I would like to reduce working to 80% and am in IT field. I haven't yet asked my employer but plan to do so soon. i am rather positive that they may allow me to do this for a year or so. However my partner says that reducing to 80% would be seen in a negative way with regards to my attitude towards my profession. He says that my employer may see that I am not really serious about my profession not being able to commit to 100%. I am skeptical about this but like to know from others.

If you are reducing to 80% just to have a 'day off' every week, then yeah...... it would be seen as pretty slack.

If however, you have other external commitments (like a second job or personal business....... or a new baby to look after), then reducing your time at work can be discussed with your employer and I doubt that would be seen as negative.

In our company I know of a few people who reduce to 80% for a year to help assist raising a child, and another person who has other business interests outside of work and has done the same thing.

I guess it all comes down to -
"What is your reasoning behind reducing your presence at work?"

I guess your partner is Swiss! This is a very common attitude. Most all Swiss companies offer reduced working hours for all levels of employees, very few take it,especially at senior levels.

You would essentially end up working 100% in 80% of the time and being paid for 80%. But have a day off each week. Make it Friday - have fun...

Hi.

I too work in the IT field and I too about 3 years ago decided I would reduce my hours from 100% to 80% (to coincide with the birth of my daughter).

I work for a (very) large IT provider and at the time of my decision to reduce hours was working out of our Züri HQ, and my manager (Swiss) was not very warm to the idea also saying that is it would damage my career and generally trying to stop me doing it. I work for a company that is continually saying we should ensure one has a good work/life balance and I planned this, to be me making use of this, so submitted my hr forms anyway and began wondering if I had made the right choice.
2 months later I had a chance to move to an customer account nearer to where I live (more time with the new family instead of commuting ). At the same time I changed manager (also Swiss) who was impressed with the fact I had reduced and wanted to spend more time with a newborn family. He also said he had done the same thing and was the best thing he had ever done.

I believe I have not damaged any future prospects long term and I have the advantage of having good quality time with my daughter (and to instill some English into her)

From my (admittedly limited) experience, it depends on the company and your manager as to the response you will get. Also make sure have good reasons as to why you want to do it, if not for you, for future employers.

Hope that helps a bit.

Pat

__________________
insert something witty or pithy here....

If you need the time off and it will improve your Quality of Life, take it.
Careers are long, arduous things and with all the comings and goings, nobody will remember or care that one year you reduced down by 20%. I spent too long worrying about perceptions and in the end all the goodwill I thought I had built up vanished when the dept was re-structured and my boss left.

Reason why I wanted to reduced was that I want to more time to do other things in life like pursue my hobbies, do more sports, maybe even take time to study something related to my profession.

Hello,
I was also considering doing 80%, not now but in future. But I would never took off any other day than monday. Friday has always more relaxed atmosphere, people leave little bit earlier and if you aim for long weekends, you don't have that many options
As for career, I don't get why it could affect your future career. If employer insists on good reasons (and it is NOT something he should much care about, similar to how you spend your weekends) tell him working in some web projects for friends, small business for you. For example. If they don't want to give it to you now, that's another story. Either threaten to leave or accept current state.
Because taxes here are not equal, your net income per day will be even higher on 80%. But I would be clear that in case employer has some serious deadline I will be more than willing to work more. I wonder if they would paid it as overtime or not though

Do it.

I went from 100% to 40% in IT in order to have a life and not work, work, work. Best thing I ever did. You don't become a loser overnight just because you don't work like an idiot. If you keep current and don't lose your skills you can always go back to 100% if you want/need to.

A became a much better person (according to my wife) and am probably more emplyable now because I'm more relaxed and have a different outlook on life generally.

Only my spelling went down hill by the look of it...maybe I should go back to 100%

I'm also in the same field and have been working 60% since kids. My other half also reduced his hours around the times our kids were born.

It is hard work getting all your work done in 60% of the time - that's what will be expected.

To pursue a hobby or sports - can't you do those before/after work or take a longer lunch? Or come in at 7 - leave at 4pm?

Hello everyone,

I thought that someone could help me here so I am reopening this thread. Please let me know if the answer to my questions have been posted elsewhere or if i should post a new thread.

I have dropped my working time from 100% to 80% since May 2013 (so for the last 4 weeks). But a new contract has not been issued for me. Previously I had 25 holiday days a year, does this get reduced now that I am only working 80%?
how many holidays do i get now until the end of the year?
and when i take a week off, does it count as 4 or 5 days holiday days?

thanks for your help.
=)

5 weeks Holiday = 25 days 100%
5 weeks Holiday = 20 days 80%

Not rocket science!

You need to read your contract. We can generally advise, but have no awareness of the conditions of your contract (and contracts vary hugely). If you are struggling to understand your contract, let us know the wording of the respective clauses (mindful of not posting anything to easily identify you/the company), or arrange a meeting with HR to go over your questions.

I would guess that holidays are pro-rata, meaning your holiday allowance will reduce to 80%, since 25 days is considered the allowance for a person working 100%.

80% is 4/5 of 100% - the maths is very easy for theoretically working out how many holiday days you'd have as an 80% worker (divide 25 by 5, and then times by 4).

If you are an 80% worker, the 5th day of each week couldn't be considered a holiday day - noone has that many holiday days over a year!

Please check your contract. The above may not apply to your company/role. Your contract is the single source of truth.

Thank you for your advice, but as i mentioned already i do not have an updated contract since i have dropped to 80% so i cannot check it. I need to approach my boss about this, so wanted an idea because I am currently in the middle of requesting some holidays. But thank you anyway. =)

So I think this is my holiday allowance for 2013, where i work 100% jan-april and then 80% may-dec:

jan-april = 25/12 * 4 = 8.33
may-dec = 20/12 * 8 = 13.33

total days = 21.66

does this sound accurate to you?

That is what most companies do but you need to get a precise figure from your HR department. It's likely they round up or down to the nearest full or half day. It's up to the company so no one here can tell you. However I can tell you from my experience that it's not necessarily written in your contract. The calculation might be in an employee handbook, but get it in writing specifically for you from HR anyway.

FYI it is also common for part-time workers holidays to be defined in hours. If you just work 4 full days a week then it's fairly straightforward, but if you work shorter days over five days then you book your days off in terms of the number of hours work that you miss.

Another FYI, you should check with your company what the situation with public holidays is. It's likely that if a holiday falls on a day you don't usually work then you get no compensation for it, but likewise if a holiday falls on a day you do work then you benefit from it. (In contrast, for example, to the UK where bank holidays are more 'protected', so typically part time workers get the corresponding % of the public holidays added to their annual holiday allowance and have to book them as holidays if they fall on the day they usually work, etc. I don't think this happens here, just giving an example.)