Dad's reduced working hours: How much will his salary drop? What our family checked first

When Dad decided to choose reduced working hours, the first thing our family was concerned about was, of course, the salary.

Time with the children would increase.
The evening rush would also decrease a little.

But on the other hand,

How much will our monthly income decrease?
Will we be okay with the mortgage?
With education costs for three children, is it really okay to work reduced hours?

Our family wasn't completely free of such financial anxieties either.

Salary for reduced working hours basically decreases

This is obvious, of course.

When you switch to reduced working hours, your salary decreases because your working time is shorter.

For example, if the standard working hours are 8 hours.

If you reduce it by 1 hour, it's about a 12.5% decrease by simple calculation.
If you reduce it by 2 hours, it's about a 25% decrease.

Of course, the actual take-home pay varies depending on the workplace's salary regulations, allowances, taxes, and social insurance premiums.

So, in our family, we didn't just leave it as a vague anxiety; we first checked how much Dad's salary would actually change.

We checked not only the take-home pay but also the bonus

What you should look at with reduced working hours is not just the monthly take-home pay.

Will it affect the bonus?
How much will overtime pay decrease?
Will workplace allowances change?

We checked these points roughly in our family as well.
However, we couldn't accurately estimate how much the bonus or allowances would decrease.
So, we calculated it by reducing it by the same percentage as the working hours, just like the monthly salary.

We intentionally estimate the monthly salary and bonus on the lower side.
We feel that if we get more than the calculation, it's just a bonus.

Even if you feel it might be okay when looking only at the monthly salary, the impression can change when looking at it on an annual basis.

In any case, wevisualizethe anxiety and adjust our lifestyle to the salary that will definitely decrease.

The childcare reduced working hours benefit is also a system worth knowing about

Starting in April 2025, a system will also begin providing childcare short-time work benefits under certain conditions to those working shorter hours while raising children under the age of two. In principle, an amount equivalent to 10% of the wages paid during the short-time work period will be provided, though this is adjusted based on wage levels.

Just because the system exists doesn't mean you can rest easy.

However, just knowing about it makes the invisible anxiety a little smaller.

What actually happened to my husband's salary

Since my husband, who returned to work in May, hasn't received his salary yet, I will tell you based on past performance.

My husband works shorter hours, finishing one hour earlier than his regular schedule.
Calculated from his normal working hours, we expected a decrease of about 12.5%.

However, it didn't decrease that much.

The reason is that
since it was his first year of short-time work after returning from childcare leave, taxes and social insurance premiums were lower, and
even though the gross pay amount decreased, the actual decrease in take-home pay was kept in check.

Thanks to having anticipated this in advance,
I remember feeling a little relieved, thinking, 'I'm glad it only decreased by this much.'

His salary decreased. But there were also things that increased

Still, now that my husband is working shorter hours, our income has certainly decreased.

But there are also things that have increased for our family.

The time between dinner and bedtime.
The time to look over our eldest son's homework.
The breathing room to avoid having to say 'Hurry up.'

The evening time spent with the children was more significant than I had imagined.

Looking only at the salary, short-time work looks like a minus.

But for our family,it was also a choice to buy time for our lives with money.

My husband's short-time work doesn't have to be judged by salary alone

Of course, I don't want to recommend short-time work to everyone.

A decrease in income is a reality.
Visualizing your household finances is also necessary.

I don't think it's something you should choose if it's too much of a strain.

However, you don't have to decide immediately that it's impossible just because your salary will decrease.

How much will it decrease?
How much of a reduction can we handle?

In exchange for that, what will increase?

I believe that only by visualizing things to that extent can we see the choices that fit our family.

By the way, I have summarized in a bit more detail in a paid article how our family actually organized our household finances, including our monthly budget and our approach to education and retirement funds.

In this article, I first wanted to convey that

a husband's shorter working hours is not just a story about a salary decrease

.

Income is important. But the family time we have now is just as important.

Our family is still in the trial-and-error phase, but we want to continue organizing our household finances to 'enjoy the present while preparing for the future.'

I would be happy if you could support me with a like or a follow.

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