Part time working

Just make sure that you do not finish up doing five days work for four days pay. Many of my erstwhile colleagues in education found themselves in that position.

What I'm hoping is that I can set the team off on things on a Tuesday, ready for Thursday. They will hopefully then be able to beaver away on Wednesday without me getting in the way. I have a fantastic team and a great manager, who are all really supportive. It did seem odd going home at 5.45 yesterday and saying 'see you all on Thursday'. 

HH, congratulations on joining the part-time workers club! I've been working part-time since I turned 60 nearly two years ago and can highly recommend it. In my case it's a 3-day week (Tues - Thurs), so a long weekend every week. I'm enjoying more time for listening to music and walking, amongst other things. Must get out for another walk along the coast in your neck of the woods before too long - I live at Hedge End - and the walk from Langstone to Emsworth and back is amongst my favourites in the area.

All the best,

David

Thanks David.

Might it be the fact that there are nice pubs at both ends that particularly appeals?

Nice one HH, well deserved I'm sure.

Quality of life is a very important thing to have.

Sounds like in your case it's made a little easier by having a supportive manager/company and team.

Although I think it may be a few years before my wife and I are in that position, part time working is something we are aiming for.

I commend your approach! Make the most of it.

And as a result, Im guessing we will see an increase in Halibut forum activity on Wednesdays from now on .

That couldn't possibly have anything to do with it!

On a related subject, I enjoyed a wonderful meal a few years back with friends at the restaurant by the quay in Emsworth. It was a Cloudy Bay evening with superb wines from that winery to accompany a delicious tasting menu.

For a couple of years a while back I worked a 4 day week - 10 hours a day instead of 8, so it was part time in a way, just full hours. My day off was tagged onto the weekend instead of midweek, which I found very enjoyable, adding flexibility to weekends, which I preferred to normal working hours. 

Whilst I could afford go part time now the mortgage is paid off, that would mean less pension when I do retire - and more importantly fewer exotic holidays, and I'm rather enjoying them, while still fit enough(!) And as I now live somewhere with minimal commuting time, my work life balance feels good compared to, say, 15 years ago.

I'm just envious of the several people I know who retired on full pensions at age 50! My official retirement age is now almost 66 - ten years ago it was 60, with the option of working till 65 And 30 years ago I planned to retire at 55, but bad pension choices in the 80s and 90s put paid to that.

all I can say is enjoy!

Congratulations HH .. not only a good choice but also a wise choice I believe.  

My numbers worked out such that I retired fully at 59 (5 years ago) and I must admit the sudden transition of running wide open 60 - 90 hours a week to nothing really took some getting used to.  In hindsight a "weaning" approach may have made the experience of entering retirement less stressful.  

One really needs 3 things to enjoy retirement: 1.  Resources 2.  Good health 3. Something interesting to fill your time

I did not realize the importance of number 3 initially .. it is VERY important.

I wish you a great extra day off a week ..

Congrats Nigel, more time to discover some new music perhaps?  I can recommend a rather good prog rock band 

I work 4 days, with Weds my day off, and have done for some time. I work a fair few Sat mornings and my working hours are a lot nearer 60 then 30 but it has still made a great difference to my health, wellbeing and also my appetite for work. Having a full day that is yours from the start is a great asset-even if I choose to do some study etc at least it is my time and space. I have never found it difficult to fill my day off, and when I retire (at 55 all things being equal) I don't anticipate struggling to fill those days either.

In our team we consider a 4 day a week as 'full-time' now. I don't think any more would be sustainable now in honesty.

Bruce

I've just retired from working offshore for most of my adult life, but plan to make myself available for a couple of months in the summer, when things are at their busiest.

So the plan is to kick back and devote more time to the interests which I previously had to cram into my month off at home, with the proviso that a couple of 28 day trips per year will keep the upgrade fund topped up nicely! 

Dave.

One slight problem, is that now I'm at home on Wednesdays, I've had to buy myself a second car. It's a Volkswagen Club Up! and it's just brilliant. Sixteen inch alloy wheels, heated seats, sat nav, electric bits all over the place, cruise control, reversing sensors, go faster stripes on the doors and a natty tartan seat covering, and only £114 to insure with Saga!!

Pleased you're happy with your decision HH. Oh how I wish I could go part time. I know I'd end up having to do the same amount of work in remaining work days. I've made a decision to retire a little early though with a planned date of two years in January. Then I'll be quitting all work and moving to my home county of Devon to play golf, mess about in my boat, fish, ramble, garden, cook, listen to music and generally enjoy life with my lovely wife.

I work part time because I care for a disabled relative. I left full time employment and went self employed to get the work/life balance I need. As far as being self employed goes I wish I had done it years before I did, but that's another discussion.

When I was in my early forties you never really thought of retirement but I believe the change in working practises plus the pace of work in most environments makes you start to think about retirement a bit earlier.

I went down to a three day week when I was 57 and thoroughly enjoyed the long weekends at this time I was diagnosed with diabetes and the shorter working week certainly helped, one thing I have learnt is you have little control over your health so if you can survive money wise on shorter hours take the option whilst you can still  enjoy it.

Fully retired now so the Naim system is working overtime as opossed to me.

Enjoy as much pare time as you can.

Well done HH. It is my long term desire to go to a four day week when I reach 55, so 3 years to go. Mortgage will be paid off and son will have finished uni. Of course things can change in the future, but at least it feels like a good plan!

I'm 43 I work 2000 hours per year. If I finish the hours sooner the more time off I get. Hope to have 2.5/3 months off this year,so I work long days for the time off. The mortgage should be paid off in five years , however my wife is getting rather fatigued with the stereo. She said we can't remortgage and I can build a Bat Naim cave on the back lawn! This will be of the highest achievable quality soundproofed design and a bar of course. This will set the mortgage back some, but who cares we are a childless couple nobody to leave it to the end of the day. Other than the bank that is.

So on an average of 46 working weeks per year, that's 43.5 hours a week.

Working longer days to rattle the 2000 hours off quicker sounds perfectly achieveable and a great system, Sounsfaber.

Shame where I work doesnt take this approach, all extra hours worked are for free 

Your wife also sounds extremely supportive of your habit, another big plus!

My first ever contract was for 110 hours a week, anything in excess of that was paid as' overtime'. I claimed an average 20 hours a week. Overtime was paid at half the standard rate, and was not optional. it was a pretty horrible way to live and work, and thankfully lasted only 6 months.

Those were the days, before both the European Working Time rules and the first of many major re-negotiations of junior doctors' contracts. Not that it is sorted yet!

Bruce

Well done, @HH...! Glad your employers allowed you to do that. Mines did not. They would not allow me to work flexibly or from home either. But... if I had had a young family or been female, things would have been different. Although, they would confirm that.... of course. How could they..? A colleague with 2 small children did though. It was also the norm for female secretaries to be allowed work part time or job share.

Had my former employer been more flexible or forward thinking, I might still be working for them....

That sounds like slave labour Bruce.

110 hours per week = 15.7 hours per day working 7 days a week!

Dont know how you managed any overtime.

When did you sleep?

Thank goodness for European Working Time rules in the case of your industry...

Sleep was optional. The weekend shift was a hoot, on at 8am Friday, home 5pm Monday. An 80 hour shift. We could rest up a bit during that, but more than 2 hours sleep on any of the three nights was pretty unusual. Famously David Mellor called these 'Fishermans Tales'-triggering some spectacular ire from the BMA at the time.We covered our own holidays-so some weeks it was 1 in 2 ie 32 hours on 8 off! I was a wreck at the end of 6 months.

That was a particularly onerous job, in a very busy teaching hospital. Most of my hospital posts after that were better than 1 in 3, or just less busy with some expectation of rest during an on-call night. A new contract was also introduced that paid much higher rates for excess hours. Hospitals soon changed the rotas then, and the EWTD added to that. Most Juniors now work shifts rather than on-call, although that creates other pressures and problems.

Bruce

PS This was 1989-90

Sounds much like my wife's work. Sleeping in chairs, on the floor, next to the patient's bed.  And the only food to eat has been in a vending machine for a week.  She's now a consultant in a specialist hospital and although different work, she doesn't stop. Writing papers and clinical guidelines on the few weekends she gets off. But then again she once told me that only by doing the hours can you get the hands-on training that allow her to make the expert decisions that she is required to make now. Bloody awful work but she's addicted to it.

Sorry for hijacking HHs thread a little, interesting to hear these 'tales from the front line' Bruce and k90tour2.

Sounds to me like it has the potential to be utterly life destroying.

Ive had a couple of occasions of work stress brought on by severe overworking, fortunately under control, but I don't think I would have lasted long under that kind of pressure.

I guess you just have to until you break.

all power to HH and anyone else that takes that step to reduced working hours. Money is important, but health is more important!