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.

I would be a little peeved with a child of mine who was healthy and fit in their 20s choosing to only work 4days a week to spend an extra day reading, cleaning or even pursuing a hobby

Interesting how people take different perspectives on things. If my child could make a decent living working 4 days instead of 5, I'd be proud. If they chose to work an extra day just because it's what other people do rather than they actually want or need to, I'd think they were a little bit dim.

I mean, I feel there's some distance between those two options.

Like I said, I work part time. I still pay into a pension - it's done automatically anyway by NEST. But in any case, it's just not true that working the most hours = the most money. As someone once said, “If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire".

To increase my earnings I look for higher paying jobs over doing more hours. Lots of people on this thread have said similarly. But this is being framed as a moral issue, not a financial planning challenge. I resist that. I don't think it's morally better to work more. I think it's good for people to work some, and it's good for people to have agency and leisure in their lives as well.

I didn't inherit any money from my immigrant grandparents so nothing to feel guilty about there.

It's not good for young people to just cruise through, I mean, a whole day off for reading or going to the gym?

By that logic, why not work 7 days a week? Why is 5 enough? The entire construct of a 40 hour week wasn't based on logic, just on what suited businesses at the time. People used to work 6 days a week and thought 5 was "lazy", now it's 5 and 4, I bet that by the time I die it will be a 4 day week for everyone.

If people can still buy property and save for retirement on 3-4 days a week, why on earth shouldn't they? I see these people working 60 hours a week in London, sending their kids to private school so they too can become a banker, having a gardener and a housekeeper and a granite island in their bespoke 30k kitchen, and want absolutely none of it. You might not want my small flat or cheap clothes, but some people value time over money, stuff or career ambitions. They shouldn't be punished for that, in the age of plastic waste and pollution living more simply should be celebrated. There's this weird attitude of "I suffered in my 20s to buy my 5 bed house and everyone else should too". Some people want to go climbing or learn to sew over having a big house and new BMW. If you refuse to see that then there's not much point starting a thread like this.

I would be a little peeved with a child of mine who was healthy and fit in their 20s choosing to only work 4days a week to spend an extra day reading, cleaning or even pursuing a hobby

We weren't put on this earth to work you know.
Just a little bit of work to pay for essentials, the rest is because you want to work, no harm in that, but we are all different.

By that logic, why not work 7 days a week? Why is 5 enough? The entire construct of a 40 hour week wasn't based on logic

Right. Really, anyone who isn't working 80 hours a week is lazy tbh. And lacking drive and ambition. If you're saving for a house, work 80 hours! Anything less is just living off somebody else. What else would you do with those 80 hours anyway? Read? Leisure? Pfffffft I'm simply baffled how anyone could choose to work fewer than 80 hours per week.

@Graphista

You assume a lot about me but you are wrong. I describe a factual situation but that says nothing about whether I approve or disapprove. I know exactly who benefits. Of course it is the companies who are being subsidised. The employees are behaving entirely rationally and I don’t blame them. The majority of the population don’t understand this though.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

I'm climbing the ladder in my career, my partner in the same career choice has definitely climbed the ladder and is very nearly at the top, and we have both done it/are doing it on a 3-4 day working week.

We are financially stable and both bring in over the average income on a part time job.

So I would say we've hit the jackpot in all honesty.

Try not to get your knickers in a twist simply because you didn't master the ability to work less but still be secure and happy.

@kojolo ahh that must be what I did wrong! When I was looking at the jobs online I must have selected 'work lots of hours for rubbish pay' rather than 'work fewer hours for more money.'

DH sand I both work p/t 4 days a week. It started as a childcare option when DC we’re younger. Now they’re older it’s a lifestyle choice. We both have a day to catch up and do the things we enjoy separately and can then enjoy the weekends etc together. It was hard financially when the DC were younger but now we are the enjoying the benefit.

If I could afford to work part time I would. I’m sure many others would too.

Can’t say you’re coming across in a way that would make me want to disclose my personal life to you! From the posts on here, you sound judgemental so no, you wouldn’t know if I worked part time because I have a chronic illness or I care for my mum with MS. I have 2 friends in this situation and neither of them owe you an explanation. I’m proud of them for working despite their challenges.

Being able to choose part time work is a privilege

OP, did you start this thread because you actually wanted to know why people work part-time or how they work part-time and make ends meet?

What they do in their private lives outside of work is obviously not your business, but as PPs have said, everyone is different so there are all sorts of reasons, circumstances and mindsets.

What were you hoping to get out of this thread? Information? Reassurance?

Maybe it's immigrant mentality but you work hard when you're young and fit and enthusiastic so you can save for your future

I'd rather work smart than hard. On 35k I can work exactly 7.5 hours a day and drop my work at the end of the day. I can comfortably save half of that while still enjoying some luxuries. Of course I could be a keen bean like some in my office, stay till 7pm, do extra training in my spare time, volunteer for committees, climb up through promotions and be on double the salary in a few years. But I just don't want to because nothing about that lifestyle, or what that salary could buy me, is desirable. The trade-off is not worth it. I can have everything I could possibly want/need on my salary and have no desire to break my back for more. I am the opposite to you, bemused why people want to work so much. You might have a heart attack before you get to enjoy the millions in your pension.

@RosesinGranGransgarden Well, you're the one setting yourself up as an authority, making blanket statements about what other people should do, and moralising to boot.

All I can say to you is, I think my way is better, for me at least, and I'll continue to work around three days a week, and spend my other days reading, walking in the beautiful countryside in which I live, or making art with my friends. You may think this is immoral. I think it's great.

Young people won't retire until they are well gone 70. If they want to work part time then that's the choice they make. If they are 20 now that's 50 years of working.

Just think about how long that is.

I would be a little peeved with a child of mine who was healthy and fit in their 20s choosing to only work 4days a week to spend an extra day reading, cleaning or even pursuing a hobby

That's quite sad. Surely you want your children to be happy, rather than conforming to your idea of happiness.

The fact that people deliberately keep hours low is just an example of how behaviour adapts to respond to the distortions of the market that result from regulation.

@RosesinGranGransgarden

You must see that my post was not referring to those who are winding their career down or who have a fabulously well paid job that only needs a few days a week work. If I was going to go with the example of my colleague, she's 28, they're trying to save for a house, her wife works 40 hours plus as a nurse. How would you feel if your other half in a different, less stressful job decided they wanted to cut your household income by a fifth? I can see there's lots of different experiences but in general I would say the only way people can work part time in a low paid job is by someone else subsidising them, be that parents, a partner or the government.

How I'd feel would depend entirely on the circumstances.

My partner might have caring responsibilities or a health condition they hadn't felt the need to tell you about. They might be involved in other commercial activity, study or volunteering to boost their career plans that again, they hadn't felt the need to tell you about. They might be topping up the household income from some other source that, yes, they hadn't felt the need to tell you about.

There are all kinds of possibilities really, but what I do know is that I wouldn't want you making assumptions about our lives and then slagging them off to thousands of readers based on the gaps you'd filled in.

Being able to choose part time work is a privilege

No it isn't it's a choice to support a lifestyle choice. Nothing wrong with that choice but you could live very frugally and work pt, like most of my family do.
No privileges, or the luxuries most people can't seem to do without. No climbing ladders either property or work, and no need to buy stuff to show how rich we are from working for somebody else.

@BeijingBikini

I would be a little peeved with a child of mine who was healthy and fit in their 20s choosing to only work 4days a week to spend an extra day reading, cleaning or even pursuing a hobby

That's quite sad. Surely you want your children to be happy, rather than conforming to your idea of happiness.

I agree. Id also imagine having an extra day for leisure would significantly impact on many people’s mental health. Particularly those susceptible to high stress.

The privilege is having a choice. Being part time is a luxury if it's what you want and you can live a life you're happy with on that money. It's not remotely privileged if you desperately need more hours to pay the bills but this was all you could get. The two situations have nothing of significance in common, even if the hours pattern is the same.

2007Millie whose knickers are in a twist? I’ve managed to out across my opinion without being rude. May I ask how old you and your husband are?

harpers.org/archive/1932/10/in-praise-of-idleness/

Isn't this just an incredibly easy thing to understand, really?

We each have a certain amount of money that to us, is what we need to live/save for the future/be happy.

If you have to work 60 hours to make that much money, you do so. If you have to work 40 hours to make it, you do so, if you can make it in 20 hours, you do so.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

You think you've not been rude, but you have.

I've recently turned 24, husband 29