To ask what you’d reduce your hours to?

[Oilla]

Thinking ahead to beyond maternity leave so that I have a realistic plan in my mind. I’ll be going back to work when DC1 is 10 months.
We might be one and done, if we have another it certainly won’t be for years so don’t have to factor in finances for another maternity leave anytime soon.

Is a 4 day week the worst of all worlds? I can’t afford to work less than 75% of my current hours (37).

Options I could request would be
A) 0.75FTE in 3 (9hr 15 min day)
B) 0.8FTE in 4 - ie just completely dropping a day (7hr 20 min day)
C) 0.9FTE in 4 (8hr 20 min day)

I feel like B) is probably the most practical realistically speaking but seems like financially the worst way round of doing it.

I don’t have the kind of job where I’d be expected to do 5 days of work in 4. It is truly all left at the door when I leave.

If you are part time (3 or 4 days) does it feel like the right balance? I obviously want the maximum time with baby :)

Three days is right for me

I worked 4 days - had Wednesday off.

Sill had mornings evenings and weekends and holidays.

You need to work out what’s best for you and the early years are when they change quickly.

I would consider 3/4 days but remember they are in bed early - so it shortens your evenings with them.

5 short days are good for school.

I used to do full time in 4 days, which worked really well, although the long evenings could be a bit stressful.

I now do 3 days and just feel like I can't get anything done. I do like my evenings back, and twice as much time with DC though.

I'd be tempted to do .75 in three days if you can do it with DH covering drop off and pick up so it doesn't feel too rushed.

Have you actually had the baby yet? If not to then you won't know whether you will love or hate being at home with the baby.

I’ve done 3 long days and 4 standard days, but didn’t really like either.

3 days I felt out the loop at work and burnt out on my days with DC. 4 days I felt like I was away from them more that I liked.

I now do 4 day but slightly shorter so finish ant 3.30-4pm and find this works perfect. I get to spend a little bit of quality time with my DC every day, even if it’s just stopping in the park on the way home or leisurely bath and bedtime. Then still get the 1 full day a week with them.

Just my opinion but 4 days are the best!!

Both my kids are in school now but I'm still doing 4 days never want to work ft again. It's less impactful on salary and benefits than 3 days. It's easier to absorb your workload and doesn't impact progression or continued opportunities for development and growth.

I did 4 days after having children. I went back to 5 days once youngest was approaching secondary age (and hybrid working became possible following lockdown).

I think doing condensed days will burn you out or at least you'll not feel it's worth the financial gain. It's exhausting looking after a baby/toddler, your sleep is messed up etc. doing longer work days without time to adequately rest after is tough.

I really like 3 days. I think with 4, sometimes you end up trying to do 5 days of work in that time as people see it as pretty much full time. 3 days is more obviously part-time. Obviously that has consequences for finances and possible career progression, but being off more than I'm in has kind of made me not care about that so much! I had expected to go back to at least 4 when kids were both at school but actually I enjoy my work/life balance too much so I think I'll stay at 3.

I work 3 set days 8-6, I have a job where no weekend work is necessary and I don't need to do any work at home outside those hours. It's a good balance and it helps with school holidays. I have an 8 and 3 year old.

I’d go for B.

I actually did 5 days 9 until 2pm, I quite liked that.

I did 3 days but I could probably have done more if my DP had a different job but I needed to factor in doing all drop off and pick ups when he was travelling (away for work a lot) so I think it depends on childcare, if you have a commute etc. I work more now DC are in school and it is more relaxing but that is the nature of my job being hard to stick to 3 days as workload not reduced - definitely don't regret the extra time with them and actually I wouldn't have gone back up to full time with school unless I could do it super flexibly and I love being able to pick them up a couple of days a week and have the afternoon together

My boss does 5 days in 4 with Weds off. That works OK for the team but to me she still looks exhausted, she doesn't have a good sleeper.

I used to work 8.30-1 for 5 days for a while. That was brilliant and worked really well for my team. Loved being around in the afternoons.

I would choose 4 days. Long days with a small child would be hard/exhausting IMO.

I did 0.86 so 4, 8 hour days (8.5 hours at work with lunch break). I wouldn't have wanted a longer working day than that but the extra few quid from only dropping 5 hours not 7.4 hours helped.

I agree - 4 days works really well for me

It sort of depends whether you've got anyone to do pick ups etc. I do 3 days of 8-6. Similar job where I don't have to take any work home or catch up, it's left at the door for the next shift.
I do nursery drop offs for my three year old and my mum does pick up as it closes at 5:30 and I don't finish until 6. So I collect from her.
Initially, I just had those two days in the week off with my child. But as she got older, she thrived at nursery and I felt like I was dragging her around all the time running errands. So when I got pregnant again, I upped her to 4 days at nursery. So now we have one day off together to do all the fun child centered stuff and I get one day off a week to do all the shopping, housework (and sometimes just the sleep catch up!).
Works out brilliantly for us and gives us some quality time together where I can forget about anything that isn't her... safe in the knowledge the housework still gets done!

3 days - long is fine

Quite a lot of people where I work do compressed hours so they do a 9 day fortnight, so they have one day off every 2 weeks. I used to do the same, except I had a half day off every week instead of the full day once a fortnight. This could be another option for you to consider.

I do option C, 0.9 over 4 days. I love it. I do notice the longer days though. I'd say it only works if you have a short commute or can WFH often. Otherwise 0.8 is probably less stressful.

4 days is the best of both worlds. I love the day off with my toddler, but one day is plenty (a toddler is v different to a baby!)