Part time - which are the best days to work?

[MoonHare]

After 5 years out of the work place I have been offered a part-time job 3 days a week (17 hours).

They are flexible about the days, but which are the best to work in terms of maximising time off/work life balance/the best for child care?? I'm leaning towards Tue, Wed, Thurs because school inset days are always Mon or Fri.

Interested to hear what others think.

When my girls were young I worked three days a week and like you I chose to do Tues, Wed. Thurs. it was lovely having a long weekend every week. A colleague chose to do Mon, Wed, Fri but she soon realised her error when she couldn't really relax on her days off as she knew she was back at work the next day and she never really finished what she had started, her work was always left for someone else to finish as she was never in two days running.

I work part time, 14 hours a week. I work Weds for 5 hours. Friday, day for 5 hours and Friday eve for 4 hours. This means I don't work 2 days back to back.
Working 3 days together might be intensive. Could you work 1 day, have a day off and then work 2.
That might give you a break and more opportunity to keep up with stuff at home.

I do Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Love having Fridays off, and never have to work more than 2 days in a row. I'm very lucky as I can swap my days about if I need to.

depends on the nature of your work really
are you doing projects, where you need a block of days together?
Are you client-focused, in which case it might be better to do some time at both ends of the week?
when are key meeting? when are your customers around? when are other key members of staff off?
when you have a think about it the answer usually presents itself.

If you don't work Mondays and Fridays, check if you get bank holidays pro rata too.

I work part of the week but have 'wiggle room' so that I can switch days around if necessary. I have to be in the office for 2 of the days due to staff meetings and work schedule commitments.

A lot of people chose Tues - Thurs which means nurseries, after school clubs etc are often over subscribed and hard to get into on these days. I

I love working Fridays - everyone's in a good mood and there's more likely to be cake.

When I went back after maternity I chose Monday, Thursday and Friday as Monday and Friday worked best for the company and I could decide on the other day myself. I loved this option as on Bank Holiday weekends it meant I got 5 days off.

Once DD stated school I worked the same amount of hours but spread over 5 days to enable me to do drop offs and pick ups.

Think about childcare. Monday-Thurs are generally busy at nurseries (Fridays less so) also if looking for a nanny they won't want a job where it's mwf much easier to do mtw, or wtf etc as they can get another job around it.

mondays are a great day to have off
everyone else is moaning about end of weekend and I have day off...faberooni

I do tues/wed/fri

Kills me now if i have to do 3 days in a row ...lazy cow

I have worked all sorts of part time hours, but in my most recent job had to work Weds - Friday and was but it's the best thing that could have happened in terms of work life balance.

I have a long weekend, which I can use to the full with the kids, then have a day to recover, do house stuff, and then another day to do whatever I want/need. I go to work on a Weds, and am fresh and raring to go, gets lots done and then before you know it, it's time for Friday cake and it's the weekend again! I have loved it (and childcare is always easier to get on a Friday, cause most people do it the other way round.)

Assuming you only have school age children? Could you do your hours as two 7 hour days and one 3 hour morning, then you'd only need after-school care for 2 days instead of 3?

I work Tues, Weds, Thurs for exactly the reasons you mention. As far as I know, legally, companies now have to pro data bank holidays for part time staff no matter which days they work which means I get a few additional days added to my annual leave entitlement, very handy for covering school holidays. I also prefer working consecutive days as I get a better 'flow' working on my projects rather than stopping and starting with days off in between and it means I can really switch off from work mode and into mum-mode on my days off - I think if I was only off for a day I'd be thinking of work.

Tues, we'd, Thursday here and love it. I also get paid public holidays pro rata so that's a great bonus. It really helps with school holidays and assemblies as these tend to be mon/frid.

Also we enjoy long weekends for our summer holidays and I don't have to use my leave.

I worked every sort of part time combination you can think of. I finally found the combination that fitted work when I went full-time.

For the pattern that best fit my home life, without a doubt I preferred Tues, Wed, Thurs.

Thanks for all the responses.

I have one child at school, one at playgroup 3 days due to start reception in Sept and a 2yr old (3 in Nov).

To be honest I'm wondering if 17 hours will just be too much, the job is 30 mins away so I'll never get back in time for 3pm pick up for the older two.

Someone mentioned condensing the hours into 2 longer and one shorter day, I'm wondering about this.

Also as some have said I'm bothered that 3 days in a row might feel a bit much with all the juggling child care! Woried about covering holidays too. We have no family within 200 miles.

The whole thing feels like a wrench but on the other hand it always will, no matter when I go back to work and this job is with a fantastic organisation that I'd love to be part of (unfortunately the money is terrible though!).