Compressed schedule - 1/2 day once a week or 1 day a fortnight?

[Trickedbyadoughnut]

I'm looking at trialling a compressed work schedule, but can't start until I decide if I'd rather do a half day off once a week or a full day off every fortnight. Some salient points are:

• I have to do an average of 40 hours per week
• I WFH three days a week
• I have an hour's commute to the office

Anyone do either who can give positives/negatives?

I'd question whether you'd feel much benefit from a half day. It's also harder to maintain boundaries about finishing midway through everyone else's day - too easy for it to end up as a whole day.

I'd opt for one full day a fortnight, otherwise you're still working everyday.

I do a 9 day fortnight with every other Friday off and it is bloody lovely. If I did 4.5 days a week it would not end up happening. I'd end up doing extra meetings in my time off.

I would take the 1 day and have a proper break the half day would stress me out and I would nearly always end up staying later I think

I should say that I do think it would be fine to take the half day - my boss is pretty good about people being properly off when they should be, but the stress is definitely a factor.

This. I don't do compressed weeks on a formal basis, but my hours are very flexible so I can generally work a 9 day fortnight. I wouldn't take a half day unless I absolutely had to, as work always spills over!

I do the same. I tried a half day every week and it was awful... really hard to get away on time and I don't think I really reaped any benefit. Having a whole day off, every second Friday is amazing and I aim to do it for as long as I can.

Full day once a fortnight!

If you do half days you'll spend a lot of time travelling for a short time at work.

Definitely go for the 9 day fortnight and enjoy!

I'd definitely go for the 9 day fortnight. A whole day off is so much better than half imo

Full day once a fortnight - if you have to travel in it's still our commute each way whether you do 4 hours or 8 hours plus parking charges if you don't have free parking onsite

1 day off every 2 weeks would give you a whole day to do anything you liked - day out , day chilling, day gardening etc etc - half day just gives you a few hours

A full day a fortnight also means you can take a single day off and have a four day weekend, which is enough to get away for a weekend, or have a proper break at home.

If you made it a Monday you'd probably even get some extra annual leave depending on the bank holidays it hit (i.e. because you'd have BHs added to your leave schedule but wouldn't have to take all of them off if you were already scheduled to be off for some of them). Or if it's a Friday, you get a 4 day weekend for a chunk of bank holidays.

I do 10 days over 9 so I have longer days on the working days but have every other Friday off. I was a bit torn between having a half day every week, but I decided that I would be better having a whole day. It is sometimes hard to finish on time when you work the morning, and then before you know it, it's school pick up time and there's no time for yourself! It's so nice to have a whole day and the 4 day week feels great! I have colleagues that do a half day a week for childcare purposes and it suits them but I prefer my day off!

I do 4.5 days a week and it's really annoying. Colleagues don't quite get it as they can never remember which afternoon I don't work; it's really hard to be disciplined to finish on time as it's so easy to think that I'll just do X or Y or a call overruns; the afternoon seems to disappear doing basic chores with no time for myself; yiu don't get that glorious feeling when you wake up and know it's your day off
I ddi try swapping and taking the morning off to see if that was more efficient but it turns out I'm just as bad at stopping my day off & starting work as I was at stopping work & starting my day off!

Right well, that was unanimous and definitely answers my question - thanks all!