Comments on: Thinking of going part-time? Some questions to ask (and boundaries to draw)

By: Freelancers need to know how to improve focus to improve productivity

Freelancers need to know how to improve focus to improve productivity — Sun, 03 Sep 2023 11:22:07 +0000

[…] If your family is feeling financial pressure and you are offered a chance to work part-time, here is Laura Vanderkam’s Thinking of going part-time? Some questions to ask (and boundaries to draw). You can read it here. […]

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 12:59:07 +0000

In reply to Lori C.

@Lori C – yep, there are few circumstances where an 80 percent schedule winds up being a good deal. Even if you do manage to get a full day off, if you would use the day off for household work, then you’re substituting lower paid work for higher paid work, which isn’t really economically rational. There may be other reasons people do it, but that tends not to work as well as people hope.

By: Lori C

Lori C — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:58:15 +0000

Evaluating going 80% and finding this old post extremely helpful (and evergreen despite being written pre-pandemic). Leaning towards NOT going 80% to have a day to clean the house and run errands. It felt like a good idea, but I will end up resentful about taking on more housework than I already do. Plus I know I will still work close to 40 hours a week. I have to track my time for work (consultant, billable hours) so I will see what changes I can make in the next couple of weeks to work more flexibly…

By: Claire

Claire — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 12:26:38 +0000

Awesome info! Appreciate the research and time dedicated to this article!

By: Clémence Trilling

Clémence Trilling — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 15:39:19 +0000

arrg….i think i might fall in all the traps you mentionned.
I just took a 3 day per week position. my work is face to face and in public service. there is a culture of checking in the lazy public servant so no double shift for me, even if i believe it could work. long commute, that i can use for reading ( great)! not enough money to hire help so i still am and will be the default parent. Income is good but not significant considering i live in a “social country” so the pricing of stuff such as childcare depends on income. bummer of bummer i actually had to cancel a family vacation to take the position. On the plus side, it can be a path to full time, it is only 28 hours out of the 168 per week so really not that much and it is in my field. lets keep spirit up!

By: Chrisrina

Chrisrina — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 02:01:56 +0000

I was an unwilling stay at home mom for 4.5 years, then part time for a year, then full time for 3 years. I start back to part time next week having thoughtfully considered how to structure my time in an industry where boundaries are never honored. Being older and wiser, I know it will be hard some days but I also know I can do it. Great, timely article. Thanks!

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 19:24:00 +0000

For a number of years, I did an 80% schedule but most weeks provided full time value or worked full time hours. I observed as well that there were colleagues who were contributing less than full time value, but getting paid full time salaries. In accordance with my reduced schedule, I (rightly) received less vacation time, but it did not impact my employer’s other benefit contributions. I also perceived that my less than full time status limited some growth opportunities, as my manager was mindful of my limits. Eventually, I chose to reinstate to full time under a new manager. I do have less time for my children in this new structure, but my hours are flexible and we constantly experiment to see what works. Because my work is mostly west coast based while I live on the east coast, I chose this year to tell my colleagues that I am putting in two “east coast days” a week this year, which means I am offline by 1:30 – 2:30 PM west coast time twice a week. This allows me to drop off and pick up two of my four children from school two days a week, which has been a good new thing for us to try. It is constant experimentation and I am so thankful for this blog and these conversations, which always spark interesting new considerations.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 18:19:26 +0000

In reply to Ginny.

Ginny, I agree – unless I have a very urgent task, I really hate the split shift. I have to reboot my brain, the anticipation of which spoils my dinner time, and then after I’ve worked at night it takes me at least an hour to unwind my brain. I suppose it’s highly dependent on the nature of the work you’re in – if you’re solving very complex problems or dealing with challenging relationship dynamics (negotiations, sales, etc.), then this split shift concept can get very tiring

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 13:50:00 +0000

In reply to Ginny.

@Ginny- thanks for your comment! I agree that trying to juggle work and kids from 3-5 would be miserable.

As for working at night, it’s not for everyone, but I’m a fan of the “split shift.” Leave on time from work, and then knock off the emails or other low-energy stuff after the kids go to bed. You wind up trading work time for TV time instead of work time for family time.

By: ARC

ARC — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 23:49:45 +0000

I love this discussion and all the comments! As I’ve commented in the past, I worked part-time for 3 years at a large tech company (ranging from 25-32 hours roughly, though not getting paid by the hour). What I liked about this arrangement was that it was MUCH easier for me to say ‘no’ to extra work and it gave me full days where I was not working at all and had no guilt about it. I absolutely had to be firm about blocking my calendar for meetings and not working extra hours unless it was project-critical.

I found it was MUCH easier for me to work near full time hours (37-39) when I took a contract job with the same company that was 100% work from home. In this job I actually got paid by the hour, which worked out better for me, and it was easier to hold the line OR decide to work more if I wanted because I was actually getting paid for it. Also, not having to travel and sit in an office (even though my commute is <10 min) is just a huge help. Something about having to get dressed and presentable to see other people, plus not being able to throw in a load of dishes or laundry between meetings makes the integration of work & life seem a lot harder to me.

I decided to return to a full time regular employee job last year, but I decided to take Laura's advice about being flexible with my time. Up front I negotiated ONE regular day to work from home. In practice I am usually working from home 2 days a week. My team is not big on "face time" except for key meetings, so I have a lot more flexibility than I expected. Today I worked out at 8am, dialed into my daily 9am meeting, then got ready and went into work at 10. I will leave just before 5 since my husband has an evening thing. The biggest part has been for me to adjust to the "guilt" of leaving early or starting late. When I actually add up my hours, it's right around 40 because I put in some time at home in the evenings or weekends.

I have become even braver in the past few months 🙂 and have decided to pick my kids up from school at 3:30pm 3 days a week. I block my calendar, let my manager know in passing that a few days a week I need to pick up kids, and that was it. If i have a meeting I can't miss, I swap with my husband.

Obviously I am extremely lucky to have a 'knowledge worker' job where I have a flexible schedule that doesn't depend on clients or patients etc. But I never would have thought I *could* work a full time schedule without reading the stuff Laura has written. And it turns out all the dire consequences I was afraid of by not working 10 hour days in the office have not come to pass 🙂