To think 4 days a week isn’t really part time?

[MrsCremuel]

I went back to work after mat leave last year. Asked for 3 days but they could only drop my hours to 4 days. I really don’t feel I have the balance right and I am struggling to do what feels like a full time job in less hours. Don’t get the time with my son I wanted and am feeling miserable.

4 days is the worst of both worlds.

In my experience, YANBU that workplaces allowing 4 days basically expect full time output for 20% less money, whereas 3 days (which I do) means I am absent enough for them not to load my desk with stuff.

It's still better than full time from the perspective of time with your child.

Your title is unreasonable, but if 4 days isn't working for you then go ahead and look for something that does.

Has your work actually been scaled down by 20%?

4 days is part time... if you’re doing 4 days worth of work. However as you say, 4 days often means you’re just doing 5 days of work crammed into 4 days.

I love 4 days! Perfect balance for me, I’m not doing full time work though-it’s definitely part time for me but I still feel connected to work.
You probably have an employer problem.

Part time is rarely really part time IME - depending on the nature of your job, you can easily end up working as though you are trying to cram in a FT job into less time. This means all the joy of your job (including little perks of coffee breaks with friendly colleagues, etc.), goes out the window. You constantly feel as though you are doing a less than adequate job, then go home exhausted and feel the same at home! ...perhaps that’s just me though?! I have a better balance since I became my own boss! 😁

Depends on how many hours you’re doing too I’d say

Depends on the hours. You can condense and work 4 long days. I work 20 hours over 4 days 🤷‍♀️

I work four days and feel the same.
I have slightly less work in terms of classes I teach but am expected to do the same amount of admin and meetings etc. There is no acknowledgement that I loose this day of admin.

4 days is part time.

It’s very common for women who drop to part time to end up doing 5 days work crammed into 4

@Palavah am always looking. Locally there is zilch. Dreading a return to the 1.5 hour commute.

@PrincessPopple you have it in a nutshell.

I was warned that when I went to four days after having a baby I would end up doing five days' work in that time. I figured I would push back, it would be fine, I know my boundaries.

Then Covid and the threat of redundancy happened, and now I'm actually doing six days' worth of work in four days and grateful I still have a job. Hahaha fucksake.

Basically yes, this has happened to everyone I know. But you get a day off with your kid (which is actually much, much harder than work).

YANBU to say that 4 days a week often translates into a full time job for 4/5ths of the pay.

Can you go back to full time and purchase a few extra weeks annual leave instead?

I’ve been 4 days for 8 years
It’s brilliant and very much part time
I have been able to enjoy a day with kids while progressing my career which I wouldn’t have been able to do if 3 days

I did 30 hours over 40 days when I was part time. Basically my output was the same as someone who worked full time. I did feel I had a decent quality of life though

@Figgygal I think part of the issue is I don’t enjoy my job anymore really. Would have just got a new one pre babies and COVID. Will have to slog it out for now!

I work 4 days - 30 hours per week.

However our FT is 35 hours per week and as I always end up working an over most days, I pretty much am FT!

However I do like my day off, especially now I'm stuck WFH. It's so nice to pack everything away from the kitchen on a Thursday evening!

YANBU my colleagues who do 4 days have little choice but to cram a full working week in to 4 days, otherwise the work doesn't get done. It's definitely not 20% less than FT. And it's annoying for everyone involved because work won't get an additional person to cover multiple people's "20%", so we're basically a full time team mate down. But they won't hire to cover the 1 day off.

They should divide the work properly and hire accordingly. But of course they won't.

I’ve been 4 days for 8 years. It’s brilliant and very much part time. I have been able to enjoy a day with kids while progressing my career which I wouldn’t have been able to do if 3 days

Same here except I've been doing it 6 years. It's great for me and I have good w/l balance, high performance and have progressed. My colleagues who complained the most about "FT work for PT pay" were those doing 3 days. But I think this is very job and company specific.

I plan to move to a 9 day fortnight when all DC are in school and get my 20% back. OP if you are functionally doing FT work, could you ask for compressed hours or else just go back FT?

I disagree, I worked 4 days for 14 years after I had my first child and loved it. To me it’s the perfect balance.

YANBU, at all. I've worked 4 days for 4 different employers, I've done a full time for 80% of the pay in each. It's not part time enough that your work is allocated elsewhere.
I manage it well and really enjoy my day off with the kids.
Regarding finding another part time job, apply for full time and negotiate the hours at a late stage in the process. There are knockbacks, for sure, but it does work a lot more often than you'd think. I work in HR, by the way.

My absolute top tip is this. When agreeing to reduced hours, can you point at the person that will be doing that work?

I used to work full time over 4 days 8-6pm and then dropped a day so do 30 hours of 3 days. The difference in that one day extra has been life changing. I have gone from feeling work dominated my life to the complete opposite. I do not mind being at work because I know I have more time off. I have the luxury of time which is what I felt was massively lacking before.

Depends on the hours. If you are doing 6 hour days then definitely part time. Over 30 hours a week I'd class as pretty much full time.