When we first moved to Yorkshire I considered getting a job. I love blogging and I have been really lucky to be able to make money from something I love but it is unstable and I do miss real life conversation. I love cyberland but to go to work and talk to someone older than 3 was appealing.
Although I didn’t finish my PGCE I would be happy to go back to being a teaching assistant. There were also various other avenues that I was thinking of exploring. Unfortunately the practicality of having a job wasn’t as easy.
Bob is not yet in full time education. She gets 15 hours of nursery education but by the time I have dropped her off and picked her up I would only be available to work for a few hours.
My husband works full time and his shifts change. As he is the main bread winner my job would have to fit around his.
We have thought about childcare in the past but we can’t really afford it at the moment and I hate the idea of my wage being cancelled out with childcare costs.
After weighing up the pros and cons I decided to stay as I am for the time being. As I said, I love blogging and I think it is amazing that something that started out as a hobby now provides an income! I can do something I love whilst spending time with my daughter. I am incredibly lucky!
The other day I found out that since June 2014 UK employees have the legal right to request flexible working hours. This makes things easier for working parents. Job shares and flexible hours are very useful if they are possible. Obviously if I was a Teaching Assistant there would be limits as the children are there at certain times. I also don’t think that working from home would be very practical in this role. In other jobs flexible working could be really helpful!
GoToMeeting have put together an infographic about how the new law has been received and it’s affects.
Before this job my previous job was flexible. It just made so much more sense. If we were busy we all stayed later to finish off what was needed (banking the hours), and then when things were quiet we could leave a little early (taking the hours out of the ones we had banked previously) I think a lot more companies should do it!
That’s a great idea. Better than wasting everyone’s time when there is nothing to do. x