Question for moms: did going part-time solve your work-life balance problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow you have three children and work full time?! That's crazy. I have two and I'm a SAHM and can't even imagine how hard holding down a full time job, plus caring for the children would be.

lol. Plenty of people do this. Come on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow you have three children and work full time?! That's crazy. I have two and I'm a SAHM and can't even imagine how hard holding down a full time job, plus caring for the children would be.

lol. Plenty of people do this. Come on.

Exactly. I worked full-time and never saw it as anything heroic. Is it hectic at times, sure, but its not unmanageable.

[Anonymous]

Having worked at a big corporation where many full time people were clearly working very spotty hours, it would drive me crazy to take a pay cut to formalize the arrangement. You know people who skate for decades in the right job that allows them to be anywhere/nowhere — better to get one of those jobs and keep your full time pay, then switch back to a regular job when you’re not needed at home as much. This works best when your company has places you need to be in many different locations close by, so no one can judge based merely on the fact that they don’t see you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not for me. I ended up being paid for 20 hours but working closer to 35-40 hours per week. This was less than I would have otherwise, but very far from half time. It only works if you actually work half time.

This. I think it works for certain careers, like a nurse or in a school where your work is in person and you can't take it home. But if you work a corporate office job, particularly if you take your current job and go part time, you will likely end up doing the same work for less money.

People in schools take work home all the time, and not just the teachers.

Have you seen a teacher’s bag when they walk to their car? It’s full of student work, documentation that needs to be updated, a laptop to answer all the parent emails they didn’t get a chance to respond to during the day, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work 30 hours a week (like another PP quota based so work 30, paid 30) and it's great! I wouldn't be able to work at all if I had full time hours (my husbands job is inflexible, long hours) so I am grateful for the opportunity. We live on my husband's income and save mine.

What is quota based work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not for me. I ended up being paid for 20 hours but working closer to 35-40 hours per week. This was less than I would have otherwise, but very far from half time. It only works if you actually work half time.

This. I think it works for certain careers, like a nurse or in a school where your work is in person and you can't take it home. But if you work a corporate office job, particularly if you take your current job and go part time, you will likely end up doing the same work for less money.

Nurse or doctor -- yes. Teacher -- no. Grading, lesson planning, reading essays etc. very time consuming and can't happen while you are actively teaching.

[Anonymous]

I work for an IT/consulting company and part time was amazing.

First off, my scheudle was 28 hours a week. But, if I worked 34 hours, or 38 hours, or 40 hours, I got paid for those hours (not above 40, though). My benefits stayed at the prorated amount though (if I worked 80 hours a pay period, 16 over my schedule, I earned my parttime prorated 7 hours of leave, not 8, for example).

I worked in a PMO and my work was fairly independent, so I could schedule my work to my schedule. I mostly worked shorter days, but often (my kids were very small) I caught up with work in the evening. So essentially I was with the kids for after school pick up and taking them to their after school activities.

I'll tell you this: grocery shopping on Friday afternoons was the GOLD standard of working part time. Uncrowded store, plenty of time, set us up for the weekend and the following week - that was the best part, honestly.

[Anonymous]

I have worked part-time since my now-15 year-old was a baby. It has helped me keep my sanity, but it is still very busy. I have not chosen to return to F/T because of the hamster wheel of extra curricular activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work 30 hours a week (like another PP quota based so work 30, paid 30) and it's great! I wouldn't be able to work at all if I had full time hours (my husbands job is inflexible, long hours) so I am grateful for the opportunity. We live on my husband's income and save mine.

What is quota based work?

They expect X cases per hour to be completed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not for me. I ended up being paid for 20 hours but working closer to 35-40 hours per week. This was less than I would have otherwise, but very far from half time. It only works if you actually work half time.

Same.

[Anonymous]

OP here, belatedly circling back. Thanks for these responses--it was very helpful to hear about others' experiences, both the good and the bad. I'm pretty new in my current job and want to make it a full year before making any big moves. However, this is something I will probably explore more in the near future, assuming I can find the right opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I highly recommend part-time if it’s workable financially. I’m a fed atty worked part-time for a few years while our kids were in early elementary. I was allowed to do it because I still worked 5 days a week, just shorter days (30 hours per week). Honestly, I worked more than 30 hours, but by being part-time, I was better able to manage everyone’s expectations for my schedule and I had flexibility to take the time for planned and “urgent” child-related things. And because I still worked every day, I maintained my normal workload so my colleagues didn’t have to cover for me. Bottom line - it wasn’t easy, but it bought me the flexibility to be a less anxious parent while enabling me to continue my professional career during the most challenging of childcare years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I highly recommend part-time if it’s workable financially. I’m a fed atty worked part-time for a few years while our kids were in early elementary. I was allowed to do it because I still worked 5 days a week, just shorter days (30 hours per week). Honestly, I worked more than 30 hours, but by being part-time, I was better able to manage everyone’s expectations for my schedule and I had flexibility to take the time for planned and “urgent” child-related things. And because I still worked every day, I maintained my normal workload so my colleagues didn’t have to cover for me. Bottom line - it wasn’t easy, but it bought me the flexibility to be a less anxious parent while enabling me to continue my professional career during the most challenging of childcare years.

+1 this is me exactly except I am not an attorney. The time I don’t work is filled with child care that others would outsource, so I’m not sure I’m any less busy but it’s been really good for my kids (SNs in the mix, after care is not ideal, we have weekly therapy etc). I, and my husband, enjoy knowing I could ramp back up pretty easily and earn a decent salary if he lost his job. I also know if my husband left me I’d be able to support my kids moderately well - this wasn’t something I cared about initially but I have been watching a friend deal with financial abuse and it’s been absolutely horrifying so it’s now an added benefit.

All that to say, it does depend on your spouse and your HHI a lot. I am not terribly stressed or upset by the money I leave on the table each year so I don’t get upset/angry if I work at night once in a while. I think it PT work can be great and a big reason it’s not more common is the whole WOHM vs SAHM mommy wars. Just try not to buy into any of that and just do what makes sense for your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I highly recommend part-time if it’s workable financially. I’m a fed atty worked part-time for a few years while our kids were in early elementary. I was allowed to do it because I still worked 5 days a week, just shorter days (30 hours per week). Honestly, I worked more than 30 hours, but by being part-time, I was better able to manage everyone’s expectations for my schedule and I had flexibility to take the time for planned and “urgent” child-related things. And because I still worked every day, I maintained my normal workload so my colleagues didn’t have to cover for me. Bottom line - it wasn’t easy, but it bought me the flexibility to be a less anxious parent while enabling me to continue my professional career during the most challenging of childcare years.

+1 this is me exactly except I am not an attorney. The time I don’t work is filled with child care that others would outsource, so I’m not sure I’m any less busy but it’s been really good for my kids (SNs in the mix, after care is not ideal, we have weekly therapy etc). I, and my husband, enjoy knowing I could ramp back up pretty easily and earn a decent salary if he lost his job. I also know if my husband left me I’d be able to support my kids moderately well - this wasn’t something I cared about initially but I have been watching a friend deal with financial abuse and it’s been absolutely horrifying so it’s now an added benefit.

All that to say, it does depend on your spouse and your HHI a lot. I am not terribly stressed or upset by the money I leave on the table each year so I don’t get upset/angry if I work at night once in a while. I think it PT work can be great and a big reason it’s not more common is the whole WOHM vs SAHM mommy wars. Just try not to buy into any of that and just do what makes sense for your family.

I agree with most of what you said except the last part. It's not more common because a lot of employers don't offer it or don't create a culture where employees are comfortable taking it. The fed govt (until recent times) was one of the more family-friendly and work-life balance focused employers. (I'm a former fed atty from an earlier post.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I highly recommend part-time if it’s workable financially. I’m a fed atty worked part-time for a few years while our kids were in early elementary. I was allowed to do it because I still worked 5 days a week, just shorter days (30 hours per week). Honestly, I worked more than 30 hours, but by being part-time, I was better able to manage everyone’s expectations for my schedule and I had flexibility to take the time for planned and “urgent” child-related things. And because I still worked every day, I maintained my normal workload so my colleagues didn’t have to cover for me. Bottom line - it wasn’t easy, but it bought me the flexibility to be a less anxious parent while enabling me to continue my professional career during the most challenging of childcare years.

If you ‘maintained your workload’ then you just accepted less pay for the same amount of work ? In return for flexible hours?