To ask why young people without children work part time?

[RosesinGranGransgarden]

Going to get flamed for this but here goes!

In every single job I've been in I've worked with people younger than me who work part time hours. I can't quite get my head around it.
In my previous job I was a retail manager. Most of the staff were young, 20-30, none had kids apart from me and one other lady. We used to have a sheet of overtime shifts up and I used to have to beg staff to work it. These are young people, not studying, none with disabilities that they disclosed to me, most were renting/ house sharing. I never understood why they didn't want to work more hours, get more money for house deposits, travelling etc.
Another job I was an admin assistant and two or three of the other admin were young women, married with no children, who worked three or four days a week. Why?! Even if their husbands earned enough to support them, shouldn't they have worked to save for maternity leave, holidays, nice car etc.
I know money doesn't motivate a lot of people but as a young, childfree person, I would have never thought to apply for a part time job, unless I could be assured there was overtime. If not for financial reasons then just out of boredom, as all my friends would have been working full time.
Currently I work 32 hours due to no afterschool club, my colleague works the same hours. She said to me yesterday she wants to drop a day as she's exhausted. She's 28?! We work in an office together. She moans about not being a homeowner, why not work more hours?
Sorry rant over.

@Lofgh

You think they should be, but that is your opinion. Not fact. So don't put it across as one.

I'm semi-retired so work part-time, three days a week. Would drop to two if I could as I prefer life outside work to having a job. I presume younger people feel the same.

I have an adult son and daughter, both work part-time, my son in particular. Right through his twenties and now in his thirties. Never wanted to work full time, says it takes up too much of his week. He now earns a good wage, working from home. The (global) company he works for has offered him a full-time role, with more money, extra perks such as pension, health insurance and company shares and my son has said no. He doesn't need the extra money, isn't bothered about the perks and most of all, doesn't want to work a 40 hour week. He has a very physical, outdoor hobby which he loves and that's all he wants to do, not sit at the computer for hours on end.

Good luck to him - I feel he has his life balance right, I do not think we should be a slave to work, nor a slave the 'making more money' either.

Because they’re studying?
Because they have health issues they keep a secret?
Because they have a partner and their part time income is enough for their lifestyle?
Because there weren’t any full time job offerings when they applied and there hasn’t been any opportunities to go full time?

Just to name a few?

I've never come across this. I've worked in retail, factory work and now a teacher and all the child free people want as many hours as possible.

However, I don't think that children are the only reason why someone might not want to work. If they have a lifestyle they like and can afford on part time hours then fair play to them. I moved back in with my parents for a while in my early twenties after a break up and I was loaded!

Because money isn’t the answer to everything you need in life.

Some of us are content with less. My mental health and physical health is certainly better for working less hours.

Why does it bother you so much?

Don't they realise its so much harder to get onro the property ladder now? Fair enough if you're not interested. But most people should be

Lofgh Why should they be?

Owning your own home is a very British concept. In a lot of other countries, people are perfectly happy to rent and see owning a property as a negative.

@cologne4711

I often think that if I didn't work Fridays I could use them to do all the housework

It’s nice to have a day free to do cleaning, shopping and batch cooking

wow it would be really worthwhile to lose 1/5th of your income so you could do the housework/cleaning/chores!

You wouldn't lose 20%. That's not how the tax system works for ordinary rate payers. Because NI doesn't kick in until.you earn about 8.5k and the personal allowance is 12.5k, you don't pay 20% of your wage for each day you earn. The 5th day of the week is your lowest earning one.

So if you're eg on 20k full time, your first two days you keep everything you earn. Your 3rd day, you pay NI but no income tax so you keep about 90% of that. A couple of hours into your 4th day you begin paying income tax as well as NI, and the whole of your 5th day you're paying both.

I worked part time in my twenties following a lot of major orthopaedic surgeries. After the initial recovery period no one would have known that I'd had the ops, but I was in no position to work full time. I appeared totally "normal" to those I worked with and I did have comments made about being part time, but what they didn't know was that after two days at work, I needed several days to rest and get my pain level down.

Before that experience I'd have judged someone young working part time, but now I wouldn't, you never know what is going on behind the scenes.

I worked part time in my 20s but I had 3 part time jobs so actually worked about 50 hours a week.

I could make more money having three part time jobs than one full time

Op, can you seriously not understand that different people will have different priorities in life then you? You seem to think your way of life is the only way.

Might they have another part time job as well?

Because they want to is the bottom line. Some people aren't motivated by money or they hobbies that are more important than working.

Many young people will never afford to buy a house even on full time pay plus overtime, so why bother.

Sometimes I wish that I'd done the same when I was younger instead of working long hours, no time to do the things I wanted to do - now I'm 50 and working freelance I've got the time eg to surf with the kids, but I'm older and not so fit. I do wish I'd discovered a slower way of life 20 years ago a d so does my husband. We're not going to encourage our teenagers to do anything other than enjoy life.

I've worked p/t pre-kids, I was usually studying alongside though.

Not everyone wants to save to buy more stuff or go on holidays though, they might have hobbies or volunteering or other commitments (eg, church pastors) that take up their time, or they are trying to get into another role (eg, writers, etsy crafts).

I can’t understand why some posters seem to have no idea that people have different wants and priorities for their lives. Is this really so hard to comprehend?

I fall into this category - no kids, 32 and have worked part time for three years. Why would you want to work full time if you don't have to? They obviously have a good quality of life with the money they earn on PT hours - half the hours doesn't necessarily mean half the pay. They probably earn closer to your wage than you think because of tax etc. When I cut my hours from 40 to 22 I assumed I would basically get half my FT pay, which wasn't the case, yes I took a hit, but not as much as I though. There is more to live than working full time- they are lucky they don't have to- be happy for them!

I used to work part time and make enough money to save a couple hundreds a month into my savings account, I could have double that by working full time but why should I? I could afford way more than my bills and had time to do all the things I wanted, when bored I would do some extra freelance work and save even more.

Working full time for no reason when you can afford to do part time sounds more bizarre to me, honestly.

I always worked full time before and after kids myself

To ask why young people without children work part time?
Yes YABU for asking that. Just because someone doesn’t have children doesn’t mean they don’t have other responsibilities or a life. Why are you so judgemental about how they are living their lives?

I had a part time job for a couple of years in my 20s that paid more per hour than an admin or temp job would have. It was quite niche and I wouldn't have done my masters or be working where I am now (full time) without having done it. With hindsight I should have taken an extra job at weekends perhaps for more cash, but there we go.

Not everyone is like you.

I'm not particularly ambitious, I chose my career based on the best effort-salary ratio. I put my work down and go home after 7.5 hours on the dot. I don't really enjoy my job, it is there for me to be able to save and enjoy my hobbies in the evenings and weekends. I do evening classes/volunteering/board games 4x a week.

I've often considered going part time - so I can do college classes for 1 or 2 days a week, to try and get to a better level in my hobby. I earn 35k and save half of my salary every month, so it would be completely manageable.

It used to make me laugh how they said 'I'm a geology student' when they had graduated a year ago.

You honestly just sound a bit mean.

My sister is 46 and works part time. Tuesday -Thursday. Her husband is 68 and retired. Her son is 25 and owns his own house (well, mortgaged)
She was by herself for years and worked hard to pay off her mortgage and send her son to private school. So now she likes to work but also spend time with her husband. having days out, long weekends away, meals in fancy places. ( in normal times) Best of both worlds as far as I can see.

I had a part time job at one point in my twenties. Why not? It was nice to work three days and have four to myself. At another time I had a job that I chose to do 7 days a week, but I started at 6am and was finished by 1pm so had loads of free time. Other jobs in hospitality I worked for a few months, left, and had a couple of months off before the next one.

My twenties was a time of a variety of working patterns. When I was about 30 I took on a "proper" 9-5 job. I didn't really like that pattern! I stuck it for a few years, then went back to different ways.

I'm now considerably older and have spent a few years retraining and being incredibly poor, but can now command quite high fees freelancing. I also own my home outright with no mortgage (bought just before I went back to studying), although I've no pension to speak of.

Things I'd change: going to uni in my teens, saving more, taking out a pension. I'd not swap my working patterns back then though.

And I'm not materialistic at all. I don't strive for consumer goods. I drive a 14 year old car, small flat, clothes and furniture from charity, cheap haircuts, do my own nails, don't upgrade anything unless it's broken. Phone and laptop 6-8 years old and going strong.

Life can be really cheap if you have no kids and no wants for more/better things. I enjoy free time way more than more money.

@RosesinGranGransgarden

Will never return.