Working pattern ponderings

[ChloeCC]

I’m canvassing for opinion here, really. I’m a bit baby-brained out and can’t seem to work this out for myself. I’m going back to work in early October. Baby will be a year old, and I also have a three-year-old. I work in for the NHS in a non-clinical role. As I’ve had a year of maternity, I will have lots of holiday accrued so initially I’ll be going back three days a week on a full-time contract. I’m hoping that this will become a permanent arrangement in the new year - when the excess holidays run out, I’ll go p/t.

So, my (rather banal) question is, which three days shall I work? My boss says it’s up to me. I’m interested to hear from other people (mothers, really) in similar situations. I’ve heard that avoiding a Monday is a good idea (something about losing your bank holidays?). I definitely don’t want to do Mon/Wed/Fri as a combination. I’d also rather not do all three days in a row, so that my time away from the kids is broken up. Apart from that I’m open to suggestions.

My older child will be in nursery two days and with his dad the other day. My baby will initially be with her dad all three of my working days, with us looking for a childminder to cover two days in the new year.

Is there any combination of days you’d avoid or choose? Are there other factors I haven’t considered? Thanks for getting the end of this tedious enquiry!

I used to do Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and I loved it, long weekend every week and I got all my bank holidays back too.

I know you said you didn't want to do three days in a row though!

Tue-thur has worked well for me as well in the past. Basically if you avoid Mondays you have more flex due to the way bank holidays are pro-rated. You’ll also find once your eldest starts school that inset days are often either a Monday or a Friday.

I've always liked a 2 days on then one day off then one day back on. So either Mon, Tues and Thurs or Tues, Weds and Fri. I found that that was easier to mange if we had a bad week regarding sleep, which happens so much at those ages due to teething, colds, nightmares and night waking. Also means the house doesn't completely fall apart!

With older kids I'd work all 3 days in a block, preferably tues weds thurs with a long weekend, but the difficulties change as they get older and I find that school plays etc are usually a Friday and Monday is a good day to get life admin done (through not to get a haircut I recently discovered!)

If you decided to take Monday’s off as a regular day, your holiday entitlement will be adjusted to reflect the loss of bank holidays.

Where I work bank holidays are factored into the holiday hours for part time staff (who take their holiday as hours, full time staff take theirs as half/full days) and bank holidays are factored into this calculation, meaning no one misses out on bank holiday hours and closure days, whether or not they would be normally working on that day. Maybe it depends on the employer, so worth checking?

I nominally work Tuesday-Thursday but as I've got my own practice there is a bit of leak to other days those are just the ones with childcare/after school
Having 3 days together means that I can get tasks done in a chunk of time rather than feeling like I never get to finish stuff but also means that I get the options of good long weekends
If you don't have tasks that last longer than a day then it's probably easier to split your week up.

I came back to work 3 days and upped to 4days when DD was about 3. I worked Weds, Thurs, Fri initially and then added a Tues.

From my experience childcare is less busy on Fridays my DD went to nursery and had lots more personal attention on fridays as there were a lot less children in the setting - as lots of people have Fridays off if they are part time (something about always having a long weekend) so i always found working a friday really good to get lots done with less noise/bodies/distractions in the office.

Depends on how your company calculates bankholidays for how you play mondays - my company does holiday in hours and its a cumulative total - so X(holiday hours) plus 60hrs for BH so if you normal working day is a Monday and you want to take the bh off then you need to book it with your hours if you normally don't work Mondays then you don't need to book it off so in a sense get an extra 60hrs per year to use on other days - if your company has the same system then definitely have Monday as a non-working day.

Also worth considering that with a monday off you get the long weekend every weekend and Monday is a good day for errands and generally sorting the house after the weekend.

As you don't want to work your 3 days in a block like i did I would say have Mon off and work Tues, and Fri for sure then pick with the Wed/Thurs to work depending on if you want to front or back load your working week

Tue - Thurs

I used to work Mon, Tues, Thurs and that was a lovely working pattern both personally and from a work perspective. I really liked the day break in the middle and once I'd finished on Tuesday it felt like downhill to the weekend. However I did find I missed out on a lot of work social stuff (cake sales, dress down days, chat about the weekend) and also with the bank holiday issue then Tues, Wed, Fri may be better. Also worth considering if there are any regular meetings that mean work wise different days are better and if you have friends/family who you can co-ordinate days off with as it's nice to be able to meet people. Lots of childminders don't seem to like to work Friday eve though so this might factor in too if that's your preferred childcare although nursery and after school clubs will probably be quieter and easier to get a space.

I went back Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. It was lovely having a Monday off, then a day at the end of the week to do swimming etc with dc. Work environment is more pleasant on a Friday too!

I work in the nhs too and Iv just gone back after 13 months mat leave mon tues wed and I'm loving it. You will still get the benefit of bank holidays and of a 4 day weekend each week. Defo pick 3 days consecutively.

Tues to Thurs - you get a better holiday allowance as you don’t work bank holidays and it gives you tune to ease into the week and weekend.

Don't worry about bank holiday- nhs work it out so that you're not disadvantaged. You get the same entitlement where you officially work bank holidays or not.