3 ms·

Not fully part time, but I went from 40 to 32 hours/week after my daughter was born to spend Mondays looking after the kids. It's been great, I have one day pe

by davedx 9y ago

Not fully part time, but I went from 40 to 32 hours/week after my daughter was born to spend Mondays looking after the kids. It's been great, I have one day per week when I'm the only parent and usually it means a combination of housework (meh, but has to be done) and fun quality time with the kids. I was actually a contractor at the time, and I think I was relatively lucky the client was understanding about it. After I stopped contracting I took a perm position and I was their first employee not working 40 hours/week. Again they were great, and it worked out fine. I'm now Scrum Master there which occasionally can be an issue when I'm not there on Mondays, as one of my responsibilities is removing impediments for the team. But overall it works pretty well. I do feel like there's not enough hours in the week, but the most important things get done. I wouldn't have done it differently. I'm wondering how things will change and what I'll do once our youngest kids are all at school.

heleph 9y ago
I have Fridays off to spend with my kids too. It's really nice. I've always found it quite difficult to switch off, but after three days with the kids I go back to work refreshed and with a fresh sense of perspective. It's lovely to have extra time to spend with them while they are small. I always look forward to our Friday adventures. I appreciate the feeling of space it gives my week. While I was on mat leave I started working on my little side project while they napped just to keep my skills fresh and to exercise the part of my brain. I've kept doing that and really enjoy having the time to inch my little website along. There's not a massive amount of time in my life that's not being a parent or at work, so it's been really nice to have something where I can call the shots and just do something for myself. My boss was very accommodating when I wanted to switch to a four day week. We had another older guy in the team who was working half time and spending the other half spin charity work. There were also some other parents in the department who did non-standard hours. I don't know if it would have occurred to me if there weren't already other people doing it.

by davedx 9y ago

heleph 9y ago

I have Fridays off to spend with my kids too. It's really nice. I've always found it quite difficult to switch off, but after three days with the kids I go back to work refreshed and with a fresh sense of perspective. It's lovely to have extra time to spend with them while they are small. I always look forward to our Friday adventures. I appreciate the feeling of space it gives my week. While I was on mat leave I started working on my little side project while they napped just to keep my skills fresh and to exercise the part of my brain. I've kept doing that and really enjoy having the time to inch my little website along. There's not a massive amount of time in my life that's not being a parent or at work, so it's been really nice to have something where I can call the shots and just do something for myself. My boss was very accommodating when I wanted to switch to a four day week. We had another older guy in the team who was working half time and spending the other half spin charity work. There were also some other parents in the department who did non-standard hours. I don't know if it would have occurred to me if there weren't already other people doing it.