Work: which is best? Term time only or three days a week?

[jclm]

Posting on here for traffic. I am in a lucky position of having a very flexible, wfh job (civil service). I may ask to reduce my hours as currently I'm exhausted on four days a week. My manager is happy with any scenario that will help me.

We have a disabled child plus a 10 year old child. We have many medical appointments and I also need some "recovery" time when my child has violent/challenging behaviour. We do have childcare during the school holidays but it's costing £110 per day. I'm leaning towards a three day week as this will take the pressure off during term time.

Has anyone got any experience of these scenarios?

The options are:

• term time only contract (4 days a week during term time)
• three days a week (52 weeks of year). The hours could be spread over five days which would be better for me as I could work when the children are in school and I could get childcare in the holidays
• any other combination? possibly using unpaid parental leave when necessary

Sorry please ignore the voting

Three days a week and don’t spread across five days might give you some much needed time to yourself?

I have a similar confound run and I think 3 full days a week works best. It’s cheaper for holiday childcare than working more but shorter days but also allows a limited amount of down time for me to do the life admin etc etc that needs doing.

Conundrum not confound run! Bloody autocorrect

I do 4 days WFH, but can work them pretty much when I like. It’s been great for the work life balance and childcare.

If your hours don’t have to be set I’d take the 3 day week, work as and when you can to get your work/hours done. And plan time for yourself. Even set at a 3 day week, you’d be better off surely with structured time off.

I've jobs doing both. and honestly struggled with holiday cover for the child, most summmer clubs I had to book them in all week rather than just the 3 days I worked.

Found term time much easier, and now my child is older I get a good break.

However with appointments for your disabled child, might mean a lot of term time appointments, so 3 may work for you better.

I think 3 days a week is best. You say you are already struggling on 4 days per week, so term time only you would get a 'break' every 6-8 weeks or so, but it doesn't sound like much of a break. Better for you to have weekly respite of 1 to 2 days per week, than feel guilty about putting your child into childcare in the holidays because you aren't working.

If you're currently struggling then don't go for four days but term-time only - you'll still be doing a pattern that you know isn't working 75% of the time. The holidays won't make up for it, especially as it sounds like you'll be spending them doing full-time care. It's also unlikely to help much with the medical appointments, since most of them probably can't be rearranged so they fall in the holidays.

I had one with moderate LD's etc and another NT, but grief issues, her dad had died. I found a three day week much better. My DD has hospital appointments with my GC and she has recently started more hours, over three days rather than four, it's working better.

3 days a week year round, absolutely. Ideally you have them as officially flex time but stick to a strict schedule in term time then flex as much as necessary, but as little as possible, in the holidays. For your own rest, structure and sanity.

4 days a week (that your already struggling with) and holidays ‘off’ sounds like a recipe for burnout.

Does it have to be consistent?
Whilst I officially do 3 days a week, I'm in charge of my own work load and do 4 days a week most days a week during term time (when the DC are in school) and then do 2 days a week during the school holidays. It also gives me a bit of flexibility to do the occasional 2 or 3 day a week during term time if I need more time off then.
I log all of this really clearly both in our central HR system (which calculates annual leave & things) and in my shared calendar so colleagues not only know when I'm around and not around but, if they think I'm not pulling my weight, can go through my calendar and work out if I'm doing what I'm contracted to do which one of them likes to do on a regular basis
I am extraordinarily fortunate in having this working pattern so would never dare take the mick with it.

In your situation, I would go for 3 days p/w. I probably wouldn't spread the hours over 5 days permanently as then you won't have a full day off in the week.

It sounds as though you could do the 3 days worth of hours flexibly? If so, maybe you could swap things round if your child has an appointment or if you need a different day to recuperate? Apologies if I have misunderstood.

I think 4 days term time would make things even more intense.

I work 3 days per week all year through. I work 13-14 hour shifts but I wouldn't change it as I love having extra time to myself. My job can be really draining both physically and mentally. DS is 9 and, much as I adore the bones of him, he has ADHD and I definitely need the time to unwind (read: clean 🙄).

3 days a week and take unpaid leave over the summer?

If it’s civil service do you have the option of annualised hours? That way you can kind of do a bit of both to make sure the hours get done across the year. Doing more in termtime and less in the holidays but not really an either/or?