I’m not 100% sure what you are asking or what your situation is, but here is mine:
I dont get enough vacation time as it is (I barely cover the yom tovim days) so I have to work chol hamoed. I try to schedule more enjoyable things for chol hamoed if I can (like field trips to power plants), but its not always possible.
For shabbos in the winter, I leave 1.5-2 hours before my shift ends, which usually gets me home 30 minutes – 1 hour before shabbos. I try to aim for 2 hours but it is not always feasible. My company has a strict policy of working 8 hours (plus 45 minutes lunch) a day, but because of my religious restrictions they grant me the allowance to make the time up throughout the rest of the week. I cannot take advantage of this though, so I take as little time off as possible.
My husband does most of the cooking for shabbos because he is off every other friday and has a more flexible schedule.