Working hours

[Newbegins]

I have been offered a new job, 32 hours per week, the options for working hours are -
Mon to Thur 8-4, 1 hour lunch,
or 5 days, 8-2.30, with half hour lunch.
All office based.
I have school age children, a neighbour has said she can help with collecting them from school, my OH can do the morning school drops, what option would you go for? Thank you 😁

Definitely the 4. I'd love those hours.

I’d prefer to have a weekday completely free, it’s useful for appointments and just having some reset time for yourself.

4 days of 8-4 for me.

Playing devils advocate, what would happen if your neighbour changes their mind?

I’d love a 4 day week and have a day to myself.

However, what happens if neighbour can’t do pick ups do you have another option. Maybe the 5 day week would be beneficial when you have school age children.

I woukd like the four day 4pm option but only if I had childcare for it-childminder or after school club.

I wouldn’t ask my neighbour to do that every day for evermore, especially not unpaid. What if you fell out? What if she’s ill or your child is ill or he’s kids are ill? What if she changes her mind/has a doctors appointment/her kids have been invited round to friends houses?

If you can’t pay for your own childcare, do the other option.

As long as you have a proper back up for pick up such as after school club etc, then the four days a week would be helpful for school holiday childcare cover but I would prefer to the five shorter days and knowing that I wasn’t reliant on anyone else, or paying after school club costs, for four days.

I’d want 4 days, 8-4 but also ask for only 1/2 hour lunch so it was 3.30 finish :)

The 4 days option by far. The 2.30 early finish won't even be hardly noticed and will be taken up coll3cting from school. A whole day off is much better. Even if you have to get a childminder for school pickups it will be better.

Look at your child care options for both term time and school holidays before making a decision. Will you child manage being in holiday clubs 5 days but shorter or 4 days but longer.

I would take the 5 day option. I worked this when my children were at primary and it was so lovely to be able to pick them up from school, have play dates, go to the park, etc with them. I loved it.

It also means that you are consistently relying on someone else to help you out. Your neighbour's circumstances might change. They might move or get sick or just get fed up with collecting your kids. Much better to have them as a backstop if needed rather than have to rely on them all the time.

I couldn’t be relying on a neighbour, it would have to be Afterschool service for me or 5 days and collect them myself

4 days would be better so you'd have a weekday off, but I wouldn't rely on a neighbour. If you can't secure/afford reliable paid for childcare until 4pm then I'd go for 5 days a week so you don't have to worry at all about it!

I would prefer the 4 days but with wraparound care. 4 days a week from the neighbour is a very big ask and very restricting for them.

5 days.
Not fair to rely on your neighbour to do your afternoon childcare more than the odd time.

4pm is a rubbish time to finish as you are basically straight into cooking an evening meal as soon as you get home- there is no time for quality catch up with your DC. (I swapped from a 3pm finish to a 4pm finish, it makes a surprising amount of difference).

If your DC want to do after school clubs (straight after school) you can facilitate this much more easily with a 2.30pm finish.

Holiday childcare is often either school hours or full day - with a 4pm finish you'll end up paying for full days so working out more expensive.

If you finished at 3, would you be able to do the school pick up? If so, I'd ask if you could do 4 days 7.30-3.00 with half an hour lunch. Or 7.15 -2.45, would that work? Having that day off to get stuff done is amazing.

If not, then I'd probably do the 5 days finishing at 2.30 as asking someone to collect your child from school 4 data a week is a big ask.

Or negotiate 2 longer days using after school club or childcare then 2 shorter days where you can do the pickup.