If you were cutting your hours in work, what days would you work

[callingyouaflower]

I'm contemplating reducing my working hours down to 4 days a week. Problem is I can't decide the best day to take off?! Automatically I thought Friday but I'm now unsure if maybe a Wednesday would break the week up better?

What would you think?

I used to work Tues to Friday and loved having Mondays off. I never had that impending Sunday night feeling, even on a Monday night.

@RatedDoingMagic thanks for explaining how leave is calculated. I did not realise that the total entitlement is calculated including public holidays.

Every employer gave me a fixed number of days of leave in my employment contract (this is a law firm mind you so they should know), which was exclusive and in addition to public holidays.

I work 4 days and chose Wednesday off. Nice break up in the week and if there is a BH Monday, I use just one day of holiday for Tuesday and bingo! I've got 5 days off in a row!

id take off wednesday, less resentment from co workers

I work a compressed week and take Thursdays off. Its never a day I particularly liked working anyway, and it still breaks up the week, and its nice to log back in knowing I have one more day left on Fridays.

I take two afternoons off. I prefer it, I’m in touch in the office every day and I get some time to myself. If I had a full day off I’d just waste it, I'm more productive having two half days.

Friday
There are more other people around on Friday as it is a popular day off so you might be able to have a meet-up with a friend, if anything is happening at the weekend involving travel you have the option of leaving earlier or even Thursday evening, downing tools on a Thursday and not picking up again until Monday morning just feels longer than one day off work.

Before I retired last year I’d moved down to a couple of days a week, and chose Wednesday and Thursday as it seemed most sensible. For three days I’d have done Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. (At the risk of being a T.W.A.T. employee…)

But four days is trickier. How about compressing 3.5/4 days into three long days and doing the Tuesday, Wednesday And Thursday pattern?

I have weds off and generally I’m very happy with it. It’s a nice break mid week to catch up on house stuff or take appointments and only two work days in a row.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and then you don't have to mess about with pro-rating bank holiday entitlement.

Bank holidays will be added pro rata onto her entitlement if she doesn't work on a Monday.

I'm the same - no Sunday blues! Don't get it on a Monday evening for some reason!
I'd quite like to drop a Friday too 😁

Mondays are great!! My BH entitlement for the year is 6.4 (I work 4 days). So I often end up with 2-3 extra days a year that I can book at my leisure as 'bank holidays in lieu'.

Basically - any bank holidays that fall on a Monday I don't get paid for, but have still got a bank holiday entitlement so I can use them when I want. Helpful now my son is at school to have a few extra days to play with. Agree with PP about working Fridays and with taking Mondays off you still get a 3 day weekend and no sinking Sunday night feeling!

I take Mondays off so work tues-fri. I much prefer it to any other day. I finish work on Friday have Saturday and Sunday with the family but come Monday I still have a day off to myself and skip the Monday blues (I don’t get them when heading back to work Tuesday).

@blueshoes
I work 4 full days a week, Tuesday-Friday. That is 80% full time.

There are usually 8 bank holidays in a year, so on top of my (pro rata) annual leave allowance, I get 8 x 0.8 days leave in lieu of bank holidays. That's 6.4 days.

I have to take a day from this allowance if a BH falls on my usual working day. The least amount of bank holidays that fall on a Monday is 4 (Easter Monday, May Day, Whitsun, August); in these years I
only need to take 4 or my 6.4 "bank holiday" days on non-Monday bank holidays.(Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday,). So at worst I am 2.4 days up.

The most amount of bank holidays that can fall on a Monday is 6 (if Christmas and New Year's Day are on a Monday). In these years I only need to take 2 of my 6.4 bank holiday days on my working days (Good Friday and Boxing Day). So at best I am 4.4 days up!

Good Friday is obvs never on a Monday; Boxing Day cant be on the same day of the week as Christmas Dat.

I wouldn't choose the middle of the week, I'd rather have an extended time off each week instead. As you can't properly settle in the middle of the week, as you're back the next day. It would have to be a Monday or a Friday for me - probably Monday, as everyone is winding down for the weekend on Fridays anyway!

Having a Monday off works well for me as I get the BH’s added to my annual leave (pro rata so 0.8 wte) to use whenever I wish. I need to use one day for Good Friday and a bit more depending what days Christmas and New Year fall but on I always end up better off.

I’ve done Mondays , Fridays and Wednesday. All have their merit but Mondays was my favourite as I felt I could start the week more chilled etc. Wednesday I could never fully relax as I knew I was back in the next day for some reason but it broke the week up nicely.
I now do 3 long days Tuesday- Thursday instead, they are long days but worth it for 4 days off a week.

I don't work Mondays. No-one tries to ask you to swap (even those who are unaware that I won't, a slippery slope), no Sunday night dread, and if you go away for a weekend, no trains with engineering works and rail replacement buses.

I've had different days off over my career.

Weds worked the best for me because my colleagues knew I would be back on Thurs & Fri so there was no panic.

Friday was good, but I dreaded what I'd be coming back to on Monday and often picked bits up on a Friday.

Monday was also good, but lots of places were closed on a Monday so the "use day off to visit places" didn't work so well.

So, I'd go with a Weds. It breaks the week up and you don't work longer than 2 days in a row.

Surely you’d have your full entitlement pro-rated and you’d just take holidays when you used them, so you wouldn’t need to use them for your non-working day.

Wednesday is my day off and it’s perfect. Never too much work to come back too, breaks the week up, get caught up at home, never miss the bank holidays. I think it’s perfect. Plus not many other people do it, they tend to opt for the Monday or Friday off if they’re working part time/condensed hours so it’s good cover across the team.

I work Mon to Thurs one week and Tues to Fri the next, so every fortnight I have a long weekend

The only thing I'd say about Mondays is that round here lots of the independent places are shut on a Monday, cafes, hairdressers etc. So worth checking that as it would really bug me if they were shut on my day off.
I like Fridays off. It is quieter at work but that means that Monday isn't a horrifying mess of emails and urgent requests so I don't start the week behind.

Wednesday is a good day in my role - two days to get on with work, it keeps moving whilst you’re off and then back on Thursday and Friday. I have always been flexible with swopping days if required for events though. Not that frequently but if required have usually swopped for a Friday!