Thank you all, lots of good things to think about and you've all been nice enough to provide me with the validation needed to FART away!
I was worried I'd overlooked something essential, but for obvious reasons am not about to run just how affordable this is to me past too many colleagues. Everyone is struggling and no one needs me to rub in that I'm able to take advantage when they can't.
Hi CrabbitDutchie. No I don't think so, providing you will have enough to do bearing in mind the lockdown. I don't know what your normal out of work activities look like, but providing you have plenty to occupy yourself with then it sounds like an ideal opportunity to reduce your hours and benefit from a bit of a break.
Yes, the evenings and weekends still have not felt nearly long enough, despite the lockdown! I'm a massive introvert who likes to go for walks, grow food, cook food, read, learn (currently the MSc which I mostly genuinely enjoy), do jigsaw puzzles and play board games. I've also been getting involved with some mutual aid things and even a single delivery takes a lot of time! I took a whole bunch of books out of the library just before it shut and am loving how many audiobooks are available for free at the moment. Seriously, I feel I could easily drop to 2 or 3 days a week and still not get bored!
I vote do it. Being it is definitely a financial accomplishment to be able to afford it. FART away!
Make sure you don't spend your new free time in the office not working though! Are you looking for suggestions for motivation for working from home also?
That's the problem, some of the free time will probably have to be spent in the office not working. And that's just because I have 2 MSc assignments and an exam to do over the next 2 months! However it's the reason I'd like to drop a day. I'll then still spend 5 days a week in the 'office' but I'll actually get a full weekend!
Thank you for the suggestions. A lot are being implemented and things are improving. To be honest, given the current situation I think I'd have similar struggles even if I was still in the office. I'm realizing that WFH 5 days a week is not optimizing for my happiness and it seems a waste to be spending so much of my life doing things that are pointless in the grand scheme of things. Overall what we do is important, but the company I work for has added so much extra paperwork that it can become difficult to see the wood for the trees. Add in conflict in some the teams I'm in at the moment and working with time zones that are not conducive to my personal productivity and things are just bleh.
Think about your energy and focus levels and match them to your tasks. I can work for hours on something difficult and interesting early in the morning before I've been caught up in questions and emails. I can do dull tasks in the afternoon as long as they are small enough, or if I have a call scheduled it'll give be an energy boost.
^^ That's generally key for me. Unfortunately I'm doing a lot of work with APAC zones at the moment which is impacting the amount of difficult/interesting work I can get done in the morning. It means that even when I get a lot done, my day hasn't felt fulfilling/productive. I'll need to have a think about how I can protect my morning time.
I can't see why not either. It's temporary, it may help you with motivation, you won't need the money. Now you are staying in you may save even more money than your normal savings rate. I can imagine you are right that few parents will be able to afford this. And now you get the extra PR benefit of not being a lazy parttimer but a dedicated employee who has made sacrifices for the company.
You're right, I might well save a bit more. No horse and much lower transport costs compared to the last time I earned that amount, but I am spending A LOT more on food. Partly odd substitutions, partly buying more from smaller independent shops to help them stay afloat.
Good opportunity for you, and a way to get something positive out of the current situation. Only thing to add is your reduction in wage will be less than 20%, as the extra earnings you are losing will currently be fully taxed, even more so if you are higher rate payer.
Yes, I think it will be around 85% (not a higher rate tax payer, even in Scotland) of my current take home pay, but some of it depends a little on how the pension contributions work during this time. I'm still waiting for an answer, but it won't impact my decision as such. Numbers will be fine either way.
PhilB - thanks for the note of caution. Things to do is fine :) It is likely that for at least a couple of weeks I'll end up working a 'compressed week', but I should be able to reduce overall work commitments appropriately. One of my projects is very impacted by COVID-19 and we're basically downing tools until we know whether the client will still be solvent after all of this! Rubbish for them, but perfect timing for me. If I act now that 'gap' shouldn't be filled by more work.
BikeFanatic - good luck :) I can definitely relate
