To ask what day is best to have as a day off

[mimi7363]

Hello. Currently work a four day week, Fridays off. Have done for a number of years. Love having Fridays off with DS. Also start of the weekend - proper Friday feels!

DD starts school in Sept. Am considering swapping day off to a Monday, mainly for the fact that for any Monday bank holiday (at least four per year) I will be given the hours back by them being added to my annual leave allocation. Which means an extra four days off a year (I know it's not really an extra four days, just means I can take my bank holidays whenever I want).

WWYD??? Would be sad to lose having Fridays off, but feel like it would help as I'll have more leave to use in the juggle of school holidays?

I would never choose a Friday, simply because most people in my workplace are winding down for the weekend then anyway or so it seems

Monday would be a great day off for reasons you’ve outlined, or Wednesday. Midweek ‘weekend’, never work more than two days, chance to catch up on all the housework/shopping and appointments as everywhere less busy than on Mondays and Fridays.

Do you WFH or OOO?

I would prefer to take Mondays off as Fridays are generally easier and I can finish early anyway.

Are you absolutely sure about the bank holiday Mondays being given as additional leave?
In my experience, the AL and bank holidays are pro-rated when you are part time so not only you don't get additional leave but they remove AL days to compensate for the additional BH you have had...

But if they do that it's brilliant!
I would definitely take Mondays too. Or Wednesdays to have a break mid-week.
And I would use the time to go swimming or hobbies, things that takes time and that I can't do anymore with young kids.

I would do a Monday too for the same reason.

Actually no, I take that back because you'd be off on a BH Monday anyway (unless you don't) maybe a Thursday in that case as Fridays tend to be quiet anyway.

A friend who went part-time took Mondays off. She said it felt like she was having a longer time off because she was off when everyone else was back at work after the weekend. I take quite a few Mondays as holiday and it does seem to make the weekend much longer in a way that having Friday never did.

I don’t work Mondays and find Tuesdays manic. I feel like I miss loads. I’m going back up to 5 days in October but I’d defo have Fridays off if I could change it - quieter day for us so I’d miss less!

Wednesday! I haven't worked a Wednesday for years and it's great. Only ever work two days in a row.

I work compressed hours and have Friday off. As Fridays are generally quieter there is far less for me to catch up on on Monday. If I had Monday off Tuesday would be chaos. It depends on the nature of your work I think. I work on projects so it's not like you start afresh every day.

Yup I did this too. Means Tuesday is actually kinda a Friday!

taking Friday off is only good if your child isn’t in school as you can go away early for long Weekends. But it loses its benefit once child is in school and you can’t take them out.

My work place is the same as yours and you get the extra annual leave so I would do Mondays if I could. It’s a popular day though. I’ve had Wednesdays previously and never had to work more than 2 days in a row and always had that feeling of ‘just one more day’ on your first day back.

Monday Monday Monday Monday

For the bank holidays alone. I always had a week (4 days) more holiday than my job share who worked mondays & off Friday

Trying to wangle Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday next so.I get good Friday too 😅

@Bearbookagainandagain it's not 'additional' leave, our bank holiday allowance is added to normal holiday allowance so I get those.hours Holiday but can use them whenever because I don't have to take it on the Monday as it's a non-working day.

I love having Mondays off - much better than Friday in my opinion. You get a break after the weekend (which with kids is great). As PP have said Fridays are quieter and I do get time back in Leiu of the bank holidays (0.8 a day per Monday bank holiday).

Fridays are a doss in so many jobs, so I would recommend taking Monday as your day off.

I work full time but I have taken a random day of annual leave today and it is glorious!

I get to enjoy London when it is not unbearably busy (still busy, mind) and miss a ‘proper’ day of work.

If you work part time, say 3 days a week, 8 hours per day you would get 3/5ths of the full time BHs and AL. So for each BH you get 3/5ths of 8 hours, which is 4.8 hours. But to take off the whole day on a bank holiday you have to use an additonal 3.2 hours of AL to to make it up to 8 hours. So it actually 'costs' you to take leave on Bank Holidays.

If you don't normally work on Mondays you get to use the 4.8 hours as normal annual leave. In the UK there are generally 8 bank holidays so it you have 38.4 hours which is equivalent to nearly 5 days of annual leave.

ETA: After not working on Mondays for about 15 years, I still get a small thrill on Sunday evenings that I don't have to go to work in the morning.

Yeah I've had friends who worked part time inc mondays who ended up "owing" the company a couple of.hours for their bank holidays at the end of the year

I would definitely take the Monday off. I used to work every weekend and Monday was my "Friday," so to speak. I found that hotels etc were largely a lot cheaper and days out were much quieter.

I am off on Wednesdays (well sort of - I have a different job I sometimes do on a Weds) I like to break up the week, and I like getting BH Mondays and Fridays as well.

Sorry, Monday was like my Saturday, not Friday... menopausal brain fog moment 😁

I used to have Mondays off to save money on childcare. I got paid a pro rata amount for bank holidays, but the formula my workplace used to calculate this was so complicated that I never understood it.

I liked having Mondays off - I never got that sinking Sunday night feeling.

But the downside was that many other people don’t work on Mondays (including my hairdresser and my dentist) and our local museum and some independent shops no longer open on Mondays either.

Going against everyone here 🤣. I used to have a Thursday off which I loved. Worked three days then day off then a quick day before the weekend.

I love my Mondays off. But I also only work a half day on a Friday so kind of have the best of both worlds.

In the minority here but I have a Thursday day off and love it. Round here lots of people seem to have Fridays off so it feels busy, like a weekend day. Thursdays everywhere is nice and quiet so can get loads of errands done fast. I also really feel like I have a proper day off, whereas Fridays is much quieter at my work. I also like the fact I can book a Friday off as leave and then Ive got a 4 day weekend.