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.

OP, your post:
"I can't think of one interest that I had in my early twenties that I couldn't have done around full time work or that wouldn't have benefitted by my earning more money. My passion was travelling...."
Pretty ego-centric in just one sentence. Short answer to your question: other people are different to you and have different hobbies and priorities! Don't hurt yourself trying to puzzle out the deep dark reason behind why they don't think exactly the same as you, just accept it!

I have always worked in slightly above minimum wage jobs and most of my colleagues are full time as well as myself until I had my DD. However if I was in a better paid job and I could afford to work part time I think I would have taken if even if I didn't have children. Not everyone is career oriented although it is harder to complain you are broke if you have chosen to work part time (and you don't have children to care for)

There’s so much more to life than working, people bleat on ‘I’ve worked 40+ hour weeks since I left school!” Like it’s some badge of honour. If you did then good for you, but you’re not better than anyone else.

I worked from ages 18-25 part time (20-24 hours) lived in a flat with my then boyfriend who worked about the same. We didn’t have expensive things but we were ‘time rich’ and spent our many days off going on walks, relaxing at home, visiting people, having drinks with friends etc

Now I’m older with a DD, I am so glad I let myself be free and happy when I was younger. I’d hate to look back on those years thinking I’d wasted my time working constantly to just come home and feel tired. Now I have DD (18 months) I only work 20 hours a week, caretaking at a primary school. I love it and when I’m home I never feel exhausted or frustrated from work. DP works 30 hours as a train conductor, we get by okay but we are both the same way of thinking, we would rather be time rich than money rich

My kids and their partners are in their 40's and work part time (four days a week). Its becoming increasingly common among their friends and colleagues.

For our kids it was a career and lifestyle choice to achieve a comfortable work/life balance ( based on our example). I'd recommend it to anyone. If I ran the country everyone would work a four day week and have more time for family, friends, hobbies, excercise and relaxation.

If there's one benefit of lock-down, a lot more people have changed their outlook on spending, and realised they could live cheaper and save more.

I don't blame them. I've had my hours cut temporarily in the pandemic and it's been a revelation - it's been great having more free time and taking up some new hobbies, doing DIY and not feeling completely drained. It hasn't made a huge difference financially taking taxes into account, and I have more time to make my own lunches, work on the house myself etc so saving money elsewhere. Lots of people have sidelines doing etsy, eBay, MLM, blogging etc these days. I plan on looking for something part time when I make my next move

Why work ft hours if you dont have to?
So many things to fill the time with and not enough time to fit them all in.
No way I'd work ft unless I had to.

If I didn't have a lazy husband in my 20's and early 30's I would have liked to work part time but to keep a roof over my head, food on the table and run a car for work I couldn't.

When I got divorced and then made redundant I could afford to work part time. Now my mortgage is paid off I work 25 hours a week over 2 1/2 consecutive days. I love it.

I've worked since I was 16. Now 41 always been fulltime. No kids so no maternity leave. But had a couple of months travelling. I could go part time I guess but trying to overpay mortgage and get things done on the house.

Hoping to be part time once the mortgage is paid off by 55.

I worked part time in my 20s!
Firstly I did it because it is very hard to break into my chosen career so I had to take a part time job in the sector to gain a foothold - I'd have much preferred a full time one, but I had to work up to getting that by gaining the part-time experience first. I didn't just watch TV on my off days, I did a distance learning post-grad qualification and had various side hustles (the sort of things you see on Mumsnet, like Mechanical Turk) to earn more money/amazon credit to live.
Then I got my full time job and worked it for a few years, but right at the end of my 20s I went part time again in order to take up a second part time job that was a step up career wise - so I worked full time but in two different workplaces. When I had a baby, I dropped the first one completely but kept the better part time job.

money's got to come from somewhere

Maybe it comes from them living on a tighter budget that can't even comprehend once you get older? When I was in my early 20s I could live on bugger all. I didn't eat much, I houseshared in rough areas, I took drugs or snuck vodka into clubs so a night out was almost free, rarely bought any new stuff, wasn't paying into a pension, didn't have a car, and generally spent a lot of time doing stuff that didn't cost much and invested no money at all into my future.

I know that's just me, I'm not saying that all young people are like this, but I'm just pointing out that younger people tend to have that magic quality about them whereby they can have a 3 hour sleep on an old IKEA futon, have a 20p asda noodle pot for breakfast, realise that you lost your wallet the night before and have no money until pay day, and still feel ready to face the day, bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Generally you start to expect more comfort, luxury and security as you get older, and you have more responsibilities... suddenly you're paying mortgage, car finance, pension, pet insurance, panicking that you aren't putting enough money into your savings, kids need new clothes, plumbing needs sorting etc...

I can't think of one interest that I had in my early twenties that I couldn't have done around full time work or that wouldn't have benefitted by my earning more money.

You’re not thinking hard enough, @RosesinGranGransgarden

I play violin to a decent standard and play in an orchestra. But if, for example, I wanted to be a really outstanding amateur and and practise enough to make it so, working part time would make that goal much more attainable. Not least because I would probably need to practise every day for 2 to 3 hours and that’s harder to do early morning and later at night without disturbing neighbours and so on.

You like travel; fair enough. I’m not so interested in that but, if I had wanted to reach the goal above, working part time probably would have helped. I’m one of those people who doesn’t enjoy working really and do it as a means to an end.

I'm baffled why you are so interested in other people's choices to feel the need to 'rant' about it.
I'm in my 50s, single, my son is 16. Until recently I've worked 3 days a week, just gone up to 4 for pension purposes. I have a decent civil service role.
'Doing well' and 'getting on' means very different things to people.
I don't drive, never have been and never will be interested in cars of any description, not interested in having a big house with ensuite bathrooms which need cleaning. I'm not interested in expensive luxury holidays, designer clothes, handbags and Botox.
I'd far rather have an extra day a week to spend on my allotment, chatting to my resident robin, and learning how to make jam.
I earn enough to fund the lifestyle I want, which includes a few luxuries and to have a reasonable retirement. I don't need 'more'
The only young childless person I know who works part time is involved in a lot of voluntary work.
How many threads have there been here during lockdown from people forced to take a step a back from over stuffed lifestyles and re-evaluating their lives? All my friends who are still on this treadmill are quite frankly miserable. No thanks - I'd rather have less money and an easier life.

I’m 37. I’ve gone full time for the first time in about 15 years. I think I’ve worked full time for about one year in my life. I’ve got kids and have had them since being 20 but that’s not the reason I’ve worked part time. I just didn’t want to work full time 🤷🏼‍♀️ I like having days off during the week, it’s nice. And I haven’t worked part time at the expense of my career, I earned a decent (circa 40k) wage on 4 days per week in my most recent job and have only gone full time to take on another job that I think looks interesting alongside it. Being part time has allowed me opportunities to take on freelance and self employed work as and when I want to and has actually enhanced my career and CV in many ways.

I have worked part time since I graduated. Not only that I also work term time only. I’ve been employed now for 16 years and have a 4 year old. After having my daughter my hours didn’t have to change.

The reasoning I worked part time is I could afford to. The lifestyle we lived meant that, yes I could work more and pay off a mortgage early etc but I didn’t want to.

We bought a nice 3 bedroom house In a good area, we have paid half the mortgage off now and yes could have put more money towards it but we’ve had every summer free to go travelling around Europe together before children came along. We’ve pursued loads of hobbies, been camping and trekking, been to South America, Australia, America. Now we have a child those type of travels may not come until she’s much older and therefore so we would be too and may not be fit enough to do those things. Having a term time only contract also means I get to spend every summer with my girl as well.

I’m very much in the “I work to live” camp so I’ve only ever gone for jobs that would mean we can live the lifestyle we want to live. We have savings and things and we are happy, although not very affluent in comparison to friends that do the same job for full time hours.

I’m in my 20s, and I have only ever worked part time, because it’s all I’ve ever been offered. Shitty retail contracts are a huge part of the problem. I had an 8 hour contract, was told they couldn’t offer full time hours, couldn’t offer set schedules, and overtime was decided and distributed by management- no choices.

I also have an invisible disability (only recently diagnosed), and am studying part time. Guess which one I willingly disclose. Although I must say, so many companies I’ve interviewed with seem to regard me being a mature student as being a disadvantage. I’ve had numerous managers who don’t give a damn about my disability, and I’m sick of pushing myself to the brink of suicide just to please people. Fuck That. I work part time so I can cope

I prefer to work part time because I prefer free time to extra money.

I own my own home though so dont need to earn as much.

Life is too short to work 24/7 if you dont have to. If I can help it, I'll only work part time jobs in future.

Who wants to work full time to earn money to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like? Most people fritter away money on things that don't really matter or make them happy. I worked insanse hours in my 20s, because that was expected in my field, but at 40, I never plan to work full time again.

I'm 32 and work PT. No children (trying). I work PT and am doing a PhD PT.

It's not that easy to get full time. I found plenty of part time options when I job hunted 7 years ago.

Where are you @RosesinGranGransgarden? Because where I live young people all work full time. But where my MIL lives (north) young people mostly work part time because properties are so much cheaper & their outgoings are less.

I’m jealous!! if I lived there I’d definitely have worked part time even pre children.

I can’t get a part time job here (south). People where I live don’t approve of them and say part timers don’t work as hard. Im a mum and I have a disability and working part time would be a dream come true but so unlikely

Hopefully attitudes will change soon

You sound painful and jealous
I don't get the whole work to you drop mentality. Why would you if you don't have too

I've only ever worked part time out of choice.

In the 1980's it was very much a woman's place to look after the home. I wasn't going to go out to work full time and spend my weekends cooking and cleaning. So I did 21 hours and enjoyed having market day off to do my grocery shop. And a Friday off to get on top of my laundry.

I liked to have everything finished so I could spend quality time with my husband in the evenings.

It worked well for us at that time, the 1980's were a very different time to now. My husband earned enough to cover my lost hours and he liked being looked after.

I think today, things are very different for young people.

There is so much more to life than work. If I could have afforded it, I would have worked part time too.

We are pushed to work long hours, obey authority, conform to all norms, seek job security above all, be loyal and conscientious employees, and ask very little for ourselves.

So I’m one of those people. After uni I wanted a break. I new I would have to get a job but I just wanted a few months to myself. I never missed a day off school. However during that time my health problems got a LOT worse. After a while my parents made me get a job. My brother was experiencing bad mental health problems and he had no motivations to finish uni. He kept dropping out. It been quite difficult for our family. I was told to get a job so that I could get a reference for a better job in the future. But few years later I’m still there. I only work 2 days a week. I find the job quite stressful so I probably would work more days...who doesn’t love money! . But unless I get a proper full time job, any job would be a step down. I am so exhausted by my insomnia, I have aches and pains everywhere. If I have doctor/hospitals appts they are always on a weekday. You don’t get to choose the time and it’s very difficult to reschedule. I don’t have appts that often to be fair, maybe every few months. But I have had 3 operations in the last 2 year/ all on weekdays. I’m not sure if a full time job would allow me to to take so many days off. Luckily these appts/ops have fallen on my days off or I have asked to changed my working day. If I need to get a doctors/ dentist appt then I can go easily. I don’t know how people do it because the appts are always during the weekday!

People at work and friends say why don’t I work more hours. I just say well I still live at home so I don’t spend very much and some say well you could save up to by a place. What they don’t realise is that I’m dealing with a lot. My health , brothers health, also lost a very close relative so dealing with that. I just feel that I would be severely depressed If i was work 5 days a week. I just reminds me of school where the 2 days of the weekend would go by so quickly. Getting up everyday to do the same thing, commuting , etc. I like to have time to myself...to cook, go shopping, cleaning the house etc. I’m also quite scared of workplace bullying, especially seeing all the threads on Mumsnet. Before I get a full time job I need to loose weight and sort my self out.
Some people don’t know what happens behind closed doors. I will admit I’m lazy but their are other reasons why I don’t want to work full time. I could have had so much money if I had worked full time for the last few years. But tbh I’m not desperate for money.

Now those that don’t have any problems and work part time. Well maybe they enjoy doing their hobbies, going out, travelling etc. There’s nothing better that going out for the day when the shops are empty and you don’t have the hustle and bustle of the weekend. I’ve had many people and relatives have a go at me for only working 2 days a week. But honestly I think they’re just jealous and they don’t want you to have so much time off because their the ones working full time. I will have to get a full time job in the future but at the moment I am not mentally and physically there yet.