Thursday 21 July 2011

Wednesday, Wednesday - or why Flexible Working rocks my world

Wow I love Wednesdays. You know why? No work!
I'm fortunate enough to work for an employer who encourages flexible working and its been an absolute godsend. Since my wife got pregnant I've worked 10 hours a day Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and friday and had every Wednesday off. What this means is that she can work on a Wednesday without us having to find the money for childcare, which is good for her and even better for me as Bass and I get "Boys' Day".
"You know what day it is tomorrow?" I say to him every Tuesday night when I put him to bed. "Is it Boys' Day, daddy?" he replies.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love the weekends when the 3 of us are together as a family, but there's something very special about Boy's Day.
It takes many shapes  - if he's at playschool it'll involve a ride on the bike - me pedalling, him in his trailer (which he LOVES), if the weather's good we'll probably go to the park or spend some time exploring the normally unexplored corners of the garden. We usually do some colouring, and make some stuff and cuddle on the soda watching a bit of TV. But most importantly we do all this together, father and son.
Now, I'm not going to lie, I have to get up at 5:20 am on the days I do work in order to make this happen, and that isn't always easy (especially as there's a 4 mile walk between me and the office) but every Wednesday I get a million reminders while I do it.

So why am I telling you this? Well, loads of companies offer their employees the ability to work flexibly but they're often rubbish at publicising the fact. In many countries (including the UK), unless there is a good reason why the shouldn't, they're obliged to offer it as an option to employees with children.
UK parents can read more about their rights here.

My family and I totally recommend it. Especially on a Wednesday. :)

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