To return to work three days a week after Mat leave?

[BackToWork2024]

Looking for advice on what to do when I return to work after maternity leave next year .

After DS1 I went back four days a week and this worked well.

Options for returning after DS2:

1. Continue with four days a week. DS2 would start childcare two days a week when he’s 11 months old, the other days covered by grandparents.

2. Drop down to three days a week. DS2 would be looked after by me/ DP/ grandparents until he’s around 16 months old, then start nursery two days a week.

Pros of three days / option 2 - more time to spend with children while they’re young, more time to do bits around the house. Easier to cover childcare for DS1 during school holidays. DS2 wouldn’t have to start childcare until a little bit older - although this could be a con as might be harder to settle.

Cons of three days / option 2 - less money (we can afford it, but would have less disposable income compared to option 1 which gives us less cash for emergencies / holidays etc), reduced money into my pension (longer term DP would look to top up but not initially as until now I’ve been paying more into mine than he has his as I’ve been the higher earner), potentially more stressed at work as less time there, possible impact on career going truly part time.

So WWYD?

YANBU - children are only young once, drop down to three days

YABU - we’re in a cost of living crisis, stick at four days

@DrinkFeckArseBrick That is my concern, I do worry I will always feel behind at work. I’ve not found that with four days but I can definitely see how that would be more the case with three.

That’s also a really interesting perspective around when my kids are older and one I hadn’t considered at all. I’m fortunate my parents have been able to retire early ish which means they’ve been able to support us more, didn’t think about how longer term I might want to be able to help support with future grandkids!

Great username btw

Do you work flexible working hours? In my last job before I retired, I dropped down to four days via partial retirement but most weeks worked only three by using one annual leave or flexi day per week and working longer on the other three days. My workplace also had the option to work full time hours over four days a week. The other thing to consider is if you drop to three days and your company employ someone else to make up the shortfall, you may not automatically be able to increase your hours again, should you wish or need to due to financial issues. This happened to a close friend of mine and it was several years before she was able to go back to full time hours once her boys had grown up. Personally, I went back to work full time after three months when my son was born but at that time I was teaching so I had very long holidays. I paid for the house to be cleaned and the bedding to be changed and laundered each week, which helped so much.

Agree with other posters. 4 days would be doing a full time amount of work on less hours. 3 days is part time and hopefully your workload adjusted accordingly. You're right to make provisions to top up your pension when you can. There was a time when mine were horrible teens and I looked at my reduced pension thinking I gave up £££ for you lot?!?!? Likewise my career has soared once they were grown, and I returned full time from 3 days a week. Working part time made me really productive and organised. No procrastination, get stuff done and out so could pick up responses when next at work. No regrets about spending that time with my family, and long term hasn't hurt my career.

I also struggled with a similar decision, I ended going back 3.5 days but due my my role I found it difficult to keep in the loop at work and never felt like I could really get in to a project. I now do 4 days (slightly longer hours to make up some of the hours of my day off) and it works well, my husband also does 4 days.
I never want to go back to 5 days now haha.

4 days would be doing a full time amount of work on less hours. 3 days is part time and hopefully your workload adjusted accordingly

This hasn't been my experience, but I suppose it depends on your role and on the workplace.

When I did 3 days I felt out of the loop, and I found I ended up staying at work later and later, or bringing work home with me trying to catch up. Now I do 4 days a week and finish at 4pm. For me it's a much better balance. I feel I'm effective in my role but I certainly don't feel I'm doing "a full time amount of work on less hours", my workload has been adjusted to take into account that I'm not FT.

Will you dh health stay the same. Should you keep 4 days to protect career in case he can't work in future?

We have two DC and I work three days a week and love it. Plenty of time to spend with DC and time to sort housework/washing etc so we don't have to get it all done at the weekend.

Going against the grain a bit, I think if you’re the higher earner and your DP is disabled you need to maximise your earning potential- I wouldn’t drop to 3 days in your shoes. My deputy at work does 4 days a week and originally thought she might go down to 3; in fact she’s found that 4 is the right balance for her, and I’m grateful for that as I’d have had to allocate a lot more interesting work to other people if she’d reduced her hours again. 4 days has definitely been better for her career progression.

Is compressed hours an option? I’ve never been part time but when DD was small I did 5 days in 4 in one job, and 10 days in 9 in the next. Worked well for us - I’m the higher earner.

I’ve always been dead against compressed hours as I just don’t want to do long days, ideally when both kids are at school I want to be able to do the pick ups most days and not log back on again later.

Thanks for all the responses, this has definitely given me food for thought! I’m leaning towards sticking with four days but taking some leave to do a phased three day a week return while I get a flavour for it and then hold fire on any big decisions until we’ve got our routine going.