To ask if dropping a day would really make that much difference?

[stayingatthebottomofeverest]

Dh and I both work full time, are skint and have small kids.

It's pretty full on and exhausting and all the rest of it, and I have the opportunity to drop a day at work in a few months.

However, I don't know about it. It would mean the work would absolutely pile on in the four days I was in, and tbh I struggle to manage as it is.

Then there's a financial implication - everyone says you barely notice it.

Childcare costs would remain the same more or less as we get a discount for two FT places.

So is it worth it? I'm leaning towards no, but selfishly I am pining for that one day

Personally I think 4 days can be the worst of all worlds unless you are disciplined about getting a reduction in workload.

It depends on the place really. Some employers will take the piss, others want to keep good staff happy. When I dropped to four days, my workload dropped by around 10% and my take-home by around 16%. Those numbers obviously don't quite correspond but the trade off was flexibility and being able to do one day's school run.

Also, for me, if it's not too nuts a thing to say, a 10% reduction in workload felt like a lot more, because it was enough the take the edge off and make work feel less all-consuming. I suppose this depends on the nature of your job however.

OP people have given you good and helpful advice and from what I've seen you've mainly been rude and sarky in your responses. Get over yourself and maybe come back when you're in a better mood 🙄

zod my pay will be different next year but I don't know what yet and also nursery costs will change but not sure ... I will do nearer the time, just thinking out loud really, I;m not trying to be a twat, just having a rough day, OK? :)

You are a basic rate tax payer at 20% and NI would be 12%. So very quick basic way for what you want to find out is to use 32%.

£46,000
Less your pension %
Divide by 5 to work out your annual salary per day
This is £9,200
Multiply by 32% and take that away
Gives £6,256
Divide by 12 to get monthly amount which is £521.

If you include your pension it will be less than this and if you have student loan. Not sure if student loan is taken off net or gross pay but it's 9%.

You will most definitely notice £500 a month. The ppl that say you don't notice maybe they aren't on a gd salary and paying child care so maybe it's only like £100 a month for them. Also sounds like you would still have a full time job in part time hours that is not on so I would be wary of that.

thanks michelle ... that is a lot

It is. Won't they even let you do an extra hour on the other 4 days so it's half a day you drop?

In relation to the workload reducing, to correspond with the reduction from five days to four, that probably depends on the type of work involved, as well as what your employer is like, of course.

A friend of mine does three day weeks, but the type of work she does lends itself to that.

I think a lot also depends on the nature of the job and the organisation's culture/history around working practices. My boss, who is a senior director, works 4 days even though her kids are grown (although I know she does log on on her off day sometimes) and I've been promoted whilst working this pattern. I do have to be rigorous about my boundaries and expectation management but if I were FT I'd be putting in another 8-9 hours a week for sure. I might not actually be getting 20% more done though as I think I'd be less efficient. OTOH my experience of friends and colleagues who do 3 days is that in busy jobs they often still end up working 5, and 3 days just about allows you to run in place career wise but certainly not to advance, whereas 4 days is still present enough to be taken seriously.

But a lot definitely depends on the job and the workplace.

I dropped from five days to four simply because I was within a couple of years of retirement and my NHS and state pensions had kicked in. This meant that the income tax I was paying would have bought the Royal Navy a small destroyer. 😂. Before I made the decision I spent £125 on seeing a tax accountant. It was well worth it as to try to work out the numbers yourself is almost impossible so it was money well spent.

It wouldn't work like that michelle unfortunately

I work 4 days and have done since returning from mat leave. I always anticipated money being very tight because of childcare anyway so I very quickly got into thinking how to manage on less money.
Since January I have condensed these hours so I work a shorter day on a Thursday and can do preschool pick up and drop off twice a week (Wednesday is my day off).
I'm a community nurse and still hold the same caseload as my full time colleagues. It's manageable if I delegate but work days sure fly past and I have to email notes to myself on work phone once DD is in bed.
For me I like it and it works for our family.

I’ve gone from £51k to £41k so the drop has been less noticeable due to the higher rate tax bracket.

It’s brilliant having Fridays off. So far I’ve had two piano lessons (for the first time in three decades, spent hours in an art gallery, had a horse riding lesson and deep cleaned half my kitchen cupboards). I love switching my emails off on a Thursday night.

My next job as I mentioned earlier is to take control of my workload and reduce that to 80% too.

I did this.
At the time I paid higher rate tax so even though it was a 20% cut in my gross salary it was less than that for my net salary.

It meant I had a day with children, which was still work but felt more important iyswim. It also reduced childcare costs (I know you said that it won't make much difference to you, but worth working it out).

My job is one where I simply only work 80% of hours, I'm not trying to do 5 days in 4, but I know everyone isn't as fortunate.

It's meant I get jobs done at home - things like laundry, posting parcels etc without it eating into weekends. It's just generally more relaxed. When all children are at school I'm going to stay part time!

In your shoes I'd make sure I'm getting everything I'm entitled to, eg tax free childcare scheme etc so you know exactly where you stand financially, then weigh it all up. Is it possible to ask HR if they could work it out for you as it's something you're considering but you don't want to make a formal request until you know you can afford it?

I’m contemplating it if this pg sticks!

Currently earn just shy of £49k, plus have circa £10k rental income. If I drop to 32 hrs over 4 days gross pay will be about £42k, but when I take off pension I’ll just about squeeze in under £50k total and get Child benefit. Plus less tax to pay so I think in net terms it might work.