I dropped down to a 4 day week so that I could look after my son one day a week. The negotiations were pretty simple, I just told my boss that due to our circumstances I needed to drop down to 4 days, and his reaction was basically I’d rather have you working for 4 days than to see you have to quit ( I never even mentioned quitting, but I guess I put it in a way that my circumstances didn’t give me much wriggle room).
And honestly it’s the best thing ever. I get a whole day each week where my son and I get to explore and play and have fun together. He’s 15 months old and he’s never going to be this young again. I’m super grateful to my work giving me the flexibility, and I enjoy work more than ever before because I get to have a better life balance.
That's how and why I got down to 3 days a week. I went to 4 to get my next job, then down to 2 at my current job. If you can afford it and arrange it, it's fantastic.
Isn’t that just a (very) part time job at that point? Sounds like pseudo-retirement really,
so I would assume you had quite a bit of savings by the time you went to 2-day-job.
Depends on the company/salary - I'm on 10x my initial salary when I started in tech 8 years ago so if I went down to a two day work week I'd be on 4x my initial salary still. I couldn't afford this nowadays because of lifestyle creep, but it's fun to think about. If you were in Europe and found a 2 day remote role for a US based startup you could probably find a comparable salary!
And honestly it’s the best thing ever. I get a whole day each week where my son and I get to explore and play and have fun together. He’s 15 months old and he’s never going to be this young again. I’m super grateful to my work giving me the flexibility, and I enjoy work more than ever before because I get to have a better life balance.