4 full days or 5 shorter days

[Smiler1972]

I'm just negotiating a contract for a four day a week role.

For background I have a year 1 child in school that is within walking distance. I will be working from home for this role.

I'd really like to hear the pros and cons of a working pattern that is four full days or splitting the hours over five days.

I do have after school childcare from my parents but they are late 70s and I wouldn't like them doing five days pick ups.

4 full days. At least you'd have a Full day off then rather than it being spread out & potentially having to work longer if something were to go wrong.

4 full days

4 days. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is having a day off in the week.

Definitely 4 days. I work 5 days over 4 ( so 4 long days) . It's worth it just to have a day off without children. It's still really only 5 1/2 hours but I find I can get so much done. It's worth it to me

4 days for sure

Would your employer consider more fully flexible arrangement? I’m will be in a similar position come September and I’m hoping to negotiate a position where I work 4 days worth of hours but have flexibility over when I do them - I’d like to be around for pick ups most days but I could probably manage 1 day off a fortnight

I do 4 days, which is great. But the benefit was mainly about not having to travel into work for a day. With home working I’m now wondering if it would be better having 5 shorter days and being able to do more wraparound care. But the trouble with 5 shorter days is that you get invited to meetings at 4pm so you end up feeling bad for not being able to attend.

Four full but you WILL need afterschool care to do that. If you choose four full you can’t then do pick ups in those days so need your parents and / or afterschool care.

With a Y1 child I would go for 2 full days and 3 school hour days. Means you are not relying on your parents too much and you can spend the after school time with them 3 days a week.

From your point of view - 4 days is great. But would that mean your parents picking up from school 4 days a week? If so I'd go for 5 days. My parents were very hands on grandparents until their mid 70s but then it got a bit much for them. Or if you're WFH would you be able to pop out and get DC and then do a bit more work later?

Thanks everyone. A good mix of views. Ideally I'd like it to be really flexible and I will be working across time zones so my fear is that I'll be doing five full days anyway.

I like the idea of two full days and then three shorter ones so the burden on my parents is less but they still feel involved.