My terms were:
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I can use my 1-hr unpaid lunch break whenever I want to without having to explain why. I have lots of personal appointments, which I use my lunch break to attend. Plenty of us in the office do this, but we have to run it by the head of department first. I'm not a school child who needs to be marked as “present” in class every morning or seen off to the bus every afternoon. I want autonomy over how I use my free/unpaid time.
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I will work from home for 1-day a week. I suggested Monday until midday and Friday after midday, explaining that my 1-hr break would factor into that WFH time (ie. I'm not going to come in midday on Monday and then take an hours lunch). They are completely opposed to WFH. Office culture and keeping tabs on everyone, the whole shebang. We don't need to be in the office the entirety of the work day; we can WFH easily. Covid proved that.
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I requested a decent salary with a contracted yearly pay increase in line with inflation. Not too much to ask, but they look to hire people at least $10,000 below my minimum asking. They approved my request this year for an inflation pay rise, but I don't want to have to ask for the common courtesy of my wage being in line with what is needed to survive.
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No additional clients to be added to my portfolio for at least 3-months. I want to get to know my current clients before they unload more onto me. They're trying to increase their client numbers all while we are losing client numbers, due to the huge workload and current economy, so this request would probably be difficult to navigate, particularly given my high salary request.
I don't think they'll accept my offer, but I don't particularly care. If those above, reasonable requests are not met, I won't agree to go back to full time. It feels good to not be so reliant on an employer that I'll just work myself to the bone.
They need me more than I need them. Wish me luck. Or don't. Doesn't matter much either way.