3 day weekend - to think this what is needed to have a decent quality of life?

[Whatifthegrassisblue]

Where does the time go? AIBU to think there is not enough time? By the time you catch up on chores, spend time with family, catch up with friends and try and have some time as a family as well ....it just doesn't happen. I was thinking about it ...1 day for chores and "life admin", leaves the other 52 days to split between time as a family, your extended family and friends. Let alone just wanting to have a day and chill and do nothing, or go on a holiday. I feel I am doing life wrong 😕 Does anyone else feel this way or AIBU?

I work 5 days a week but 3 of these are from home and, for me, that's the big difference. I no longer hanker after reducing to 4 days because I can get a lot of things done during the working week. I can make phone calls, get a lot of the washing done, have a quick hoover round or prep meals in my lunch hour or before work. I would absolutely be struggling with all the life admin etc if I had to be in the office 5 days a week.

I live in the Netherlands and parttime jobs are really the standard for woman with children. It is great for the work-life balance… but it is a bit of a problem for the emancipation as in a parttime job you do not get as easily promoted to a higher management function.

Almost all teachers work parttime in my country. The kids will have teacher A for 4 days and teacher B for 1 day and teacher B will have several classes. 3 days and 2 days is also possible.

On a personal level I'd be happy enough with a 4 day week for schools. 5 days has always felt like a lot for them. But we live in a society where we need school to also function as childcare, so I realise that would fuck a lot of people around.

I do Monday to Thursday 9 hours a day so full time 36 hours a week while retaining my full salary and also my full annual leave entitlement at 33 days plus the usual bank holidays

I never want to work Fridays again, haven’t done so since 2016

Since January this year I've been working 4 days in an NHS job working with people with mental health problems. Prior to that I've always worked 5days/ft.
It's a game changer. Granted I've lost money but I will do anything to stay at 4 days. The weekends feel so beautifully long, I no longer get Sunday blues, I have time to do all my life admin jobs, leisure, socialise. I am happier overall. I also have more energy for my job which does have a level of responsibility.
I refuse to spend the best years of my life drudging away for a pension I'll probably never get.
Plus, having Mondays off means you also get a proportion of bank holidays off (or hours in lieu) due to part time workers not being penalised.
I wish our government was more progressive in this respect and hope the large scale study is a landmark whereby change is implemented!

I compressed my week to 4 days after Mat leave with DC1. The extra time each day has replaced my commute because I now WFH after Covid so I don’t feel I’ve lost any time per day. I love it! DC1 will be going to school in September… I still have DC2 anyway for now but I have no intention of going back to a 5 day week, I love my longer weekend! It’s also nice to have that day during the week to be able to schedule things like dentist appointments etc so it saves me having to go on my employers time, which will benefit them I suppose.

All I can say is think yourself lucky if you have a 2 day weekend!

I work full time plus a Saturday job plus a third cash in hand job. Needs must - single parent of teens.

I have been doing this for a while and just adapted to getting everything else done at night time.

Made me think of this article, about why more part time workers aren't increasing their hours.

www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/13/full-time-part-time-work-no-longer-pays-uk-economy

Speaking as a part timer, the gains would nowhere near outweigh the losses. Two full time earners plus DC is just too much.

How can a factory or construction site be as productive over 32 hours as they are over 40?

They can't be. It's one of those luxuries that's reserved people who work 9-5 in an office - not those of us doing manual labour or working in factories or supermarkets.

The challenge with any work pattern that isn't M - F 9 - 5 (for example doing M - Thu), is that unless you are really disciplined (no logging on, no availability for queries, no contact with manager) and ensure everyone knows those healthy boundaries are in place, you're always going to be vulnerable to having your day off stolen from you.

Effectively working 4.5-5 days but being paid for 4.

I don't see this at all in my current Public Sector workplace because the culture supports flexible work patterns, family friendly hours, but Industry is appalling.

I work a 4 day week but still feel exhausted and short of time (I do 40 hours over 4 days though). I need to see my parents at least one day, do chores as no time in the week and try and do something fun with my toddler. Teenagers are easier as they just require lifts, food and money but try to spend quality time with them too.
I fall in to bed Sunday feeling as though I haven't had a break.

It's interesting, because obviously in a lot of roles where things like machinery is used, work can only be done at a certain rate. So there's that aspect.

But we also know that fatigue has an impact on performance and productivity, and pretty much everyone agrees that there comes a point when people are so tired that working more doesn't actually achieve more. Or at least, doesn't achieve enough to make it worth paying them to do it. This applies to people doing manual labour every bit as much as it does to any other kind of work, because it's still the same humans. We seem to be very ready to accept that a 40 hour working week isn't that point, but that norm seems to be based more on assumption and historical factors than anything else. It didn't come into being on the basis of solid analysis.

I absolutely love my profession. It’s vitally important and I love my colleagues. But I’m one of many packing it in as there is no flexibility and I don’t enjoy the rest of my life because of it.

I’ll be working compressed hours from home in my new role. I’ve realised the WFH element gives me an extra 50 hours each month of spare time without getting ready for work and the commute. That equates to almost a full month per year.

I don’t have kids but I do have a hobby that takes up a substantial amount of time (involving living animals so I can’t exactly decide I can’t be bothered one day, they still need care) and I am constantly anxious about how time poor I am. I’ve come to accept I can’t cope with the modern day 9-5 plus commute and only 2 days off for me.

I’m gutted to leave this job, I’ve worked hard to get to where I am and I feel passionately about it but ultimately, I don’t live to work.

I finish work around 2pm on Fridays, that's good enough for me.

DH is a plasterer.

All that would happen if he worked four days a week is that every single project he worked on would take longer. He can't plaster any more walls in a day than he already does as the plaster needs to be mixed and used within a certain time. The only way he'd be able to get more done in four days is by working longer days - which sort of defeats the purpose

The same applies to pretty much anyone in the construction industry for obvious reasons.

Chores yes I get that but what is this obsession with life admin on MN generally. Is it making appointments, insurances, buying gifts, kids dentist appointment and stuff like that? These days so much can be done online. I remember as a 21 year old having to have an appointment in an insurance broker to get contents insurance for the flat I was buying. I know some stuff is a pita. I needed to make a Doctor's appointment that’s a 30 minute queue at least, I was number 5 in the queue. I just dial and stick it on speakerphone and do chores.

My MIL gets overwhelmed by life admin, she always has. She was very looked after as a child, they had an array of servants and then she had a housekeeper for years. I have some admin this weekend, I see a tick list in my head and do the shit stuff first then it is done. The worry over admin takes up space in your head the key is not to worry. She does this and it just bogs her down.

A poor example but during lockdown, although the construction was considered "essential and therefore immune to covid", we were working much shorter hours. Rather than doing 11 hour days we were only doing 5 or 6 hour days. It was brilliant as I got to actually spend time with my kids. That seemed a much better work / life balance for me honestly.

@Nosandwichfilling but in your example, you can only stick the GP on speaker and do other stuff because you are at home - anyone working 5 days a week during GP hours can't do that.

I totally agree with you. I work 4 days but if I worked full time I'd rather work compressed hours. The extra day at home makes all the difference.
At the moment I have quite a random day off..Thursdays! My employer was happy to be flexible and I arranged to have it off so I can take DD to her hobby but I love it! Can do extra housework and meet a friend then the weekend is for family stuff.

This thread really has made me think about compressed hours and a cleaner!

This is why I dropped my hours down to just 2 days a week. DP is at home / studying and we had zero quality of life when I was full time due to extremely challenging family circumstances. We are lucky to get UC which tops things up and we now have much less stress

Everyone I know in construction worked as normal - five day weeks and eight to ten hour days.

Sing it! And so many jobs are simply nonsense to keep us all busy on the capitalist merry-go-round: I work as a copywriter for retail PR. Absolute bullshit but I can’t escape, because bills. And I won’t be able to retire as young as my parents did and finally gave time to read, write, paint, garden, nor with as much money.

I currently do 3 days a week for work, 3-day weekend with DD – this will switch to with DS once DD is in school – and one glorious day of self employment with the goal of building that day into full time self employment: but I have to work like a pig not to let that day become the “life admin chores food shop house clean do all the things” day instead of my day. It even annoys me that DP WFH that day as he impacts my productivity with his prowling around the house.

In conclusion: 3-day weekend FTW but even better would be winning euromillions for me and all my friends.

DH dropped to 4 days about 2 years ago, had to take a 20% pay cut, it’s not made a big difference to his take home pay as he was in higher rate tax bracket. I’ve only ever worked 3 days 9-3 since youngest of 3 started Y1, he’s Y12 now. We have 1 still at Uni and 1 graduated and back home. I use one of my days off to see my disabled mum, sort her shopping and appointments out and the other day is my housework day, which leaves weekends free. We now feel rested on weekends and can spend it doing what we want. DH has said he may even drop another day in a couple of years. If you can afford it go for it.

Absolutely, I work 4 days snd hope I won't ever have to go back up to 5.