Working part time

[Greeneggsandham202]

Hello,

posting to is on here as I’ve had no replies on the chat i’m planning to go back part time after mat leave of my first baby.

can I ask those who work part time what days/hours you worked and why?

also did you find it harder to keep up with load or did your employer take it into account?

i was considering doing 4 days but know for a fact that I’d end up doing 5 days work in 4 but with 3 days that wouldn’t be able to happen.

I was thinking 3 days and doing mon, tues, weds.

i think it may work better for bank holidays. Also it’d still give me the ‘Sunday night’ feeling of getting everything ready for the week ahead rather than me unconsciously slipping into having 2 Sunday night feelings as I could picture me telling DP I’d just do my Sunday night things on Monday and spend both Sunday and Monday doing my laundry, lunches etc. DP works mon-fri and usually makes our lunches so would be easier to just get it all done together?

Other options are:

tues, weds and thurs
weds thurs fri
mon, weds and fri - but think that maybe to spread out.

I’d add up the numbers of hours you would be working with each scenario

1. working part time plus doing 100% of the housework, wifework and childcare
2. working full time plus doing 50% of the housework, wifework and childcare.

Then add up the how much money you will lose in lost wages, lost promotion and lost pension if you go part time, plus how much you have lost already on maternity leave. I’m assuming that you will pay 100% of this.

Then see how much your partner will gain in terms of his career and promotion. And how much free time he will have while you are working 24/7, 365 days a year.

Then work out the cost of childcare if you went back full time. I assume you will pay half of this. Of course it will decrease when you child is 2 and 3 then again when they go to school.

Look at your part time wages minus childcare costs. Decide if you could live on that , if your relationship broke down. If you can’t, ask yourself what you plan is if that happens . Because sadly it will happen to 1/3 married couples and about 1/2 unmarried.

Take a long cold look at these numbers and decide what you want to do.

I do Mon, Thur, Fri but 8 hour days so 24 hours. Definitely don’t do 4 days as they do expect 5 days work.

The down side is most BH fall on a Monday or Friday so I have less leave to take when I chose as the BH use up my pro rata entitlement.

The upside is in my sector Fridays are much quieter so I clear more work and know I won’t get responses until Monday Each Monday I start with a clear ish inbox. Far easier to keep on top of my work.

Weeks where the Monday is a BH, my first working day is Thursday so I get a 5 day weekend.

An alternative is Mon, Wed, Fri which means you are only ever away 1 day between each working day.

I was doing Mon 8:30-4:30 Wed 8:30-5:30 Fri 8:00-4pm but I've just changed to Wed 9-5 Thurs 9-5 and Fri 9-4. I wanted to drop the Monday due to nursery being closed on BH and still having to pay. Also prefer to have that AL day chosen myself rather than for BH as it's given pro-rata.

I do Tues, Weds and Thurs and generally end up doing a full time job in 3 days ha (well 3.5 days as I do extra hours on those days) but the long weekend every week is lovely!

Taking Mondays as a non working day works out better for Bank Holidays.

I've been pt since having my DD 7/8 years ago. I do Mon/Wed/Fri. It works well for me as if I'm having a crap day at work, the next day I'm off & vice versa. I still get bank holidays off, but am paid pro rata for them.
There are times when it makes some bits of work tricky, but I have to plan for when I'm not going to be in, so do some tasks ahead, but otherwise any issues that arise on my days off are dealt with by the other staff.

I completely get what your saying but Jheez that’s a depressing way to look at things.
unfortunate that this shit does happen to many women!

Thanks everyone for your responses.
I had no idea you still had to pay nurseries for bank holidays you can’t use! I’m fortunate I don’t have to pay for childcare but that’s definitely worth me keeping in mind incase circumstances should ever change.

Can I ask, those who work alternative days e.g mon, weds, fri. Do you feel like your always working? Can you fully switch off on your day off in between?

I do Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 8 hour days so 24 hours a week.

I really like not having them all in a row. It feels like I have plenty of time to decompress, I'm never far from a day off (which is nice if you're feeling run down) and I do switch off from work in between. Also I only need to take one days leave to get 5 days off in a row.

I also like it work-wise- I feel like I don't miss out on much because there's not a huge gap where I'm "away". And likewise there's never too long a gap between me replying to emails.

I think it will very much depend on the job as to whether you feel you can fully switch off on your days off.
For me, I don't have a work phone or access my work emails etc through anything other than my laptop; so once I shut my laptop off for the day that's it; I don't think about work till I'm next in. My boss is also very good about not contacting me whilst I'm not working unless it's an emergency - which happens rarely.
If you're in a job whereby you have to contactable or are going to check your emails on your days off, then it won't feel like you can fully detach.
So you need clear boundaries with both your employer & yourself that you don't let work bleed into your days off, & stick to it.

What on earth is "wifework"? It sounds very dated and not very 21st century!

And why would someone working part-time do 100% childcare and housework? Again I'd say that's outdated and not fair either.

I'd still expect the full-timer to do half the housework and half the childcare that crops up outside of the full-time work which is very different from the part timer doing 100% of everything.

@0live and why should the childcare costs all come out from the part-time wage? Childcare enables both partners to work whether part or full time so it is a joint and shared cost.

I do feel like I can switch off during my non-working days. Except for Thursday when I check my emails for anything that has happened during my off-days so that I know what I'm walking into first thing.

As others have said - I think it really depends on the job. I went back 3 days a week for the first year, and have just moved back up to 4. Im a Sales Director- so I feel totally lucky to be able to do this as it is not the norm in a role like mine. I do however pick some urgent stuff up on my days off, but generally rely heavily on my amazing team. My base salary is calculated on 4 days, but I asked for my bonus to be 100% (so this makes up for the extra work on my days off) I figured if I am meeting the same targets in 3 or 4 days a week…then I should get the same bonus! Also second working on a Friday….it’s the best day to work!

@Margo34

What on earth is "wifework"? It sounds very dated and not very 21st century!

Google is your friend.

And why would someone working part-time do 100% childcare and housework? Again I'd say that's outdated and not fair either

I'd still expect the full-timer to do half the housework and half the childcare that crops up outside of the full-time work which is very different from the part timer doing 100% of everything

@0live and why should the childcare costs all come out from the part-time wage? Childcare enables both partners to work whether part or full time so it is a joint and shared cost

Im guessing you don’t have children @Margo34 and that you are new to Mumsnet . There’s a very large gap between what you think is fair, what most women expect And what actually happens in most heterosexual families where the man works FT and the woman works PT.

Welcome to the patriarchy.

The best insurance policy you have is your career. Regardless of your marital status, I highly recommend continuing with FT work after the first child unless there is an extenuating circumstance such as disability of the child or health problem you are suffering from.

Second child hit me like a bus and I reduced hours, took one summer off to focus on therapy and I killed my career. I did all the wifework which greatly hindered my career progression. Meanwhile the husband had his career go from strength to strength.

Ten years after the first child’s birth I’m separated and my career pays more than most. It’s enough that I’m able to cover school fees on my own for 3 children, live in a modest 4 bedroom home, drive a reliable car and cover the cost of necessary therapy for the two children who have autism.

Think very very hard before you scale back.

To be clear, I was extremely lucky that I was able to rebuild my career. I have had to move twice to make it work and swallow some massive lumps along the way. Yes I make enough but I am only now looking at moving into a revenue role instead of doing it 10+ years ago.

Thank you for your advice. Of course everyone is different but I purposefully got my career into its current position to enable me to work part time for however many years I feel necessary. Our baby was planned with us knowing I wanted to work part time in mind.

My job won’t be affected by me working fewer hours in terms of progression if I wanted too. It’s a registered profession so as long as I stay registered it’s all good, it’s similar to a nurse, doctor, dentist type occupation. I’m already a senior and have no desire before, during or after babies to go any higher whatsoever. Very happy where I am. I’d side step or specialise if I wanted to move.

If my partner walked out tomorrow my life would continue and my mortgage would still be paid with me working 3 days. I’d have to up my hours to 4 days instead of 3 though if I wanted to have more luxuries such as foreign holidays etc.

You have done very well for yourself materially from what you say. My lifestyle with or without DP wouldn’t have your kind of expenses such as school fees as neither of our professions pay that much! We’re middle earners.

I all spent my twenties working, partying and travelling. Loved every minute. My career is established. Now is the time for me to reap the rewards and for me that reward is scaling back to enjoy my baby in my thirties.

I completely get that others absolutely love work and full time is right for them and their families though.

I really appreciate your advice though and do think that it’s beneficial for a lot of women who may also be reading this.

That is very impressive. But the kind of lifestyle your talking about or affording a 4 bed house, car and private school for 3 kids and private therapy is not something I could suddenly afford by working full time even if I were promoted several times!
My profession does not pay that much even at the top of your game.

Me working full time would just mean more luxuries such as 2 foreign holidays and shopping in Waitrose as opposed to 1 foreign holiday and shopping in Asda!
and I’m more than happy to shop at Asda instead of Waitrose in order to spend more time with my baby.

But your kind of lifestyle does sound great I must say. Must have taken you some hard graft!

Part time workers are only entitled to pro rata. If you work Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays you will have to use some of your annual leave to cover bank holidays. Whereas if you don't work Mondays you will end up getting 0.6 of the bank holidays added to your annual leave and you can take those days when you want.

wouldnt your bank holidays come out of your bank holiday entitlement? as in, if there were 3 bank holiday Mondays you’d take them as usual but if you didn’t work a Monday you’d get those 3 added onto your leave to take whenever? Or is that wrong?

You are on child one. I have 3 (it’s expensive even for providing the basics) so sometimes I need to work from home or have childcare stay over. I have two children sharing a room. For a while I had 3 children in one room and me in the other. Not ideal but we all made it.

Just be careful and I recommend you get legal advice on your home ownership if you already haven’t done so. If you split it’s not so clear and it doesn’t mean they don’t have ownership rights.

It's worth checking company policy re holidays but in my experience part time staff have bank hols added to their entitlement. If you work Mondays, you would get the Monday off which would be covered partly by your pro rata bank hol and partly through your annual leave. There's at least 4 bank hols fall on a Monday. For a person on a 18 hour contract they lose two days a year to make up bank holiday pay. If you don't work Mondays you just get the extra bank hol entitlement to use as you please. I work weds, thurs Fri.

For more ££ you could try monthly hours or a fortnightly rota of 3 days/ 4 days.

When I first came off mat leave I tried 9-5 weds-fri. I thought it would be nice to have a four day weekend and 2 while days with DC. It didnt work for me. I felt too left out and unable to take on certain work as I would be off for 2 days straight. Was very frustrating.

Then our 30 free hours kicked in and our nursery only offered the free hours between 9-3.45. So I worked over 4 days doing two longer days at the start of the week and two shorter ones thurs/fri. I found this a lot better. Felt like I missed less at work and could actually take on projects. Plus could do every pickup and get more time with DC each day.

Good luck x

Can you expand more on the home ownership thing please?

from my understanding of the law unless your married you have no rights to the property in the UK which is what is always said on here as well as what I can find online? Unless there is DV and an order needs to be drawn?

A legal document was also drawn up as a condition of the purchase of the house which states I’m sole owner and DP has no claims which all my friends who bought solo also got. He had to sign it and the solicitor said pretty much all unmarried partners have it if buying solo? The only way that would change would be if we were to marry. That was what was explained to me?

im very happy with DP and will probably marry at some point anyway but it’d be good to know if you can point me to some other sort of loop hole I don’t know about? Not so much for myself but it’d be good in general knowledge.

I have a 4 bed house and small mortgage but if I needed more money have baby 2 then I could always up my hours again or even do some locum work on the side which would pay more than what I’d get full time.
ofncourse circumstances always change but I’m not going to deprive myself of spending more time with my baby incase xyz happens. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. So I’ll safeguard myself to a certain degree such as staying a registered professional, continuing to work, buying my family house solo etc. But you can’t safeguard everything. You have to live and enjoy life also surely?