Which working hour pattern would you prefer?

[joeysapple]

Choices are:

Working pattern 1:
3 days 9-4
2 days 9-5

Or

Working pattern 2:
4 days 9-5.30?

Commute is about an hour each way So pattern 2 would mean not getting home until 6.30pm or later 4 days a week.

4 days no question

Assuming an hour for lunch each day then

Pattern 1 is 32 hours
and pattern 2 is 30 hours.

What are you planning hourswise?

4 days

There’s 5 hours difference between those two patterns, so not really comparable.

I've recently gone from something like option 1 (five days 9-5.15) to option 2 (four days 8.30-5.30) and I'm loving it, but I have a toddler - I don't think it's what I'd pick if I had a secondary age child. My plan is to stick with the reduced hours but go back to splitting them over 5 days when DS goes to school so I can pick him up twice a week; that feels like a better use of time to me than having a day a week off but with him not there.

4 days for sure. I don’t know many people who finish work before 5.30 so getting home for 6.30 is pretty standard really

Definitely 4 longer days for a day off. If it mean like lunch time finishes on your shorter days then maybe but the way it is I'd go with the longer

With a secondary aged child I’d finish earlier and have a more relaxed evening.

Hours wise they are both 32 hours.

Working pattern one has a one hour lunch.

Working pattern two has a thirty minute lunch. Working pattern two could also be 8.30-5.

Working pattern two would mean a longer commute home on three days as traffic is heavier at 5/5.30 than it is at 4.

4 days. and in school holidays you will have a day with your dc.

Pattern 2. But only if your day off is genuinely a day off.

So many people working part time/compressed hours get calls on their days off asking if they can just log on to check something or answer a question.