Working 4 days a week...Mon or weds off?

[Decafflatteplease]

Hypothetically...if you worked a 4 day week and could have either a Monday or a weds off which one would you choose and why? I'm trying to decide for a potential job if I want Mon or weds off?

Mon off would be good as then all my working days of Tues weds Thur Fri are in a row. I like going to the gym on a Monday morning to get it done ✅. Cons of Mon are the house is usually already tidy from the weekend and washing caught up on so not much to do

Weds would be good as it's the middle of the week, a break from work. I could "reset" the house on weds as by then there's usually washing piling up, I can start organising things for the weekend etc. but then I'd miss my Monday gym class .

What would you do and why? First world problem I know!

Probably Wednesday to break the week up, but Friday in preference to Monday if it was on offer

Definitely Wednesday then with the bank holidays you will have Monday and Wednesday off some weeks

I work four days and have a Wednesday off and I love it. It helps that a wfh on a Tuesday too so like this week I've taken Thursday and Friday off but have only had to be in the office today and basically at home the rest of the week now.

Never in work more than two days in a row.

Ideal day to do a top up shop.

Everyone has Mondays and Fridays off so Wednesdays are quieter.

I like my job so don't mind the Sunday night feeling and the busyness of Mondays and I don't mind working Fridays because everyone is in a good mood!

Not Wednesdays - found it was like 2 Mondays! Fridays were best, end of week, everything winding down.

I wish someone had told this to me or my manager, I worked 4 years for the NHS and was never paid or given time in lieu for the Monday bank holidays. It is beggars belief, isn't it? But it happens.

The only con for Mondays is that you may not feel the benefit of the bank hols and/or pay? Good luck xx

@OnGoldenPond I didn't know this. I have Monday and Friday off each week and work 3 full days. So you're saying as full timers will have a Monday off and get paid for it if it's a bank holiday then I should get another day off paid? Is that right?

I would take the Monday.

Wednesday, because of the bank holidays.

I have a Monday off and love it. I enjoy my weekends much more because you're not stressing about having everything ready for Monday morning, all you have to worry about is getting the kids sorted then you have Monday to do everything else. Big food shop, washing totally caught up from the weekend, house cleaned.

@Carsarelife you wouldn't get a full day off in lieu of each bank holiday as you are part time. As you work 3 days a week you would be entitled to have 3/5 of the usual 8 bank holidays added to your annual leave allowance = 4.8 days (usually rounded up to 5 days). You would then need to use one of these days for any bank holidays that fall on a working day. Any left are yours to use at a time you agree with your employer like the rest of your leave. They would, however, be entitled to direct when you take these lieu days to suit the business as full timers don't get any choice in when they take these days. However, in practice most seem to allow you to book them like any other annual leave.

Monday, although please note hairdressers are closed so youll not be able to have your appointmenton your non working day!

Bank holidays for part time workers should work as follows:

Let's say your company's standard holiday is 20 days. In addition, there are 8 Uk bank holidays.

If you work 3 days a week, you would be entitled to three-fifths of both the holiday allowance and the bank holidays, ie 12 days holiday and 4.8 bank holiday days.

So what your company should do is say that you have 16.8 days annual leave (adding the two together).

You should be free to take these whenever you want - but if your normal working day falls on a bank holiday, then you would have to use one of your 16.8 days on that bank holiday.

This is why it is often good not to work on a Monday if you are part time, as you could end up using more than your 4.8 pro-rated bank holiday days on bank holidays (Easter Monday, 2x May, 1 x August, 3 at Xmas and NY)

Xpost with @OnGoldenPond - I was too slow to type mine!

I have Mondays off. I love it. I make sure I have a proper weekend and any prep or extra work I need to do gets done on a Monday. It also means I can go away for long weekends (although this very rarely happens). The only downside is I do miss out on bank holidays. Most jobs should ensure you still get these though.

I’ve worked both patterns. Mondays off is nice for taking long weekends away. But my favourite was Wednesday for all the midweek reset reasons you described in your OP. Also didn’t feel like I was missing start the week type discussions/meetings at work.

I would love a Wed off to reset middle of the week but that's not possible in my work. My day off is a Friday, lose less bank holidays that way and works with the half day Friday for school

In my workplace about half of us are part time, we have an unofficial agreement that everyone will work Wednesdays so that we can have meetings, training, all those sorts of things. Some work Mon-Wed, some Wed-Fri, some Tue-Thur, some Mon-Thur, some 5 short days.

I have worked both Mon-Wed and Tue to Thurs and prefer Mon-Wed, otherwise you come in on Tuesday and feel behind, you’ve missed all the what did you do at the weekend stuff, the emails have piled up far more than they seem to at the end of the week. In a previous job I worked Tue/Thur/Fri and hated having the day off in the middle of the week, you got the Monday morning having to catch up thing twice. So my preference would be Friday off but if that’s not possible then Monday, neither are great IMO but both better than Weds.

Have Monday off or you annual leave will be taken away to make up for the 'extra' bank holiday time you get

How does it work then with BH entitlement if you are part time working every day but only 4 hours each day?

I work 4 condensed days and have a Wednesday off. I like that I only have 2 days before a day off. With bank holidays I have the Monday off also