Would you reduce your hours by 4 per week?

[onesadmama]

Im returning to work soon. I wanted to reduce to 30 hours (x3 10 hour days) but my work aren't supportive as resources are too low and projects behind already (despite having 2 staff members with reduced hours in the team and my projects being behind because of poor management of mat replacement)

Instead, I proposed reducing to 33 hours (0.9 FTE) from 37 and condensing over 4 days, so that I have 2 long days and 2 short days (where i do Nursery pick up)

They just said I should keep full hours and work extra 4 hours in the evening once DC has gone to bed as i'm losing £300 per month as a result of those 4 hours but still expected to do the FT position.

However I feel like that's going to be really stressful, working 8 hours, then doing housework, cooking dinner, and actually trying to see my DC for more than 20 minutes a day before the bedtime routine, then log back in at 9pm once all my home jobs are done.

I really don't know what to do. Is losing so much money per month worth the extra 4 hours per week? Or do i just log in per night and do an extra hour before going to bed at 10pm to get up at 5am (when my DC do).

doing 3 long days per week seemed worth it for 2 days with DC in the week, however im not sure if 4 long days for 1 day seems worth it..

Just looking for some external thoughts really.

@KnickerlessParsons but I don't want to only work and do chores I want some downtime with my child and husband. I don't see that as a big ask really.

Does he share the cooking, housework and everything else equally, or does he just do the easy stuff?

He does the washing up, sorts the gardens, the 'quick' daily cleans and tidy, fetches the foodshop.

I do the deeper cleans weekly, sort the bills, order the food shop, cook.

We share the laundry, though tbf when I work most falls to me as I work from home so can stick the washer on whilst boiling the kettle.

He preps the bottles in the am, and kind of does what I say in regards to the baby. We share feeding and bathtime.

If I work full time he's very aware he'll need to take more of the stuff off me.

I do it. But I am strict on not going over hours.

My old jobs wouldn't allow me to go pt when I had dc. But I was 'allowed' one day wfh. In the end I can see all that would have happened if they said yes was me working ft hours for less pay and in the stress of having the same work load to do in less time. Sounds like you'd have the same situation

I do full time over 4 days and log in after bed time. It really isn't bad. I save basic admin tasks, clearing out emails, easy stuff for home so I can do it in the living room with the telly on.

If you're going to do the same workload either way (you will) then why lose the cash?

I wouldn't drop 4 hours as you will end up doing them unpaid. I agree with others either push for part time or find a way to make full time compressed work.

This works if you have a system that you have to do x tasks during the week.
But OP's talk of hours suggests that she's expected to work 37 (or however many) hours.

She's mentioned project work being behind. If she can do more work, it sounds like there is work to be done. She can't just stop after 34 hours and claim she's done enough.

Hey OP,

I had the same option and agreed to trial FT for 6 mo with a review (so if I ‘couldn’t’ do the hours I’d feel less under pressure). I’ve decided now to stick at FT but my employer doesn’t really check up on my hours do much as outputs. If I’m on a big project I might work beyond time, but in quiet weeks the laptop defo stays shut.

could you trial it?

I'd start looking elsewhere. It's an employee's market at the moment and there are actual part time roles out there. I'm surprised they're not more worried about you doing that actually, given that they're a member of staff down already.

@redskydelight she said she could be more time efficient in what she does which I felt indicated that she could get the same amount of work done in 34 hours that was done in 37.

Hi OP,
I reduced by a day a week (to 30 hrs) when I went back to work and I just did the same amount of work but was more stressed because the emails would build up when I wasn't there. I would keep those 4 hours and use the money for a cleaner or something. They will quickly be absorbed into the week.

which gives her 3 more hours to then do some of the backlog of stuff that's waiting to be done. Not to clock off early.

If there's nothing else to be done, that's a different scenario. But OP makes it clear that there is more work than resources.

This is why I'd be investigating other options. If it's already a full time job that requires more than full time hours and they don't seem to have any solution to being short staffed other than everyone give more than they're being paid for, that doesn't sound like a very attractive proposition.

The benefits of the job are really good. Great pension, sick, maternity pay etc, and we'll paid. It's just there we're funded so limited with members of staff we can employ.

BarbaraofSeville

You said the circumstances of others working .8 or .9 with nearly adult children is irrelevant. I think it is relevant. How come the employer allows them to do shorter hours and not the OP, when the OP haa a baby and needs it more.

The employer may be afraid of them leaving if they can't get their time off. How come the employer is not afraid of the OP leaving?

I think you OP should try to find another job, then say in the exit interview that you are leaving as you can't get .8 or .9. They may offer you this. If they don't then they are giving a clear message if they let you leave rather than give you .9.