going back part time - which days?

[Kveta]

after my next maternity leave, I'm planning to go back 4 days rather than 5. I will still be working thursday and friday, but need to decide which 2 days out of M-W I will work.

I am thinking of doing Monday, Tuesday, then having Wednesday off - this will give me a mid-week break, and as DH is out of the house on a Wednesday, it means kids and I won't disturb him (he works from home some days of the week).

However, I'm not sure if it would be better to work Tues-Fri, and have every monday off. But on thinking, this means I'd miss out on bank holidays, wouldn't I? but I'd also not have a gap mid-week.

what should I do? what would you rather do? so confused!

Wednesday is your best bet I think.

you should get bank holidays in lieu, or if they are really efficient your employer will work out a proportioned amount (i.e, normally we get 8 UK bank holidays, so 4/5 * 8 = 6.2 days (my employer would then round it up to 7).

Personally - I'd go with Mondays off - I work Tues - Thurs as people half expect someone to be out on a Monday / Friday, is more continuous etc. Now my eldest is at school, having Mondays off is handy as that's when inset days tend to be too.

I am currently on ML but before then worked Tue-Fri. Worked out well for us as there were lots of free child activities on Mondays, and the shops were generally quieter as well, if we needed to get any groceries in.

Tuesday-Thursday are the busiest days at our nursery, as that's generally when part-time workers put their children in.

Going back in a few months, but going to attempt Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday as I have no cover for getting the eldest to school on Wednesday.

thanks - I won't have school to worry about for ages yet. well, not on my current contract at work anyway. DS is already at nursery M-W, so I'm just trimming him down to 2 days, and need to decide which one to trim.

I've been looking for activities in our local area, and all are T-F for some reason, there's NOTHING on a monday.

I think I've pretty much convinced myself, haven't I?!

I would take the Monday off if I were you.

I did M/Tu/Th/F and found it was fine for my 'me time' as I got a mid week break and a bit of a chance to recharge. However, if I'm honest, it probably didn't work so well for 'work time' as I would forever be working in two day bursts which was never quite enough time to truly get going on something. In my head, on Monday I was just getting going after the weekend, on Tuesday I was winding down for my day off, and then repeat on Thursday and Friday. For childcare reasons, I swapped to M/W/Th/Fr which I found a bit more productive, as I could really get stuck in to something during the three days in a row. However, it was worse for 'me time' as I'd only just had the weekend before being off on Tuesday. I think a lot of the decision has to be about considering (honestly!) how well you will work if you're only in for two days at a time.

I found consecutive days much better from a work perspective. Also if you decide to go away for the weekend theb you monday for washing etc or still being away without you having to take leave.
I have done both and personally found A monday off to be better.

I would go for monday off thats what I am doing - I get extra days AL to make up for missing paid bank holidays -

Definitely Mondays off. You'll get bank hol allowance pro rata. I do Mon -
Weds and have to use up some AL to cover all bank hols. My job share, when I had one, worked the opposite end of the week and came out with extra leave. It pissed me off royally because I had no option to work on bank hols so had no choice.

I much preferred a day off mid-week (had Weds off when I did 4 days), as it meant stuff never built up for more than a day in my absence and never more than a day before I got back to people.

Though initially was forced not to work Weds as the nursery I wanted for ds next to my rail station was full on weds thanks to all the people working Mon-Wed or Wed-Fri or mon/wed/Fri, but it worked really well for me.