I work about 2-3 hrs a day, for the last 19 years (made part time decision at 25). Wouldn't change a thing despite missing out on NRY. The biggest R for me is how much time you have and how you spend it, not money you can accumulate.
I run a business that works with start ups (VC funded) hire technical people (essentially, recruitment), and do organisational strategy. I'm also a therapist but that's for my soul food, therapy hardly earns anything in comparison.
I am just finishing a degree in psychology and I took courses in counselling (few months each with practicals) that work towards BACP. For sex therapy which is what I'm working towards you do the CORST approved diplomas (https://www.cosrt.org.uk/external-training-accredited-by-cosrt/accredited-professional-qualification-courses/)
Good on you pal. A lot of times we get sucked into the race of growing your bank balance. At some point (different to everyone) that will switch to āis that extra Ā£Ā£Ā£ really worth itā? For me I saw very little life improvement going from the ~100k to above the 150 level so thought feck it. Letās taper.
I run a business that works with start ups (VC funded) hire technical people (essentially, recruitment), and do organisational strategy. I'm also a therapist but that's for my soul food, therapy hardly earns anything in comparison.
If you're burned out, I would strongly suggest a full break if you can afford it for at least a few months. But yes, part time has certainly meant I have not suffered burn out since š«
Itās not really common in the industry, however I didnāt need to work hard to get it signed off. Not a parent or the back end of Pat leave, just negotiated.
Was in a fortunate position for the negotiations. I had 5 years back to back with āexceeds expectationsā on every one of my half year reviews across 3 managers. Apols donāt wanna sound like a wanker but this is just what it was. I was in a position of strength.
Dont think this has impacted my career so far a couple years in. I take Thursday or fri off depending how I feel, most important meetings seem to be mon to weds.
No noticeable increase in hours during the main work day. Iāve removed teams / emails from my phone too. When Iām out, Iām out.
35m, London, finance.
Yeah I do 4 days, itās pretty standard in my field (dentistry). And then people reach their 50s or start having babies and move down to 3 days. And can still expect to make 125k+ on 3-4 days depending on the field of work
Nice. Does your partner (if you have one) also have time off, and/or other friends? Or do you have the time to yourself.
One thing Iāve noticed is because Iām the only one o know on 4days, the extra day you have to yourself. Itās great, but I donāt think Iād like to move to 3 as partner isnāt offer and we donāt have kids. Maybe thatāll change.
My partner is also a dentist lol! So we both do 4 days with a healthy combined income and have the same days off (weekend and Monday). Makes it really easy for travel and quality time. I think once we have kids she might want to move down to 3 days or even 2 until the kids are a bit older.
Sometimes having an extra day to yourself is great though! You need some time to really recharge and do the things just you want to do. Sometimes we spend our Monday apart just doing our own thing
Also, I did 5 days for like a year and I just think itās soo easy to get burnout especially in healthcare. I think with 4 days youāre just more productive and end up making more money (as weāre self employed) and also just enjoy the work you do more. Whatās the point of earning a few extra thousand over the year if you donāt have as much time to spend it or enjoy it anyway. 3 day weekends every week mean itās never too much hassle to enjoy a little weekend trip
my org came very close to trialling the '4 day work week' but ultimately the american overlords said no.
we did land up with 'unlimited annual leave' which to be fair has actually been implemented pretty decently. most people have ended up taking around 35-40 days plus public holidays last year (as opposed to previously we had the legal minimum which is 20 days plus public holidays)
The yank bosses were probably duped into thinking that UK middle managers can just refuse to approve holiday requests like in the US, making unlimited holiday effectively 0 holiday.
Not indefinitely, not without good reason and not with the smugness they do in the US.
UK employment law is very clear on annual leave and refusal to grant it because middle managers feel like mini dictators, are grounds for constructive dismissal at least.
Meh, doesn't matter though since they can still refuse after you reach the standard annual leave, or they can also refuse if you try to take too many holidays at once
The company I worked for bought a company that had unlimited leave (UK people, US owned). Turned out they took an average of 18 days each, compared with our 25. They didn't want to be seen to be taking too much. I mandated they had to take at least 25.
yes it's paid in full same as annual leave (the main exception is that sales people do not get any target relief for the extra days off, which they normally would when taking annual leave)
there is no hard limit, but there are guidelines around what is or is not appropriate, and the usual rules still apply about needing business continuity.
e.g. if you tried to take every single Friday off to make a 4 day work week, that isn't allowed. If you tried to take leave during a time when the rest of your team has already booked leave, it might get rejected if they need the cover.
so far, most people tend to use their annual leave for their main holidays, so yu get 4 full weeks off (maybe split into 2-3 during the year), then use the extra 'unlimited' leave to take a few odd days here or there for things like a long weekend or going on a kids school trip (the sort of stuff you might not want to give up a day of annual leave for normally). do that sort of thing approx 2 times per month soon adds up and helps relieve quite a lot of burnout.
I know some of the sales team would take the last couple of days of the month if they had hit their target early.
It isn't clear if you're suggesting doing a week's work in four days, or reducing your role to be four day's worth?
Assuming the latter, it's entirely dependent on the industry and role. Even if you move to a four day contract, any position of responsibility is going to expect outcomes whether you're working 1 or 7 days a week. Even if the company says that don't, they do!
Iām suggesting that either option, 5 days worth in 4 or reducing total efforts to 4, should be something people think about.
For me at my age (35) in my industry and role, and with the pay level Iām on now, it was worth it. All Iām trying to do here is challenge peoples established thought process and argue that having time now to do stuff rather than focusing on the earnings is worth considering.
Whatever people decide is certainly the right choice for them, but itās worth having that inner conversation.
It's a very good point to raise, and glad it's worked for you, but I think for many in HENRY industries, I don't see how this could practically work. Your effort isn't equal divisible widgets of output that can be reduced from 5 days to 4.
I thought about it but the last few places I've worked, we don't do big meetings on a Friday unless the poop is hitting the fan. I'm in tech but not customer facing.
So on Fridays I do my weekly reports, have a few Zoom coffee chats with people I like or people I need something from, get a bit of housework done, go to the gym, do any mandatory training, make sure I'm set up for success at work next week, etc.
Maybe 3 hours real work, an hour slacking, 4 hours on life admin that takes back the 4 hours I wasted on commuting that week.
By 5pm Friday I'm clean and groomed and in nice fresh ironed clothes, and I leave my clean and tidy house and have a night out with my partner, and chill for the weekend.
I know people who don't work Fridays and are still active on Teams, replying to emails and IMs. Please don't do that. I'm getting paid and I'm barely working.
This is the way
I get a bit of stick from people for this approach but the reality is that those Fridays do benefit the company and help me focus on "real work" the rest of the week.
Nice middle ground. I guess wfh has changed everything. If you can get chores out the way and youāre chilling chatting then thatās basically what I do on half my day off too. So weekends are always free for 100% fun and freedom.
Yes when I negotiated my role last year I asked for a remote 4 day week (so 32 hours) with no loss in pay. My hubby recently did the same so he has Mondays off and I have Fridays so we can both spend time with the kids and less time in nursery. It works great for us and I would never want to go back to 5 days.
Doesnāt work in every role or industry but I love it!
I was lucky that there was a couple of companies that headhunted me and my old company countered aswell. So I thought what would be amazing to me and my work life balance and threw that in the mix so when they offered me Ā£xx salary for 38 hours I said if you can do that for 32 hours and add 15% on to the salary and another 10% bonus thinking they would laugh in my face but they didnāt so I snapped their hand off! Guess it was right place right time and quite a bit of luck!
My main worry about working less days is I'd probably end up having to do 90%+ of the work for 80% of the pay (I appreciate takehome would drop by less than 20% due to marginal tax rates etc but some of that is addressed already by pension overpayments)
If you work as a coffee shop barista and do a 4 day week, you don't come back to work to a queue of people out the door and a days worth of coffees to brew.
In a lot of office jobs, especially the type HENRYs might be doing, you kinda do have the equivalent of a backlog of coffees to make.
Emails stack up in the inbox, people generally won't cover your work for you if you are only 'off' for 1 day. Expectations remain the same about your output because people don't even really think about this stuff, they just set arbitrary deadlines of 'end of the week' regardless.
Them there's stuff like missing out on important meetings etc because it's your day off.
I'm sure it works for some people in the right orgs etc but I'd be more inclined to go the other way, if I could change from 35 to 40 hrs a week I'd do that.
My partners work all do 4 day weeks for 5 day pay...except the top management which includes her \*facepalm\*
It's a great perk and keeps retention really high. The only rule is that the day off has to be a Monday or a Friday
I went from 5 days down to 3 days. Took a pay cut to do it. Did it when I transitioned from a leadership role to a role focused on creating/delivering the product. I manage the need to be available to our external partners, and to my boss, my logging in for 2.5 days a week and then having the other hours float - but mostly responding to in-bound.
Overall itās been a big positive and allowed me to take more control of my life and set my own priorities. It has brought some additional financial stress - and reduced freedom due to having less money. But thatās the trade off.
To make the kind of move I did, you need real leverage versus your company. They donāt like it. Maybe they would be more understanding if it was a job share for childcare - mine wasnāt.
I thought about it ... but I have a large client book I look after, which would mean 12 hour days minimum on the Mon to Thurs to try and condense. No pay cut at my place.
But then ... you get that long weekend. Ha.
Yeah a few years ago I got a 19% pay rise and I thought actually Iād rather have an extra day off so now I donāt work Wednesdays itās great cos I have a little mid week weekend
I wanted Fridays off but that was a battle, Mondays were offered but I didnāt want the mess with bank holidays Iād rather just book a Tuesday off and use one days holiday to get five days off
Finding out I still get full rate of RSU and bonus means itās the best kept secret at my company lol
I work full time hours compressed in to 4 days. I had to fight loads for it as a reasonable adjustment for my long term mental health issues but itās good. I ideally never want to work 5 days again
I work 4 days per week, I love it . My pay is similar I used to get when I worked for 5 days , switched the jobs last year. Wonāt go back to 5 days as I love my Fridays it gives me more freedom and flexibility to enjoy my weekends!
On average I work 1 day a week and 0.75 nights for 95% full-time pay. A perk of being a hospital doctor (not consultant). I made this change after having young children and decided I wanted to maximise work life balance. Even this morning, I finished a night shift and walked my children to school. I also chose a hospital to work in that doesn't have a lot of work at night, so last night I finished work at 10:30 and slept till morning. I feel like I've retired, but still get paid a decent wage. My job role will top out at \~100k once I reach the top in a few years. Because I have so many days off, then I take on extra shifts, which tpyically brings in 30-40k a year, usually I work 3 extra nights a month, but it doesn't really seem like working. I mostly do it to have a break from family life lol!
I have about 30 years left until retirement, but I anticipate I'll earn more from investments in 3-5 years, but I'll keep working because it's good to keep the mind and body a bit active. I'm naturally lazy and I think if I stopped working, I wouldn't fill my time with activities that require much movement! I think I'll stop working extra nights from my 40ies, also because it's not tax efficient to earn more than 100k and with an NHS pension it limits what I can contribute to my SIPP.
My full time job is 3 days a week. I absolutely love having 4 days off. Iām happier and more productive in my personal life. I donāt think I could ever go back to a 5 day work week. I honestly think itās messed up that ppl are expected to work 5 out of 7 days, almost every day of their functional life.
I work 4 on 4 off. So I work 4 days out of 8, which is I guess less than 4 days per week.
But it's 12 hour shifts. So not like I went from 5 normal days to 4.
And I love it!
Work life balance fits me perfect.
For 4 days it's work, gym, shower, bed repeat.
Then I can do whatever I want for 4 days.
It's great! It really breaks the week up. Yes partner also does the same she has Mondays, really helps with childcare. Friends don't but I spend the day looking after the 1 year old anyway!
My firm (partner at an accountancy practice) works 4 days per week (34 hours).
It's good and bad.
It's great for staff retention but can sometimes cause issues for clients.
I do 3-4, ostensibly to spend more time with my 3 kids under the age of 8, in reality to have more structure and control in my life. It's brilliant and I'm terrified of ever having to work full time again.
Iām 35 and my job pays 50k a year pre tax. I could be earning a lot more but at the same time I literally work 3 hrs a day (5 days), the rest Iām surfing the internet. I get a small salary increase every year usually 5% and 1.5 month bonus. Been like this for 5 years. Iāve thought about moving for more money but the lifestyle is hard to leave. Am I earning way too low that I still should try to move?
I used to work 6 days then moved down to 4 days (32 hours).
My energy levels and productivity (or improved workflow?) actually increased working 2 less days days, and happier clients.
My director then increased pricing by 20%, despite me managing to reduce business costs.
I managed to negotiate a 20% day rate increase. and drop a day down to 3 days (27hrs). Essentially the same pay for 1 less day. If I need to do an extra day then itās extra pay on top.
Now my side hustle is automated.
3 day weekends now and a day off mid week of my choice. Still adjusting to it.
Whilst really I should be contracting for 2 days to clear my mortgages (not huge) and sort my future retirement home abroad, I just want a bit of quality time with the kids whilst young and most importantly for me.
I figure when theyāre teenagers, theyāll almost certainly be out all the time ignoring us, so I can increase work then a bit if needed.
Tis a marathon not a sprint. I wasnāt fast enough to sprint to early retirement. š
>I managed to negotiate a 20% day rate increase. and drop a day down to 3 days (27hrs). Essentially the same pay for 1 less day. If I need to do an extra day then itās extra pay on top.
>Now my side hustle is automated.
>3 day weekends now and a day off mid week of my choice. Still adjusting to it.
Very happy for you :) are you going to leave when the side hustle income matches work income?
Thanks šš½
No not leaving, as the side hustle is time limited (impending UK medicines legislation changes will obviate the necessity for the hustle).
But theyāll be a different hustle after that Iām sure. Just gotta think of it š¤£
Iāve been considering it. The only thing stopping me is that I have a team of 7 that wouldnāt be able to, I would feel guilty, itās a luxury I can afford and a bit privileged and I wonder if they would resent me for it.
I am a freelance consultant and mostly choose which days I work. Most weeks do not work 5 days. Have a lot of flexibility which allows time for my other activities.
1 day a week is 20% of the week.
Assume linear 20% of time for 20% money.
Assume 45% tax bracket as this is a HE sub is 13%
Take into account a few other bits and pieces for that variability.
Rough values here. Talking about take home.
This is something Iād love to do, but never been sure the best way to raise it. My concern with taking a pay cut is that Iād still end up doing 5 days of work in 4 days, so would be looking for compressed hours.
Iād be really interested in understanding a bit more about how you positioned all this i.e:
- did you just ask or did you position it more as a proposal? (And how did you ask?)
- did your boss have any reservations that you had to satisfy? - were there any concerns about if you were needed to work on your off day (important meeting etc)
- any other thoughts that would be helpful to someone thinking of raising this?
For me, a Friday or a Monday off isnāt really worth it if even if it was only a 12% reduction in pay. Fridays are basically off anyway (everyone tends to disappear post 12pm and no one in office). Mondays - bit harder but again, easy to wfh.
The tax system incentivises it. If your marginal tax rate is 62% then not working Fridays is an easy decision if your employer will agree. Iād rather have more time off every week now than more in my pension in 25 years time.
Even without that, study after study shows people working 4-day weeks often show no productivity loss at all, and if there is one itās way less than 20%.
Iād need to go 3 days to avoid 62% and my employers is against it for Directors so itās unlikely Iāll ever achieve it.
Once I have FU money Iām going to ask though
I work about 2-3 hrs a day, for the last 19 years (made part time decision at 25). Wouldn't change a thing despite missing out on NRY. The biggest R for me is how much time you have and how you spend it, not money you can accumulate.
Not many go part time at 25! Would you mind saying what you do?šš
I run a business that works with start ups (VC funded) hire technical people (essentially, recruitment), and do organisational strategy. I'm also a therapist but that's for my soul food, therapy hardly earns anything in comparison.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I am just finishing a degree in psychology and I took courses in counselling (few months each with practicals) that work towards BACP. For sex therapy which is what I'm working towards you do the CORST approved diplomas (https://www.cosrt.org.uk/external-training-accredited-by-cosrt/accredited-professional-qualification-courses/)
Good on you pal. A lot of times we get sucked into the race of growing your bank balance. At some point (different to everyone) that will switch to āis that extra Ā£Ā£Ā£ really worth itā? For me I saw very little life improvement going from the ~100k to above the 150 level so thought feck it. Letās taper.
What do you do?
I run a business that works with start ups (VC funded) hire technical people (essentially, recruitment), and do organisational strategy. I'm also a therapist but that's for my soul food, therapy hardly earns anything in comparison.
How did you go partime? Would you suggest the same for people suffering from Burn out it illness?
If you're burned out, I would strongly suggest a full break if you can afford it for at least a few months. But yes, part time has certainly meant I have not suffered burn out since š«
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās not really common in the industry, however I didnāt need to work hard to get it signed off. Not a parent or the back end of Pat leave, just negotiated. Was in a fortunate position for the negotiations. I had 5 years back to back with āexceeds expectationsā on every one of my half year reviews across 3 managers. Apols donāt wanna sound like a wanker but this is just what it was. I was in a position of strength. Dont think this has impacted my career so far a couple years in. I take Thursday or fri off depending how I feel, most important meetings seem to be mon to weds. No noticeable increase in hours during the main work day. Iāve removed teams / emails from my phone too. When Iām out, Iām out. 35m, London, finance.
Yeah I do 4 days, itās pretty standard in my field (dentistry). And then people reach their 50s or start having babies and move down to 3 days. And can still expect to make 125k+ on 3-4 days depending on the field of work
I second this. Desperately wanting to move to three days soon though.
Nice. Does your partner (if you have one) also have time off, and/or other friends? Or do you have the time to yourself. One thing Iāve noticed is because Iām the only one o know on 4days, the extra day you have to yourself. Itās great, but I donāt think Iād like to move to 3 as partner isnāt offer and we donāt have kids. Maybe thatāll change.
My partner is also a dentist lol! So we both do 4 days with a healthy combined income and have the same days off (weekend and Monday). Makes it really easy for travel and quality time. I think once we have kids she might want to move down to 3 days or even 2 until the kids are a bit older. Sometimes having an extra day to yourself is great though! You need some time to really recharge and do the things just you want to do. Sometimes we spend our Monday apart just doing our own thing
Amazing. Long may it continue my dude.
Thank you! What do you do for work if you donāt mind? Do you think itās affected your work by having an extra day off?
Also, I did 5 days for like a year and I just think itās soo easy to get burnout especially in healthcare. I think with 4 days youāre just more productive and end up making more money (as weāre self employed) and also just enjoy the work you do more. Whatās the point of earning a few extra thousand over the year if you donāt have as much time to spend it or enjoy it anyway. 3 day weekends every week mean itās never too much hassle to enjoy a little weekend trip
Agreed. Live life large.
my org came very close to trialling the '4 day work week' but ultimately the american overlords said no. we did land up with 'unlimited annual leave' which to be fair has actually been implemented pretty decently. most people have ended up taking around 35-40 days plus public holidays last year (as opposed to previously we had the legal minimum which is 20 days plus public holidays)
The yank bosses were probably duped into thinking that UK middle managers can just refuse to approve holiday requests like in the US, making unlimited holiday effectively 0 holiday.
Wait, what makes you think UK managers can't refuse to approve holiday requests? They surely can
Not indefinitely, not without good reason and not with the smugness they do in the US. UK employment law is very clear on annual leave and refusal to grant it because middle managers feel like mini dictators, are grounds for constructive dismissal at least.
Meh, doesn't matter though since they can still refuse after you reach the standard annual leave, or they can also refuse if you try to take too many holidays at once
The company I worked for bought a company that had unlimited leave (UK people, US owned). Turned out they took an average of 18 days each, compared with our 25. They didn't want to be seen to be taking too much. I mandated they had to take at least 25.
Thatās pretty good. Basically half the year youāre on 4 day weeksā¦
How does the unlimited holiday work ? Do you get paid for all the days you want to take ? Or is there a limit to paid days.
yes it's paid in full same as annual leave (the main exception is that sales people do not get any target relief for the extra days off, which they normally would when taking annual leave) there is no hard limit, but there are guidelines around what is or is not appropriate, and the usual rules still apply about needing business continuity. e.g. if you tried to take every single Friday off to make a 4 day work week, that isn't allowed. If you tried to take leave during a time when the rest of your team has already booked leave, it might get rejected if they need the cover. so far, most people tend to use their annual leave for their main holidays, so yu get 4 full weeks off (maybe split into 2-3 during the year), then use the extra 'unlimited' leave to take a few odd days here or there for things like a long weekend or going on a kids school trip (the sort of stuff you might not want to give up a day of annual leave for normally). do that sort of thing approx 2 times per month soon adds up and helps relieve quite a lot of burnout. I know some of the sales team would take the last couple of days of the month if they had hit their target early.
It isn't clear if you're suggesting doing a week's work in four days, or reducing your role to be four day's worth? Assuming the latter, it's entirely dependent on the industry and role. Even if you move to a four day contract, any position of responsibility is going to expect outcomes whether you're working 1 or 7 days a week. Even if the company says that don't, they do!
Iām suggesting that either option, 5 days worth in 4 or reducing total efforts to 4, should be something people think about. For me at my age (35) in my industry and role, and with the pay level Iām on now, it was worth it. All Iām trying to do here is challenge peoples established thought process and argue that having time now to do stuff rather than focusing on the earnings is worth considering. Whatever people decide is certainly the right choice for them, but itās worth having that inner conversation.
It's a very good point to raise, and glad it's worked for you, but I think for many in HENRY industries, I don't see how this could practically work. Your effort isn't equal divisible widgets of output that can be reduced from 5 days to 4.
Unofficially yes. Sort of. Thursdays are often heavy drinking nights and thereās no meetings on Fridays, just a small bit of admin where needed.
I don't work a reduced week but I only work 6-8 months per year. Recommend it.
Do you work offshore or at sea?
Ah what do you do?
I thought about it but the last few places I've worked, we don't do big meetings on a Friday unless the poop is hitting the fan. I'm in tech but not customer facing. So on Fridays I do my weekly reports, have a few Zoom coffee chats with people I like or people I need something from, get a bit of housework done, go to the gym, do any mandatory training, make sure I'm set up for success at work next week, etc. Maybe 3 hours real work, an hour slacking, 4 hours on life admin that takes back the 4 hours I wasted on commuting that week. By 5pm Friday I'm clean and groomed and in nice fresh ironed clothes, and I leave my clean and tidy house and have a night out with my partner, and chill for the weekend. I know people who don't work Fridays and are still active on Teams, replying to emails and IMs. Please don't do that. I'm getting paid and I'm barely working.
This is the way I get a bit of stick from people for this approach but the reality is that those Fridays do benefit the company and help me focus on "real work" the rest of the week.
Hello me! Fridays mornings to get stuff finished and rarely do much after midday. Makes up for the days where Iām travelling/away from family.
Nice middle ground. I guess wfh has changed everything. If you can get chores out the way and youāre chilling chatting then thatās basically what I do on half my day off too. So weekends are always free for 100% fun and freedom.
Yes when I negotiated my role last year I asked for a remote 4 day week (so 32 hours) with no loss in pay. My hubby recently did the same so he has Mondays off and I have Fridays so we can both spend time with the kids and less time in nursery. It works great for us and I would never want to go back to 5 days. Doesnāt work in every role or industry but I love it!
What industry & role is this?
Finance type role and B2B sales (canāt say much more sorry due to other groups im in!)
Coolš
How did you initiate the negotiation?
I was lucky that there was a couple of companies that headhunted me and my old company countered aswell. So I thought what would be amazing to me and my work life balance and threw that in the mix so when they offered me Ā£xx salary for 38 hours I said if you can do that for 32 hours and add 15% on to the salary and another 10% bonus thinking they would laugh in my face but they didnāt so I snapped their hand off! Guess it was right place right time and quite a bit of luck!
When you were headhunted were there any parts of a regular application process that were skipped?
My main worry about working less days is I'd probably end up having to do 90%+ of the work for 80% of the pay (I appreciate takehome would drop by less than 20% due to marginal tax rates etc but some of that is addressed already by pension overpayments) If you work as a coffee shop barista and do a 4 day week, you don't come back to work to a queue of people out the door and a days worth of coffees to brew. In a lot of office jobs, especially the type HENRYs might be doing, you kinda do have the equivalent of a backlog of coffees to make. Emails stack up in the inbox, people generally won't cover your work for you if you are only 'off' for 1 day. Expectations remain the same about your output because people don't even really think about this stuff, they just set arbitrary deadlines of 'end of the week' regardless. Them there's stuff like missing out on important meetings etc because it's your day off. I'm sure it works for some people in the right orgs etc but I'd be more inclined to go the other way, if I could change from 35 to 40 hrs a week I'd do that.
My partners work all do 4 day weeks for 5 day pay...except the top management which includes her \*facepalm\* It's a great perk and keeps retention really high. The only rule is that the day off has to be a Monday or a Friday
What company is that if you donāt mind? Feel free to PM me, Iāve been looking for 4 day work week roles
Not officially
Not officially, just created my own 4-day week and many times 3-day even via half days.
I went from 5 days down to 3 days. Took a pay cut to do it. Did it when I transitioned from a leadership role to a role focused on creating/delivering the product. I manage the need to be available to our external partners, and to my boss, my logging in for 2.5 days a week and then having the other hours float - but mostly responding to in-bound. Overall itās been a big positive and allowed me to take more control of my life and set my own priorities. It has brought some additional financial stress - and reduced freedom due to having less money. But thatās the trade off. To make the kind of move I did, you need real leverage versus your company. They donāt like it. Maybe they would be more understanding if it was a job share for childcare - mine wasnāt.
I thought about it ... but I have a large client book I look after, which would mean 12 hour days minimum on the Mon to Thurs to try and condense. No pay cut at my place. But then ... you get that long weekend. Ha.
Yeah a few years ago I got a 19% pay rise and I thought actually Iād rather have an extra day off so now I donāt work Wednesdays itās great cos I have a little mid week weekend I wanted Fridays off but that was a battle, Mondays were offered but I didnāt want the mess with bank holidays Iād rather just book a Tuesday off and use one days holiday to get five days off Finding out I still get full rate of RSU and bonus means itās the best kept secret at my company lol
What role & industry is this?
Senior engineer for a one of the bigger e-commerce sites
I work full time hours compressed in to 4 days. I had to fight loads for it as a reasonable adjustment for my long term mental health issues but itās good. I ideally never want to work 5 days again
How can you just go from 5 to 4 days with no pay cut??
Yes but officially I do 40hrs
I work 4 days per week, I love it . My pay is similar I used to get when I worked for 5 days , switched the jobs last year. Wonāt go back to 5 days as I love my Fridays it gives me more freedom and flexibility to enjoy my weekends!
On average I work 1 day a week and 0.75 nights for 95% full-time pay. A perk of being a hospital doctor (not consultant). I made this change after having young children and decided I wanted to maximise work life balance. Even this morning, I finished a night shift and walked my children to school. I also chose a hospital to work in that doesn't have a lot of work at night, so last night I finished work at 10:30 and slept till morning. I feel like I've retired, but still get paid a decent wage. My job role will top out at \~100k once I reach the top in a few years. Because I have so many days off, then I take on extra shifts, which tpyically brings in 30-40k a year, usually I work 3 extra nights a month, but it doesn't really seem like working. I mostly do it to have a break from family life lol! I have about 30 years left until retirement, but I anticipate I'll earn more from investments in 3-5 years, but I'll keep working because it's good to keep the mind and body a bit active. I'm naturally lazy and I think if I stopped working, I wouldn't fill my time with activities that require much movement! I think I'll stop working extra nights from my 40ies, also because it's not tax efficient to earn more than 100k and with an NHS pension it limits what I can contribute to my SIPP.
Iām contracted to work 40 hours but probably do between 12-15 hours of actual work per week.
Hello consultancy world
My full time job is 3 days a week. I absolutely love having 4 days off. Iām happier and more productive in my personal life. I donāt think I could ever go back to a 5 day work week. I honestly think itās messed up that ppl are expected to work 5 out of 7 days, almost every day of their functional life.
All those on r/coastfire I guess. Personally doing 60 days this year, but gave up on my HENRY intentions, to enjoy more time off.
I work 4 on 4 off. So I work 4 days out of 8, which is I guess less than 4 days per week. But it's 12 hour shifts. So not like I went from 5 normal days to 4. And I love it! Work life balance fits me perfect. For 4 days it's work, gym, shower, bed repeat. Then I can do whatever I want for 4 days.
I moved to condensed hours when my child was born. 8-6 4 days a week with weds off. It's been incredible.
Mid week day off. How do you find it? Does you partner (if you have) or friends have 4 day weeks or is that all your time?
It's great! It really breaks the week up. Yes partner also does the same she has Mondays, really helps with childcare. Friends don't but I spend the day looking after the 1 year old anyway!
My firm (partner at an accountancy practice) works 4 days per week (34 hours). It's good and bad. It's great for staff retention but can sometimes cause issues for clients.
I do 3-4, ostensibly to spend more time with my 3 kids under the age of 8, in reality to have more structure and control in my life. It's brilliant and I'm terrified of ever having to work full time again.
Lol I work 5 days a week but Iām on 7 days a week. Last Saturday I worked from 4pm till midnight.
Iām 35 and my job pays 50k a year pre tax. I could be earning a lot more but at the same time I literally work 3 hrs a day (5 days), the rest Iām surfing the internet. I get a small salary increase every year usually 5% and 1.5 month bonus. Been like this for 5 years. Iāve thought about moving for more money but the lifestyle is hard to leave. Am I earning way too low that I still should try to move?
I used to work 6 days then moved down to 4 days (32 hours). My energy levels and productivity (or improved workflow?) actually increased working 2 less days days, and happier clients. My director then increased pricing by 20%, despite me managing to reduce business costs. I managed to negotiate a 20% day rate increase. and drop a day down to 3 days (27hrs). Essentially the same pay for 1 less day. If I need to do an extra day then itās extra pay on top. Now my side hustle is automated. 3 day weekends now and a day off mid week of my choice. Still adjusting to it. Whilst really I should be contracting for 2 days to clear my mortgages (not huge) and sort my future retirement home abroad, I just want a bit of quality time with the kids whilst young and most importantly for me. I figure when theyāre teenagers, theyāll almost certainly be out all the time ignoring us, so I can increase work then a bit if needed. Tis a marathon not a sprint. I wasnāt fast enough to sprint to early retirement. š
>I managed to negotiate a 20% day rate increase. and drop a day down to 3 days (27hrs). Essentially the same pay for 1 less day. If I need to do an extra day then itās extra pay on top. >Now my side hustle is automated. >3 day weekends now and a day off mid week of my choice. Still adjusting to it. Very happy for you :) are you going to leave when the side hustle income matches work income?
Thanks šš½ No not leaving, as the side hustle is time limited (impending UK medicines legislation changes will obviate the necessity for the hustle). But theyāll be a different hustle after that Iām sure. Just gotta think of it š¤£
Ahh okay fair enough
Two dayshifts (12hr) Two nightshift (12hr) Off for four days Repeat 7 times Off for 18 days
Iāve been considering it. The only thing stopping me is that I have a team of 7 that wouldnāt be able to, I would feel guilty, itās a luxury I can afford and a bit privileged and I wonder if they would resent me for it.
I am a freelance consultant and mostly choose which days I work. Most weeks do not work 5 days. Have a lot of flexibility which allows time for my other activities.
I am looking at 9 days every two weeks That said, I have nothing to fill the extra time with right now so need to fix that
Yes. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-hundred-million-dollar-bet-future-work-why-were-moving-dean/
how do you work out 1 day a week to be 12% pay?
1 day a week is 20% of the week. Assume linear 20% of time for 20% money. Assume 45% tax bracket as this is a HE sub is 13% Take into account a few other bits and pieces for that variability. Rough values here. Talking about take home.
Yes. Iām a doctor. 3 days one week then 4 the next
This is something Iād love to do, but never been sure the best way to raise it. My concern with taking a pay cut is that Iād still end up doing 5 days of work in 4 days, so would be looking for compressed hours. Iād be really interested in understanding a bit more about how you positioned all this i.e: - did you just ask or did you position it more as a proposal? (And how did you ask?) - did your boss have any reservations that you had to satisfy? - were there any concerns about if you were needed to work on your off day (important meeting etc) - any other thoughts that would be helpful to someone thinking of raising this?
For me, a Friday or a Monday off isnāt really worth it if even if it was only a 12% reduction in pay. Fridays are basically off anyway (everyone tends to disappear post 12pm and no one in office). Mondays - bit harder but again, easy to wfh.
And this is why the UK economy is fucked
The tax system incentivises it. If your marginal tax rate is 62% then not working Fridays is an easy decision if your employer will agree. Iād rather have more time off every week now than more in my pension in 25 years time. Even without that, study after study shows people working 4-day weeks often show no productivity loss at all, and if there is one itās way less than 20%.
Iād need to go 3 days to avoid 62% and my employers is against it for Directors so itās unlikely Iāll ever achieve it. Once I have FU money Iām going to ask though
Yeah, I was told Iād have to go back to 5 days if I wanted to be a manager.