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.

A few people in my first job, all in their 20s, worked part time because they worked part time somewhere else as well. In another job, the lady on reception worked 4 days a week and volunteered in a care home.

As others have said, maybe they work to live rather than live to work.

@TheMotherofAllDilemmas

I have met a few part time single women in their twenties, all of them had a mum and a dad paying for all the essentials (food, accommodation, transport, etc...) while they used her earnings as pocket money.

There was no motivation to work more hours, and to be honest I am not surprised.

If I had rich parents who wanted to do that, I'd be fine with it too! Leaves more jobs for other people as well.

I'm not judging why people work full time and I know that there a multitude of reasons why people might not be able to work full times, which I fully understand. However....
The money must come from somewhere.

Being able to choose part time work is a privilege. I work in mental health and actually being able to take time off to tend to your mental health is a privilege too.
Do you know how many bank, agency staff come into work whilst very mentally unwell? It's very difficult to get a diagnosis for certain conditions, even a doctors note and so lots of people just keep working through it till they deteriorate. It's awful! Choosing to work part time for mental health reasons is not always possible for lots of people.

Your colleague is never going to own a house working less then full time hours in an office. She’s lazy . I worked 7 days a week at times in my twenties, there was no minimum wage so jobs weren’t well paid at all .

"His hours meant he couldn't share any household responsibilities (cleaning/cooking) and i wasn't prepared to work full time and do everything at home."

I'm surprised there was so much housework with no children to be honest. Cleaning would be a few hours at the weekend and with two working adults not all meals have to be cooked from scratch.

Choosing to work part time and complaining about lack of money to buy a house is ridiculous. Say something the next time she mentions it .

@Purpletigers

I worked part time in a office. Bought a house. Not lazy at all. Simply struck a balance.

Study/ caring responsibilities/ few financial responsibilities.

I wonder this as well, working as a retail manager in my last job the company was very forward thinking and demanding. The young people that worked for us worked part time hours only because they had no choice-that was all that was on offer. Any overtime was jumped on, they really wanted to get on and frankly great employees. It was two older ladies, no children at home no hobbies to speak of, who only wanted to work part time. One was single like myself and I just do not get it. Being single is expensive. In my present employment it’s the opposite the older people are always offering to do overtime and hopefully become full time in the future. The young people work part time, one before I started went down to four days a week (something I would not have agreed to!) and does not want to up it again. I really think it comes down to a few things, people who want to work full time and get ahead will not apply for part time jobs, in a lot of sectors full time jobs are difficult to come by now unless you are a manager so they get used to the freedom that offers and fill time in other ways and a lot of young people still live at home-they don’t need to work full time. Things have really changed in the twenty years since I started working.

I'm in my mid 30's and work part time in a very demanding professional job. I worked very long hours before and was completely exhausted. I now work 3 days a week (30 hours) and, honestly, it's great! I don't have children and not planning on having them, have my own car and house. My husband works full time but going down to 3 days a week next year as well. We plan to spend a lot of time with our dogs and travel. We have plenty of disposable money but we worked hard to have careers that pay well part time hours. I guess not having children also helps a lot to save money 🤷‍♀️

I've always worked full time apart from when DS was little and I did 24 hours. I don't get it either unless you are rich anyway! I like having money and it would never occur to me to tighten my belt so I could sit on my arse half the week. I'd love to see DH's face if I told him I was cutting my hours.

@PrincessConsuelaVaginaHammock

Yes, if the city is so expensive, the couple of hundred extra pounds a retail worker would take home working 5 days a week not 4 simply isn't going to add up to enough for a deposit.

This. They won't get a deposit on their own anyway.

I'll be honest I have never experienced this unless they have children or students.

I'm (currently) child free and have been cut down to 25 hours a week since April due to covid. I'm seriously considering asking to only do 30 hours instead of 37.5 when we're back to normal. I can get by just fine on the reduced money and lockdown has made me rethink my priorities.

(I do own my flat though, obviously wouldn't consider the above if I were still saving for a deposit)

I think the key is in your OP ... they didn't disclose to you
There can be lots of reasons for working part-time. Young people have just as varied life and health experiences as older people.

I'm in my 30s, single, childless and have worked 4 days a week for the last 4 years purely because I want to! And I love my 3 day weekends. I'd also work a 3 day job with longer hours if I found one that suited me

I guess the beauty of life is that we don't all think in the same way, and what classifies as logical thinking to you does not dictate the thinking of others.

Not even going to get into the sexist comments about maternity leave and marriage

"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."

Ok -- you're bored without your friends. I get it, I understand, fair enough, that's you and, provided nobody else gets hurt, you should absolutely do you.

But did you know that some people don't feel that way? Yes! Strangely enough, some people find certain other things e.g. literature, writing, music, learning to speak a new language, theatre, travelling, nature, art, Philosophy, Political History and Theory, the study of Mathematics, the Mastering Quantum Mechanics (to name but some other people may have even other interests!) -- not merely useful and cheap and solitary ways of staving off boredom but even enjoyable, enriching and life-enhancing things to pursue in and of themselves. Some may even decide to sacrifice possible wealth in order to pursue them and thus what they (incredibly) think to be a better well-rounded and more worthwhile life.

It's a strange world I know - a confusing and difficult and complex world -- but, in the end, it takes all sorts, and such people have been known to exist. I found that, by coming to terms with the fact that different people are different to me, and that in living their lives they are not necessarily negatively affecting my life in any way, I was able to become a kinder gentler person, who only occasionally lapsed into outbursts of sarcasm and irony.

Because they want to.

When you step back from it, it’s more bizarre that we’ve been brainwashed into thinking that working 40 hours is a norm to adhere to. Surely it’s more logical to work as much as you need to to support the lifestyle you want.

I know 20somethings working part time so that they have time in their life to build skills in other areas. Or because they want to devote more time to leisure. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

"people who want to work full time and get ahead will not apply for part time jobs"

Disagree. I know people who've taken on 'career' jobs part time with the hope of getting more hours and working their way up. It has seemed to work for them though I think the system favours the well off whose parents are happy to have them live at home for free/cheap or who live in the big cities, similar to unpaid internships.

100% work life balance. Who says 40 hours should be anyone's standard?

Also, what the fuck has it got to do with anyone's friend's schedules? I don't need my friends to be available to enjoy my life, pursue hobbies, learn new skills, enjoy the outdoors etc. I can do all that happily on my own, thanks, and if I had the opportunity to work less and do more of that, I'd happily take it.

I worked part time about 6 years ago. I had a pretty horrific time in my career and unfairly dismissed from the role I was in (legally challenged afterwards too) and I was at the point of throwing in the towel.

I took a part time role to allow less pressure and began to enjoy life again. It was lovely not having the pressure. I was then able to volunteer elsewhere and get experience in a different field one day a week. I was able to actually have 2 days in the week where I could rest and actually spend time for myself as a full time role in my career is about 70-100 hours a week and I worked 7 days a week when I was full time.

I am now back full time and have been for 4 years and am feeling the pressure again. If it becomes too much I will request to go part time with my boss and expect the same right to flexible working as the parents who work with me to allow me to take the foot off the pedal again rather than walk away from a career.

My husband and I (mid-30s) are childfree by choice and we can afford to work less hours because we have considerable disposable income because we don’t have kids. We can spend more time travelling and going on holiday too as we have no responsibilities.

It’s a lifestyle I’d highly encourage any young people to strongly consider!

I have a friend that works in retail (we met through work but I've now got another job). This is him completely. He enjoys free time, house shares and genuinely would rather have less money than work an extra day. It totally baffles me, as he wants to drive and travel. He enjoys time with friends and learning new instruments etc but he could still work full time. He's now at uni studying for pleasure (crazy to me considering the debt). I agree I would definitely work part time if I could maintain a certain quality of life but not one that hindered me having financial security, being on the property ladder, owning a car etc. We have different views but we're still great friends

"it’s more bizarre that we’ve been brainwashed into thinking that working 40 hours is a norm to adhere to."

I'm in my 40s and have NEVER worked 40 hours. When I was growing up I remember being told that 38 point something was the standard. I've mainly worked 35-37 hours and this is way more than enough. I can't imagine having to do overtime at 45 or even 40 hours except for short stints of busy periods. I don't know if this is to do with the kind of work I do or my own levels of energy or what.

I used to. Work was boring, I'm not materialistic and I'd rather have time to persue my creative hobbies. I couldn't afford fancy holidays but still saved a bit towards a house deposit by living cheaply. You only live once.