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.

Sorry rant over

Why do people write this? What’s the point?

@RosesinGranGransgarden

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.

Yes, it's a privilege to be able to choose your working hours (as distinct from part time itself being the privilege, it's having the option that is). A positive thing, a piece of good fortune.

You obviously get then that there are reasons why some people view part time as a positive. Why then does it surprise you that people who can make that choice sometimes do? Join up your thinking!

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.

I think that is unusual. In my experience the only people I know who work part time have children or are winding down towards retirement.

Maybe they aren’t motivated to earn more than they need because they have enough? Maybe they prefer a better work life balance? Maybe they aren’t career driven? Not everyone is. Maybe they have other caring responsibilities? Maybe they do some voluntary work on other days? Maybe they do a sport at a high level and need time for training?

"Also, what the fuck has it got to do with anyone's friend's schedules?"

I often think that if I didn't work Fridays I could use them to do all the housework or just to relax and then be totally free for socialising or weekends away on Saturday and Sunday. It would be great.

I know it’s not really what you’re asking but I have colleagues that work part time because we were not recruiting full time staff. They wanted to work in our organisation so part time is better than nothing. I’m sure many other companies are the same.

I worked 3 part-time jobs to subsidize one of the jobs which was my passion, but no other hours were available. If I was asked to do overtime in either of the two other part-time jobs, I would've said no because I was working elsewhere.

I must have missed the memo where only those with children can work part time . Maybe they aren’t interested in saving for maternity leave etc. Or realise you live your life dependant on your financial circumstances

Personally l intend to ease back from 40 hours a week over the next few years, l have had a job since l was 15 even when doing degrees. I want more work life balance plus due to fertility issues it doesn’t appear as if we will be spending hundreds a week on childcare etc. My fiancé is planning to do the same.

Life is very short and time is precious OP. What other people choose to do with their precious time on this earth is none of anyone else’s business.

I work part time in a mind-numbing unfulfilling job which is just a means to an end. I don’t have kids. I’m very ambitious. My colleagues assume I have a long weekend. What they don’t know is that I work on my own account doing something I love doing and that as soon as my earnings pick up they won’t see me for dust!

The reason I don’t share this part of my life with my colleagues is because a lot of them are members of what Marianne Cantwell calls The Beige Army. This is a highly critical, vocal, yet scared bunch of people who don’t want you to do anything outside their comfort zone because it makes them question their own lives and the choices they’ve made.

What’s really bothering you OP?

I work a 32 hour week (8 days per fortnight) because I am a shift worker. If I did 10 shifts per fortnight and I was working nights on any of those days I would only really have three days off because one of them would be a sleep day. I earn a comfortable living with this arrangement and can balance family, social life, dog and hobbies. I chose these hours before having children.

Maybe the job they are doing is a stopgap to something else. They could be studying or working towards something else in their free time. I know loads of people who run Etsy shops or other sidelines on top of a part time job.

Maybe they just enjoy a healthy work/life balance. Loads of people I know would work less hours if they could still afford to pay the bills, even of it meant sacrificing some luxuries.

A lot of my young, newly qualified colleagues work 30-34 hours rather than 37.5 because our job is frankly knackering and they’d rather have a life than spend weeks at a time not being able to see friends and family because they’re woring long days and nights.

@RosesinGranGransgarden

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.

So I think you've partly answered your own question there: you realise that it may be better for some people's mental health not to work full-time. I'm not sure it isn't better for most people, really, particularly with long-hours culture in many jobs. Regardless of hours, many jobs are more pressured than they used to be, as staffing has been cut to the bone.

Perhaps your question is more about the balance between money and time, and whether young people are erring too much on the time side, and should be putting in more hours so that they have more financial security later. Possibly some have not really thought about the long-term, pensions, cost of a family, etc, particularly if they are still living at home (and perhaps not being charged a market rent).

When I went part-time, I moved job, and to start off with people assumed I had kids. When they discovered I didn't, they did ask why I was part-time. When I said that I preferred to be paid £20k and enjoy the job, rather than £30k and be too exhausted to do anything else, on the whole they agreed that this was not a bad reason.

I can totally understand it.

I normally work part time 3.5 days a week round school in a job that doesn't pay especially well, but is generally very rewarding. My dc are all teens, so I could work full time if I wanted to.
I spend the 0.5 day doing the shopping, and the other day doing a mixture of housework and something I enjoy.

Over the last few weeks, for various reasons I have ended up working full time-and in hours about double, sometimes more what I normally do.
Children are teens, dh is wfh so you might think I'm having a cushy time. Dh does the cooking during the week, eldest dd does the shopping, and I don't have the numerous afterschool clubs, and pressures associated with that-and homework etc.
I am quite enjoying it.
But I am also totally exhausted. It has totally shown me (and dh) that we made completely the correct choice that he works full time and I work part time. Yes, I appreciate that it's nice I have the luxury to do this, and yes, I could work full time in a much more demanding job if I wanted to.
But that's not the lifestyle we want as a family. And yes, that does sometimes mean we can't afford, or perhaps more we choose not to afford, something someone else would think of as a necessity. But we're happy and that's what matters.

I had lots of part time jobs that when added together cane to over full time hours. You might also find a lot of those women have side hustles they’re working on.

I didn't realise we were only allowed to not be away from other things we love doing for 40 hours if we had children. I'll make sure to tell the part timers I know so they can adjust their lives accordingly

My friend works 24 hours a week as a cleaner.

She inherited her house so no mortgage and keeps her bills down to the absolute minimum. They come in at around £60 a week.

She sets aside £30 a week for food , £10 a week for clothes. Her other £100 she keeps in a separate account for holidays and obviously if something went wrong she'd have the funds to pay for it. (( how the conversation cropped up ))

She doesn't have a car and lives on the coast where she spends most of her time, no gym membership but she has a bike.

It works for her. I really admire her way of living and think we could all learn a lot from it. 💁🏻‍♀️

Choosing to work part time for mental health reasons is not always possible for lots of people.

For lots of people it's simply impossibly for them to work full-time due to their mental health. I know, I'm one of them. I can do it for a couple of years, then suffer a really bad burnout/breakdown and need to have several months off to recover. Whereas if I work part-time, I have enough down-time so that I don't burn out and can work consistently.

I'm fortunate that I have the support of my DH but even if I didn't, my autism wouldn't magically disappear and I wouldn't suddenly find myself capable of working 40+ hours a week.

No point working more than you need to to fund your lifestyle.

@WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo sounds amazing. We all have different priorities don't we.

It’s nice to have a day free to do cleaning, shopping and batch cooking even if you don’t have loads of hobbies. I worked hard in my twenties then part time in my thirties but can see benefits of working part time even without kids.

I often think that if I didn't work Fridays I could use them to do all the housework

It’s nice to have a day free to do cleaning, shopping and batch cooking

wow it would be really worthwhile to lose 1/5th of your income so you could do the housework/cleaning/chores!

@RosesinGranGransgarden

My ego? I was telling them to do the opposite of what I did?! I loved retail but to be honest no one graduates and thinks 'let's get down Tesco and see if they're hiring.' The problem is that people get stuck, you graduate, you find a job you don't hate, it's easy, there's banter and free food, you have a few knock backs in your chosen career, the next minute you've been there ten years. It happens so often! We live in an expensive city and there's no way you could save for a house deposit and work part time in a shop. Even renting a flat on your own would be impossible, without help or a partner/friend. The trouble is they couldn't see that house shares get boring after five plus years. Either that or they had a trust fund

Why are you so bothered?

A lot of young people are starting businesses - they work part time for steady income and use the other time to build up their business income.

They might also just like not spending all of their time at work - if they can afford it, why not?

Maybe they have other things to do and money is not their priority? Perhaps they have a side hustle - or perhaps the job you see them in is the side hustle, maybe they have someone they spend time with as a carer, maybe they have a hobby they love, maybe they love going to the gym/hiking/whatever. There are all sorts of reasons, good for them if they get by, enjoy life and not do a boring job all the time.

I think maybe some of them actually earn money by doing something they like? Like teaching yoga, dance, art etc? You do not always need to do the one full time job to earn.

I work part time because I have fibromyalgia, arthritis and POTs. If I work full time, I end up being off sick, so it's better all round this way.