Reducing hours? What benefit have you seen?

[snazzychair]

For those of you who have reduced working hours, what benefit to your life have you seen?

Whether you are a parent who has reduced hours, or not a parent but have reduced hours for mental health purposes.

I'm heading towards retirement, but haven't worked full-time, except for a couple of brief temporary jobs, for over five years. I just find it makes me happier to have more time to myself, and I could never go back to working full-time again. I live alone so do have to earn something until I can retire - in an ideal world I wouldn't be working at all. Enjoying my life is far more important to me than having money and I've never been a career person - I work to live, that's all.

I am 3 days a week. Single parent. Health issues. Work life balance is good and I get enough rest to be able to work and parent effectively. Financially we manage and I am lucky wages go up in increments and have low mortgage.

When I was with exDH I did a mix of SAHN, FT and PT. I think PT is by far the best for mental health and peace of mind. That's of course if you have a good job with good conditions. When I ended up as lone parent I was able to manage as already on career path, luckily many people part time in my field.

I got a promotion and managed to talk them down to four days a week. So it's the same pay but less hours. I LOVE it. Gives me time to clean/food shop/go to the gym with no mum guilt for taking time away from my children to do all that household stuff. Can change my day off if their is a sports day/school trip/Christmas concert so I can actually be there to cheer on my children. Can take both to school on my day off and pick both up. Then we will cook something for dinner all together and get homework done before 7pm. Its honestly changed my life and made me so much happier.

I reduced for mental health reasons, my depression makes it really hard for me to balance work and home. I went from 40 hours a week to 24 over 3 days and I cant emphasise enough how much it's changed my life.

Money is less but it's worth it for feeling so much happier.

If it's something you are able to do financially I would do it. I worked full time then dropped to 16 hours, then went to full time term time. I then dropped to 22 hours after 3dc was born and t then dropped to 16 hours term time. My dcs are so much happier having me around more dh and I are happier as we don't argue about household tasks we actually spend less on food as we were always grabbing takeaways or ready meals where now I cook mostly from scratch. Dh works away a lot so not having to rely on family for childcare is another bonus

I used to work full time and then dropped to 30 hours over 4 days. Went up to full time again a couple of years ago and hate not having that extra day off. Will be looking to go back to 4 days a week by the end of this year hopefully.

Working fewer hours is definitely something I’d think about in my late fifties etc, alongside a portfolio career (NED etc). But only to do more of the things I enjoy. The suggestion that I should to spend more time with children, or do housework (!!!) is not one that sits well with me. And I do think we have a duty to consider how our choices affect the workplace environment and options for future generations.

Children should see both parents taking equal responsibility for family tasks. I have a son and I am a lone parent, but I’d be horrified at the idea of setting an example for daughters that women should take a step back from their careers when they have children. It makes me very angry when I get these vibes from educators in particular.

I like your post.

Me and dh both work part time, he does 30 hours over 4 days and I do 26 hours over 4 days. It works so well for us. We share pick ups/drop offs and don't need any after school or breakfast clubs and we each have a day at home with our youngest.

If considering I would look at how you reduce and the days you do - I have previously done 2.5 long days so Monday and Tuesday and finished at Wednesday lunch time which sounds great but was really hard to keep up with what was going on with work and I constantly felt like I was playing catch up. Much more beneficial and balanced to do more days but less hours each day (imo)

I have three kids and have considered dropping to 4 days at various times - but have stuck at five. Partly because I'm a relatively high earner, and frankly I don't know whether a slightly slower pace would be worth the 20% pay cut, and partly because I'm not sure that it would make that much difference to our lives in term time.

I am something of a procrastinator and household jobs tend to expand to fit the time I make available for them. If I have an hour to grocery shop and meal plan, it'll take an hour. If I have three hours...etc. I also work quickly and efficiently so even in busy times at work I don't work over my hours. We outsource a little (cleaner every two weeks) but other than that, we manage. I do 90% of household/childcare tasks as my husband is self employed and works longer hours than me.

If I earned less maybe I'd be more inclined to go part-time, but I enjoy the perks of earning perhaps a little too much 😀

👏

That's interesting @alanabennett! Good on you for enjoying the fruits of your labour. I love my job and wouldn't think of dropping hours without having little kids.

I think I'm driven by mum guilt atm as my mat leave ends soon. Need to think about it with a clear head.

I had a really bad back problem last year that needed surgery. I spent 8 weeks recovering from the surgery and decided not to go back to a "big" job. I opted for a three day a week job only 20mins drive away. I work 8:15 to 3:30. It's fab, no stress, no working in my own time, no being expected to answer emails on my non working days. I swim on my days off while the pool is quiet, I can do my walking rehab, I'm gradually sorting out all the clutter in the house and I can see friends in the week. I've taken a huge pay cut and I live alone, but the lack of stress is so good. I sleep well. I no longer drink every night, I eat healthy food and I'm so glad I decided to do it. I live quite frugally and I'm in the lucky position of having paid off my mortgage. It's a bit of a luxury to be able to not work full time, but for me, it's perfect.

Yes I fancy being a NED or maybe a trustee or a magistrate

No kids, gone down to 1 day a week to do a second degree, still doing some post grad studying and stayed at 1 day. I love it. I may go up to 2 days sometime (I can do overtime if needed)

Benefits are I can visit parents more (in 70s, recent health scares) and enjoy life.
Cons -1/5 of the pay but due to tax not 1/5. Of take home.

Its effectively early retirement from a busy career, moving into more portfolio career in time.

I do 22.5hrs with a late start so I can drop the kids at school everyday and collect them 3 days per week. Only downside is I work one weekend day, but I'm happy with the balance while they are at primary, mornings are so much easier now.

@ZebraKid71 would you mind sharing your and your DH working patterns please? It sounds exactly like what we are trying to do. We each want a day at home with our youngest and then to share the pick ups and drop offs for our eldest so that she doesn’t need after school club etc. But it makes my head hurt trying to work out who needs to do what hours! Thanks

I love work
I love keeping my home uber organised, grocery shopping, cooking, meeting up for the odd mid week coffee or lunch with friend and then going for a long walk, pottering.

so part time is utopia for me

I am contracted to 12hours per week (which I can choose for the most part) but do an extra shift so 24 hours total. I can see how it is hindering my career, I'm definitely not next in line for a step up. However a lot of my peers have taken 5 plus years off so having this set up allows me to have all the benefits of being able to do every drop off and pick up, have time to myself, keep the house the way we like it but also keep my hand in at work and not loose my confidence there plus keep some pension contributions plus NI.

For those asking does my DH get annoyed at being the main contributer...absolutely not. When he was sent to work abroad I kept DS while studying full time then went out and joined him when he was settled then work whenever I can around the family. I applied for a full time 9-5 job recently and when it actually came down to the nitty gritty of it we would be no better off due to the amount of childcare we would need to supplement school and nursery. Then there is the drama if someone is off sick or school holidays/strike days. We have very very little family input so we need to be self sufficient and for this period this works for us.

I work 22 hours per week and I love it. Allows me to pick dc up from nursery / school every day. I love being there for them every day, even though I sometimes find being at work easier and more peaceful! I think it's a good balance. I do more housework than dh because he works more, which I think he prefers anyway. My job if fairly well paid so although I earn less than I would full time, I still bring in a decent amount which helps. I've also progressed at work despite working part time but I'm lucky that my work is prioritises flexible working and the type of work I do, can be done part time.

Just also wanted to add that I think two parents working full time with small children is often not ideal unless you can afford to hire an amazing nanny and also outsource a lot of the work at home. We earn pretty well but even with two full time wages coming in we couldn’t afford this. So for us the preferred solution is for us both to work slightly reduced hours, this year DH will probably do 0.9 FTE and I will do 0.8 or possibly 0.7. I don’t like the thought of having much more responsibility for looking after the house and kids than he does, we are both their parents and I worry that if I was say 0.6 and he was full time then I would feel like I needed to take on everything to do with the house and kids. Plus my pension would take a battering and we wouldn’t be able to afford to top it up.

Oh and also it can work out financially better if you both slightly reduce your hours than if one person stays full time (often the higher earner) and the other cuts down more significantly, because of the impact of the personal allowance and also as you get nearer to the next tax bracket or to the limit of eligibility for child benefit etc. I’ve worked out that if the goal is for us to be 1,6FTE Total between us then we are about £250 a month better off if we are both 0.8 than if DH is 1.0 FTE and I’m 0.6 FTE (or vice versa) because at full time hours we both earn around the threshold for child benefit.

I work about 15 hours a week. Sometimes less. I Love it. I will never work full time again. I get to do school drop every day and pickup 3 days, I have loads of time during the week to Keep on top of the house so my weekends aren't spent catching up. Dh works long hours and while we aren't loaded we don't have money worries so that helps.

I agree with this. I don’t know a single man at my workplace who is part time. A lot of the women are (even senior ones). The men just don’t appreciate that they just have to concentrate on their career, not juggle everything , and it’s not a level playing field. They just think they’re better (more competent). I wouldn’t let it influence a personal decision, you have to do what’s right for you. But it is depressing.

All the other people who managed to answer politely didn't think it was daft.

I have been PT for the past 13 years. I was 4 days now 3 days. When the kids were younger it was good for attending school events and doing pick-ups and generally looking after small children etc. Now I'm really seeing the benefit in my 50s as I get 2 days off and 1 day is house stuff and life admin etc and the other is for catching up with friends, exercise and doing things on my own (cinema, exhibitions, long walks etc). I have taken a cut financially which has consequences but currently I value less stress and more time not working - I agree though this will not suit everyone's circumstances financially.