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How are you able to work full time ?

Howcanyou

In general how the heck people manage to work 5 days a week or more ? Even if you don’t have too much of a commute, work still takes over the majority of your life. If there is one thing that this pandemic has thought me is that I never ever want to work 40 hours a week.

I am currently on 24 hours and my work life balance is unbelievably better. I remember getting out of work Friday eve and thinking to myself whooo I have two days off what can I do with me time ? Do I fancy a drink or maybe I shouldn’t because the house could do with a good clean, I need to buy some food, oh I would really like to watch some movies, I want to go and exercise or go for some sort of a trip. You get what I am saying. Before I get a chance to do half of these things it’s already Sunday eve and the whole cycle starts again.

Is it not a bit much to work 40 hours a week ?

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massdebater

I went down to 3 days a week in 2019 and I'm now down to 2 days (11-12 hours each), been doing that since xmas. Realised a few years ago I could cover my expenses with only a few days and it's been the best move of my life. I'm 34 and single, no kids etc so it's probably easier for me than others but I don't own much stuff, my car is a 2006, no tv etc.

I think it would be tougher in Dublin but I live in an expensive Canadian city renting by myself so it's not cheap. I'm envious of people who love their job so much they want to work 5 days a week but I love having free time. No matter how much I loved any job I ever had, I always preferred having the day off!

If your job is flexible you can even bunch your work together and take more time off later. I worked more over the summer last year and was able to take 4 months off at the end of the year and I'm planning to do something similar later this year so I can take time off to visit the family in Ireland.

Peregrinus

In general most people, most of the time, faced with the choice of earning more money or working fewer hours will choose to earn more money.

This is a choice that, as a society, we face more or less all the time. As labour productivity increases - which it does, steadily - we can choose to work less time and produce (and consume) the same volume of goods and services, or we can choose to maintain our workrate and have a more materially prosperous life. Both at the individual level and at the level of society, the latter choice has been vastly the more popular one. And in a materialist, consumerist, capitalist society, choosing to work less and consume less is seriously countercultural - quite subversive, even!

fits

I was out of work from December until last month. With jobseekers we got by quite well on my husbands fairly average salary. It’s not sustainable in the long term of course as jobseekers doesn’t last and big expenses would eat into savings and also pensions to think about. But we could both do a four day week and get by fine if our jobs allowed it.

Keeping your living costs low gives great freedom I think.
( if it’s possible of course)

Buddy Bubs

Different strokes for different folks but it's important to get the best balance you can afford. At the moment I work 8 to 4 Monday to Thursday and 8 to 12 on Friday, so taking an hours lunch out of the equation it's about 32 hours. But I wouldn't always take a break when eating lunch, so maybe more like 34/35 hours. I'm on salary and when I'm in work I'm working, no messing and procrastinating.

Luckily I am in my family business and have a lot of leeway but there are some others from outside the family that do similar, honest hard weeks work and then take an early Friday.

We have hourly paid workers at different stages of needs and wants in life, some do up to 55 hrs a week if it's available. Some do their standard 39 hour week and happy with that. We have a couple of guys getting bit older, kids grown up, mortgage paid, earning decent money and have gone to 3/4 days. Some ladies in the office not full time either, work mornings only. And of course we have the WFH going on now, seems to suit a lot of people and I know its helping their lifestyle but productivity is still good.

I had an opportunity this year to take over full ownership of the company through a buyout due to an impending retirement, which would have been of very favorable terms to me, and I made the choice to cut in some other key employees in the buyout, I see the effect the stress and worry of full ownership of the business has done to my uncle so I decided to split it 4 ways to reduce the onus on me. The others got on board so it will be myself, the financial controller and 2 key sales directors sharing the business. I'd imagine it's lonely at the top. So in this instance I have foregone a lot of future income in favor of a better balance, let's share the load.

fits

mariaalice wrote: »

More of an AF thread.

I think it's an odd question, to be honest, the same way as someone looking for a handy number, life experience has shown me that looking for a handy number usually equals laziness or they have issues that make working with them very difficult.
it.

That’s a little unfair though. There are many reasons why people need more time at home. I worked 4 day weeks for 18 months and scheduled appointments for the Wednesdays off. I rarely had to take time off outside of holidays as a result. I’m struggling a bit to do everything now back on five days tbh.

[Deleted User]

I have a great work life balance with my job in Asia. Full-time teaching hours but all blocked together and don't have to be there when I'm not in the classroom. For the last year, I worked Tuesday and Wednesday 8.00-3.10, and Thursday and Friday 8.00-12.00. So every week, I'm free from Friday lunch until Tuesday morning. My commute is 15 mins on my motorbike.

No idea how people do proper full-time, or how I will in the future. I've been in this job for nine years so am completely used to it.

irelandrover

mariaalice wrote: »

I think it's an odd question, to be honest, the same way as someone looking for a handy number, life experience has shown me that looking for a handy number usually equals laziness or they have issues that make working with them very difficult.

Totally agree. I know when i'm older i will definitely regret dropping down to a 4 day week to spend time with my kids. I should have spent that time working instead. Because working too little is what everyone regrets when they are older.

the-island-man

I think it depends on people's circumstances. Some people due to their lifestyle or personal debt such as a mortgage need all the money they can get. Others may be in an industry where 40 hours + is the norm.

I believe most people if they had the choice would work less than 5 days\40 hours especially with the progressive personal taxation here you don't earn a lot more for the extra days work.

My own personal circumstances mean I don't need to work 5 days a week but the norm in my industry is that everyone does.

In a previous role I managed to get parental leave for one day a week which I needed. When I applied my boss told me in a private meeting that he didn't know if it would get approved because I was the first man to apply for it. Despite that it did get approved but what I found was that even though the hours on paper reduced, the workload didn't.

But if I get the opportunity again I would definitely drop to 4 days per week. That previous role was crap and I don't regret leaving it but spending a day extra with your children versus a couple of hundred euro extra a month, there's no competition.

Wanderer78

Deleted User wrote:

No idea how people do proper full-time, or how I will in the future. I've been in this job for nine years so am completely used to it.

Enjoy it while you can, unfortunately it ll probably change at some stage

irelandrover wrote:

Totally agree. I know when i'm older i will definitely regret dropping down to a 4 day week to spend time with my kids. I should have spent that time working instead. Because working too little is what everyone regrets when they are older.

People are nuts on the Internets! people are clearly being overworked, we re gradually making ourselves deeply unhappy in regards our work life imbalance, and there's no need for it, lazy my arse!

the-island-man wrote:

I believe most people if they had the choice would work less than 5 days\40 hours especially with the progressive personal taxation here you don't earn a lot more for the extra days work.

There's nothing progressive about our taxation, we ve been slowly reducing taxation on wealth, and moving it towards the individual, it's a train wreck

[Deleted User]

I would like to work part time but it’s not an option in the company I work for. If I left and joined another company I’d be likely to take a huge pay decrease, even if I left for another full time job.

the-island-man

Wanderer78 wrote: »

There's nothing progressive about our taxation, we ve been slowly reducing taxation on wealth, and moving it towards the individual, it's a train wreck

If you read my post I'm using it to highlight that earning extra income by working extra time is not worth it because of the increase of taxation the more you earn.

However it is a fact that the OECD consistently ranks Ireland as one of the highest for "progressive" personal taxation

shesty

Interesting question.

I have to ask all the people talking about their workload here - what would happen if you started to say no, sorry, won't get done til next week?

I worked in construction for 5 years, so 60 hour weeks. Decent salary for straight out of college, high stress, never-ending workload. Then I was unemployed for a year and discovered exactly how little money I really needed to get by and also, how much I did not want a job that was 50 or 60 hour weeks, because there was simply no need for it.Now - I did have a partner and no kids in that time, so there is that caveat. I found employment again and slowly worked up to a decent salary over a period of about 8years - it is higher than average but certainly not into the 70k/80k bracket. 3 kids arrived in that time. I work 4 days a week and frankly if the work isn't done in that time, then it has to wait.

If I don't draw the lines of what I will and won't do, then nobody else is going to do it for me. I do a good job, my employer is happy, and I am going to stick with a 4 day week for the rest of my life if I can get away with it. I mean a company could replace me tomorrow, so why would I be letting them take over my whole life?

I can absolutely understand if you have bills to pay and are really stretched for money or saving for a house or whatever, that a 5 day week is necessary, and I did it myself for years too, but if Mondays or Fridays can be worked from home, or taken off, then I would absolutely recommend it.

[Deleted User]

My boss said I can reduce my hours but not reduce my workload.

scheister

I have worked similar jobs in different shift patterns. If the option of working 4*10 instead of 5*8 was offered i would take it. The pay should stay the same but i get an extra day at home with my kids.

As other posters have said alot is due to factors we cant control.

Take home pay may not drop much if you work a days less but any decrease in wage may effect a mortgage application.

People may live pay check to paycheck so any decrease will be noticed in the pocket

In a lot of cases moving from 5 to 4 days a week may mean same work needs to be covered but over less time which could be more stressful

shesty

Deleted User wrote: »

My boss said I can reduce my hours but not reduce my workload.

I take parental leave for my 4 day week - my workload hasn't changed, I just have to manage my time very well.
There are no 3 hour meetings or meetings that drag on past their allotted time, or messing around, put it that way. The amount of hours I wasted in previous jobs sitting in meetings that went on for hours needlessly, achieving nothing.....2 hour meetings is plenty, absolute max. In addition I have a childcare pickup to do, so I must leave by a certain time - again, I do and it's known. Thankfully I am in an organisation where many people have a similar set up, so it is widely accepted.

tscul32

I used to work full time when we had two small kids, OH full time too. Then I was made redundant, had kid no.3 and wasn't really worthwhile going back with childcare for 3. It's also really hard to do 3 kids and being out of the house from 7.30 - 6.30 and I was never totally in love with my career, even though it paid well and I was good at it. I spent the next 7 years at home and we struggled a bit, but 2 of the kids needed lots of attention, appointments, etc. and it wasn't feasible to be working.
2 years ago I got a part time job in a small office. I work 12 hours a week, for a bit over minimum wage, but I love it. I love having a job and I love the extra cash. OH doing really well I work too so we are nicely comfortable and I don't "need" to earn more. Problem now is that if I was to work any extra hours, they'll be taxed at the higher rate so I'd be working for very little. So for now the 12 hours will stay. I've one still in primary school so it's great to drop him to school, go to office, home for lunch then collect him. When he moves up though I'd probably like a bit more work. Never had much interest in going back to my chosen profession even though I could make serious multiples of my current salary. Suits the family too.