Compressed hours options: 4-day week or 9 days in 10? Help me decide

[MongoIsAppalled]

Does anyone have experience of compressed hours? I currently work 8:30-16:30 mon-fri.

My two options are

4 days in 5. 8:00-18:00 mon-thurs

or

9 days in 10. Week 1 8:00-17:00 mon - thurs 8:00-15:30 fri. Week 2 8:00-17:00 mon - thurs. Fri off.

I WFH. My kids are grown, i just want more down time. I work late most days already in a target driven role. Which is better and why? I have a meeting today, planned for a week, i thought i would have decided by now, but im still torn over which is better.. Please help me decide. Thanks

YABU - 4 DAYS
YANBU - 9 DAYS

i absolutely love doing 5 days in 4 and will never go back to a 5 day week! Makes such a huge difference, don’t know if I’d get the same benefit from a 9 day fortnight

How many hours a week do you do?
I'm currently compressed doing 35 hours across 4 days. I work 8am - 5.30pm with a 45 minute lunch and Wednesdays off every week. Love it. 2 days from home, 2 days in the office.

37.5, each day has 30 min unpaid break, which i never take but its included

The nice thing about 9 is that the weeks are different so you appreciate the break more. I think we underestimate variation as a source of happiness.

Definitely 4 days. That's my ideal.

I’d def go for every firday
Off
myself. So
much more
options for going away . And doing a regular activity etc

Option 1 - the dream you can plan a long weekend or get organised for the weekend. You always know what you are doing (I’ve worked that and loved it)

I've done both recently! Would advise 4 day week. 9 in 10 feels pretty much like full time for me.

I do 9 days with every second Friday off. I get incredibly grumpy on my 5 day week. I’m thinking seriously of changing to 5 over 4. I already work over my hours anyway on my wfh days so I’d appreciate getting the down time!

As you WFH I'd go for 5 days in 4. It can feel really long when you have a long commute either side as well but tbh 8am-6pm is a normal working day for most when you add on travel time, as you don't have that do that option and enjoy every Friday off!

Thanks for the replies so far, i was leaning towards option 1. More so for ease and annual leave is less complicated. My workplace is flexible in that my non working day can chane with virtually no notice etc too. The downside is the amount of time in a day looking at a screen, but thats offset with the 3 day weekend. The 9 in 10 though felt like it would be less pressure, and only the extra hour which seems less of a jump in hours.

Do you know how bank holidays are treated in your company for anyone on non standard working patterns? If they are added to leave allowance then Monday non working day is advantageous as don't need to use bank holiday hours to cover them. (Majority of BHs being Mondays).

I did option 1 (the non working day being flexible) for a couple of years when my DH was having chemo and recovering from cancer, so I could support him more and so we could spend more time together. I was working long days before that anyway, so this worked for us so long as I was strict about not working at all on the non working day.

It definitely improved my work life balance, and actually I was probably working fewer hours overall as I was more disciplined about the time I did have at work.

I went back to 5 days (which was fairer on the team I manage) with better work habits I think. If I didn't need to be so present for people, I'd definitely consider it again.

Personally I'd go for 9/10, but think also if you want to make any weekly commitment (I don't know - Pilates class, volunteering...) that would be easier to manage 4/5

But make sure you don't do what my partner did - go 4/5 but end up working on your day off anyway - i.e. took a voluntary 20% pay cut 🙄

I do 5 in 4, but my line manager lets me do 1-2h on the off day if I choose to free up time if I need it on the long 4 days.

I recommend having Mondays off not Fridays if you can, you get all the Monday Bank Holidays back as a leave allowance then!

Doing 1-2h Monday evening means that a) if people need it they get a same-day response, b) Tuesday feels less of a rush and c) I can go out to a class or appointment a couple of times a week.

I worked both patterns when I was working and in fact, over my entire working life I hardly ever worked a five day week as other working patterns were always available.
Nine day fortnight and four day week, the 9DF was great as the day off was always on a Friday (your day off was personal choice with other days available on request) which gave me a lovely, long weekend. Ultimately though it was the 4DW that was my favourite as it gave me so much time off that I was not using annual leave for appointments etc.
Obviously both patterns meant slightly longer working days to make up the hours but were easily manageable.

I like a routine so would much prefer the 4 day option (I do a version of that myself - 4 long days and 2 hours on Friday). It was for childcare reasons but I don’t intend to change it even when my kids are older. In your position it would be nice to be able to commit to a class / volunteering / whatever without having to check which week is which each time.

Unfortunately monday as the off day regularly is not an option as those doing 4:5 in my team currently mostly have the monday off. I will ask if moving my off day on BH weeks is an option to get the AL hours though, thanks

4 days and Weds off was my favourite pattern I’ve ever worked. I’m ft now but hope to go back to this one day.
It never felt a big deal to have to work 2 days and was great for food prep. Felt a real bonus to be off a Weds. I’ve done 4 days and fri off too but much preferred Weds off.

Its the same hours over fewer days so the same pay thankfully :)

I don’t do it myself but manage people who do.

it depends on your level of personal discipline and your working day. One employee really struggled with the inflexibility of the 8am start every morning and there was resentment from her team when she wasn’t available on the Friday (they have also started to
monitor her hours on working days which is becoming an issue) so think about cover if you manage people. If you don’t work
Fridays will they be able to take Friday’s off.

another person really made it work, the longer day suited her routine and a ten hour day was easy for her.

Wednesday would be great, but its also the one day i get to work with no one else in the house so its always my most productive day

4 days worked best for me. My partner was self employed and it meant more flexibility around city breaks and camping. Finishing at 6 still means time to get to parties/concerts etc. Think about what you'd be like to do more of.

I used to do 4 days in my former job. But only because I mostly wfh and we have an agile working policy (so no ‘set’ hours, just an expectation that I’d get my work done in 4 days rather than 5). I couldn’t sit in the office for that long.