To want to work only 2 days a week?

[sophie5418]

I'm currently working part time 3 days a week (8 hours a day) after dropping down from 5 days in a busy role. I am grateful for this but still worried that 3 days will be too much as I have a lot going on.

I have searched all over the internet and can't find much discussion on 2 days vs 3 days. It seems like most mumsnetters work at least 3 days and general consensus seems to be that 3 days is a good balance.

Would love to hear any thoughts on 2 days vs 3, is 2 days much better than 3 etc, and whether I am being overly worried as 3 days is already good. My boss will have a heart attack if I ask to drop another day, so it will be a hard battle if I want to go that route!

Following because I only want to work 2 days a week too!

And I used to feel that I was trying to get everything sorted as if going on holiday every week so as not to leave stuff to get dumped on colleagues.

For those asking what my job is, I work in a finance department and used to manage a team, but since going to 3 days I am no longer managing any direct reports.

We have a lot of routine tasks with deadlines falling on specific days of the month, so I will be doing less of this routine work and move into more project type work. I don't have enough experience to add a huge amount of value in only 2 days (like someone who just comes in and troubleshoots everything) so it's not ideal, but my boss might go for it if I would leave otherwise.

On the suggestion of a sabbatical - I wouldn't consider this as do need the money. My husband is self employed and income is not stable. We are frugal though so could manage on me working 2 days.

I work 2 days per week, term time only.
It is great in terms of home life.
However I feel like my job is more stressful as a result as I always feel like I'm catching up and not a part of the team.

It has eaten away at my confidence as things never feel easy at work. It depends on the job I think.

I work 2 days 9am to 2pm (no lunch break) spread over 3 days. It is great from a work life balance perspective but I do struggle to get work done. I worked 3 days for years which worked better but have childcare issues at the moment which make increasing my hours difficult. If you do work 2 days I would recommend spreading the hours over 3 days as this does mean you will not miss being away from work for so long.

Could you offer to your boss that you could work 2 days but be flexible over which days they are, so that you could make sure you were in for the routine deadline days? That could work for both your boss and you?

I dropped from 3 to 2 after lockdown. Best thing I ever did. 2 days is so much better!

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/money/shortcuts/2021/mar/22/make-mine-a-micro-job-why-working-one-day-a-week-is-the-secret-of-happiness

I only work 2 days per week and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I start on the dot, finish on the dot. Once I've finished, I don't even think about work until my next day.
I refuse to answer the phone or emails etc from work once I've left and I don't attend team meetings unless I'm actually at work.
It's great.

Rather than dropping a day a week at work, could you drop something in your non-work life?

It sounds as though 2 days per week isn't really going to work for anyone, and you will be financially stretched. You say you've got "a lot going on " outside of work, is there anything you could reduce there?

I work 3 half-days (Mon/Tues/Thurs), about 13.5 hours in total. It’s great. I’m in frequently enough that I don’t feel out of the loop, and the short days mean none of the kids (we have 3 under 8) have long days in childcare. All my ‘time off’ is spent looking after them, so no, I don’t see it as being financially supported by my husband, summertime.

I notice how some if the posters begrudge the fulltime staff working at an easier pace than the 3 day a week staff. I worked fulltime for years, currently 4 day, now as I am nearly 50 and have tweens. The parr time staff should come back on fulltime hours if they want a slower pace environment.

I found, (and I am sure the fulltimers find) that it is very hard to have the energy to be fast paced at a fulltime job, particularly as one gets older and still have a busy homelife. With fulltime working I had very little downtime as chore and driving dc to activities took all my free time. I found myself having to sort out car insurance etc at work, as I was never at home when offices were open. The part timers were watching and timing the fulltimers breaks. They wanted to cut out the afternoon tea break. I ate a light meal on this, as I often had dc activities and would not eat again til 8pm.

Who would pick up the short fall in your drop of wages?

From your latest post, I think reducing hours even more with an unstable other income is not a good idea. Two days a week would not work at my company either, is there precedence at yours? I'd have thought getting project based work done in only 2 working days a week would also be hard to achieve and most people would be unproductive working to deadlines over 9+ hours per day if the working week was compressed. I think you need to reduce what's going on outside of work, unless that's bringing in an income.

@user1471554720 it's fine for the full time staff to get paid full time hrs and have a more relaxed working pace. However, it is not fine that you are paid full time hrs then use your working hrs to sort out your out of work life admin - that is taking the piss out of your employers and colleagues. Why didn't you do that during your lunch (or second mini lunch!) break?

MrsNutNutsmarriedaphilanderer

Another example of begrudgery. I needed the car for work and could not speak to a person about insurance when I was off the weekends. I am sure it is 'unfair on the employer' to make a 5 min phone call annually. Also it is hard enough to take hols as all the part timers booked up Easter Sumner, Christmas.

Part timers should go full tilme if they think we are all working at an easier pace. Lwt them see how easy it is to fit all domestic work and children activities into the weekends.

@user1471554720 why not do the calls during your work break? I never said it was easy to fit all domestic work and childrens activities into the weekend and that is partially why I work part time (and get paid accordingly).

There are good and bad examples of all types of employee - full and part time.

It sounds like the financial impact on your life would be quite hard to deal with.

Is there anything you can do to reduce your workload at home rather than actually in work? Could you give an idea about what else you have going on to see if anyone can suggest solutions etc?

I do 2.5 days, but that is generally across 4-5 days. Occasionally it’s done in 3 or even 2, but that isn’t the norm.

There was a time I only did 10 hours a week, but when I did that, I had to log into email everyday and answer messages. People will tolerate some degree of lag time on responses, but there are limits.

I do 4 school days which is somewhere between 2 and 3 days. Works well for me.