Part Time Misconceptions.

[RebekahMikaelson]

I have had my part time hours approved as of next week, I am dropping to three days. I can afford to do this because after the childcare is paid there is no net difference in my wage.

Last week I had to fight for my right to 5.6 weeks of leave pro rata. My manager was adamant that I was only entitled to 20 days as I don't work any bank holidays.

Today I found out that a lot of my colleagues have been saying how lucky I am to have children, because it means I can work part time for the same money.

I have had to explain that the only reason I can afford it is because I work full time for £££ and pay £££ childcare, and part time I work for £ and pay £ childcare. They work Ft for £££ and pay no childcare.

They all genuinely thought I got extra money, and extra holidays. I've really struggled to get my point across and they were all resenting my 'good fortune', unfairly.

Has anyone else experienced this? How did you deal with it? It doens't help that my office is full of young childfree people, I suppose.

[laylaloulou]

I worked for a retail chain a few years ago, and my colleagues were absolutely vile about the fact that I worked part time.

I think people get jealous of part timers but don't realise that they often work part time because they have other commitments, not because they want to sit around watching daytime tv and eating chocolate!

[fredfredgeorgejnr]

You weren't entitled to the leave beyond the minimum legal though? It was all part of your contract re-negotiations surely? Nothing wrong with requesting it and getting it, but I don't see how you were entitled to it?

It is good fortune though, your net position from 3 days work is the same as from 5 days work. I think many people would find that good fortune, yes you get less money than them and much less than if you didn't have kids, but that's irrelevant they were commenting on your good fortune that it's worked out like that for you. If they worked only 60% of the time, they'd get a lot less money.

[RebekahMikaelson]

No, I mean I had to fight to get the statutory minimum. And now everyone thinks I 'get the bank holidays twice'.

No, I get the same amount of leave as everyone else, pro ratad down to three days. The fact that 8 days of the full time leave are fixed as bank holidays has no bearing on my leave entitlement. I haven't gained anything.

[RebekahMikaelson]

They were adamant that as the legal entitlement is 28 days, which in our firm includes the bank holidays, as I don't work Mon/Fri I lose all the bank holidays and only get 3/5ths of 20 days.

They were wrong.

[PervyMuskrat]

5.6 weeks is the legal minimum so you are entitled to that, pro rated for the number of days worked.

I work 4 days and have only had a couple of joking comments - a swift "you could do it too if you want to take a 20% pay cut" shut it down pretty fast

[LadyMaryofDownton]

Are they a bit thick? They sound it, surely no one thinks you get double holidays!

[MistletoeBUTNOwine]

I work 16 h per week. Dropped down from 30 when had ds. Never had any funny comments! I'd tell em to eff off!

[RebekahMikaelson]

One of my colleagues, who is senior to me, said, yeah but parents get all sort of tax breaks so you're automatically better off.

Er, what? I don't get any tax breaks or tax credits!

[ghostyslovesheep]

I hear you op I loose put big time on bank holiday as I only get 3/5 of the day! So my flex takes a huge hit

[Nolim]

I dont think you can convince them of your fair point. Dont go into the logistics of childcare. It is alien to them. I agree with pervy: tell them they can get 2 days off for 40% less money.
One day they will grow up.

[concretekitten]

I'm confused by your holidays tho, if u get 20 days when u work 3 days pw that works out as 6.6 weeks a year.
You should get 3/5 of your normal annual holiday allowance + 3/5 of the bank holidays in a year. Even if u don't work on Mondays you're still entiteled to bank holidays on a pro rata basis.

I've had problems over holiday entitlement, my employer is part of some scheme where they offer free legal advice to employees so I used them to help me get it resolved.

But yes there seems to be this misconception that I work part time because my DH earns so much money that I can just chose to only work part time.
When in actual fact, the truth is it would be totally pointless me paying for childcare so I can go out to work. So instead I look after the kids in the day, do the school runs etc...
I go to work part time in the evenings and at weekends so we don't have to pay childcare.
If i worked full time hours (all my colleagues do) on top of being a full time mum I would probably die! It's just not an option.
We're not well off, but we're better off than if I worked full time day time hours.

[RebekahMikaelson]

Concrete, everyone (almost everyone) is entitled to 5.6 weeks holiday. For people who work 5 days a week that is 28 days.

Our company closes on Bank Holidays and chooses to make us take those days as Paid Leave, so that's 8 days of our entitlement spoken for.

My boss thought that as I dont' work any MOndays or Fridays that I dont' get ANY 'bank holiday entitlement' so therefore just had 20 days pro rata (ie 12 days holiday).

It took an entire day of convincing. She even told me the Gov.uk website was wrong.

[concretekitten]

Ah yes, and the assumption that we all get tax credits! Yeah that £0pw comes in so handy, I'd be lost without that!

[RebekahMikaelson]

But yes, working full time was killing us, and we had to pay a cleaner and I never see the kids. Which was fine if it was financially rewarding but when we worked out there would be no net difference it was a no brainer.

[concretekitten]

Sorry I thought you meant that they told you you only got 20 days. I was thinking that seemed good to me. No 12 days is defo wrong. Glad you got it sorted in the end

[RebekahMikaelson]

Oh yes, I've just reread my OP and that wasn't very clear. No, they meant 20 days pro rata instead of 28 days pro rata. Arses.

[concretekitten]

Yeh when we were deciding about my working hours we looked at the net fingeres.
Definitely helps to factor in those hidden costs like having a cleaner, travel expenses, even food costs. When you're working full time you don't have the same time to cook economically, shop around for the best buys, you end up spending more on convenience foods or coffee shops on your break etc... All those little things add up.

Hope you enjoy working part time. We never get these years back, I think it's so important to enjoy them whilst we can x

[RebekahMikaelson]

Thank you!

[treaclesoda]

I have come across this too. I once met a man who thought that when female colleagues went part time (and most of the time it is the women who do it) that they just worked a couple of days a week but maintained their full pay. He genuinely had no idea that reducing their hours reduced their pay as well.

On a different note, I once was registering with a recruitment agency and the recruitment consultant didn't know the difference between a part time job and a temporary job. He didn't believe me that there was such a thing as a permanent or long term contract that wasn't full time hours. And when I finally got placed in a part time job by a different agency, the lady there told me that I was entitled to 20 days leave per year, which was very generous for a part time job, and really equated to double what a full time staff member would be getting. Only it wasn't - I worked every day of the week, but for fewer hours. So naturally I wasn't getting a full day's leave when I took a day off, I was actually only getting a half day, which is as it should be.

It amazes me how clueless some people are about part time work.

[jollydad]

I work p/t, 3 days a week.

In my firm the holidays are worked out like this:

• the non-bank holiday element is pro-rated for the amount of time you work, so I get 60% of 30 days (realise I am lucky to get this much)
  

-for bank holidays, if a bank holiday falls on one of your working days then you get it off, if doesn't you don't, theres no additional adjustment.

So depending when Christmas falls and what days you are due in the office you can do better or worse than the pro-rata. I'm in the office Mon to Wed so usually do quite well as at least 4 of the bank holidays are Monday and often more (depends on Christmas). This Christmas I "lost out" as all the bank holidays were on Thurs and Friday, which I wasn't in work for anyway.

Anyone who gives me the "its all right for some, another long weekend" type comment more than a few times gets the "well maybe you should look at doing it yourself, of course you'll take a 40% pay cut". I also correct people when they call Thursday and Fridays my "days -off" its a non-working day, I'm not getting paid for them!

I have to admit though, most people are really good about it and theres no animosity about it.

[Johnny5isAlive]

Yes lots of snidey comments from my colleagues.

I dropped to 0.6 fte. Earn a lot less than previous (taking into account my salary, shift allowance and standby and overtime) but in actual fact I work a lot harder and am under a lot more stress. I find myself working every evening and on my non-working days. The office bitches have no clue