Best Part Time Days?

[EasterBoy]

Hi there Mumsnet!

First post for me!

I'm currently 35 weeks into my pregnancy and have until April 2026 until I’m back at work.

Im looking at going back to work 3 days instead of my usual 4 days. I work for the NHS.

I've heard it’s best to avoid Monday’s for pro rata reasons? Also inset days etc

I'm leaning towards Tuesday-Thursday.

my boy already has a nursery place reserved (I know!) and I have family support for school holidays later on.

Looking for any advice and how it works for yourselves!

Thanks 😁

I find Tuesday to be the worst traffic wise, so personally where I work I’d go Wednesday/Friday.

I’d do Tues to Thurs. I used to do Mondays -Wednesday and didn’t realise about bank holiday Mondays impacting on annual leave.
its really nice to have Fridays off and start the weekend early. I do spend a chunk of it doing chores but that means the rest of the weekend is relaxing.

I went back Wed-Fri, but it just wasn’t working out for my job but mainly my little girl was so tired doing 3 days in a row so I switched and now I do Tuesday, Wednesday and Fridays with a day break in between. She gets a good nap that day and then she’s good to go again 😁 I thought consistent days was best but wasn’t for us, but I know many people prefer this and it works better for them. Our nursery has a policy where the child has to go either a Monday or Friday so I chose her to be in nursery Fridays.

I used to have Thursday and Friday off which was perfect for me. I’d spend Thursday on play dates or catching up with my Mum friends, Friday I’d do housework, food shop etc which meant my weekends were free for family stuff

I do Monday-Wednesday, but my holiday entitlement is generous and I get bank hols on top of my days, so my working pattern doesn’t matter. I really like condensing all paid work into the beginning of the week so I can forget about it and focus on my children/other things for the other 4 days.

I do tue, thur and fri. DS in nursery tue and thur and at grandparents fridays. I didn't want DS doing consecutive days at nursery as started at 11 months and was very tiring for him/preventative in case he never napped well one day at nursery he could catch up the next day at home. I also personally like the break of being off Wednesday and not having to work three days straight, but also a lot of people like to get it done and dusted working all the days in one go. also get the three day weekend feel with not being at work mondays. I get a pro rata amount of bank holidays added to my annual leave.

What days are better in terms of your workload? In my field, lots of people are PT so most big meetings happen T-Th. Is there anything in particular you need to be around for? Certain clinics, the MDT meeting, etc.