Compressing Working Hours into 4 days

[Jackose]

Looking for advice please from anyone who has compressed 37.5hours into 4 days? I financially need to go back to my full time hours but im thinking about doing it in 4 days so i still have a day off with my little one.
This would mean working 8-6 for 3 days then 8-5.30 for another. Does anyone else do this, and is it doable? I suppose im worried about burnout?
My work are very good with flexible hours so I dont see them having an issue with this!
Just looking for some opinions and experiences!

Following as I am interested in doing similar but also worried that I won't cope well with long days.

Hi there, is there any scope wfh? If you add a commute to those hours, that’s a true reflection of how long your working day will be. Doable if short commute and couple of days or even one day wfh would help.

How long is your commute? This could be your breaking point.

does that time include an unpaid lunch? If so can you decrease your lunch to 30 mins instead of an hour.

I do 35 hrs over 4 days - 1 x 8-3, 3 x 8-6. The 8-6 days can sometimes feel long however, I work from home so there's no commute on top. If there was I'm not sure I could do it.

I also take a 30 min lunch rather than an hour.

I did it. It’s intense and you have to be really focused and disciplined. You are effectively doing a full time job and also three days of childcare so it is very pressured and you can end up taking on more of the mental load at home as you’ve got an extra day there. It was the right thing for my family and really helped keep my career on track which has had longer term benefits, but you need to be prepared for it to be a lot.

Well 0800-1800 is the daily norm in my industry, so I don’t really know any different! I wfh mostly now so it’s a bit easier. I have quite a flexible role now and usually do 0815-1815 as I do nursery drop off, then I have every other Friday off. Works well and I can leave early if required. Mine is more project based role so hours are less relevant.

Some people where I used to work did a less intense form of compressed hours so they had every other Friday off. This could be a a compromise position where you wouldn't need to do such long days.

I reduced my lunch to 30 minutes and work from home. It can be tough going but after a while you get into a routine. I needed the extra day for volunteer work that I enjoy better than my paid job.

I did.
and changes back pretty soon as 4x10 hours (plus breaks and commute) was breaking me.

If your work has rhe flexibility for you to try it I would. It really depends on what else is going on in your life around it as to whether it works I think. I have done it at 2 different stages in life and it was very different each time

If you have kids in nursery and your working hours including commute still fits in their schedule then it will probably work. If you have younger school age kids with activities to get to or more afterschool to pay for it might be harder as they will get more tired.

My previous company offered this as default to all employees - I miss it!

Yes it is do-able but you will need help as I often left before the kids woke up and got back well after school closing time. We paid a lot in childcare fees but it was worth it for the benefit.

I do 37 hours over 4 days. I WFH though in a very flexible senior role and don't clock hours. I tend to check in on my emails and attend urgent meetings on Fridays but I'm officially off.

One of my team does this. Another does the less intense version where you take every second week as a four day week. Both love it, and have been working that work pattern for years.

What's your childcare set up? As much as the day off with the little is amazing, I'd be thinking about how little time I'd get with the little one on the 4 days; what time does childcare start and end? (Our nursery close at 5:30, for instance). If you finish at 6, what time does little one go to bed? Can they be collected after 6? There's a balance to be had... does little one nap well in the afternoon? Could this give you 2 hours of wfh on the day off, to shorten your hrs in the week? How about finishing the day earlier, doing pick up and bed time, then adding an hour wfh on some days if you need to do pick up? I moved to 9 day fortnight as did my partner, wfh on the alternate weeks so I'd still see more of my little one. Just some food for thought - I struggled to see the future scenarios when I started back!

Thankyou for all your replies. Just to add some more info:
I would be taking a 30min lunch break and I currently work from home and go into the office maybe once or twice a month, work have been very flexible with this since I came back off maternity leave.
My little one is in nursery three times a week and my mum has her once a week. Her nursery is open 7am till 6pm, and is only a 10min walk away from home, making this much more manageable.

Ive also spoken to my manager about potentially trialing this in the new year to see if it is feasible at all!

I did it when DC were small and in the office most days (their nursery was near work). It was a bit brutal but you don't get much evening time with small kids anyway and my work are very flexible. I'd say it was worth it but I am very much in charge of my own diary so could structure my days in a way that worked for me. Now I do a 9 day fortnight and DP does 4 days but kids are late primary age.

And also saved a ton in nursery fees. One thing to watch if your partner also works FT is that they don't start to think you are PT and can pick up a load of house/life stuff on your off day.

I do 35 hours over 4 days, 8 -5ish with a 30 min lunch, I do wfh apart from a couple times a month and can be flexible.
Now my little one is in school rather than nursery if I need to log on on my day off I will do.

I do 34 hours over 4 days. I decided against trying to do the 37.5, however my work load didn't really change. My job varies between WFH, site visits and in the office, no two days are the same so I just try and fit the hours in where I can including evening when the kids are in bed sometimes, luckily my manager is quite relaxed about it.
I'm on maternity leave with DC3 at present so imagine it will only get tougher

I did 4.5 days in 3 (though I have a lot of flexibility so I often did some extra evenings to reduce the long days). I was wfh which helped.

It was hard going but it meant I got to spend extra time with the children so totally worth it.

I stopped because our needs changed target than it being unsustainable.

Yes i do it. Its REVOLUTIONARY!! Wish i'd done it years ago. I spend mondays doing whatever the hell I want while kids in nursery.

I do it and I loved it for a few months but it's got too much. Currently in the process of rejigging things to go back to 5 days a week.

My employer offers flexi hours, but when you do this pattern you very quickly lose any real flexibility as you are so pressured on your non-work hours with childcare.etc

This means if anything goes wrong ie your child is poorly and you have to take a day or half day to sort that you are losing 5/6 or 10/12 hours work that you need to make up. It also means you are still working a full time job plus 3 days childcare and it's exhausting.

Might be better with older children but mine is under 3.

It has worked for what we needed it for but can't be long-term for us.

I do 4.5 days compressed into 4, so maybe that's something to think about if you think 5 in 4 would be too much (I decided it would be too much for me)? It means I get every Friday off with my little one but only had to take a 10% pay cut.