Civil Service part time 4 days - which NWD should I choose?

[HikerMum]

I need some help understanding this from anyone who works in the civil service.

If I choose Monday as a NWD is this a bad choice? People keep telling me it is because of bank holidays but I don’t understand why as the civil service pay those additional on top of annual leave.

Can anyone help clarify?

You’ll get bank holidays pro rata at 80% if you have one NWD per week. So all your leave will be in hours for the year not days. Bank holiday hours will be worked out over the year so every bank holiday taken from a normal working day will be auto deducted from your annual hours. Every one that falls on your NWD won’t.

Monday isn’t necessarily a bad choice you are likely to end with an excess of bank holiday hours to take at other times.

hope that makes sense.

Monday is a good choice. It means they owe you 80% of bank holidays which you get as extra leave that you can choose when to take. Whereas if you have another day - because you are only owed 80% of bank holidays you end up with less leave.

Wednesday. Only at work 2 days in a row

Monday, especially if you have dc in childcare. Means you'll not be paying when the nursery is shut on bank holiday Mondays plus you'll get 80% equivalent entitlement. I much prefer working a Friday than Monday (which is another popular day off) as people are generally in a better mood. I never get the 'Sunday night blues' on a Monday for some reason.

Thanks everyone. I realise I have said part time when I actually meant full time compressed. Would I still be right in thinking Monday is the best NWD?

Always choose Wednesday

Choosing Mondays as your day off effectively means you have more freedom of when to take your ann leave.
If you work Mondays you'll get more bank hols off but there will be less an leave to take at other times.

They seemed less keen on me choosing a mid week day unfortunately!

Monday is the best NWD due to Bank Holidays except when it's good Friday however you may have to negotiate this due to all the other people that already have it.

But unless an leave is really tight for you don't overthink it! Just decide which day off you prefer.

Full time compressed means you’ll still get leave (BH and AL) in hours not days. Same thing applies as I said but for a normal working day or a bank hol that falls on a working day means you’ll need to use 9.2 or whatever your daily hours are to take it.

I had weds as my NWD when the kids were preschool. It was good as I never missed too much each week to spend time on catch up. And I never had to work more than 2 days in a row!

Love my Monday off… don’t get that Sunday night dread!

I do compressed hours, full time over 4 days. Have Wednesday as a NWD. Only work two days before I'm due another day off and don't miss too much team work. Disadvantage is I work 8.75hrs a day to make the hours up. Standard day is 7 5hrs so every bank holiday I have to use 1.25hrs of my annual leave. But saying that I wouldn't change back to a 5 day week.

I used to have Monday off and I was always quids in with a/l as I hardly had to use my pro rat bank holiday hours and could take them in addition to my leave allowance.

Great, thanks everyone!

I used to have Weds off but found that I felt I was stopping and starting, I didn’t like the mid week interruption. Monday is good if you have nursery fees, plus as others have said the extra annual leave entitlement. I have Fridays off and it at moment it’s for childcare, but looking forward to starting the weekend early when the kids are a bit older.

This. You get much more choice about when to take holidays when Mon is your non-working day. When Mon is a working day, it eats into your holiday allowance to be able to cover the (usually mandated) Bank Holidays.

from experience ( i have swapped and changed my NWDs a lot to figure out what works best for me), i love love LOVE having wednesdays as my NWD. gives me a nice break mid-week, only ever work 2 days in a row. LUSH!

i currently work Mon-Wed and Fri (so have thursdays off) due to childcare commitments, but look forward to moving back to a wednesday when DS at school.

I dont work for the CS but in the public sector and my NWD is Wednesday, I like it because I only ever work 2 days in a row, and if work gets too much I have a day off in the middle of the week to recharge.

The only issue with Mondays is that's often when all the cascade meetings are: team meetings, directorate huddles and all that. You might find this makes you feel a bit out of the loop over time (or you may be thrilled to have a good excuse not to go to them 😁)

if remotely senior or strategic I would take Fri. Monday is a key day for cascade whereas Friday is usually quieter. If you are in a bit more of “worker bee/minimise stress” then obv take Monday for AL management purposes, if more in “want to be part of important convos and get ahead” or “need to lead my team effectively” then Fri will be better.

If you are in a policy role, take Fridays off. Ministers are in constituencys, so you'll miss less.

I have Mondays - for the BH reasons plus my DC's school take inset days on a Monday which saves me quite a lot of hassle.
I do swap from time to time for both work reasons (important meetings/ training) and personal (eg nativity/ sports day).

None of our meetings like this are on Mondays - they’re on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Monday 100%. It means the 6 or 7 mondya bank hols are extra annual leave days you can take whenever you want!

And for childcare etc if relevant you won't be paying for nursery on a day its closed