Best working days?

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

I work 3 days a week (22.5 hrs) but I work the hours flexibly to fit in with school run. However recently this has seemed to mean that I'm in the office most days and I've been coming to the conclusion that three days on the traditional 9-5 might be better (for me!). My youngest is in year 5 and school has good wraparound care.

If you work three days a week, which days and why?

I'm hoping to do Tues, Wed, Thurs.
Monday - most inset days and DC do a club in the neighbouring town.
Friday - school finishes at 12, no after school care.
So, depends on your timetable.

I do Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, most occasional holidays and in service days are on Mondays and Fridays where we are. My boss is flexible though so if my DD has an event at school I can switch working days.

I work Weds, Thurs and Fri. Reason being when I went PT, the eldest was also PT (Weds PM, Thurs and Fri) so I did it to fit in with his schedule.

Now the school age kids are FT, my official days remain the same but do have flexibility (if someone is ill I can swap my days). I am flexible in return though. I work in finance so I always work month end.

I do have family who provide childcare, so they can accommodate my childcare needs.

I used to do three days to fit around dh's shifts....the weeks I liked best were the two where I did
Mon/Tu/Wed one week and Wed/Thu/Fri the next!

I like a variety though as otherwise it's easy to get stuck in a hard and fast routine.

Not Mondays, due to bank holidays.

I do three days a week Tuesday to Thursday: originally it was so we could have weekends away more easily when DS was little without using a days annual leave, and now he's at school I like having my Monday's to myself, never have the Sunday night feeling when I start work on the Tuesday and work from home on Thursday.

I still get my long weekend every week so it gives me a much better balance between home and work. I can be flexible though and we do have family for help with childcare.

I work Mon, Tues and Fri and I like having the mid-week break from work. I used to have Mondays off but I didn't like this as when it was a Bank Holiday I didn't benefit from the long weekend as others did.

For three days I like Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It means I'm never in work too long and things are less likely to get dropped with a four day wait. I'm moving back to a four day week and will have Wednesday off.

I do a 4 day week but if I did 3 I'd do Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I have Fridays off at the moment and it's nice having the long weekends to go away etc.

I work Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I didn’t want 3 days in a row while DS is little.

I do Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday and it works really well for me. There's some flexibility but it also means that I get a longer weekend, we can go away for the weekend without too much leave to take, I'm there for the start of the week with my DC at school and my work are happy because they prefer people to do their days together rather than chopping and changing.

Just don't work a Monday! The BH are pain the backside!!

I work tues to fri, I would drop friday if I could. Many childminders don't work fridays if you're using one or thinking if it. Also bank holidays. In my company if you work part time BH come out of your annual leave, and the way they adjust for it means I actually end up with an extra half day more than if I was full time! Not sure if they're doing it right but I'm keeping quiet!

One thing to consider, as some have alluded to is bank holidays - how does your company treat BH allowance for PT staff?

We get a pro rata allowance, which has to be used to cover BH days and then any left over is normal holiday.

So anyone doing 3 days a week as I do, get 5 BH days. Those working Mondays have to cover 4 Mondays, then xmas and NY which can be different days, so potentially 7 BH days, meaning they are actually in deficit!

Those working Tues-Thurs (as I do) cover only xmas and NY days, so a max of 3 depending on when the winter BH days fall. Thus I always get a minimum of two extra days hols, sometimes more.

Some of my PT colleagues have even swapped working pattern to Tues -Thurs to ensure they make the most of BH allowance. The extra days can mean a lot with kids.

I also like my Mondays off, love to chill at start of week. Mine are now young adults, but when they were younger, having that first day of week off to catch up was invaluable.

As well as all the good stuff mentioned by PP, I'd suggest you think about whether there are any days that your work have important meetings/days that deadlines tend to be on. When I tried part time working, one issue I had was that big meetings with people from other offices (where important stuff was often agreed, and where opportunities often came up) were nearly always on Fridays, and despite all efforts to put my deadlines on Wednesdays those above me always seemed to let them move to the end of the week. This all meant that either I risked missing out on important stuff, not being around for deadlines or spending most of my Fridays off either in the office for part of the time or on the phone for a lot of it. In theory I could have taken a day off the following week to make up for it but I usually had other stuff in the diary for then.

Thanks all, food for thought...

I work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday which works well for me. I’m in work for the busiest day (Monday) but have a day off mid week. And I love my Fridays off!

Mon Tue thur here too, project based work so only being out of the office a day at a time is ideal.

Yes I currently get BH pro rata, so not worried about that.

In current job I have a newsletter that I need to send out every other Friday, but if working longer on Thurs I could do it then and schedule to go out on Friday.

To complicate matters I have an interview for a new job next Monday (also three days) so could be different again...

I'd prob use breakfast and after school club for youngest, oldest DS is yr 8 and already a latch key kid some days if his sister has after school activities.