Want to do 4 days a week but scared to ask

[deebyhi]

Aibu to consider asking 4 day week?

Does anyone have any tips?

Background:
Currently work 5 days a week and can be long hours
Pharma company
Home based
It can be very full on when we have a deadline
There are certain jobs that are just mine (no one else knows how to do them)
I do not like it, I'm bored and stressed

I'm in my 40s and have three children at primary school.

Life is very very full on. Including one kid with additional needs. Weekends are parties, washing, jobs around house then back to work.

We are not poor and I could afford it, especially as it would save on childcare but we are not massively rich. Not been on a foreign holiday for about 10 years. All my holiday is used for childcare, covering illness with kids or jobs/adhoc things etc. used two days this year for funerals

Work has been stressful for my team. They are trying to fix with additional resources.

I last asked to go part time when I returned from maternity leave. Was told I had to go in each day. So ended up doing 4 days over 5 (including going in on Friday afternoons)

Note: after this, several people in my role now do 4 days a week but they perhaps work on easier teams.

Basically I want more balance. I want to pick my kids up. I want more me time. Im stressed. A few things lately have made me realise I do not want to work myself into the ground.

But im scared. Im scared my team will hate me as we are so busy. Or that even if I did do 4 days, the work would just continues being this bad.

I've tried looking for a new job but not much out there plus nothing as well paid.

A few health things have freaked me out... eg grinding me teeth til they crack, and a few other things related to... you guessed it, STRESS!

What shall I do and how do I approach this

Does anyone have any tips about how to ask so they can't say no?!

Do you mean you are going in for five days and being paid for four?

Regards asking to change the days, you'll have to change your attitude; if you expect a no you'll get one!

Make it a matter of fact request that you will be just as effective over four days and that travel etc. makes five days uneconomic for you.

I currently work 5 days 9-530. But often work in evenings due to working with American people.

I'd love to work 4 full days. I'd like 1 day off a week to be with kids, sort jobs and life admin.

Are you very, very well paid? Either way, are you getting TOIL or paid for working evenings? Basically doing unpaid work does not get you respect, it just becomes the norm.

So the work that you usually do on the 5th day - who would do that if you dropped down to 4?

The urgent work that needs doing could be picked up by other team members. Other stuff could wait for me to come back in the next day.

I evening work is expected in this industry. All of my team do it.

I get around £50k a year and decent benefits (medical, dental, shares)

You're legally entitled to submit a flexible working request to reduce your hours. The law has just changed so that the company have to prove why it wouldn't work in order to say no (as opposed to you having to prove why it will).

I made the same request for similar reasons recently. I was terrified. I'd only been in my job 3 months and was really scared of rocking the boat.

My manager was fully supportive and my request was signed off. I now have every Friday off and feel so much happier with my work life balance.

My advice:

Take the personal emotion out of it. They will not be interested in why you want to drop a day, only in how the work will be resourced.

If you are already working long hours, could you ask to do compressed hours eg work 37.5 hours across 4 days? It sounds like you are doing this already and therefore have the childcare arrangements to manage it?

Look carefully at your existing workload and identify areas that could be more efficient. In my role I have to submit reports to three different committees so I have streamlined the process by creating a format that works for all three.

Find examples of anyone else who is working like this and mention them when making your application.

Good luck - I work four days at the moment (using up mat leave holiday) and it makes a huge difference to our quality of life as a family.

If other people are doing it, I don’t see why it would be no to you

I would just submit a FWP and say it’s for your mental well-being, and to balance your home/work life due to three young children including one with additional needs.

Would there be an option for working 9 out of 10 days? So a day off every other week? I guess this makes it more complicated for the company so may not work in your favour but could be a middle ground if the refuse 4 days a week.

I wouldn't be happy about my employer saving themselves 20% of a salary and me being expected to do additional work that I didn't agree to for free. No. I wouldn't like that at all. I'd be resentful that my employer was benefiting, my colleague was benefiting and not only was I not getting any benefit from it i would actually be required to do even more work, even though I'm already doing additional unpaid work in the evenings.

Yes, you're right to be scared to ask 😀 let us know how it works.

@ByUmberViewer then how do people manage to work reduced hours.

Reduced hours = reduced pay for me. That is the pay off here.

I could potentially fro a few extra hours one evening and then I'm only asking for a reduction by 3-4 hours

Just submit a flexible working request. You don’t need sob story; you’re entitled to ask: just say it’s for family reasons. They have to give you a business reason why it wouldn’t work. And FYI I know lots of people who earn that much in far less stressful jobs, so I would keep job hunting

Like Peonies said, just do it. What's your line manager like? Would you feel more comfortable having an informal chat with them first before submitting an official request? Employers want to retain good staff! And a lot would be happy to save 20% of an employees salary too.

I started doing four days a week in January. Trialled it for three months and company have just agreed to make it permanent if I'm happy, which I am.

I do not do anything beyond my four days. No evening work (although it can be expected as I'm salaried). I certainly do not do any work on my non-working day as that would defeat my reduction in days.

The 20% reduction in salary didn't have as big an impact as I expected and the additional time off is great.

You have nothing to lose by asking (isn't it a legal right to request even though company can refuse) and if you never ask then you'll never know.

In my organisation we need to supply certain information when we submit a flexible working request.
I've done one very recently so you would think I would remember it all, but I don't!
I don't think I had to give a reason, as such, but it does help if you can give a valid reason. The main thing for me was that I had to show that I had considered the impact that reducing my hours would have on the team. In my case it was that I was less likely to be unwell and to have to take sick leave (I am undergoing treatment for cancer). It would release funding for more (very much needed) secretarial hours. I would still be able to take notes for meetings etc. by using the record function for Teams meetings. Other members of the team already work reduced hours.
I have also put in a request for annualised hours so that I can work more hours when I feel well and fewer if I feel grotty or am especially tired. Still waiting to hear about that.

I do a 4 day week. 8am to 4.30pm. So much better for it.

The thing is OP, if you don't ask you'll lose anyway. By not asking, not taking a deep breath and just asking, nothing will change.

If you want something, ask for it.

It's taken me well over 40 years to learn this.

I work four days a week....in my case it was easy to ask for, as we went onto reduced hours during Covid, and when they said "OK, Covid's over, you can go back to full time now", I was able to demonstrate that the work was still getting done in four days rather than five. Actually, I work slightly longer hours Mon-Thur, so only lost 4 hours of pay. It's invaluable having that extra day.

The issue will be who covers things on your day off. Obviously that depends on your job role. One thing that helped me is I have an assistant who works when I don't, so unless one of us is on holiday there is always someone around. My phone still rings on a Friday with work issues, so I have to be careful it doesn't creep into my downtime. I am not afraid to say I'll deal with something on Monday, or speak to X. Make sure you don't end up with five days of work to be done in four.

But as others have said, it's up to your manager/company to give a reason why it CAN'T be done, rather than you having to prove that it CAN. If others doing a similar job to you are working four day weeks it will be hard for them to say no. Just make the request!