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Original poster

If you have a family friendly job

22 replies

lifeistooshort · 22/02/2011 14:13

What is it? How many hours a weeks do you work and how much do you get paid?

I am due to return to my highly stressful job. The prospect of working 10/12 hours a day plus looking after a house and three children is filling me with dread. I feel like a modern day slave, surely there are other options but I have yet to find them

OP posts:
Original poster
lifeistooshort · 22/02/2011 17:19

Hmm from the lack of posts on this thread it doesn't look like there are many family friendly jobs around!

OP posts:
scurryfunge · 22/02/2011 17:28

My job (police)suits my family but possibly wouldn't suit all families. I do days, lates and night shifts which cuts down on child care as DH was a 9 -5 worker. (when DS was little). I am fairly mobile in my work which means sometimes I can have a meal break at home. I can occasionally take time out for dental appointments, doctor's appointments if necessary and my employer is generally flexible to a point.

I should work around a 40 hour week but that can extend by quite a bit if I am required to stay on. I earn just shy of £40000 pa.

Eddas · 22/02/2011 19:06

My job is, and I am lucky that I have a lovely employer. I'm an accountant (senior level) and have been with the same employer since leaving school and went from full to part time after having dc. So far my hours have been;

Full time
Part time - 2 full days a week
Part time - 3 afternoons a week
Part time - One day in the office one from home
Part time - split over 3 days working 9.30-2.30(ish) to allow for school drop off/pick up

I'm currently working the last version but change to 2 full days in the holidays as I have just been let down with childcare, for the millionth time Sad

In all part time cases I was working 15 hours a week and my boss had no issue with any of the combinations, although I didn't like the one day at home/one day in office combination.

All the changes were due to childcare issues but I am very lucky that it doesn't matter when my hours are done as long as they are done.

I work 15 hours a week and I earn just under £9,000 a year (and looking forward to the personal allowance increase in April!!)

I am hoping to be able to increase my hours to 25 a week once youngest dc starts school this september.

Actually I do have a 2nd job which is a pre-school administrator. I do this from home and it's 8 hours a week term time only (well it's supposed to be) and for this I earn £7.80 an hour. This fits in well as I can do it when I like, in the evenings etc

I'm not sure that helps much

nymphadora · 22/02/2011 20:02

I work for SS. I have Flexi time but it's only family friendly as in I work p/t & my manager let's me swap days for my convenience & theirs. Working f/t my job wouldn't be.

Original poster
lifeistooshort · 22/02/2011 20:38

Thank you all for your posts. I am looking for inspiration. I have been feeling for some times that my job is just too demanding and that I cannot give enough time care to my family (let alone myself). I have been thinking for a few years about changing career as my job is very all or nothing and cannot really accomodate part time work but I don't know what else I could do.

OP posts:
scurryfunge · 22/02/2011 20:49

What is your current job, lifeistooshort?

christmasmum · 22/02/2011 21:00

I work in university administration and find it pretty well paid - I earn £37k pro rata and it's interesting work. My employers are really flexible, we're basically all part-time workers in my office and hours and days are changing all the time. I think their are definitely jobs out there that give you flexibility and interest, it's just a matter of doing some research into your self (your skills, values, interests etc) and then seeing what jobs might match up.

christmasmum · 22/02/2011 21:01

there not their, duh...

MumInBeds · 22/02/2011 21:05

I work as an Early Years Practitioner in a pre school, my working hours are 9am-3pm term time plus paperwork at home. My pay isn't much above NMW but I have no childcare fees.

aoliver · 22/02/2011 21:22

I run a kids cookery club and earn around £30 per hour. Sometimes more. It's fun and fits round the family. I licensed it out last year so make a bit more from my licensees too, or will one day, at the minute it's all used up on progressing the business!

OgreTripletsAreSoCute · 22/02/2011 21:36

I think networking is the key here, I and 3 other people I know have all started new jobs this year which are part time, professional and local and all have been gained through people we know. I know there is a large element of luck, but if you put the word out amongst everyone you know you might get lucky. They are also all with small businesses, which I think are often more flexible than the big ones.

My job is with a small local company that does business with my husband's company, DH and I work in the same professional field, I asked him to mention me to anyone he thought might possibly have an opening, and this one came up. My employer is extremely flexible compared to my previous employer (a multinational), I have a 0.25FTE contract and can basically work whenever I like so long as the job gets done. The job is equivalent in both pay and professional terms to my previous one, which I left due to high stress levels.

Eddas · 23/02/2011 10:36

ogre, I think you're right it's not what you know but who you know.

I was in need of a 2nd job to get some more money but couldn't afford the childcare to work extra hours. I was on the committee at ds' pre-school and teh admin job came up and they asked if any of us wanted to do it. I literally took their hand off Grin It's a great little job and I only got it because I was on the committee.

Original poster
lifeistooshort · 23/02/2011 10:38

I'm a lawyer. Although I do like the intellectual aspect of the job, the project management and the people I work with, the stress and responsibility of the job together with caring for my family is wearing me down slowly.

OP posts:
crw1234 · 23/02/2011 14:48

Is it not possible to ask for flexiable/part time work - they have to consider it at least under the reuglations
in my observation its easier for you to get it from your employer than look for another job that offers it
Here's a couple of links

www.thelawyer.com/top-uk-firms-embrace-flexible-working/128326.article

business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4950192.ece

bonkers20 · 23/02/2011 15:44

I am in science. I returned to work in Dec 2009 when my son was 8 months old.
Since then I have worked either 3 or 4 days a week, pretty much the ones I choose as long as I've informed the boss. I have swapped and changed my nursery days loads of times to fit in with the needs of my family (DH and DS(11).

However, this flexibility is down to my supportive boss, the work I do (I am the only one who does much of my work so I can manage my own time), rather than science itself.

I've also been in this position for 6 years. I don't think I could expect to waltz in a expect to have the flexibility I have.

I'm lucky. I'd rather not discuss my salary, but I'll say that I am certainly not working just to pay nursery fees.

inthesticks · 23/02/2011 15:52

I do but it's a job not a career.
Part time work tends to equal poor pay.
I was a civil servant when I first had children and the family friendly policies were fantastic. I went back 3 days a week at first, then two days. When the DCs started school I got a term time only contract which was fantastic.
My current job is also in the public sector and I just work a few hours a week and it's flexible.
Those are the good bits. On the downside is the pay and the work itself is mundane.
It depends why you wish to work? I am lucky enough to have a choice and I choose a less stressful job with more time for home and family. I sacrifice entirely any job satisfaction.

Original poster
lifeistooshort · 25/02/2011 10:04

Thank you all for the replies, it is definitely food for thoughts. I certainly take the point about getting the flexibility because of having been with the same employer for years. This is my case too and the company can be quite flexible but my role isn't really. I manage a team of four including a trainee and it is a role that is so time consuming that I can just about do it in the many hours I put in. I doubt it would be possible to do it part time and if I tried, I would effectively make myself redundant so it is a tricky one really. If the economic climate was better I would probably give up alltogether and try locuming but I don't think now is the best time for that.

I guess I am just ranting really because I feel stuck.

OP posts:
basana · 07/03/2011 21:19

have you thought about going in house? or maybe you already are...

fivegomadinthelambingshed · 07/03/2011 21:20

We run our own business but I also work 2 days a week and do and evening class, on those days DH takes over.

Politixmum · 08/03/2011 21:17

As you are a lawyer you probably realise that you are entitled to ask to have your role made part-time. Since you are senior and have been with the company for a while, is it worth asking the company to pay a management consultant to come in and look through your role with you to find out if there are ways of making it work on a part-time basis?

I have a friend who is a barrister - she just does one day a week.

RachelVicky · 09/03/2011 22:27

I'm running my own business from home; which allows me to work around all my family commitments; but also have a career. Its so refreshing to be out of the rat race!

hester · 09/03/2011 22:32

I work for the Government. Four days per week: I start very early, and work two long days and two short (early enough that I get back for school pick-up). In the past they have let me work different permutations of hours. Some of my colleagues work term-time only.

I am a higher rate tax payer and there is a school holiday childcare scheme.

I feel very lucky. But half of my colleagues have recently been made redundant and there is a new round of job cuts on the horizon.

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