What are compressed hours and how can they benefit me?

Words by Olivia Bath

As we return to the offices, now is the time to determine how you can negotiate greater flexibility in your role to save on childcare costs, achieve work/ life balance and continue to progress your career.

There are many ways to work more flexibly and compressed hours are one of those flexible work choices which are becoming increasingly popular in the UK. 

Having done compressed hours myself when I returned from maternity leave in 2019 to my busy role at one of Australia’s top four banks, I can confidently recommend it.

So what is it exactly?

Compressed hours (or you may also hear it described as a ‘compressed work week’), allows employees to ‘condense’ or compress their working week into fewer days, such as five days in four across a longer work day, or a nine day fortnight.

Alternative ways to structure a compressed working week include doing it part-time, such as four days in three; or leaving early in the afternoons for the school run and making up those hours flexibly.

There are many benefits, including saving up to £3k/year on childcare costs (for one child at nursery full time) and more quality time with your children or parents. 

There’s also more opportunities for career progression and being paid a full-time salary with less unpaid hours. Limited career opportunities and unpaid work are common challenges for those working part time. 

 It does take time to adjust to this working pattern, but it’s possible to do it in the long term - and here’s why you should.

Maintaining a full time salary and saving on childcare fees is a financial win for women 

These include: maintaining a full-time salary – over 10 years this can equate to £100,000 more in your bank account (or to use for mortgage fees or help your child at university), when compared to a part-time role of four days per week. 

If you start doing compressed hours in your mid-30s and you work until your late 60s, this could add up to £300,000, in addition to the savings realised for not paying for childcare on your day off. 

 This long-term financial view is important to consider, especially when women retire on so much less than men. 

Working compressed hours also affords real work/life balance

This type of flexible work enables you to achieve more balance and this is why it’s becoming increasingly popular with parents. 

It allows you to take one day off per week or fortnight to spend with your child, caring for elderly parents, or doing the personal things that matter to you, including further study or qualifications. 

The work/life balance juggle in a pandemic has been tougher on working parents than ever before. 

 According to a Deloitte study, entitled, ˜Understanding the pandemic’s impact on working women, 46% of women say they have reported to have felt that they have always needed to be available for work, that is online at “off” hours like responding to emails immediately. 

 For some working parents, returning to the office over the summer will be a welcome change and opportunity to ‘reset’.

 This is a chance to reassess how you would like your life to look, from fitting in more exercise, setting boundaries with work and personal time (including checking emails late at night, “just in case”) or using commute times for mindfulness activities. 

 This work/life re-assessment may also include considering a more flexible way of working.

 If you look at it from your employer’s perspective, there are many benefits of offering flexible work options, including retaining top talent and enabling more women into leadership roles – which typically results in more profitability. 

 There are quite a few things to consider if you’re planning on working compressed hours – but not insurmountable. Now is the perfect time to be considering this flexible work option as your employer plans for employees to return to the office. 

 If you are considering working compressed hours, here are some practical tips to negotiate it:

1. Develop a business case to take to your manager and HR team – even if you want to ask for this as an informal request, you may need to be prepared with things like what your request is; how it will work for your role and team; and why this request should be granted to you.

2. Be prepared to have multiple discussions – you may need to negotiate and re-negotiate compressed hours – it can take time. This shouldn’t deter you from the long-term benefits

3. When you are negotiating, be prepared for questions such as: ‘Should we offer this to everyone in the team?’; ‘What hours will you be working and available?’; ‘Can’t you just take it as annual leave instead?’

4. Consider asking for compressed hours as a 90 day trial – this gives both parties – you and your employer – the opportunity to test and see if it really works. It also gives you time to adjust to this new way of working, which does take time.