WWYD: working 4 days a week

potbellypig

If you had the chance to work four days a week, but it meant you would not be able to work full time at your current job again, would you take it? I'm about to have 3 kids, might want 4, and would like to send them to a private school that would involve driving them/carpooling.

Also - would you keep your kids in daycare on your "day off" so that you could get your cleaning, food shopping, meal prepping, laundry etc. done? Or would you keep them at home with you? The cost of daycare is "affordable", but of course if would cut it in to our take-home income, so the benefit of me staying home without the kids to do these things would have to far outweigh the cost of sending them.

potbellypig

K3am said:

Would your 4 days a week keep the same hours or are you going down to 32 hours a week?

Personally, I couldn't work 4 tens. So if it were the contemplation of dropping down to 32 hour weeks... maybe. The cost of daycare for us would be about the same whether we took her for 4 days or 5 - most around here don't do a discount for 4 days, since it's unlikely they'd have someone who wanted to do just one day a week. We pay ~$428 a week for full time, and the daily rate is $100, so it would only save $30 a week. Dropping down at work to 32 hours likely would not save me any money in the long run. It would however, possibly give me some extra sanity. But I doubt DH would get on board with it.

Also, what's to say that you couldn't go back to full-time down the road? In my experience, if your employer likes you, no decision is final. 

 

*stuck in a box*

 

I would go down to 30 hours a week.

 

I likely wouldn't be able to go back to full time because I'm making the argument that there's "not enough work" for a pharmacist 5 days a week. This is the truth, and it would be nice to have more work to do on the 4 days I'd be in the office.

 

I think I would be able to pay for only 4 days at the daycare...it's not a centre and she has a few part-time families. Not 100% sure though.

MommyAtty

I think there are so many factors that go into this. Do you have a career trajectory in mind? Would this harm your overall chances at meeting your goals? Could you still get a good full time job elsewhere down the line or is there some stigma attached to part-time in your field or sector? For me where I am right now, for career reasons, I would not. But I'm so burnt out that goodness, I wish I had the opportunity and could justify it. It sounds heavenly. And yes, I would likely leave the kiddo in daycare that extra day most of the time to get crap done. Weekends would be fabulous if there were no errands eating them up!

potbellypig

MommyAtty said:

I think there are so many factors that go into this. Do you have a career trajectory in mind? Would this harm your overall chances at meeting your goals? Could you still get a good full time job elsewhere down the line or is there some stigma attached to part-time in your field or sector? For me where I am right now, for career reasons, I would not. But I'm so burnt out that goodness, I wish I had the opportunity and could justify it. It sounds heavenly. And yes, I would likely leave the kiddo in daycare that extra day most of the time to get crap done. Weekends would be fabulous if there were no errands eating them up!

Thankfully, my career is very low-key. I also have no real ambitions, I want to work to put food on the table and get our of the house and that's about it. Income is standardized at $50-$60/hour, and advancement is not really a "thing" that people pursue. I would have no trouble getting a full-time gig elsewhere with similar hourly income in the future, unless the income changes provincially, in which case it wouldn't really matter if I had a career gap of sorts because everyone would be affected.

jlaOK

If working the 30-hours meant that you were 100% financially comfortable then I would do it.  What are the reasons for you wanting the ability to go back full time?  Isn't pharmacy similar to nursing where working less than 40 hours isn't necessarily out of the norm and therefore doesn't create a bad reputation?

As far as leaving the kids in daycare all 5 days, I would do it.  I work PT and both my kids are in daycare 5 days a week.  It's great to maintain their normal schedule and gives me time to grocery shop and run errands that way our weekends are free.  I can always choose to not take them a day (which I sometimes do during the summer).

Iblamethebeer

I agree with others -- take the part-time and keep them in daycare 5 days.  There's no law that says you have to send them every single time for the whole day, but it would give you a chance to efficiently get all errands and chores done, take one kid at a time to the doctor/dentist without carting them all, make your own appointments, etc etc.

 

kmh2201

Iblamethebeer said:

I agree with others -- take the part-time and keep them in daycare 5 days.  There's no law that says you have to send them every single time for the whole day, but it would give you a chance to efficiently get all errands and chores done, take one kid at a time to the doctor/dentist without carting them all, make your own appointments, etc etc.

 

This!  But I also agree with PP's that if 4 days a week meant 10 hours a day, that would be a deal-breaker for me. 

glaw

I switched to 4 days at 32 hours right after my first kid. Best thing ever. Actually now that I have 2 I wish I could work 2.5-3 days but my job won't let me. Like you they told me that going back full time may not be available in the future and I am totally fine with that. I would never want to go back FT even when kids are in school. Like you I don't care about career advancement. Unlike you I can't find a similar job to this so I'm stuck. Since you're not there seems to be no risk if for some reason you wanted to work FT again. I can't imagine why you would with #3 coming and considering 4 kids in the future. I can't comment on DC as I have a nanny but as per a recent post I would keep my nanny no matter what and have help on my days off. But I know I'm the exception. Good luck.

minirella

Yes, I would reduce hours. My daughter goes to preschool (8:30am-12pm) even if I am off but when she went to daycare, if I was off she was at home with me. I think it is really a personal decision.

WLJ2

Did not read previous comments. But have you asked the child care the cost difference? DS daycare charges the same for 4 days as it does 5.