Work: Four longer or five shorter days?

[countthestars]

I have been at "35 hours" since I had my kids, working M-Th 9-5 + making up the rest of the hours when I can. My boss also works M-Th, but we are client facing so it is challenging (she often picks up Friday meetings, but I do as well - I'd say I work at least an hour most Fridays).

DD is in 1st grade. DS goes to preschool/daycare. I'm wondering if I should ask if I can go to 5 days from 9-2:30 or 3, because that would allow for better afternoons for our family (DD currently gets off the bus and watches TV for over an hour while I finish working, and then it's rush rush rush in the evening.  When my kids were both little, and now in the summer, I love Fridays with them. In the winter (I live in MA), it can be hard for DS and I to find things to do. My sister is now off on Fridays and while I love her, I'm an introvert and she wants to hang out every Friday with me. This is exhausting and our boys don't get along great, so to be honest, it's not the most fun. I feel bad typing that, but there it is.

Pros:

- More time in afternoon with my kids and likely make our home life easier

- Take some of the burden off of my team (I could cover Friday calls) and make me resent working on Fridays less

- I think my boss would be open to me going back to 4 days in summer (assuming I'm still even there)

- Fridays in general are slower at my company and I WFH, so could be less stressful

Cons:

- $20/week increase in DS's daycare cost

- Losing my day off

- There's a chance clients will still want to meet in the afternoon so I may have to take occasional calls during my "time off"

You can probably go back to my old posts and find 12 of them that say I'd never go back to 5 days after working 4, so you can flame me on that if you want ;-)

Open to any and all thoughts. Also potentially buying a company and quitting here so could be moot in a couple months.

[mainelyfoolish]

Can you split the difference and do an every-other Friday schedule? Where my DH works, people can work 9 hours M-Th, and then Fridays alternate between an eight hour day and a day off. Over two weeks, it still adds up to 80 hours. If you don’t want 80 hours, maybe you could do nine 8 hour days in a two week period, with every other Friday off.

[tripleshot]

I voted for 5 shorter days. I used to be full time 40 hours working 7:30-4 M-F and the past few years I’ve been part time 34 hours/week M-Th 7:30-3 and F 7:30-2. Even though it was only 1 hour earlier (M-Th at least), that extra hour made a huge improvement in my fatigue level (autoimmune disease) and allows me to pick DS up from practice after school or run errands after work without it cutting into evening activities or dinner. DHs job is inflexible and he works long hours so I need to be available for these things. It’s a huge improvement and I’ll never voluntarily change my schedule.

[countthestars]

Aug 22, 2019 12:59:20 GMT -5 melmaria said:

I can't speak from experience, but when I go back to work from maternity leave in two months (when DD will be 6 months old), I'm going to be working a reduced schedule 4 days a week (80% hours for 80% pay) for at least my first 6 months back to work. I think it completely depends on the realities of your job and what you do. As an attorney, while I actually think a 5 day a week schedule would be easier for me in terms of getting work done, all of the attorneys at my firm who have done a reduced schedule have told me that it's somehow easier to get people to respect your reduced schedule when it's a full day vs. leaving early. I.e., everyone understands and respects "melmaria is out of the office on Fridays" but seems to have a harder time with "melmaria must leave at 3 every day." We'll see how true that is.

Because DD is still a baby, I'm going to be glad to have the three full days at home with her instead of two. But if she were an older kid and in school all day anyway, I'd be more tempted to try a 5-days-a-week-but-shorter-days schedule.

I LOVED the 4 day schedule when my kids were babies/toddlers - I really did. I hope you do too!

[pooh8402]

I think I'm spoiled from working nurse shifts because I don't think I could ever give up my days off in the middle of the week. My vote is 4 longer days.

But that's me personally. What I'm reading between the lines in your post is that you would prefer 5 shorter days.

[simpsongal]

Can you WFH sometimes? I prefer working a 5 day schedule and leaving earlier if need be. A lot of my folks off every other Friday end up working part of the day anyway (which is great if you want OT).

[lessel]

The evening hustle is killing me these days, so I vote 5 short based on my own current angst.

[countthestars]

Aug 22, 2019 13:25:40 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Can you WFH sometimes? I prefer working a 5 day schedule and leaving earlier if need be. A lot of my folks off every other Friday end up working part of the day anyway (which is great if you want OT).

I'm 100% WFH, which is both a blessing and a curse!

[countthestars]

Aug 22, 2019 13:19:38 GMT -5 pooh8402 said:

I think I'm spoiled from working nurse shifts because I don't think I could ever give up my days off in the middle of the week. My vote is 4 longer days.

But that's me personally. What I'm reading between the lines in your post is that you would prefer 5 shorter days.

I'm surprising myself that I'm leaning that way. I literally would have never thought that I'd consider this even a year ago. I'm just wondering if going to 5 days would actually reduce my burnout.

[gastro]

What if you stayed the 4 days but had Wednesday be your off day?

[krystee]

I would have been 100% in favor of 4 days in the earlier years, but now that I’ll have a kid in full-day school and activities next year, five days and getting out earlier sounds more appealing, IF they respect your earlier departure time.

[goldengirlz]

Having afternoons off with school-age kids would be awesome for juggling — my DD could actually do activities like swim team without me or H having to either rearrange our schedules or rely on her friends’ parents.

Plus, I get stir-crazy at home — I’d rather have the few extra hours each afternoon.

But ... is there a reason this decision needs to be made now and not tabled till your DS is a year or so older?

[zarapipe]

With older kids, 5 shorter days would win. The after work craziness with activists, homework, etc. kills me.

[waverly]

If my kids were daycare age, I would do 4 days with the hope that DH or a family member could watch them 1 day a week, so that I would only have to pay for 3 days care. Our daycare was very expensive and a huge jump from 3 days to 4/5 days. 4 days was still considered full time at the daycare.

Once the kids are going to school 5 days a week, I would do 5 days from 9-2:30 or whenever to be home for the school bus. This way my childcare costs would be 0 and I would not need before and aftercare.

I can see why it might be hard to give up that 5th day, and I have a friend that never did. But I work 5 days anyway, so they would just be shorter.

[boiler717]

Do you have to set it completely? can you flex hours based on business needs? I would do the 5 day child care so you have the ability and design around that. That’s what I do and it’s great.

[boiler717]

Aug 22, 2019 16:36:43 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Do you have to set it completely? can you flex hours based on business needs? I would do the 5 day child care so you have the ability and design around that. That’s what I do and it’s great.

Like my ideal schedule for 32-35 hours would be 9-4 (well mine would be 8-3 but same idea) 4 days a week and 9-1 (8-12) one day a week, but pay the extra $20 for FT care. The half day I’d alternate between me time / errands / other stuff and some days pick the kiddo up early for fun.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I've always worked a really flexible schedule (substitute teacher, so I really only work the days I want to work), and I will say, the one thing about Fridays and school aged kids, at least in our district, all the during the day activities that parents don't have to attend but your kid would want you to attend are on Fridays. Things like the fall and winter parties, the fall 'harvest parade' where they walk around in costumes, the 'mystery reader,' the small class programs that aren't big enough to be in the evening, etc. I would say I end up at school for something for one of my 2 kids at least once or twice a month, and 95% of the time it's on a friday.
Is your job flexible enough that you could take an hour during a day you are working occasionally to attend a school thing if you had to?
Also, would you have any appointments for yourself that you would not be able to schedule if you worked 5 days a week? I have ongoing medical issues, so I know I always keep one day a week per year that I never work (for me it's Wednesdays), and when I have to schedule appointments I always pick that day if at all possible. But in general, I don't know how moms who work full time and have spouses who also work long hours schedule times for any sort of appointments, even routine dental cleanings and whatnot.
These 2 things might not apply to you, but they were just things I thought of having issues with when I considered working 5 days a week. But it does sound like the 5 day schedule might work better for you in general!

[lolalolalola]

I loved working shorter days, I’d rather have every day be more manageable than an extra day off a week. I used to work five 6.5 hour days and it was glorious compared to four 8 hour days

[JRo]

With school-aged kids, definitely 5 shorter days.

[brooke77]

With no commute, 5 shorter days for sure!

[countthestars]

Thanks for all of your thoughts! My job is super duper flexible - I work hard and I work a lot of hours, but for the most part my boss is pretty hands off and I can come and go as needed to do bus pick up, doctor's appointments, etc as long as it's on my calendar.

I could consider taking off a different day, but it wouldn't solve the terrible afternoon/evening issue.

I do worry that I won't be able to fully sign off at 3 AND I'll be stuck working on Fridays.

It's currently 9:40pm on Thursday and I'm back at my (home) desk working again.

[campermom]

Afterschool activities or gym time for us makes me cherish getting off early (5 days 7:30-3:30)

Also cramming my errands into weekends has gotten drastically easier Now that I have grocery delivery. I really feel like that one thing has lessened my stress.

[isabel]

I work 4 long days and 1 short day (6-4 M-Th, 6-10 F) and I love my schedule. I seriously cannot imagine going back to working a full day on Friday. So... I mean, that's my answer. Obviously, if you think it will be better for you, you should switch back. I wouldn't let increased daycare costs concern you unless that's a financial hardship (doesn't sound like it is).

[jinkies]

I have experience with this!

I have worked 30-33 hours at both my last job and my current one.

My last job the hours were spread over 4 days.

Current job is 9-3:30, 5 days a week.

I vastly preferred 4 days. I did sometimes work an hour or 2 on my day off, but I generally really needed that day off to handle my life so that my weekends weren't so hectic.

[aspentosh]

I think with no commute this is all about preference and it sounds like you want to do 5 shorter days. It makes sense for your schedule and I will say it gets crazy in 1st grade with all the homework, then add in activities, etc. The shorter day would be nice. But I don't think there's any real right or wrong answer here. Could you try 5 shorter days and see how it works? I think the biggest concern I'd have is if they would respect your early departure time. If you're working shorter days they need to accept that.

If you were commuting my answer would be way different

[janegold]

Being done at 5 every day honestly sounds like a dream to me, as someone who is seriously overworked, so I would probably prefer the 4 longer days and a day mostly off. But I can see the appeal of a less dense schedule on a day to day basis. Both sound like great options.

[lilac05]

Your post sounds like you’d like to try 5, and I think it’s worth a shot.

IF you and your team will respect your earlier days, I’d say 5 short days. It will take discipline, especially in the beginning, when you’re all accustomed to working until 5. Set a hard stop on your calendar, set an alarm on your phone, and insist on going for a walk at 3PM sharp. Working a super flexible job has many perks, but sometimes it ends up that you feel like you work all day, every day.

I always thought I wanted 4 long days, but now that my kids are older, I’d strongly prefer to work only hours when they’re in school, if possible. If you find out that you’re still often required to work in the late afternoons, then go back to 4. (Can you flex your time, so if you work 3 extra afternoon hours, you can work a shorter day on Friday?)

When you talk about this change, see if they’ll agree to it on a trial basis, with a plan to return to 5 days a week in the summer.