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Working Moms
Considering reducing hours
I know I'm not cut out to stay home full time. That being said, I am still having a difficult time leaving DS to go to work. My job is about as mommy friendly as it can get, I work set hours, overtime is optional, no weekends, super short commute. When I went back to work I told myself to give it until DS was 6 months before I thought about changing anything. Well, now he's 7 months and I still get down on Sunday nights because I know I'll be leaving him for another work week. It's also hard to met other moms since most that I know stay at home and don't get together outside of my work hours.
I have to stay full time to maintain our health insurance but I have a few coworkers that work 4 days/wk and are still able to maintain their benefits. Has anyone considered reducing their work hours? If so, how did you approach your employer about it?
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Re: Considering reducing hours
I want to start by saying that I haven't done this so it is possible that I don't know what I am talking about
. However, I have read enough and listened enough to have a way to approach this that I would use myself.
Bottom line. The job cares about the bottom line... getting the work done.
If you are trying to cut down a day, write up a proposal and distribute to all applicable superiors. Include your responsibilities/duties and describe how your physical absence from the office will not impact those duties... possibly enhance your performance of them.
Make sure you are flexible about the day you take off and communicate a plan to be accessible to them on your day away (phone, email, etc.)
To make it less threatening to them, you could offer to make it a trial situation for x-amount of time. If things work out you could meet again to discuss a long term plan.
Have this plan available in written form and be able to verbally discuss it as needed.
Good luck to you!
I agree with the PP. Having a proposal and being organized with all necessary information will help your cause. I always think it's better to be honest, so letting them know that you are having a hard time might be a good idea.
The fact that other co-workers are 4 days a week will also be beneficial in your argument. Perhaps try to talk to them and see what they think the challenges of working 4 days/ week are.
I am going to 4 days a week, but will still work 40+ hours/week.
Good luck!
I agree with the other posters - your company cares about the bottom line and you getting done what needs to get done. If you can get it done in a shorter amount of time, then tell them that. With the motivation of a shorter week, you might be able to do that.
Offer to do it on a trial basis. Suggest you meet up again after 6 weeks or so and see how things are going from both sides. If they are unhappy, you can adjust at that point.
Like PP said, check with the others who work shorter weeks and see how they approached it or are getting everything done.
Can you work from home in the evenings after your LO goes to bed? Those couple hours might add up in terms of getting things done and still seeing your LO.
Why don't your friends get together during non-business hours? I understand weeknights are tough, but there are weekends. That is what the rest of us live with. Maybe you can suggest a half day one day a week (36 hour week) and have that afternoon be a set playdate with your SAH friends?
Other than that, know that at the one year mark, everything starts getting better. Your LO becomes more independant, no more bottles or pumping, better sleepers, etc. I am glad you stuck it out this long, but even if you went back to work when your LO was a couple weeks old, you still have only been back in the work force a couple months. Count your blessings that you are in such a family friendly job with a good commute. Many of us are jealous!
met DH 1995 ~ married DH 2006 ~ completed our family 2008
Life is good!
Everyone else gave good advice, I would just add check with your HR. Our company still considers 32 hours a week FT.
I went down to PT, but I was going to quit and my boss let me do whatever I wanted to stay.
I work 32 hours, 4 days a week. I'd talk to your coworkers who already work 4 days and talk to them about how they made the pitch, what works for them, etc. They've probably got some great ideas.
I first talked to my boss, explained that it would work better for me personally, that other people have successfully done it, and what tasks I thought would need to be assigned to others. He asked me to put it in writing, and agreed to a 2-year trial period.
Personally, I wouldn't offer to stay in contact on my day off or to work at night unless there was no other option. I'm sure that works for some people, but if I'm off, I don't want to be thinking about or worrying about work. If that was the only choice, I'd do it, but I wouldn't suggest it right off the bat.
I did tell my boss that I was willing to be flexible. They don't like people to take Mondays or Fridays off, so I take Wednesdays. And if I have some deadline or meeting on a Wednesday, I still have full-time childcare so I can switch things around.
GL. I really love working 4 days a week. It makes everything more manageable, in my book.
I would maybe try 4 tens for a week so see if it gets you what you think it will. Personally, I don't think it will get you more time with your DC in the end. You get one more day, but you will barely see your DC for the other 4.
I would also look at your finances very closely before you make this sort of proposal and talk it over with YH. Do you need to make sacrifices to cut down your hours? Are you both willing to make those sacrifices? It won't work long term if your both not willing to make them. What will it mean for the extras in your life? Will you have to give up a weekly cleaning person to make this work? How long will it take you to pick up that slack each week and how will it affect your time with DC? Will your DH expect you to do more around the house b/c you're working less and what will that do to your time with your DC?
Are there any other creative ways you can get more time each day with your DC? Can you work flex time? Can you work 9 hour days and get e/o Friday off? Can your job be done in fewer hours or will you be accepting less pay to squeeze a FT job into fewer hours?
Also, I think it is common to feel this way when your baby is little, but it gets easier as they get older.
Your coworkers who are working 4 days/wk, are they working 10 hour days instead of 8 to get their 40 hours/wk in?
Because like shouldb said, I'd be careful about asking for that schedule. I found those extra 2 hours/day to be excruciating at times (it makes for a LONG day), and you'll cut down on the amount of daily time that you get with your LO. I know that I'm much happier spending time with my son every single day, I wouldn't trade that for an extra day off.
Honestly, it sounds like you have the perfect job situation as it is. I'd be really afraid of jeopardizing that by telling my boss that it still wasn't enough for me.
And no, I've never considered reducing my work hours. I need to work FT to get benefits, and I want to get paid for FT work. Thus far, I haven't felt that my life would be any better or easier with a few more hours at home.
I would be reducing to 4- 8 hr days/wk. The other coworkers are also working 32 hrs/wk. They still receive full benefits, just a 20% reduction in vacation time. There are about 20 people in my same position and 3 are currently working this schedule.
I work in a hospital operating room so there's not really anyway to work from home or do flex time- which is both good and bad- no way to take work home either. There's also no real "projects." I just provide a service. The OR hours are pretty much 7am-3pm excluding emergency surgeries and things that run late during the week. Salary wise I get paid for the time I work. So my pay would reduce by 20%. I would essentially be making the same amount I did this past year when I was off for maternity leave. They might ask me to stay late more but that would be maybe 1-3 days/month and wouldn't require me to stay past 5pm.