Flexible working choice

[Moleinacoma]

I am late 50s and looking to reduce the hours I work in a busy office job. Financially, I need to do around 25 hours per week. All else being equal, would you prefer to work 3 8 hour days and have every Friday and one other, yet to be decided, day off each week, or work 4 days 8.30 to 2.30? And have every Friday off? I can see advantages in both arrangements and can't make up my mind, so am really interested in what other people would decide, and why

Personally I’d do 3 days.

Personally I'd do four shorter days. I'm mid fifties and would love to finish early, after 3 I'm starting to flag.
Also, with a couple of extra hrs in the afternoon you might get a few things done that completely frees up your Fridays for you to do whatever you want.

I work 27h 45 mins and work 3 days a week.

This is for childcare reasons rather than retirement but i find it gives me a great work life balance (plus 4 day weekends every week)

I would recommend 4 shorter days. I am younger than you but have some long term health issues that are being exacerbated as I age. I have totally given up on the concept of what I used to consider as "normal" 8 hour office days because I am no longer capable of doing 8 hours of work and also doing the basics of self care keeping myself fed, hydrated and hygienic. You're probably perfectly capable of much more than me right now, but assuming you want this arrangement to last you all the way through to retirement, I would suggest that pacing yourself and spreading the work (I would do the 4 days as mon tue thu and fri) will be manageable for longer.

I do 26hrs a week, 6.5hrs day for 4 days then Fridays off.
i used to do 20hrs, finishing at 2, which was fab, but needs must 😝, previously always worked full time, so value part time hours v much.

The idea of 4 short days is pretty appealing and I feel I could fit in exercise, batch cooking, housework, etc post work and then have the weekend and my day off to do the things I really enjoy! I think also I am starting to find long days quite tiring, as Rated says above ..I rarely finish on time anyway, and by the time I get home all I can generally be bothered to do is cook, eat, a couple of chores and then read or tv. Maybe the 4 short days would leave me with more energy in the later afternoon/evening so a work day wouldn't feel so much like a day full of work!

How far is your commute and what are commuting costs?

Would you actually do the shorter day, though, or would it creep up?

3 days, without a doubt.

Even more so when you say you inevitable end up staying a bit longer. Far better to do that 3x than 4x, plus it is more difficult to get away "in the early afternoon" when everyone else is still at work.
Plus commute time, and getting up and out in the morning - presumably having to dress in work clothes and have sorted out your lunch.

No way in the world would I do 4 if I could do those hours over 3 days.

3 days without a doubt - I find it quite difficult to leave the office earlier than colleagues (I leave at 5:30, the rest work until 6 - I will also have been in since 8:30 or 9:00 thought, they don't come in before 9:30 - see, I'm even justifying it here!!), plus if you already struggle to get away on time, it'll never happen, meetings are likely to get put in that you'll be expected to stay on for. Whereas if you have a set pattern of working days, people soon get used to it.