Is working part time all that great?

[Anonymous]

Considering a part time gig, which sounds good on paper. But is it worth it to leave my my flexible FT job for this? Hourly rate would be about the same, but I'd be losing some excellent benefits.

[Anonymous]

My mom did this. She was always passed over for promotions, travel,etc. her career never recovered, and she was the first let go when the company hit problems.

She also said that it was hard to feel like you were both a WOHM and SAHM, so no one really understood you and she didn't have a place in the mommy wars. Also, she wasn't enough of a SAHM for that crowd. But the WOHM crowd looked down on her, too.

This was 1980-99ish in a small town in flyover country. No idea if things are different here and now.

[Anonymous]

As someone who makes their own schedule i would say unless you have some goal (writing a novel, redoing a house, etc) I wouldn't. The free time starts getting really boring and grating.

[Anonymous]

I dropped down to part time, paid at the same rate (1/2 time = 1/2 pay) but lost all benefits (which were poor to begin with so we didn't use them anyway). The free time lets me get errands done on weekdays when stores are quieter and I don't have kids in tow, I can make real meals at least some days instead of throwing pre made stuff in the oven when we get home, and I get to exercise and have a little down time to decompress if I want. Plus the ability to spend some extra time with the kids. For me, it's win-win while the kids are younger. I get why it might not be for everyone - but I enjoy the household stuff and don't want to pay someone to do what I like. But, I also know I wouldn't be good as a full time sahm. A little work lets me appreciate the time with the kids and the household stuff more.

[Anonymous]

I'm a part time attorney - and it is definitely worth it to me. I'm on a 70% schedule, but with decent flexibility even within that schedule. So it means I can drop my son off at 8:45 when preschool starts (instead of dropping him off into the chaos of beforecare) and roll into work at 9:20 or so. Then I work, get in a 30-minute workout a couple times a week, leave by 4 and either pick up my son before aftercare starts at 4:30 or I can go do errands, or just have 20 minutes of alone time before picking him up. It means I can do the (many) dr appointments for both him and me, hair appointments, etc etc there is always something, and not worry about having to work 2 hours that night to keep my billable hours where they need to be. So it means I can fit all the crap that needs to get done (errands, appointments, work, working out) into a basic 9-5:30 work day and be home in time to make dinner every night without too much stress. It has not been a mommy track for me, as I have made it clear I am very focused on my career (made partner already, very focused on business development).

One complaint many attorneys who go part time have is that they are paid for 70% of their schedule but because of the demands on attorneys, they are working less than a 100% schedule but more than 70% - with admin expectations, and constant calls and emails on their "off time". you get to bill the time, but you feel like you're almost working full time still sometimes, even though the billable hours don't add up to that. Like, if you have to jump on to two 1-hour client calls on your day off (if you work 3 days a week), suddenly the day feels a lot more like a work day than a day-off, and you wonder if it wouldn't just be easier to go back to full time and get paid the extra 30%. That's the general complaint. And I have colleagues who barely work more than me but are technically full time - just not making their hours and no one is asking too many questions. And they've been advised not to make the switch to PT because you might as well keep getting paid for a full time schedule. I've weighed this decision, but when I do the math (husband makes around $500k, and I make around $250k) if I went full time it'd be another 100k or so, which is $60k after tax. Do I care about $60k in the grand scheme of our very high household income? I'd rather just stay PT, lose out on that potential cash, but not have any undue pressure to be working more than I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a part time attorney - and it is definitely worth it to me. I'm on a 70% schedule, but with decent flexibility even within that schedule. So it means I can drop my son off at 8:45 when preschool starts (instead of dropping him off into the chaos of beforecare) and roll into work at 9:20 or so. Then I work, get in a 30-minute workout a couple times a week, leave by 4 and either pick up my son before aftercare starts at 4:30 or I can go do errands, or just have 20 minutes of alone time before picking him up. It means I can do the (many) dr appointments for both him and me, hair appointments, etc etc there is always something, and not worry about having to work 2 hours that night to keep my billable hours where they need to be. So it means I can fit all the crap that needs to get done (errands, appointments, work, working out) into a basic 9-5:30 work day and be home in time to make dinner every night without too much stress. It has not been a mommy track for me, as I have made it clear I am very focused on my career (made partner already, very focused on business development).

One complaint many attorneys who go part time have is that they are paid for 70% of their schedule but because of the demands on attorneys, they are working less than a 100% schedule but more than 70% - with admin expectations, and constant calls and emails on their "off time". you get to bill the time, but you feel like you're almost working full time still sometimes, even though the billable hours don't add up to that. Like, if you have to jump on to two 1-hour client calls on your day off (if you work 3 days a week), suddenly the day feels a lot more like a work day than a day-off, and you wonder if it wouldn't just be easier to go back to full time and get paid the extra 30%. That's the general complaint. And I have colleagues who barely work more than me but are technically full time - just not making their hours and no one is asking too many questions. And they've been advised not to make the switch to PT because you might as well keep getting paid for a full time schedule. I've weighed this decision, but when I do the math (husband makes around $500k, and I make around $250k) if I went full time it'd be another 100k or so, which is $60k after tax. Do I care about $60k in the grand scheme of our very high household income? I'd rather just stay PT, lose out on that potential cash, but not have any undue pressure to be working more than I do.

I'm this PP and wanted to add:

After my son was born, I went into a very PT job where I was only making like $45k for 8-10 hours a week from home. It barely covered childcare costs, but was still worth it to me because I did that for a couple years and kept my resume fresh, so that I was able to jump back into a more regular schedule when I was ready. So definitely worth it for me, even when it didn't really produce any extra cash in the bank.

[Anonymous]

This really depends on whether you want to ramp up at some point in the future, i.e do you want to get out of full time employment or do you want to go part time now and ramp back up full time later. If the latter, staying full time with benefits is better, if former i would take the part time gig as they are hard to come by.

[Anonymous]

In my company, the part time resources are basically expected to perform the same workload as full time employees, just with less pay and fewer benefits. It's an unfortunately common problem with part time employees. You'd have to take a hard look at the culture at the company and figure out if they'll really let you be part time, not just pay you part time.

[Anonymous]

My first choice is FT with flexibility.

I have a FT job with reasonable hours (45 hours typically) with generous WFH options (2-3 days a week, some weeks I am in the office once if others are traveling, or my DH is out of town, etc.). My schedule is really up to me - I leave by 4:30 for commuting reasons when I do go in.

When I did work PT - four days a week - it worked for a while but things would creep. It sucked. I was making 80% salary in exchange for just as much work. My current situation is ideal for me.

[Anonymous]

I'm a litigator part time- 8 hr days on T, W, Th. While I *love* the schedule, I am basically doing a full time job on 3 days and only getting paid for 3 days. My career hasn't suffered other than income - I'm up for a promotion that I might accept if I can keep my schedule. The ideal is if you have a lot of leverage at work. I'm a senior attorney with a lot of experience and institutional knowledge and to lose me would be a big blow at my office (IMHO!)
On my days for I take care of stuff around the house, travel, hang out with the kids, exercise, etc. I find that I fit in just fine with both WOHM and my new SAHM friends.

If you have the leverage you can set your terms. Go for it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my company, the part time resources are basically expected to perform the same workload as full time employees, just with less pay and fewer benefits. It's an unfortunately common problem with part time employees. You'd have to take a hard look at the culture at the company and figure out if they'll really let you be part time, not just pay you part time.

Exactly. Would never trade flexible FT for PT for exactly this reason. Less pay, less respect, same work.

[Anonymous]

I dont know, a lot of posters recommend PT for sustainable family life esp when kids are elem years

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/563445.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom did this. She was always passed over for promotions, travel,etc. her career never recovered, and she was the first let go when the company hit problems.

She also said that it was hard to feel like you were both a WOHM and SAHM, so no one really understood you and she didn't have a place in the mommy wars. Also, she wasn't enough of a SAHM for that crowd. But the WOHM crowd looked down on her, too.

This was 1980-99ish in a small town in flyover country. No idea if things are different here and now.

Folks have wised up, WOHM will not look down on her.

Yes, not being in sync w daily coffee and yoga will leave you out of sahm crowd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom did this. She was always passed over for promotions, travel,etc. her career never recovered, and she was the first let go when the company hit problems.

She also said that it was hard to feel like you were both a WOHM and SAHM, so no one really understood you and she didn't have a place in the mommy wars. Also, she wasn't enough of a SAHM for that crowd. But the WOHM crowd looked down on her, too.

This was 1980-99ish in a small town in flyover country. No idea if things are different here and now.

Folks have wised up, WOHM will not look down on her.

Yes, not being in sync w daily coffee and yoga will leave you out of sahm crowd

Find one of the numerous other mommy war threads to make your SAHM remarks.

[Anonymous]

I just went from part-time (school hours) at home to full time in the office. Right now I'm enjoying the additional pay for hardly any increase in actual work, to be honest. It's true that full time with flexibility is the best. I go into work early and the kids do 2 hours of aftercare. I also feel the weekends are more family and rest than I did before (a clearer distinction).