Working 3 days vs 4 days?

[workingpartime]

Considering options work hours wise for when I return to work

Here is the situation. I feel like my mind is so frazzled with it that I just need advising what to do.

I enjoy my job and earn a very median type income, it is by no means mega bucks but also not bad. Pre maternity leave my working week looked like so: 2 days at my base, 1 or 2 days in the city centre office and 1 or 2 at home.

My base is 12 miles from home, about 35 minute drive if no traffic or up to 1hr if there is traffic. Office day commute involves driving to the train station and then getting the 20 minute train into the city centre.

DH works 12 hour shifts, including weekends, days and nights.

I know I want to return part time but not sure if 3 or 4 days is better. I do have the type of role you could leave at the door.

My parents and sister (who is a SAHM) would be on hand to help but wouldn’t be fair to rely on them regularly so we would need some form of childcare, definitely for at least 2 days a week.

I have enquired with a nursery and thanks to the 30 funded hours for 9 month olds in September, it is reasonably priced for 2 days with funding spread across the year. We would only have to pay a consumables charge, so it would be £55 a month. However - if we wanted 3 days, this 3rd day is not funded and adds £300 onto the monthly bill. That extra few hundred pounds is probably not much less than the income I’d bring in from working that one day a week.

Is it a no brainer to go to 3 days or is there something I have missed? I think in my workplace you can review your hours every 6 or 12 months and increase them if you would like

WWYD? My DH is fab and very hands on on his days off but I am not underestimating that I will be the default parent, emergency contact and so on. Plus, I of course want to spend the most time possible with my baby!

Sorry- posting here for traffic

Going back for 3 days sounds totally doable. If you can review every 6 months you've got nothing to lose.

You may even have accrued holiday during your mat leave, so might even be able to use these and just do 1 or 2 days a week for the first few weeks/months to ease you back into it.

Good luck!

When I went back to work I sat down and plugged the options into a spreadsheet. My little girl has just start school back in September and I did the same thing. I worked out the full time salary and leave and then ladder columns for different numbers of day, different hours in those days. I then added the childcare costs under each and figure out the best balance.

It's worth thinking about having Mondays off work if you go back part time as you generally accrue bank holiday hours that you have to use on bank holidays you were due to work. Most bank holidays are Mondays so you tend to find this approach gives you more annual leave to play with

Definitely work out finances, but also think about how much you think you'll enjoy childcare for a toddler (very different to a baby!) I work 4 days a week and struggle on the remaining day, especially in the winter. I wouldn't want to work any less at this point (might change my mind when my little one starts school)

I'd work 3 days but have your child in nursery for 4. Then you get a 1:1 day with your baby and a day to yourself to catch up on life.

Thank you all!

You'd need as many days of child care as you were planning to work if you don't want to rely on family. You can't have children at home while you're working from home, just in case you were thinking of doing that

No, well aware, but explaining I wfh might help people’s suggestions as usually you can run the washer when WFH etc and it’s less difficult than an office day as no commute to factor in.