Returning to work 4 days pw - what's the best day to take off?

[londoncitymum]

Have a 4mo DS and planning to return to work in January. I'm going to request a 4-day working week and have to suggest to HR dept which day I take off.

Think Friday most likely not an option as too many others have this day off at company so was wondering if others could let me know the pros and cons of other days of the week e.g. Monday could be great as you have a long weekend but maybe get behind on work as you miss the start of the working week.

Work in a fairly fast-paced media job.

I always thought that I'd go for a Wednesday as then I wouldn't be too far away from a day off, but I'd not thought about the bank holiday entitlement as I just assumed that you wouldn't get a bank hol if you were off on Mon, not that it would be included into your pro rata holiday allowance.

How does that work?

At my work they calculate how many bank holidays you should get pro rata. Eg, I work 3.5 days a week so get 70% of the 9 bank holidays we get this year - so 6.3. Depending on who I talk to in HR, this gets rounded up to 6.5 or 7.

It then depends on the days I work as to what I need to do - I work tues, weds, thurs which means I effectively get extra holiday. However if I worked mon, thurs, fri (and so there were more bank holidays on my normal working days than my pro rated allowance), I'd have to use my normal annual leave to cover it.

Most companies are getting wise to bank holidays being prorated now I think.

Another one saying Monday for the BH considerations.

This is my face right now spammertime .

Bank holidays are done differently by different employers - where I work you simply get the bank holiday if it falls on a day you work and if it doesn't ,you don't.

So in my set up, you definitely don't want to take Monday as your day off or you'd not get many bank holidays.

Currently SAHM, but before DD2 was born I worked 4 days/week and was off on Wednesdays. I chose it intially because primary school day where we lived was shorter on Wednesdays, though DD2 came along before DD1 started school, so that was actually irrelevant.

Wed was a good day though as others have said, only ever 2 days to work before a day off (so similar for DC being in nursery)

babyheaves

Long and short of it is it makes no difference what days I do or don't work with regard to bank holidays as they make it the same for everyone. So no need to make that part of my decision!

Friday for me - I get all my house chores, shopping washing etc done before the weekend so my DH and I get to do more fun things on the weekend.
At work it's the day clients are least likely to want meetings etc.
Having 3 days off in a row feels like a proper break.
Friday is also day that most stuff seems to happen at school - sports day, concerts etc so I don't have to take time off for that.

I can recommend Wednesdays for both yourself and your child. It means you work two days, then have a day off, them work two days and it's the weekend. Has worked brilliantly for me and my children.

I'm another that has Wednesdays off. Wasn't my first choice but I don't think I would change it now any way.

Mondays. Worst day on the roads for traffic. I cycle to/from work as much as possible, and really wanted Mondays off initially, as it's always the worst day to commute but got Fridays instead when it is the least busy on the roads as so many people take that day off or go home early. Fridays or Mondays give you a lovely long weekend every week.

Our employer works out leave entitlements (taking into account BHs and the days you work) differently, based on which days you usually work, so you wont get any additional days off that you're not entitled to whichever days you work. Having said that, here, you're expected to be flexible on your days off, so although my usual day off is Fridays, this week I have to work that day and have to take Thursday off instead, which is far from ideal for our usual me-and-daughter-just-the-two-of-us-day plans, but work's excuse is that they are doing me a favour letting me reduce my hours (and salary/pension/benefits etc etc) in the first place....

Definitely Monday. It's nice to break up the week with a mid week day, but if you get stung by pro rata bank holidays you lose out on general holiday. After going back after DD2 I had to do Monday's at work and I feel like my holiday has been significantly reduced.

There's two of us in our team that work 4 days. I have Fridays off and another guy has Mondays off. It took my boss ages to get his head round how much bigger my colleagues holiday entitlement worked out compared to mine, because most bank holidays fall on a Monday and the pro rata amount was added to his flexible holiday entitlement.

I don't work on Wednesdays, and like being able to be around for the dcs midweek....a lot of people in my company (myself included) work from home on Fridays, so I feel I gain more 'home' time taking a day midweek.

It also means that if anything goes horribly wrong in my absence, then I can still fix it on Thurs/Fri, rather than letting it roll until the following week.

My line manager also works 4 days/week, and she's off on Fridays. It does make arranging joint meetings quite tricky....!

Coming from a completely different perspective - when I was running a big team almost everyone who worked less-than-full-time wanted Monday or Friday off (for the very reasons that many of you have posted). It was a nightmare. It made it very difficult for full-time staff to arrange a long weekend and sometimes caused a bit of resentment. I'd have loved anyone who would take a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday off.

When I worked 4 days, I took Mondays off and loved it - dcs were at school. Was able to catch up with housework (house was a mess after the weekend), get shopping done and any outstanding paperwork. Having either Tues, Weds, Thurs off means you are handing over twice so I would always go for either Mon or Fri. As per posts above, it is a personal thing as well as what is best for the business.

venue, I work ft compressed hours but with the option of one afternoon off a week. I chose Thursday for the convenience of the team because as you say, most people who want long weekends for short trips take Fri or Mon off.

I did not feel it fair for me to bag the Friday choice afternoon off since my employer was already accommodating me.

I've got Tuesday off and work from home on Thursdays. My commute is 2 hours each way so it makes it mentally manageable as I have to get up at 5.30am and travel up to London every other day. It makes the weeks absolutely fly by.

I work Tues to Fri as this gives me a chance to catch up from the weekend and get ready for the working week ahead.

I've worked four days in two jobs and in one had Tuesdays off, and in the other, Wednesdays. Wednesdays was definitely my preference. I got a good two days to get things underway, and to cue up Wednesday. Dd only ever had two days in a row in childcare, and I got all my long weekends with Mondays off.

Also, people seem to notice a middle of the week day out less somehow. You could be at a meeting all day. Ater 18 months, people still weren't sure which day I didn't work, because they thought I was there all the time.

Sorry, forgot to say I work in a marketing agency.

Monday! I would never have guessed it before I did it (I had every other day as my 'day' before but would never have thought of Monday...) but you have to try it to believe it. The Monday off builds on the other 2 days of rest that you have already had, and sets you up so much for the week. Better than any other day!