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.

Because they have lives outside of work, because if the can afford to work part time then why not?

The world we live in is not good for many peoples mental health, we are busier than ever and working 40+ hours isn't for everyone. If they can afford to live like that then why not? Not everyone values a nice car and fancy holidays

You'd hate me, OP. I always say I took my retirement when I was young. I only started to work seriously around the age of forty. And I certainly didn't have a trust fund or any money from my parents.

No offense, but I think it is sad that you think you would be bored with your job.

In my 20s I worked part time in a pub evenings and weekends. Most people probably didn't know I also had a full time job. I then took on the pub cleaning, and people probably still didn't know I also had a full time job.

When I left university in 2007, people were starting to talk about the advantages of a ‘portfolio career’; I juggled PT jobs with freelancing and then running my own business throughout my twenties. Always had a “rent payer”, usually 2-3 days p/w on a fixed-term contract which gave me stability to pursue the less stable work. Saved for a deposit on a house while sharing a room with my partner in shared houses.

A couple of years ago I was burned out, always mildly unwell, to tired to enjoy life etc. I decided to take a cut in income and just work 4 days per week in one job. My health and well-being improved hugely, my expenditure has dropped because I’m not seeking short-term gratifications, still saving and enjoying life a lot more. Wouldn’t go back now, wish I’d learned the lesson earlier.

I've worked full time between 18-24 and now I do part time whilst at uni. But, I do prefer part time......

There's more to life than earning money but we do need money to survive.

Most people at my age are working full time but most people I know who work part time are either studying, have childcare responsibilities or they have health conditions.

for the most part, people don't choose to work full time hours. They work full time hours either because of financial need (to pay the bills, food, cost of living) or financial want (to get better car, nicer holiday, clothes etc). If someone doesn't have a financial need or a financial want to work full-time, I can see why they'd have the perfect balance working part time. More time for life!

Because they want to. Grow up.

They might not need to. I would never work full time if I didn't have to, they obviously didn't need the extra money..

I'm a writer. I worked part time at my stupid jobs when I was younger so I could do my real work.

@BeijingBikini

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.

That's great to hear. I do find it very edifying to read so many people questioning whether earning more in order to consume more is a worthwhile goal. If that's what a person wants and will make them happy, crack on, but it's nonsensical for that to be the presumption.

and not because I had other money either, I was broke, I just valued my time more than anything else.

I would love to work part time so I could spend time with my horse and competing. Unfortunately I can’t go part time due to having a horse...

@salsa899

for the most part, people don't choose to work full time hours. They work full time hours either because of financial need (to pay the bills, food, cost of living) or financial want (to get better car, nicer holiday, clothes etc). If someone doesn't have a financial need or a financial want to work full-time, I can see why they'd have the perfect balance working part time. More time for life!

I only work full-time because that's all that's available in my sector, until you've been in your company for a while and can ask for reduced hours. But they hardly ever offer them at the application stage. In most professional office jobs it's just not an option in the beginning.

Because they want a life. They want a good work/life balance.

The difference between working to live and living to work.

It’s a healthy sign I think. Spending every hour God sends at work to buy “nice cars” or save up for a house deposit is being trapped by society’s expectations. It’s really refreshing to hear about young people rejecting the brainwashing.

I haven't actually worked with anyone who has been part time unless they have had children/been semi retired. This is in healthcare though.

It's not an issue, I have always worked full time because I like the extra money, nice holidays etc, that makes me happy. I have a friend who works very part time (has children) she could work more hours but couldn't care less about having a car or holidays abroad, she lives within her means and has no interest in house ownership.

We all make our own choices dependant our goals.

When I was in my 20s and worked in retail it was virtually impossible to get a full time contract. 20 hours if you were lucky. One of my colleagues worked part time in one shop in the morning and another in the afternoon because neither would give her full time. Even more stupid was in the shop she worked afternoons (ie the one I worked in) there was someone who did her job in the morning 'shift'. Retail would rather employ 2 part timers than one full timer.
But then you would be expected to begin available for overtime at the drop of a hat. Sorry but no. If you are told at the start you will always have Wednesday off why should you be expected to happily say "yes I will work Wednesday" when asked on Tuesday. Why should you? Life is not always about extra money. What is the point of extra money if you don't have chance to do anything with that money because you have given up your time off.
I rarely had a 'full time' contract but probably 95% of the time I worked overtime each week.
I couldn't plan my life because I never knew when I was going to be 'expected' to do overtime. Pissed me off big time. Either give someone a full time job or stop hassling them for overtime.

Maybe they work to live rather than living to work.
Who wants to work ft if they only need to work pt.

I think it's quite horrible that you're slating someone for being exhausted for starters.
What gives you the right to say someone isn't entitled to feel that way?
I have worked full time since I was 16 but still wouldn't even dream of saying someone who works part time cannot be as exhausted as me. I am now 23 with a 1 year old. Age doesn't matter either.

Tbh, you sound like a bit of an entitled dick.

In my job (nursing), because the job is very detrimental to your mental health and they probably don't think it is worth the stress to continue working full-time. I worked full-time until I had DC, but very few of my colleages (mostly early to mid 20s without kids) do. I don't think less of them for that. They have about 40 years of their working life left ahead of them to get through, so it is a good thing if they have worked out early how best to cope with it and are not prioritising money over their mental health.

I asked when in my mid-20s to drop to a term time only role (I worked in a sixth form college). My managers first words were “Why? You don’t have children!” I said that how I chose to spend my time was up to me. I didn’t like the job and it was rubbish pay (about 11k pa) and I think I worked out that I wouldn’t be much worse off and could at least spend my time doing something I chose. I also hated effectively having my annual leave reduced by having to use six days (on average) when they were closed over Christmas, which term time staff didn’t.

I really want to go part time now but I can’t find any roles, everyone seems to advertise full time! It would allow me to spend more time with DH and the dog and more time to read/do my martial arts/get fit.

In some areas there are no full time jobs for unqualified young people.

I think it’s relatively unusual in your standard corporate set-up but probably quite common in hospitality, people building business or some professionals built around shifts. Since she qualified as a dentist, my sister has never worked full time and never intends to.

Before I trained in my career I worked part times as in the evenings I played in a semi pro functions band...they might have other income streams you don't know about. We were pretty much all under 30 and had other jobs.