commented Nov 9, 2019 at 6:59
  • @Kilisi personally I go with the approach of making it clear what I do and don't consider billable before I sign anything and start work. If they want me to attend meetings for free, then we weren't going to work very well together, and we can both continue looking.
    – Player One
    Commented Nov 9, 2019 at 9:55
  • So I suppose "look at the contract you signed" is a better answer than the one than I've given here, really. But I don't agree that a manager should be able to tell me that they intend to use some of my time without compensating me. It need to be mutually agreed on.
    – Player One
    Commented Nov 9, 2019 at 10:22
  • Its a takeover, not a job search, hierarchy is there for a reason, both for the protection of the employee and the company. Managers role to clarify stuff like this to both sides and act as a buffer. I actually agree with your answer, just not the direct employee vrs HR dialogue without the manager
    – Kilisi
    Commented Nov 9, 2019 at 10:39
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    @Kilisi I agree that hierarchy is useful. I'd suggest that after a takeover then the new company would still be bound by what the old company had agreed to. I don't suggest the OP talks to HR about billable time at all, but it's a good point that they should let their manager know in advance that HR is using their time like this. Unless of course the incident is about the manager (and if it is then the OP should edit it into the question).
    – Player One
    Commented Nov 9, 2019 at 10:43

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