Did you go back full time after maternity doing compressed hours?

[Everythingisfine1]

If so how did it work out for you?

im debating between going back to work doing 7.5 hours five days a week which means I’ll have more of an evening, or 9.5 and work four days a week so I’ll get a whole day with my DD but I won’t see her much after work…

Yes I have a Weds off and think it's the best day!

Can you split it differently? I do twelve hours on a Monday, then the other 25 over the other 3 days which is just over an eight hour day. It means I don't see DS before bed on a Monday (we facetime goodnight) but I do see him more the rest of the week and have 3 full days a week off. DH does the same but different days, we both have the weekends.

Also do compressed hours. Don't do it for childcare costs though as most nurseries it's only about £50 a month difference. The big savings come when you only need 3 days and get the 30 hours subsidised. I also love having a day of fully focusing on something else plus, like others, do about the same length day as otherwise but one less!

My job is mentally challenging, I actually find this way I decompress more, I have Friday off so long weekend every week, and I don't rack up the huge volume of TOIL I never have time to take anymore.

I know three people who did this. They all ended up divorced. It is incredibly hard.

Depends a lot if you have a partner who can do drop offs. I know several people who start early, 7am, as baby is up at 5.45 any way, so feed them go to work, their dp drops at nursery, my friends pick up normal time

One of the best things about it is it really takes the pressure off your weekends- there's not so much to pack in. Having that extra day for appointments and errands really helps.

My job was/is mentally challenging as well- you have to pace yourself a bit differently as the days are longer and split up the work in a way that suits you.

I used to be a bit flexible- I'd occasionally swap days if there was something super necessary or take the very occasional call at home. I didn't stick to it if I was travelling overseas either but would take the next week a bit easier. It did mean springing for the odd extra nursery day (or DP taking a day's AL). I was tired but tbh my kids slept so badly anyway I used to be awake at 5.

If you can both do it it also pays off with 3 days childcare and later makes the school holidays tons easier.

I am not sure where the £50 a month saving calculation above came from, my nursery charges for a full week without any discounts and so do all other nurseries I know of these days and so one day less saves a full day of fees every week, ie approximately £300pcm (a bit less if you deduct govt tax discount).

Also whoever said people ended up divorced, pretty sure that wouldn't have been to do directly with compressed hours and was correlation not causation 😂🤷🏼‍♀️

I did this - initially I was just full time as I went back during the COVID lockdowns and figured that if my son were in childcare he'd then see other kids, which was something we couldn't offer him as an only child without cousins. Then I swapped to doing compressed hours with every Fri off for about a year or so, but now he has started pre school, I've decided to temporarily take the hit and drop to 0.8 to have every Friday off for the next year or so because it works out better for my family (and my husband earns substantially more than me due to the his field of work) but I am still doing 100% of the job, but for less pay. I imagine that once he's a bit older that I will go back to full time but do compressed hours. Working from home has made a lot of this possible though because I work in central London so have an hour ish commute each way, but now I only go in once or twice a week then that's manageable.... I would have likely had to reduce my hours from the start if we were still doing the commute everyday.

I work in a university. Most of the parents in my department have some sort of flexible working pattern, whether that's compressed hours, later/earlier starts etc to fit around childcare. I know we are lucky in that regard.

Hmmm, pretty sure there are more people who don't compress and divorce!

I did it for 7 years and loved it. I only changed back to 5 days because I moved companies and the new one wouldn’t allow it. It worked for us as the children went to a crèche at DH’s work 3 out of 4 days which was subsidised, meaning I didn’t have to worry about doing child care drop off and collection. Oh and we were never even close to divorce!

Hmmm I’m not sure compressed weeks are a primary reason for divorce 😂 I do it and it works well for me/our family. I like having the extra day off so it makes the long days worth it. I agree with a PP that the couple of hours after nursery aren’t exactly quality time as it’s probably dinner/bath/bed and they are so tired from nursery, so the extra day is great because I can take the DC out somewhere. I do mostly WFH in a flexible role with a supportive boss, I think it would be very tough if I had to factor in a daily commute as well. DH is also very hands on and more than happy to do the nursery run and pitch in.

I've been doing compressed hours for just over a year, 5 days into 4. It's only now I'm pregnant with my second I'm finding the hours long and hard but it's still worth it so I get a full day off with my son and we save a days childcare costs by me doing so.

I do full time over 4 days- 8-5:30. I am lucky though as I work from home and my daughters childminder lives at the end of our road, so drop off/ pick up takes 5 minutes. I love having the extra day with my child, but if I had to factor in a nursery drop off and commute on top, I wouldn’t be able to work the extra hours within nursery opening times.

I do FT compressed hrs and it works really well for us. I do 7:30-5:30 4 days a week. I went back PT at 0.8WTE after my first and as others have said, you just end up doing FT work for PT pay so after my second I went back to FT.

It really helps that I have a partner that can do drop-offs but then I pick up the load by having a day off in the week to cover childcare too.

Hopefully not but it did rather put me off the idea!

I went back on 10 days in 9 which worked really well for me. During covid I did 4 days in 3 but it was brutal, after nearly 3 years of that I've just gone onto a proper 3 day week and it feels so much better. I did it because I was willing to sacrifice the pay to only have to commute 1 day a week but its also made me realise quite how hard it was compressing that much. I will go back to 10 days in 9 happily when the kids are settled at secondary in a couple of years probably but I won't compress more than that again as I really had burnt out.

I do 4 days and do 6.30am-4pm. My DP drops DS at childcare in a morning, I pick him up. It works well for us and I'd hate it if I had to go back to 5 days x

Should also say I've also done 0.8 and agree you end up being treated as full time which is why I've dropped right down to 3 days!

I did this with my first and am planning on doing it with my second. I do 37 hours in 4 days BUT I work mostly from home and meetings are largely 9-5 which gives me flexibility over nursery pick ups. I'm senior leadership so role is fairly high pressure with the pay off that I can usually control my diary and workload, and my DH is also self employed so can be quite flexible. I take a day off mid week as I find two long days at once more than enough for both my and my DC, we need that day off together. Also I find a lot of people have Fridays off which means it's very quiet then and I get loads done. Working Mondays means you get all the bank holidays. I feel like it's the best combo.

Yes you do end up being treated as full time, and do more extra time here and there. You are only ever treated as proper part time when you are .6 i think which is infuriating

Just to vent - I've just had my 4.5 days in 4 rejected. I'm absolutely fuming. I thought it would be a nice way of them recognising the fact that I will be doing a full time job in 4 days anyway without making me take 20% paycut and motivating me to work harder and longer but they've said no on the basis that it can't be monitored which is just utter bullshit as they don't monitor full time work.

Meant to be a progressive tech company too. Actually just old school and tight. Now feel totally unmotivated.

Totally agree @bookish83 . I dropped down to 0.6 4 weeks ago and the difference is amazing. Recently got offered a significant promotion but the next grade up for me requires 0.8 and I knew it would be basically full time. Awful time to reduce my pay tbh but I need it for my sanity.

That's exactly why I didn't drop down to 0.8, I'd be expected to do full time work, but be paid 80% salary for sure. Unfortunately in my job 0.6 wouldn't work and likely wouldn't have been accepted and in any event, I couldn't have afforded it as I'm the main breadwinner. 5 in 4 was the best realistic deal for me and I have no regrets.

@TheHauntedPencilCase

That is brilliant, 0.6 is the dream. It is frustrating that my workplace can't accommodate it. Do you feel a massive shift in life balance?
If you can afford it, I would stay at 0.6 but only as it sounds like it has been a good decision