Which three days are best to work?

[EvelynSalt]

I'm going to be asking my boss for a three day week when I return from mat leave. I know they definitely prefer me to have Fridays off but which other day would you choose in addition?

Baby will be in nursery when I'm working so wondered if it's better for her to do a straight run Mon-Wed or if it makes sense for her to have say Wednesdays and Fridays with me.

My company operates a Monday to Friday 8-5 week.

Any opinions welcome!

But it will of course depend on your contract and holiday policy.

I was always told it’s good to work on a Friday and can be a nicer day. Also if you’re off work on a Friday you’re exhausted by the end of the week and will find it difficult being with the baby.

so ideally I’d work Monday, Thursday, Friday.

Also you can make the most of the bank holidays. And childcare is quieter Monday and Friday as are trains.

I do mon, wed, Thurs and love it. I really value that one day in the middle. It's like a mini weekend off work and I get to see my little one in between the childcare days. Also, although I couldn't imagine wanting a break from them when they were tiny, now they're a mental toddler that doesn't stop it's also nice to have a break from them by spreading out my work days too 😅

My bank hols are pro rated so working Monday doesn't mean much in that regard, although my work don't mind if I choose to work a Monday bank holiday instead of taking it out of my leave. Friday is a good day to have off because you can do a long weekend holiday without using any leave up.

This. Mid week works best with Bank Hols.

Surely it means you get free days off if you work on a Monday whereas you might lose out on bank holidays?

I work in the NHS and the best bit of advice I was given when I moved to 2 days was don't work on a Monday as I gained all those Bank Holiday days as days leave that I could choose to take when I wanted 😁. In the NHS you are allocated X amount of hours that you then put into your leave calendar but you have to put in all your Bank Holidays as leave hours if it's a day you would normally work so in effect I gained all those Bank Holidays as I don't work a Monday or Friday 😁

No.

They close for the bank holiday but you're only entitled to 60% of the day off, therefore you owe them 40% which gets knocked off your annual leave.

Therefore you have less annual leave to use for days of your choosing.

I work tues Thurs Fri and DS goes to nursery thur Fri (looked after by family a Tuesday). I like it. Dh wfh Tues and Fri and generally does the drop off/collection those days.

I’ve done TWTh, MTW and now MWTh in three different jobs. I work in HR so not fussed about the BH thing, you still get the same overall and of course I check that myself, however if you work a Monday (talking jobs that are usually M-F) then at least 4 of your holiday days are dates chosen for you ie where the BH falls.

Our childcare set up was different for all three situations, I prefer my current set up as my toddler has nursery two days per week and grandparents one day so she’s not without me three days in a row.

My oldest I did TWTh but it was grandparents, nursery, grandparents so I didn’t get any mum guilt as she was with family for two of the days. When she is older I’d prefer a straight run and my fav working week is TWTh.

As people are saying, the bank holiday issue is only a problem if your workplace make you take BHs as leave. I work from home and my job doesn't rely on other people much so I can choose to work a BH if I want (and I often do as it's super peaceful with no meetings 😂). It's worth checking what your company policy is first.

I found not working Mondays very stressful. I was always “behind” if I missed Monday. When I did three days I did Mon, tue and thur.

Whereas if your non working day is the bank holiday, they owe you 60% of the day and that gets added to your annual leave to use on a day of your choosing.

Have Monday as a day off. You will likely still need to pay for Mondays even if there is a bank holiday and baby won’t be going. Unfortunately that seems to be a theme with nurseries.

it depends on your annual leave if you get 20 days plus 8 bank holidays ( the minimum) working 3 days gives you 0.6 pro rata which means 12 days plus 5 BH if in one year like 2023 the following bank holidays are Mondays New years day ( Mon 2nd in lieu of Sunday 1stJan) , Easter Monday , 2 x May holidays, August holiday, and Christmas Day so that is 6 but you only have 5 BH so you need to use 1 of your 12 days annual leave for the other giving you 11 free choice. you get exactly the same number of days off but less free choice, while if you worked Tuesday Wednesday Thursday only Boxing day would be a BH so you would use 1 day of BH and have 16 free choice
as they have said they prefer you not to work Fridays Good friday is irrelevant
your total annual leave must be the equiavalent of 0.6 of full time staff, you can't be treated less favourably as part time. it can't be that if you don't work any Bank holidays you end up with less leave than someone you does , they can't count a day you never work as part of your annual leave so if you never work Mondays those Bank holidays that fall on Mondays need to be taken another time ( pro rata) it depends whether your work place shuts for bank holidays
it maybe that there are other rules like everyone is off between Christmas and new year so you need to save days etc

I'm going to go against the grain and say MWF if you don't have back up childcare.

if your child is sick then you have the next day off and they can go back the following day. And you only go to work one day at a time so if you have a sleepless night you can recover.

If you work out how many full weeks you can take off by choosing when to use your annual leave, you can have more weeks away from work if your NWD is the Monday.

Because you're already off work on Mondays and your AL gets topped up with the entitlement you couldn't take on the BH Monday.

The pay and the overall AL position are the same, but the pattern of time you can take out is superior if your NWD is Monday.

I guess maybe it depends on your sector and annual leave policy. I’m a teacher and wouldn’t be able to take an extra days annual leave if a bank holiday fell on my day off so never having any bank holidays fall on a working day would mean never getting that day off. I assume it would be made up for with an extra days pay or something but personally I’d rather an extra day off than the extra day’s pay!

I do this and I intend to do the later too when
Everyone is in school.
Tuesdays off just really help break things up. Also by booking a Monday off you get almost a week off work.

Tuesday to Thursday, giving you 4 straight days off. I did this for years when mine were little and it was great.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
Or Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
Non consecutive days work well for nursery age children imo.
Working Friday is good as easy / quiet day!

No, only if you work in a school.

Otherwise, in most jobs (obviously different if you work somewhere that is open on a BH) you get 3/5 of BH entitlement.

So, if you are working a Monday normally, and you have to take it as a BH, you are only entitled to 3/5 of it, so you have to use up 2/5 of a day from your Annual Leave to make up the full day 'off' you are having to take.
If you don't work Mondays, then you get 3/5 of a day added to your Annual leave as you didn't take a day off on the BH, but you are still entitled to it.

This year, in particular it makes a huge difference as 7 of the 8 BHs are Mondays. Every year at least 4 are (Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day move each year) - if you are in England.

For this reason, I'd say Tue, Wed Thurs are the best days to work, but this might depend on your work a bit.

Only if you prefer taking block weeks, it’s the same number of days off over the year so it’s personal preference, neither is superior to the other 🤷🏻‍♀️. With my current pattern I enjoy having BH Mondays off as I get almost a week off when there is a BH Monday working MWTh.

I prefer working Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It means you start the week with everyone else and there’s often weekly goals.
Then get Thurs, Friday, Saturday, Sunday off for long weekends. If we have visitors or go away the 4 days in row far easier. We can take 11 days holiday and only take 3 days off work.

Also nursery wise, I find Ds in winter goes in Monday and by Thursday or Friday has day off as cold or illness gets worse as week goes on.

I agree non -consecutive days work better for nursery age children. I switched from TWT to Mon, Tues Thurs for this reason as my daughter was tired out by three nursery days together. I love having a Wednesday off with her. I don’t get the Sunday night feeling, now that I work part time I really enjoy both my work days and days with kids - it’s a really nice balance

As a childcare provider, kids are knackered when they do 3x days in a row. I'm always full on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and never Mondays.