It seems like a no-brainer at the moment but wondered if I’m missing anything…
I currently work Mon-Fri (non-driving) with a fortnightly agency shift, driving Class 1 for a supermarket every other Sunday. My wife also works full time, so our 10-month old baby is currently full-time at nursery 5 days a week.
If I were to work a Sunday and Monday shift each week, getting as many hours in as possible on those days with the agency, and look after the baby Tues - Fri, it seems that we wouldn’t be much worse off, considering the reduced nursery fees. I’d also get to spend a lot more time with him while he grows up.
I understand that there wouldn’t be any holidays and my pension contribution would be obviously lower, but as a short-term plan for a couple of years I’m liking the idea. I have checked the demand for Sunday/Monday shifts with the agency and it turns out to be their busiest 2 days and if anything is recession proof it’s supermarkets. So far I have been offered work every Sunday since February without fail. Night work is also freely available.
I need to do the maths fully to make sure it all adds up, but wondered if anyone has done anything similar, or had any potential downsides I’m not thinking of?
I’ve recently dropped from five days to four and after sitting down and carefully doing the sums I reckoned I’d be dropping a fair chunk in wages. However I won a watch cause after making the decision we’ve been offered a 9.5% pay rise so that and some weekend working the difference between 5 days on old rate and 4 on new rate is negligible. If it works for you and you can afford it I say go for it. More time at home with the family for same amount of money is an opportunity a lot of drivers just don’t get.
alamcculloch:
I would say go for it. The rug rats arent small for long. Also factor in ,one less commute to work.
Very true
Instead of doing 5 days of 10 miles per day for my current job, I’d be doing 2 days of 60 miles, so I’d be worse off mileage wise, but actual time commuting will likely work out around the same in total. The fuel cost comparison is something I am going to work out when I put everything together.
I switched to 4 on 4 off not long after my eldest was born and I honestly couldn’t put a price on what it was worth to have that extra time off with her. I went back to Mon-Fri for a while because of covid and have recently gone back to 4/4. Even now that they’re both at school, I get to pick them up, go to parents evenings, sports days, it’s brilliant. I’d like to think that I have a relationship with my girls that most dads would only dream of.
I’d say 100% go for it if you can afford it. My partner gave up work when our eldest was born and didn’t go back until our youngest started school. We struggled a bit at times, but I’ve always paid the mortgage and gave us a holiday and if I could do it again I wouldn’t change anything. They grow up too fast to have them in nursery for 5 days a week imo. (I know everybody’s circumstances are different so it’s not a dig!)
Goff118:
I understand that there wouldn’t be any holidays
There will be holidays, even if you work one day a week you’re entitled 5.6 weeks pro-rata which would work out at 5.6 days a year if you work one day a week. So working 2 days a week you’d be entitled to 11.2 days a year at whatever the daily average you earn ends up being.
crunch13:
I switched to 4 on 4 off not long after my eldest was born and I honestly couldn’t put a price on what it was worth to have that extra time off with her. I went back to Mon-Fri for a while because of covid and have recently gone back to 4/4. Even now that they’re both at school, I get to pick them up, go to parents evenings, sports days, it’s brilliant. I’d like to think that I have a relationship with my girls that most dads would only dream of.
I’d say 100% go for it if you can afford it. My partner gave up work when our eldest was born and didn’t go back until our youngest started school. We struggled a bit at times, but I’ve always paid the mortgage and gave us a holiday and if I could do it again I wouldn’t change anything. They grow up too fast to have them in nursery for 5 days a week imo. (I know everybody’s circumstances are different so it’s not a dig!)
Good luck!
Thanks mate. He’s been in nursery for 3 months already and even that has flown by. As you say, aside from the money, that’s time that we’ll never get back!
Goff118:
I understand that there wouldn’t be any holidays
There will be holidays, even if you work one day a week you’re entitled 5.6 weeks pro-rata which would work out at 5.6 days a year if you work one day a week. So working 2 days a week you’d be entitled to 11.2 days a year at whatever the daily average you earn ends up being.
Thank you! That’s a bonus on top of having 5 days a week off also.
drover:
Don’t make life decisions based on anything an agency tells you!
I appreciate that advice. They are the in house agency for the Tesco depot that I work Sundays for and so far have never cancelled a Sunday shift (since February), so I don’t have a good reason to doubt them at the moment.
I would however be quitting a secure office job that I’ve had for 10 years. It may still be the novelty factor of a driving job that I’m new to, but I’m far more enthusiastic about going to work on a Sunday morning than I am through the week. I think that is another reason that this move is tempting for me at the moment.
Lots has already been said that I was going to say re holiday pay, precious time with little ones who grow up fast etc.
Fast forward a couple of years to when your son gets funded hours. Then you could up his nursery hours by a day or two and work an extra day or two. Fast forward further - when you have kids, school holidays (13 weeks per year) will always be a part of your life, and a potential headache childcare wise. I promise you, he will be at school before you know it.
Because I’m doing it and it’s working out for me I think you should definitely do it and stay on agency long term to your advantage. You can be unavailable for as much of the holidays as you want/can afford. Your wife will get a minimum of 5.8 weeks holiday a year - if you needed to you could work during a couple of those weeks while she does the childcare. You are obviously building a rapport and trust with the agency. It’s working out for us that my employment flexes. I hope it works out for you too. I love having my girls at home in the holidays and I love working in term time.
Sit down with your calculator and make those sums add up
driveress:
Lots has already been said that I was going to say re holiday pay, precious time with little ones who grow up fast etc.
Fast forward a couple of years to when your son gets funded hours. Then you could up his nursery hours by a day or two and work an extra day or two. Fast forward further - when you have kids, school holidays (13 weeks per year) will always be a part of your life, and a potential headache childcare wise. I promise you, he will be at school before you know it.
Because I’m doing it and it’s working out for me I think you should definitely do it and stay on agency long term to your advantage. You can be unavailable for as much of the holidays as you want/can afford. Your wife will get a minimum of 5.8 weeks holiday a year - if you needed to you could work during a couple of those weeks while she does the childcare. You are obviously building a rapport and trust with the agency. It’s working out for us that my employment flexes. I hope it works out for you too. I love having my girls at home in the holidays and I love working in term time.
Sit down with your calculator and make those sums add up
Thanks for the wise words. I think that is what I am going to do
Depending how much you are making in your “ordinary” job, you might not be even worse off.
Some years ago I quit my mon to fri 9-5 office job and went for 3 days per week doing class 2 trucking. Usually 10 to 11 hours shifts, sometimes longer with occassional overtime - and I was making about the same as in my office job.
I have no kids, but I guess being able to watch them grow is something that you won’t be able to put the price on, so yeah, I would say, go for it, even if that makes you a slightly less well off.
Yes defo do what works for you, and I’ll also echo that it dies get slightly more easier as they get older.
When my lad was born (a miracle as my wife had been told she wouldnt be able to have kids) she obviously wanted to spend as much time with the kid she’d always wanted so dropped to part time hours. The counter of that was that I needed to earn more to balance the loss so I got a job that involved me being away a lot but the money made up for it. So similar to you but roles reversed.
What we then found was that by her then going back to work to do more hours it actually wasn’t of any benefit because the extra she earned would just be used up in childcare - and that’s discounted childcare as she works in a nursery.
Then the three year funding arrives and you’re able to send them to nursery more for the same outlay, then reception where you then need to look at before/after school etc etc. It’s never ending and evolving.
I’m lucky in the sense that each job I’ve had (all permanent) I’ve been able to juggle everything around and with help from work, parents etc we’re both back at work full time and childcare cost is fairly low. But I still wasn’t happy.
Now I do ridiculous early starts with a supermarket, but I actually love it. It means come September there is no need to put the lad into any after school care at all and he’ll only go one morning when she starts early so my extra care costs will be £4.50 a week.
Yes the summer holidays are a pain, me and the wife normally take three weeks off and go holiday (we’re in turkey at the min) so we’ve only got three weeks to sort, but because we’ve whittled away at working around him we’ve only to sort the bits where he would be at school, not full days, and there are loads of holiday clubs that will fill that gap.
Basically what I’m saying is that you work around what you need to do, but what you’re describing can and does work.
It seems like a no-brainer at the moment but wondered if I’m missing anything…
I currently work Mon-Fri (non-driving) with a fortnightly agency shift, driving Class 1 for a supermarket every other Sunday. My wife also works full time, so our 10-month old baby is currently full-time at nursery 5 days a week.
If I were to work a Sunday and Monday shift each week, getting as many hours in as possible on those days with the agency, and look after the baby Tues - Fri, it seems that we wouldn’t be much worse off, considering the reduced nursery fees. I’d also get to spend a lot more time with him while he grows up.
I understand that there wouldn’t be any holidays and my pension contribution would be obviously lower, but as a short-term plan for a couple of years I’m liking the idea. I have checked the demand for Sunday/Monday shifts with the agency and it turns out to be their busiest 2 days and if anything is recession proof it’s supermarkets. So far I have been offered work every Sunday since February without fail. Night work is also freely available.
I need to do the maths fully to make sure it all adds up, but wondered if anyone has done anything similar, or had any potential downsides I’m not thinking of?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
As already mentioned, don’t take anything for granted regarding agencies and what they tell you. Bottom line , their main priority is to keep their client(s) happy, drivers, as far as they are concerned are ten a penny and can easily be replaced, where as a particular contract cannot. Plus nothing is “recession proof” so don’t believe that waffle that they may come out with (see the recent Tesco Doncaster/Goole thread for an idea).
As far as kids go and the childcare costs, I sympathise with you, and am in a similar boat. I have a 4 year old daughter and a 9 month old son. My daughter starts school in September but has been in nursery from 1 (when missus went back to work) till now. We were paying £620 a month nursery fee’s for 3 days a week, which is considerably more than our mortgage but unfortunately that’s the going rate. My son will be going 4 days a week from October when partner goes back to work which will not get us much change from £1000.
My advice to you is don’t sacrifice your children and missing them growing up over any job, particularly in driving with the hours that can often be involved. If you can find a solution that works for you (as you mention above) then great go for that. They really do grow up so quick and it it easy to miss so many things quite quickly. This will probably upset some on here but oh well, I never have and never will understand those drivers who go tramping and away all week, or more if further afield when they have young kids.
No I get that, one of my great regrets was that I spent so much time away when my lad was a baby/toddler. He was four when I stepped back from it but I’ll never get that time back, like Christmas morning waking up in France and heading for a ferry instead of watching him open presents and being with family.
But at the time it was what gave us the money to maintain a lifestyle we all liked so that was the sacrifice.
toonsy:
No I get that, one of my great regrets was that I spent so much time away when my lad was a baby/toddler. He was four when I stepped back from it but I’ll never get that time back, like Christmas morning waking up in France and heading for a ferry instead of watching him open presents and being with family.
But at the time it was what gave us the money to maintain a lifestyle we all liked so that was the sacrifice.
Yeah I understand that last point and back in the day maybe it was different and you had to do it to earn the money - I’m only 38 and been driving class 1 10 years so wasn’t around back then. Think the point I’m trying to highlight to the OP is you don’t have to be away for any night’s these days and can earn really good money while also seeing your kids grow up.
I work for a high street retailer on supermarket type work, hours and pay. I am on the 4 on 4 off rota and love it. I take my daughter to nursery in the morning before work and most days when I’m at work I am back in time for bedtime/bathtime etc. Sometimes im not but that’s just the way it is on occasion.Then I get 4 whole days off to see them and wouldn’t change it for the world.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had jobs before i had kids that weren’t child friendly with the hours and there are plenty of those out there but to highlight again to the OP there is plenty out there to be had so you don’t have to sacrifice things you mention above as you can’t turn the clock back.
Thank you guys. It is missing out on valuable time with him growing up that is my main reasoning behind the whole thought process at the moment. Working for just 2 days a week is also very appealing I will be honest
We are paying close to £900/month on nursery fees and although it allows us to both work full-time 9-5ish, we are missing valuable time with him as he grows.
I am going to do the full calculations ASAP and I think it’d be a good exercise to work out how long we could manage if the agency work dried up based on my savings at the moment.
Another consideration I have since thought of is my reduced chance of getting credit or remortgaging, based on lower (and non-guaranteed due to being agency) earnings. The positive is that my mortgage is still fixed for another 4 years or so yet so by that point my boy will be almost 5 and in school.
Another consideration I have since thought of is my reduced chance of getting credit or remortgaging, based on lower (and non-guaranteed due to being agency) earnings. The positive is that my mortgage is still fixed for another 4 years or so yet so by that point my boy will be almost 5 and in school.
No need to think of it as non guaranteed agency for credit/mortgage purposes. You are PAYE and it will just be a fact of time with employer and monthly earnings/ 3 months payslips type of thing.
stu675:
No need to think of it as non guaranteed agency for credit/mortgage purposes. You are PAYE and it will just be a fact of time with employer and monthly earnings/ 3 months payslips type of thing.
You sure about that? Surely they will only base it on “guaranteed” hours when it comes to agency work. For instance when I was on agency a few years ago I was guaranteed 24 hours a week or 3 8 hour shifts whether they offered me any work or not.
To the OP might be worth speaking with a mortgage advisor and finding out what the score is regarding your situation
