To ask if you’d go part time if it was an option?

[Salarymallory]

If you’re full time, and we’re given the choice of going to 60% ie three days a week, would you take it? Pro rata salary BUT the actual financial impact wouldn’t be 40% reduction but actually only 20%.

So in a nutshell
60% of full time hours. Two days off a week.
Reduction in income of 20% and it doesn’t have any financial negative effect on your life at all.

Would you say yes
Or do you enjoy full time?

Yes, I do work part time and the extra time off is great - now the kids are at school I volunteer, go for long walks with friends, get my life in gear so I can enjoy weekends with my family. My job involves a lot of CPD so I often use my non working data for reading / conferences etc - I love what I do so this isn’t a chore.

However- when i went back to work after my first mat leave, I was being paid 80% of my salary to do 100% of my job in 4 days and it was awful - very long hours, desperate rush to nursery, feed child, spend 3 hours in the evening in a darkened room sushing a child to sleep whilst working on my phone - lots of travel, and the Fridays that were supposed to be special time with my son were awful, calls from work all the time, and I was a broken husk of a person, utterly exhausted. I got physically ill and had to take a few weeks off and just decided it wasn’t worth it. I took a couple of years off (freelance work, on my terms) and then went to uni to do a post grad to retrain - I love my new job and it is easier to do part time, but I’m still ambitious, so I probably still do four days a week though I’m paid for three - but the pressure has gone.

That was a long ramble, I’m not sure what my point is - thanks for the therapy!

Realistically, 3 days part time is more like 4.5 days, if you are in any professional area. In all situations I have seen where someone switches to part-time from full-time, there has NEVER been an increase in resources in the team to compensate for those two days. In practice, the part-timer is expected to deliver the same amount of work, but in 3 days instead of 5.

I'm a teacher who dropped to 0.6 when I inherited some money and paid off the mortgage. I still work on my days off, marking and planning etc but feel less pressure and do a much better job. I do pay into a private pension now as well as my teachers pension so that I don't lose out in the long run. I would never go back to full time.

I did this and I love it.

I work 60% hours over four short days rather than three full days. It means I can do school drop off and I need minimal after school care, it also hugely reduced my childcare costs before my son started school, I’m not knackered so I can spend more quality time with me son in the week and I get Fridays to myself to have actual me time, rather than the odd five minutes here and there. I don’t think I’ll ever work fulltime again if I can continue to afford to work part time. My partner has done similar, he works four full days and has the same day off as me, sometimes we spend the day together other times we spend it apart to do our own thing. Its great.

I work part-time at the moment - can't really afford it and need to find more hours - but I love it. If money was no object there is no way I would work full-time ever again.

@Chasingsquirrels

I am/have. I dropped to 3 days (21.5 hrs) after ds1 was born and have done various combinations since - 3 full days, 1 full & 3 part days, 3 part days (18 hours), 4 part days (20 hours), and now 4 part days (24) hours. Full time at my work is now 7.75h/p/d so my 24 is 61%. Ds1 is now 18.5, ds2 is 15. I won't be working full time again if I don't need to financially, which I don't foresee being necessary. I do however work longer hours at busier times, I'm effectively full time in Dec & Jan. I book thus as TOIL and take it back when I'm not so busy.

Which variation worked best for you?

I did work part time and loved the ability to do lots of other things during the week. First children then, as they were older hobbies and volunteering.

The downside was lack of progression at work. I definitely would have been promoted as full time but getting part time promotion was very difficult.

The big thing is how feasible the job is in part time hours. I’ve got relatives who are vets, doctors etc and generally the days they are off, they are off other than the odd bit of cpd. Many professional jobs really want you all the time: I’d be interested in looking at job shares but it still feels like it’s not that common. I do 4 days now but full time hours and it’s hard.

Not sure what the best combo would be once both my children are school age. I’d be tempted by 4 days over 5 but not sure if that would be worst of both worlds.

I work 4 days a week in a senior role. I can't see how any role in my sector at my level would work on 3 days and I wouldn't do a job share. My job is a career and I still have aspirations so no, I wouldnt' cut further. Having said that, I wouldn't work full time either.

I don’t think you get to be CEO working part time so not for me

Salarymallory different variations worked at different life stages.

After ds1 was born and and I went to 3 full days that worked well in terms of childcare and 2 weekdays with him.
My parents did 2 days (travelling to us and staying) and after a while they moved much nearer and I went to the 1 full day (when he was in childcare) and 3 part days, so my mum had him for the sane amount of time but spread over 3 instead of 2 days.

I dropped to 3 x 6hr days after I had ds2, by then ds1 was in pre-school.

I think when I went to 4 x 5hrs ds2 was at preschool.

I increased to 4 x 6hrs at some point when they were both okay to get themselves home from school and be home along for half hour or so. So ds2 would have been yr 4.

I've stuck at that since (bar some short time working following a traumatic life event).
As I said I'm basically full time for a few months over the winter, but taken that time back over the year. I have been paid out the extra hours when they built up one year.

I used a mixture of childminder and my mum. I'd drop off childminder and she'd drop at school/preschool, my mum would collect from preschool and I'd be home for school pickup etc. This worked really well as childminder was flexible for mixing days if my mum was away / ill and my mum would cover childminder holidays. They don't need childcare anymore, and barely seem to notice if I'm home or not.

I'm no longer doing it for childcare but because it suits me, and I can afford it.

I'm an accountant in a regional practice, when I first went part time my workload was reduced (someone else had been managing it while I was on maternity leave so they kept some on my return). I've progressed as much as I want to (don't want a partnership) and am respected by my bosses, peers and juniors.

I've been in the same job throughout (21 years now) and they have been very flexible throughout, mostly because I am good at my job and they want to to keep me, and also I think because I am also flexible in return - although probably a lot more so now the kids are older than in their way years.

Dropped to 25 hrs post DC1 and 21hrs when I return post this maternity leave. But I work 12-24 hours each week in an ad hoc agency job. So I’ve dropped from 65hrs per week pre children to 33hrs now. I’m much happier for it!

No, I'm extremely lucky that where I work we are paid for full time but very rarely actually need to work all those hours. I would estimate that I probably only work 25 hours a week on average (over 4 days) but paid for 37.5. It's a professional job, paid pretty well too. Can't see the point in going full time at the moment, unless I had to actually work my contracted hours.

I went 3 days p/W after DS was born but then switched roles (promotion) on the same terms and the new role just wasn’t doable in 3 days so I increased to 4 days after about a year. I have recently been promoted again (in post) so it hasn’t affected my progression at all.

There are times when I do end up doing extra hours but the reverse of that is that I do less at other times as the work allows so I don’t feel like I’m doing FT hours for reduced pay as it levels out overall.

I went PT after maternity leave and DS is almost 8 now. Initially it was a decision based on wanting to be home with DS more, and as I WFH 2 (half) days per week I get to do the school run on those days and just work during school hours. Then get to take DS to his after school activities, let him have friends over to play etc. Which I think benefits him loads.

But I don’t see myself ever returning to full time work as long as our finances allow, and I look forward to that free time becoming about having an extra non-working day to do exactly how I please rather than just ‘be mum’ IYSWIM.

So short answer - yes I’d take that deal!

No - definitely not. The impact on my pension would be huge (and I suspect I’d just end up doing almost the same amount of work for less pay).

I did as soon as I could.
And at the end of last year I cut my hours down even more to one day a week.
I spent years working full time up until my late 40s and building up my finances so that I could do this.
I'm now just over 50 and the thought of having to work full time would fill me with dread.
I love having the extra time off and normally will go to the gym most days, days out, meet friends and family, long dog walks, on holidays and long weekends away with dp who also went part time 2/3 days.
The money is still pretty good and I still enjoy it mostly but I'm going to early retiring, as is dp, asap.

Having having been part time in my profession, they just expect you to do full time hours for less pay. That's why I changed to full time again as soon as I could.

I sort of did this, different scenario but same outcome as you describe, and I don’t regret it at all.

I’m not interested in promotions, in the area I work in, the extra responsibility is not worth the small increase in pay. To get to any “high” level of pay would result in having to work 70hour weeks and I’m not doing that. But I am 51 now. I want more time for me.

Retirement years are not guaranteed for any of us. Especially healthy retirement years. Everyone seems to have a story of someone still travelling the world in their 90s! But that’s not the norm. Working 20 or so hours a week gives me a great balance in life. Work doesn’t feel too much of a chore because it is reduced, I have lots of time to spend how I want.

If you can make it work financially then yes I think it’s worth it. I have enough to live and some extra for things like holidays etc. I mean I have to save up, but it’s doable. I love my life right now so definitely wouldn’t go back to full time.

Yes. Found FT crazy feck all done in the evenings just chasing tails. Im 48. More time at home now more done. Starting a part t role after Easter. Havent energy for career ladder too old lol

I used to work FT, mon to fri & some OT at weekends

Then moved job to work shifts x on, then x off
This gave me a block of days off work
So much more time to enjoy hobbies, travel (covid allowing)

My current job does not permit PT hours

I am paying into private work related pension

I need a few more years to get my 35 years NI contributions to receive a full state pension

I think that individual people need to weigh up their own pros & cons for working such as
Are they single, with partner or married
Children or other relatives to care for
Do they enjoy their job
A job & money versus less money & more time
Plans for retirement when not working
Estimate of how long we may live, although nobody has a crystal ball, could live to be 100+ ?

Personally, I would rather work when younger & I hope to retire before state retirement age & I have put things in place to do this

Retirement years are not guaranteed for any of us. Especially healthy retirement years. Everyone seems to have a story of someone still travelling the world in their 90s! But that’s not the norm. Working 20 or so hours a week gives me a great balance in life. Work doesn’t feel too much of a chore because it is reduced, I have lots of time to spend how I want.

Agree so much with this. I work PT although its 60% hours for 60% pay but I value my time right now too. My children aren't going to stay young so I want to spend the time with them on my non working days, I don't want to be stressed and exhausted (any more than I am!).

I acknowledge I am extremely lucky to be in a financial position where this is an option and it isn't the case for everyone.

In a flash! I work to live, I’m not career focused, I’ve taken a step down in the past few years and I’d love to retire early.

I think that working PT has to be balanced against the recent topic of " Do women put themselves into a bad financial position?"

Some men work PT too

Some people also work PT due to unable to get FT employment. It is not always a choice

At the moment, it would not be financially beneficial for me to work part time

Felt I was so stressed doing FT. No downtime. More done at home now. Pros and cons. But didnt like my office role so that prob unmotivated me!!! So depends on job too