Wish you Could Take More Time off Over Christmas? Here Are Three Ways to Cut Your Hours Without Cutting Your Income

Christmas is nearly here and while those words will fill some with excitement, others will likely be feeling a sense of trepidation right about now.

Have you finished all your jobs? Are you sure you haven’t double booked yourself over the Christmas period? Do you wish you could just have a few more evenings for yourself before now and the big day?

Balancing work and life can be difficult at the best of times but over the festive season that challenge goes into overdrive. In this article we’d like to talk about three ways you can fix your work life balance for good so you can enjoy yourself not just at Christmas, but all year round.

1. Push For That Promotion

We’ll say this upfront because it’s important to make clear: pushing for a promotion is far easier said than done. No matter how good you are, no matter how clearly you can demonstrate your skills, sometimes your company just won’t have any interest in promoting people. That’s not a you problem, it’s a them problem.

That said, just because it’s not always feasible, that doesn’t mean you should write it off as an option.  Many people never ask for a promotion in their entire career and while that might work for some, it’s also an easy way to get overlooked.

The reality of a modern company is that they’re an institution and, no matter how well intentioned, any institution can easily lose track of people. This means that you need to learn to be your own advocate and when you’re at a point where you’ve proven you can go further, you need to start pushing.

Now, you might be wondering why we’re even talking about promotions. After all, you’re looking to cut your hours, not up your responsibilities.

Well, a promotion doesn’t have to mean more pay. In many cases, if a company is willing to negotiate, a promotion can mean working fewer hours for the same overall pay. But that won’t happen unless you make it clear that that’s what you want.

Of course, it all depends on what you have to negotiate with. If you really want to get those part-time hours, then it would help to have a bargaining chip.

2. Look For Other Jobs

Other companies are always hiring and if you’re not on the look out already then now’s the time to start. You don’t have to make a big deal out of it, just keep an eye on the listings and maybe set up an email reminder when the right job roles are posted.

Even if you like the company you work for, keeping an eye out is never a bad idea. After all, it’s not as much about finding a new job but being able to show your worth.

If you want to negotiate your pay or your hours, the best you can say is “I have an offer from x but I’d rather work here if we can sort this out.” You’d be amazed how quickly bosses start listening when they realise another company is willing to make you an offer.

That said, don’t apply for jobs you wouldn’t be willing to work. When negotiating a raise, you never want to make empty threats and you may just end up side-stepping in the long run.

3. Embrace The Freelance Lifestyle

Of course the most effective way to cut your hours is to quit your job. That might sound like a joke – and you certainly shouldn’t make any reckless decisions – but all too often it’s an option people just don’t consider.

Making it with any kind of freelance career is certainly risky and difficult but the advantage is that you get to take charge of the hours that you work. At the end of the day, you become your own boss.

Now, you might be sat there thinking that your job/skill set isn’t a good fit for freelancing or else that you wouldn’t know where to find clients, and this is where the best part comes in: there’s more than one kind of freelancing.

Here at Career Navig8r, we’ve created a platform that can empower anyone with career experience to become a freelance mentor. Instead of working your role directly, you’ll be showing other people how to develop those skills and get that job role themselves.

Mentors help people build and develop a career by sharing their knowledge and experience. The best part is that you won’t even have to go looking for your mentees. With our platform, people looking to learn your job role can come directly to you with a simple search.

Explore the possibilities of a freelance career by becoming a mentor with Career Navig8r!