P/T & long commute or F/T and no commute dilemma - advice please.

[Dolly80]

As a long time lurker on Mumsnet I'm finally taking the plunge and posting something of my own!

I have a DD aged 15mths and returned to work when she was about 10mths old. I currently work P/T 4 days a week for a Local Authority. Unfortunately the commute to work is apx 70mins each way & I seem to have a F/T workload but less hours to get everything done in (to be expected I suppose but still annoying as an getting paid quite a bit less due to the day I dropped after Mat Leave) In general I leave home at 7.30 & get back at 6.15/6.30 on a working day.

My dilemma is I've just been offered a job with a private organisation which is a 10/15 minute drive from home; same job, similar wages but 5 days a week. I predict would be leaving home at 9.15 & getting back at 5.45 each day.

An I completely bonkers to consider taking it!? I love the extra day at h

Short commute wins for me. Less costs could mean you could afford cleaner so you aren't spending weekends doing house work.

Full time and no commute
You probably won't do 20% more work, but you'll get 20% more pay

I agree. Better to be paid for working than suffering the stress of commuting.

Full-time and no commute, hands down. Part-timers always do far more than they are paid to do, and plus the commute on top....it's a no brainer.

Thanks for all your comments so far - it's made me feel better that I'm doing the best for me & my DD (oh and my other half of course) Part time sounded great in theory but I'm definitely doing same work, if not more, than when I was full time - my cut off sentence was going to say I love the extra day at home but not the extra work & no time in the office!

Take the job. No question.

I agree, take the job, but also see if it's possible to do it on flexi or p-t hours. e.g if you worked 8am-6pm 4 days per week, you'd be leaving/arriving home the same as you are now and could do your hours over four days.

They obviously want you in the job, so it should be possible to negotiate a bit, even if you only get (say) a half-day off on a Friday, that would be good

I also agree full time with no commute. It'll be hard at first to lose your free day, but you can make the most of extra time before and after work. Also, you could request flexible/part time working down the line. So also potentially options (espcially when DC gets older and you want to go to e.g. school assemblies) to pop out for a bit and do things if you are close at hand as well.

Watching with interest as I have the same dilemma. Seems like full time wins hands down

In in a very similar situation to you OP other than that I haven't been offered another job!
I'd take the local job, FT and maybe see if they'd let you work compressed hours to get one of your week days off?
I would love to have no commute, it sucks the life out of you doesn't it...

notnagging & ethelred it's nice to know I'm not the only one contemplating this decision.

I feel like through my pregnancy & mat leave everyone sung the praises of P/T so I thought it was the way to go. My friends could afford to do 2 or 3 days a week though whereas I could only drop to 4 days which seems to be a different kettle of fish altogether. My boss is lovely but she definitely still views me as F/T. Once you add the commute to that - 70mins is on a good day, on a bad one its closer to 90 each way - it does indeed suck the life from you!

Seems like I'll be going back to work full time - I'll just have to plan some after work trips to the park & weekend fun to compensate to my DD for giving up my day with her (although I currently try to do so much with her on the extra day off she'll prob be glad of the break, lol)

The fact that you will be around more in the mornings, and less shattered in the evenings, will more than make up for not having a day at home, IMHO. As others have said, when your DD gets to school age the benefits of working close to home will become even more apparent.

Definitely take the closer job with no commute - could you investigate doing compressed working to fit 10 days work into 9 with no loss of F/T pay, and therefore have your day at home once a fortnight?

In general, I'd prefer F/T and short commute to P/T long commute but two points struck me regarding your question:
1 you're looking at moving from public to private sector and whilst you've mentioned the pay is similar I wonder if the benefits (pension, sick pay, mat leave) are too; and
2 you've only mentioned one child, if you are considering having another soon you might want to consider how a job move would affect your maternity rights

Thanks again everyone - the points you raise have crossed my mind too BigTwig I think the Mat & Sick pay are comparable but the pension scheme I need to look into more, or get a private one outside of my employer. You've reminded me I need to email the new job and double check all this though.

I'm definitely not planning another baby soon - not planning to even discuss whether to try before mid 2014 so hopefully will have worked there long enough to get all the maternity entitlements. Don't know how people with 2 children do it to be honest, I'm exhausted by one!

After reading your post again & having gone through similar, I'd just like to raise a few points. My dh moved to a job ten minutes drive away and actually spends more time at work now as it is 'just down the road'!
But the commute is shorter so it is easier to get home in an emergency.

Your start time in the new job means you can drop your dd to school when she is older.

Your current Council job wins hands down for me in terms of work benefits/ flexible working/ job protection etc

Personally, I just went for a full time position but didnt get it. I currently work 3 & 1/2 days which means I have a whole day off ( don't have to rush to do everything in the evenings & weekends), I get to spend that day with my youngest ds & pick the others up from school. Which I'd actually really miss.

The pay in my current job is better even though its part time as I get London weighting.

Just a few things
But it's actually made me realise my perfect job would be somewhere closer on the same wage & same hours. Perhaps you could do full time for a year then apply for flexi?

And by the way I have five. Once you have more then one its all the same really!

Hope it all works out.

Thanks notnagging I'm definitely thinking of asking about flexi working in the future at the new job, I know a few of their staff do already so assume they promote it as they do in the public sector.

I agree with you about the council job having better benefits but sadly job security, as it used to be in the sector, is ever evolving given increased budget cuts. in my role voluntary redundancies are being offered quite regularly and many people's posts are not replaced/covered when they leave; whether this be permanently, on mat leave or on long term sick. I don't want this to sound like a rant about the cuts happening, that's not really a debate I want to get into, but it's just the way it is at the mo.

I suppose we all have to end up what's doing best for us personally and our families - I'd love to do 3 & half days but I'm the main earner so probably couldn't afford to do so in the near future.

BTW 5 children & working...I'm in awe if the energy you must have 1 restless child last night and I'm zombiefied today!