Has anyone regretted working part time during the toddler years? Especially lawyers?

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I could really do with some opinions as I’m not sure on what to do.

I have a 3.5 year old starting school next September and a 18 month old. Since returning to work I have been using my accrued annual leave to work a 4 day week, but that will soon run out. I’m not sure whether to ask to do 4 days a week permanently? I’m fairly certain it would get approved if I requested it.

I am a solicitor and my job is pressured with long working hours. My concern is that I am
already finding it hard to cope with balancing work and family life. I have had far more very late nights and early mornings than I would like (to the point I have been genuinely thinking about whether I can stay in this job, but there aren’t many other options at the moment). Sometimes doing a 4 day week seems like even more work. The job is still there but it has to get squeezed into 4 days.

In terms of salary we could afford the pay cut if I went down to 4 days (although we had been considering private school, but that would not be an option if I worked part time). I would also increase my pension contributions to try and cover the difference.

The obvious benefits to going part time are that I would get to spend more time with my kids, and I’m so conscious that these early years are going to go by quickly. I don’t want to look back and regret not spending this time with them when I could have. There is also the added benefit that I often see my parents on my day off as well and it’s nice spending time with them as they are getting older.

But I guess I’m just worried that going part time will make my workload really difficult, or that it will be difficult to go back to full time work if we needed the extra money in the future, or if there are just some other points I’m missing.

Any opinions would be welcome, especially if people are managing the juggle with high pressure jobs and long hours.

Lawyer and accountant friends of mine chose two half days off a week rather than a full day as it is easier to manage if clients know you’re in every day at some point.

I preferred that in my own field too as it gave me one ‘fun’ afternoon with kids for play dates etc and one restful at home afternoon when we could all get some rest. We also had a cleaner which eased the domestic burden.

I didn’t work in the same field but as well as the positives you outline there are definite negatives to working part time in a profession. I had to work part time as my DH worked very unpredictably (he did his best to accommodate what he could) I found I had almost the same workload as colleagues who worked full time, so that it felt like I was being paid part time and working full time. I also didn’t get the opportunities for leadership my full time colleagues did, nor of developing my role into areas I was interested in. It was not possible to move jobs either- I got rejected after interviews for 2 jobs that advertised they would consider part time work on the grounds that they went with a candidate who could work full time even though they both said I was better qualified. In the end I really wanted to move jobs so I moved to a full time job as soon as my youngest was 9 and happy to attend after school club with his friends all week. 10 years after returning full time it’s clear that working part time for 15 years has affected my career as I never really made up the career advancement and also massively impacted my predicted pension as well. Fortunately my DH and I are still happily together so I do at least benefit from the additional resources he has gathered and he acknowledges my disadvantage and makes amends for this. If we weren’t together I would be screwed though. I know this was some time ago but seeing my stepdaughter’s situation I don’t see things have improved. So yes, its good to spend family time, but be aware of the negatives is all I’m saying.

I've thought about working 4x days/week several times over the years and never did it even though I am sure that it would have been approved.

The main reason was that I was fairly sure I'd still end up doing the equivalent of a full-time role but packed into 4x days and on 80% of the salary. No, it shouldn't happen, but with a small team the likelihood of one day's worth of work magically disappearing was pretty slim.

I've also found that working across 5x days I actually have more flexibility. I am very lucky in that work are happy for me to WFH if needed, drop out to attend nativity/sports day/dentist appointments and then log back in later. I'm not sure it would have been so flexible across 4x days although I may be wrong and obviously I never tested it.

My solution has always been to carry on full-time, throw some of the extra salary at a cleaner/ironing service/gardening help when needed and take the flexibility.

I did take some parental leave when the DC were smaller just for some additional time off and a bit of breathing space. It's unpaid but the financial hit wasn't as bad as a permanent move to part-time.

If you’re using annual leave you’re not really 4 days a week so of course you’ve been squeezing it in. If you are actually contracted at 0.8 you should be given less work so that you’re only expected to do 0.8

FWIW I went to 4 days a week after my second and it was the best decision I ever made. The time at home with a toddler can’t be replaced and it’s not affected my sense of being part of the workplace or my career. For us the financial hit was negligible once we realised that childcare would reduce to practically nothing (30 hours funding kicked in at the same time and as I’m a teacher he only needs 34 hours a week to cover the 4 days I work).

My friends work in a variety of professional services type jobs (ie clients to service) and pretty much universally went back to 5 days having tried 4, as they were just being paid 20% less to manage the same workload in a shorter time period.

Plus everyone regarded them as part time which had a wider impact on their progression.

I’m not a lawyer but a senior in my organisation. I decided against a four day week precisely because I would have got paid to work four days but no one would be taking my work away. So essentially I’d be doing 5 days work in 4 days and only getting paid for 4. I’ve now negotiated one afternoon off a week so I can do the school run once a week. But inevitably instead of finishing at lunchtime I finish 10 minutes before school kicks out instead. But my choice I suppose.

I worked four days, then three days.

I found four days fantastic.

I found three days made me feel not really part of the team, and missed out on the best tasks.

Went back up to four days. Personally I didn't find I was doing 5 days' work in 4. I loved it.

Going back to full time again was easy to arrange.

Thanks for all the input. We have billable hours targets so, in theory, if I reduced my hours by 20% my billable target (and so in theory my workload) would also reduce by 20%. I think the problem is that the amount of non-billable work we have to do means that it is effectively impossible to meet your targets within the standard working week.

One poster’s suggestion of doing two half days is something that I had been thinking about as well, but more so for when both kids were at school (and acknowledging that I would probably work until near pick up time rather than finishing at lunch).

The more I’m reading these posts the more I’m coming to the sad realisation that maybe a 4 day working week just isn’t going to be sustainable long term. It does make me really sad though. I suppose one option could be to try full time work for a 2 or 3 months and then see if work is actually more manageable. If it’s still just as hard then I may as well go to 4 days

I work 4 days a week, in law. I returned to work after maternity leave on that basis, and have worked for over a decade.

It can be done, and it hasn’t hampered my career progression.

It takes a lot of discipline, and an ability/the confidence to say no/maintain boundaries. It also requires an element of flexibility.

Do I work more than 4 days a week? Yes, but I don’t work the hours my full time colleagues do. I don’t work weekends - that is set in stone - but I do work on my non working day/work long days where I need to and I take time back when I can.

I don’t accept work that I am not able to do within reasonable working hours.

I’ve had two promotions in this time.

Would I go back to full time hours? No. I value my weekends and flexibility.