To ask if you work full or part time and the reasons why?

[BabyNextYear25]

My sister received news today she would not be able to return to work full time as there isn't capacity. She was a little annoyed as her youngest will be in school and she's bored at home.
It got me thinking, the vast majority of my female friends and family work part time. It would be my dream to work part time but it's not feasible at the moment. Um curious to see how many women work part time, and what is there reason behind it? But also full time as well.
My reason is simple- I was single parent and I couldn't pay my mortgage on one wage.

Full time, went full-time when my daughter was 2 because of a few different reasons - money, career progression and feeling more fulfilled at work. I'm a few years down the line and now want to reduce my hours slightly maybe 4 days a week for a better work life balance.

Full time.

Was 4 days for a couple of years after first DC born but went back FT and DH dropped to 4 days instead when our second was born.

Reason is that I am the main earner and dropping one day for me costs us as a family almost 3x as much as losing the day of DH's pay. Financially a no brainer! I don't mind FT anyway as I inevitably ended up working extra when I was 4 days anyway and at least now I get paid for that!

I work full time because the money means we are comfortable. It also allows me to get things for my daughters that they want like drama lessons. Better to work and then have nice quality time than to be poor and sit staring at each other.

Me and DH both work in the same industry, so we have the same salary and earn north of 100 grand between us.

I work part time as a teacher so I can fit the work into the weak and still have some time for the children. I will have to go 4 days next year as I can’t afford it. We have repairs/ maintenance, I’d like to take the children on holidays, pay for more activities for them, etc.

I could have written this. I am a bit of a workaholic and people usually hate us on Mumsnet but it’s how I was brought up and my work ethic is a big factor in my life. Work hard, play hard. I am lucky to be healthy enough to do this.

Also we need the money. And I get really bored and anxious if I don’t have enough to do.

Full time. I am the only wage earner in the family. Furthermore, although work can be stressful, it is also a distraction and coping mechanism for me. I have caring responsibilities, but no young children, and I would probably struggle if my children were younger.

Full time for money and career

I went FT when my eldest went to nursery, once started school I dropped my hours so I could do 2 school runs a week. Then got pregnant with my second. When she went to nursery I pretty much did roughly 30 hours & 3 school pick ups.

I did 27 -30 hours a week for roughly 10 years and now have a new job back up to Full Time hours. My pay, pension and work progression I think has been impacted. But I don’t regret it! I think FT when at nursery and reduced hours at when at school worked the best for me. Also, we got very little support for nursery costs 18 years ago so FT was needed.
My youngest is 14 now but I try and structure my day where I start earlier and finish roughly about 4:30 so I’m still around in early evening.

One of the reasons I went back to FT was my eldest went to uni and the recent COL and mortgage increases. So money wasn’t stretching as much!

Very part-time for me, I was doing 2.5 days, I'm now doing 1.5 days. My job is not flexible/home working and I'd rather be home for the children (we don't need my wage). I'm going to up it back to 2.5 days when DS goes to uni in September.

Part time. I earn enough, I am prioritising my health, my DH gets a good deal as although he works full time I pick up the house admin, initially it was also to be there for small kids but actually as older kids teenagers they also need me but in different ways. It suits me and I can basically.

Have always worked FT and long hours. Single parent. It has been a slog.

Ons stats show that the majority of women with children who work are in part time work.

As is evident from these threads the best way to achieve financial security is through having a partner with a job. That will make more difference to your finances than any success in your own job. Tell your daughters!!

I work full time and have done majority of the time we’ve had the children. Main reason is that there are so many blocks of time in project work where they need you 120-150% of normal full time hours and you end up resenting that so much more when you are paid less. While my work is demanding it’s also very flexible and outside core hours of 10-3 I can fit in my working day wherever I want so have 3 days a week I start early, finish at 3 & collect kids. I think it’s much harder to do full time if you don’t have flexible working/wfh as options. While I’m sometimes a bit shattered juggling stuff it’s definitely doable.

Part time - can afford to - means home and kids gets more attention / time. Helps with organisation of life. Don’t love my job enough to want to do it all the time. Also use days off for work so that helps me not go mad. Obviously it only works if it can be afforded.

I work full time as I am a single parent and need to earn money.

Full time but compressed hours so work 4 days a week. It’s a great arrangement for me, full time money but one day a week to do all the household chores, run errands, life admin etc. Have done it since I became a single parent and even though my DC are now teens, I plan to continue with it.

Must be nice yo have the luxury of part time hours and all that free time not squeezing everything in to a couple of hours on ur evening off one ft job one pt job amounts to 60 plus hours a week

I work part time, there are a number of reasons really.

Dh job is very unpredictable, involves lots of travelling long distances, working away sometimes, long hours so can't rely on being home for pick ups drop offs.

No family help and we both didn't want dc being in childcare for long hours so part times means only half the week in childcare.

We could do with more money but childcare costs have always sort of cancelled out the benefit of the extra money.

My health, it's better for me working part time.

More flexibility for school holidays, sick days, snow days, teacher training days, so again only half the week has to be covered.

Full time but at my company that is 35 hours and I wfh 4 days a week so share school runs with my DH who also wfh, but they do after school club. I was part time until my youngest was 3 when I found a new job in a different industry that has opened new career opportunities for me. We could live on DHs wage but my brain would rot and would mean fewer clubs/holidays and future savings for the dcs. Also means I have my own pension and money if I ever find myself a single parent.

I worked part time after my first was born, because I struggled to afford the childcare.

Full time, I’m the main breadwinner. I did have a year of doing 4.5 days after maternity, but my husband was made redundant so I went back to full. Honestly I’m knackered, but needs must.

Work part time. Wish I could work full time but request to increase back up to full time refused on several occasions.

Originally went back to work part time after daughter was born. Since then my marriage has broken down so I'd like the extra money. But manage all the same. Need to get a new job, but opportunities are sparse in my area and currently anything I do find would not be worth the extra hours of childcare I'd have to pay. Also i work for public sector, so some of the perks sych as pension etc are worth staying on until i can get some considerably better. Working on building my cv through volunteering as a school governor etc.

Love being able to do school pick ups and drop offs while she's young.

Part-time (30 hours) as I have autism and it's the only way I can cope with work.

I’ve done full time, part time and SAHM. My favourite is SAHM. When I did FT, my daughter was two. I adored my job but the lack of family time was too much, PT wasn’t an option due to safeguarding issues so I had to leave.

PT teaching was also hard and I’d fallen out of love with it so I left but I did a PT job (2 days) in a customer service role and enjoyed it but due to my daughter’s anxiety, I had to leave and now I’m a SAHM and home educate her but I do have an Etsy shop I run from home.

Full time because my DH went back to uni for a qualification to change careers and ultimately get him a proper job so mine was the main salary. Reduced my hours a bit when they were very little to 4days but then mostly full time. Now they are teens so prefer the money than the time at home.