Working M/W/F vs. 6 hour days (MTWThF)

[Anonymous]

I am on a part-time schedule full-days M/W/F (24 hours total) and have been for the past 5 years. We are currently in a situation where we'd like to switch Daycare Centers but they only have a full-time slot available for now. I may be able to get a part-time slot eventually, but it's unclear when.

So, I am now considering switching to a 6-hour/day schedule, 30 hours per week. My husband would drop the kids off and I would pick them up. Because I wouldn't need before/after care for my older daughter, the 6 hours more per week would bring us a few hundred dollars ahead every month.

Does anyone work a schedule like this? What do you find are the pluses and minuses?

[Anonymous]

Pluses: More hours, more money. Potential increase in opportunities for promotion/raise due to more face-time. Less time needed to "catch up" at work from the days you were out.

Minuses: More time driving/in traffic. More wear-and-tear on your work clothes so higher dry-cleaning bills. May need to buy a few more work outfits. Harder to run errands during the week. Less time with your child.

[Anonymous]

In your case there is obviously a difference in total hours (and presumably total pay), but two thoughts, one pro and one con, related solely to arranging the same number of hours into 5 short days vs 3 long days:
- Working 5 days means you'll be incurring pretty much all the costs of a full-time schedule (Metro/parking, clothing, lunch) and all the lost commuting time, but with a lower salary.
- If this matters in your workplace, a 5-day arrangement is much less visible than being out of the office on set days. I work in a law firm and there are associates that no one realizes are PT because they are in the office every day, just for shorter hours. Makes it easier to transition into and out of PT without having the dinosaur partners write you off as less committed.

[Anonymous]

Thank you both so much for responding. I do want to respond that some of your negatives, fortunately, don't exist and make me feel good about a switch. I work in a technical field and I rarely have to dress up. I wear jeans to work (dressed up from my days off only because they're not yoga pants ). I only have to dress nicely for big meetings and that's not often and is more like "dark pants and a nice sweater" than "suit and heels". Also, I don't have to take a lunch break if I work 6 hours or less. I drive to work and don't pay for parking but the commute is still a factor. I am hoping to go off hours at least in the afternoons.

I agree that it's less visible. Since people at my work seem to work some starting at 6AM and some starting at 9:30AM most meetings are not planned too early or too late.

The less time with my little one is what makes me nervous (for me, more so than for her). I think she'll do well with a more consistant schedule, since she's a naturally scheduled person....my older daughter was much more flexible in that sense. I'm hoping to make up the time with her otherwise and trying to remember how most working Moms don't have the luxury of choosing between 2 part-time schedules at family-friendly workplaces and have to come home at 7PM to put their kids in bed and have all the family time on the weekends. It seems their kids love them just as much as mine love me, so I know it will be okay. Just sometimes change is hard.

I really appreciate the time you both took. I'm going to see if I can try it out for a few weeks, but I have a lot of people to ask before I know if it can happen, so who knows if it will even be a real option!

[Anonymous]

I work part time but every day. I like it much better than 3 or 4 days/week. I think it is easier on my child because every day is the same, so we have a routine. I feel like I have a lot more time because I am not running around crazily on the days I have to work since they are shorter. My coworkers like it better, too. They had a hard time dealing with me being out for a day/2 per week. I see my child for several hours in the am and pm, I still have time to run errands and I cook dinner every night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work part time but every day. I like it much better than 3 or 4 days/week. I think it is easier on my child because every day is the same, so we have a routine. I feel like I have a lot more time because I am not running around crazily on the days I have to work since they are shorter. My coworkers like it better, too. They had a hard time dealing with me being out for a day/2 per week. I see my child for several hours in the am and pm, I still have time to run errands and I cook dinner every night.

This is what I'm hoping for. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I work this schedule, 6 hour days five days a week. As other posters have said, I like that it gives me continuity in the office, but allows me to get home early enough every day so that our evenings are more manageable. My other option was to fit 30 hours into four work days, but I ultimately decided that would give me less flexibility to manage the day-to-day household stuff during the week. Yes it means I have to absorb the commute time every day, but so far it's working out fairly well. I have an 8 month old, so this way we have a few hours together in the afternoons and I am not just picking him up and directly getting him ready for bed on work days.

[Anonymous]

I think it also depends on your preferences. Once I commute to the officeI, I'd prefer to just work more hours. And I really enjoy having full days with my little one. Once they're both in school, then a 5 day schedule will make more sense, though I'll really miss my off days.

[Anonymous]

I just made a switch like this. There are some nice things about it, but I feel a little more stressed at work because the day is short and I feel like I spend less time absorbed in the flow of work and more time transitioning in or out. I wanted to spend more time with dc, but I'm not enjoying the afternoons as much as I expected because the kids are tired and need a lot of structure and there is almost always some email to return or something to finish up for work. I like not having to leave as early in the morning but I also miss having longer uninterrupted stretches in the office. It's definitely not a bad schedule but I feel like I could be using it better. FWIW, last year I went from 22 to 30 hrs, and that was a huge change, much bigger than I expected. 22 hrs was great, and 30 felt like full time without the FT salary or benefits.

[Anonymous]

I'd think that for your child, a consistant daily routine would be better. It's hard to have a yo-yo week. Every day, the same routine is good. Afternoons/evenings and weekends are family time.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read all the responses, but I was pretty much in the same situation as you. I previously worked a 3 day / 25 hour a week schedule and bumped up to 5 day / 30 hour a week schedule - also due to a daycare switch.

Ideally, I think I would want one full day at home a week and would like to drop back down to 25 hours, but this schedule is working well for us and isn't likely to change any time soon. The consistency is good (both at home and at work), and it's nice to have afternoons with the kids. I have a minimal commute, which keeps things more manageable - but if i was going from 3 days a week to 5 days a week with significant commute time, that would be an issue.

I wish there were more good part-time childcare options out there, but soon enough my oldest will be in Kindergarten anyway and my schedule will make perfect sense.

[Anonymous]

My commute is 20 minutes without traffic, 35 with traffic. So, 35 in the morning and 20 in the afternoons.

I decided to make the switch. My older daughter is in Kindergarten and she's exhausted. Several days a week she's at school from 9-6:30. Then she has to come home, do homework, eat dinner, and try to relax before bedtime. It's just not working for her. I am having trouble figuring out what to do with my little one on my days off. My older one had a playgroup and it filled our time nicely and we were always busy. Now I'm at the Community Center trying to make awkward conversation with strangers while my daughter plays around kids she doesn't know and sees randomly.

I think I can switch back, if necessary, but I'm thinking that would be very hard for my older daughter so we'll probably stick it out.

Thanks for the opinions. They were very helpful. I was glad to see that no one seems to "hate" this schedule and it it just has a different set of pluses and minuses. Also, I'm grateful I have free parking and casual dress code!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just made a switch like this. There are some nice things about it, but I feel a little more stressed at work because the day is short and I feel like I spend less time absorbed in the flow of work and more time transitioning in or out. I wanted to spend more time with dc, but I'm not enjoying the afternoons as much as I expected because the kids are tired and need a lot of structure and there is almost always some email to return or something to finish up for work. I like not having to leave as early in the morning but I also miss having longer uninterrupted stretches in the office. It's definitely not a bad schedule but I feel like I could be using it better. FWIW, last year I went from 22 to 30 hrs, and that was a huge change, much bigger than I expected. 22 hrs was great, and 30 felt like full time without the FT salary or benefits.

OP here: How long ago did you switch? I'm wondering how long an adjustment period to expect.

The good part for me is that my co-workers seem to come in to work in waves. So, there are people who van pool that come in around 6AM and leave around 2:30PM and then people who work more like 9:30AM - 6PM, so the hours people are there at the same time are limited to mostly the hours I'd work. Meetings are usually not scheduled before 8:30AM or after 3PM. I am going from around 24-27 hours (depending on the week) to 30 hours. I think the worst part for me will be the commuting.

[Anonymous]

Op, I was 3 days a week, went up to 5 and am now back to 4.

I really didn't find working shorter days 5 days a week to be a good fit. It felt like working full time. There are no days off to do fun stuff with the kids (library hour, swimming lessons, gym class) - and no time to run errands (bank, doctors appointments, etc). All of those things had to get done in the evenings and weekends. That meant we had to cut other things out of evenings and weekends and it meant that it was harder to run errands at a time when people were commuting and getting off work.

I am now doing 4 days and that so far is working well. I still have one day a week to do all the stuff that is easier during the daytime and I have time to do daytime activities with the kids. It is also nice on weeks when someone is sick or we are going away or having guests to have one day a week to prepare or clean up from that.

I am not sure what your options are but you might find like I did that not having any week days off was not a good trade offs for the benefits.

[Anonymous]

I also work this schedule and love it! I'm able pick up my children from school, so basically I only work when they're at school. I don't like working long days, it's too hectic for me. I also work from home in the mornings, arriving at work around 10 and leave at 2:30.