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.

[Myneighboursnorlax]

I know someone who worked part time for 8 years during their 20s because it was their dream job and those were the only hours available. They struggled during that time (but couldn’t take a second job as it was unpredictable shifts) but it paid off in the end as they’ve now been promoted, have full time hours and a decent salary, and still working their dream job.

[Pukkatea]

Also the assumption that anyone who works fewer hours is not senior is wrong - I run my whole department.

[RosesinGranGransgarden]

Ok so those of you with dc's in university, here is the typical sort of employee that we had in our hipster shop/cafe. Young MC graduate often with a humanities or art degree, family help with rent, working 20 hours in a minimum wage job. Are you happy with that arrangement? You keep calling and asking them how things are going as it's 1+ years since graduation, and they say fine. You're funding them and they're turning down the chance to earn more money?

[FTMF30]

@Parkandride I wouldn't say working PT because you've had a child is slacking off.

[redapplegreenapple]

I did for some time during my twenties, and I had no children. It’s because I worked to live! The hours paid enough money to cover all bills and enjoy life - and the extra free time was more valuable to me than the extra money. It gave me a day during the week to clean so then I could relax at the weekend. The days when I worked were shorter too which mean I could avoid the rush hour traffic. It was bliss. Oh for any free time, right now!

[bee222]

I worked part time for a while in my 20s. I used one afternoon a week to volunteer in an art gallery. I sold enough of my own artwork to be able to work part time and live comfortably in a house share with my friends. My priorities at that age was to just enjoy myself and do the things I loved. I didn’t really talk to my colleagues about what I did in my spare time, so I’m sure a lot of them assumed that I was just too lazy to work full time.

[bananaontoast1]

Before I had children I worked part time due to an invisible physical disability, management knew about it but my colleagues did not (nor did they need to)

HTH.

[PhilSwagielka]

I don't know if mid-thirties counts as young, but I'm childless and until last year, I was working part-time because I got fibromyalgia in 2009 and was physically incapable of working 9-5. I'd end up barely able to sit up and in my previous job they had to cut my hours.

[Pelleas]

Why not, if it works for them? I'd be wary of becoming financially dependent in a relationship, but if it's the sort of job where they could easily go full-time if needed, I don't see a problem.

As for your suggested motivations - Childfree people aren't all sitting round dreaming and saving for a day when they might have children. Some people see a car as a thing that gets them from A-B and have no interest in anything beyond basic functionality. Many people enjoy inexpensive holidays such as camping. Don't judge everyone by what you happen to see as important in life.

[OddBoots]

Working part time is fine if that provides you with your priorities be that time or money. Doing so and complaining you can't achieve other goals that you would've been able to achieve working full time though shows either entitlement or a lack of self awareness though.

[lanthanum]

I went part-time at about 30, well before having kids. It gave us a better work-life balance as a couple, and enabled me to do some leisure and volunteering activities that weren't possible while I was full-time. We were lucky that finance wasn't a big issue, and of course it meant less of a step-down in income when we did start a family.

Many voluntary activities struggle now that the default is to work full-time. The main people with spare time are those who are retired, and some of them are busy caring for grandchildren.

[Thisismytimetoshine]

Because I want to, and can afford to. Why would it make me a more rounded person to keep my nose to a grindstone that I don't have to?
I didn't work at all for periods of time when the children were younger and needed me more, through choice and again; because we were lucky enough that we could afford it.
What's hard to understand?

[ChanklyBore]

I had a part time job when I was in my twenties, actually I had three part time jobs. One was 30 hours, one was ten hours, and then I had my evening job which was more variable, usually 21 hours a week but up to 35 at busy times like Christmas and new year.

Why did you only choose to have one job, OP? Why would you only work 40ish hours a week? Surely you wanted to save and earn more money? There are plenty more hours in the day and days in the week.

[raviolidreaming]

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

[MrDarcysMa]

some people have different priorities.

[Waxonwaxoff0]

I worked part time for a year before I was pregnant but I wasn't living with parents. I was 21 and newly married to my ex husband. He was in the army and we lived in military accommodation which was very cheap and all bills came out of his salary. So we could afford for me to work part time, we were both happy with the situation.

[Shopkinsdoll]

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Today 10:40 BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup

What are you talking about? I said they stay at home with parents. Nothing about house share. I said when I started work 30 years ago, most people went to uni and worked part time. Or women with children that worked part time. If not you worked full time.

[oohnicevase]

How will they ever buy a house on part time money? I worked two jobs when I was young to get enough savings for a house .. I think it's weird too OP!

[Redorange42]

In every job I've had it's been mostly the younger staff members working full time and the staff members in their 50s with grown up children who work about 10 hours a week. I wonder the same thing - but with older generations rather than younger ones. The older staff members didnt own their own houses or anything and rarely went on holidays/worked towards anything financially. The younger staff members I knew did. This is my experience from 5 different jobs. I wish I could afford to work part time so if others can afford it then why not, some people like a simpler life

[vanillandhoney]

Because I have autism and cannot cope with the stress of working full-time for longer than a couple of years without having a mental burnout. I've tried it in three different jobs and burnt out every time.

I'm 31, have no children and now own my own business. Due to COVID I'm currently only working about 4-5 hours a week, but back in March it was closer to 20-25. I can't really cope working more than that - besides, DH earns more in a week than I used to earn working full-time in a month!

We own our home and have a small mortgage. DH works full-time and loves his job. We do have four animals including a dog with separation anxiety and a kitten who both benefit from having someone around during the day. When I do work, the dog comes to work with me (I'm a dog walker/pet-sitter) which he couldn't do if I worked in an office or in a shop.

Me working in the job I do actually saves us a fortune in doggy daycare (which would be £200 a week if he was there full-time), as well as in fuel etc. I run the house - do all the food shopping, animal care, cooking and cleaning around my business which means weekends are free for DH and I to do whatever we like together.

It suits us this way and we're very happy.

[bee222]

Young MC graduate often with a humanities or art degree

Oh, you are one of those.
My arts degree didn’t do me any harm. Worked part time in my 20s. Now in my 30s with no debt and I own my own house.

[Parkandride]

[quote FTMF30]@Parkandride I wouldn't say working PT because you've had a child is slacking off.[/quote]
I wouldn't either really that's how the OP sounded though, when there's plenty of other worthy reasons not to work full time not just because you have kids

[TeenPlusTwenties]

My eldest works part time.
She's having a number of medical investigations (except they've all halted due to covid), and working part time means she can arrange shifts around appointments.

[Stillinbedat10am]

In a previous job I had my hours cut from full time to part time when the UK went into recession. At the time I decided to stay where I was because I had been there for over two years and the job, albeit on shorter hours, was relatively secure. It did not feel like the right time to go job-hunting.

I was in my mid-twenties and still earned enough to live on.

I ended up staying there on part-time hours for a further nine years. I loved the job and the people I worked with and during those years I discovered a love for volunteering, was able to provide useful care for elderly relatives, undertook some useful training courses that have now enabled me to find a more career-type job and learnt a raft of new skills for personal enjoyment.

Eventually I was ready to move on and went into a full-time position as it really appealed to me and was exactly the right job for me. However, I wouldn't hesitate to work part-time again in the future if the money and the job was right for me at that point in my life.

[Goyle]

On my job we have lots of part-timers. Some are doing MAs and PhDs, some are smaller property developers, some are carers and some are just covering the bills whilst also being an actor/artist/writer which is what they really want to do until they become successful.