How to ask boss to work part-time
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jaber20
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| I just had my second daughter a few months ago. I have a three year old as well. The cost of childcare for two doesn't make economic sense for us anymore. For other reasons as well I'd like to stay at home now but still keep the foot in the door of my company until my kids are in school. Before giving my notice I thought I'd see if my boss would allow me to work two days per week. Does anyone have suggestions on how to pose this to my boss, company? Anyone have experience doing this? |
Anonymous
| I am a Dad who rearranged his schedule around child care. I went to my boss, explained that I really liked my job, but that I needed to be with my kids and asked for an alternate schedule. I think an important thing is to offer a finite end date to the modified schedule. if you just ask for part time they may worry about whether or not you will ever come back full time. Offering a set end date allows them some certainty and may make them more comfortable with the idea. |
Anonymous
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I went to part-time! And love it!
Go in with a plan, but be flexible. Suggest what responsibilities you'll need to punt to someone else, and who that someone else may be. Have an idea if you would prefer a few full days, or partial days. And, before you even go to talk to your boss, start working on childcare! At least have an idea of what is available in your area. Part-time centers are few and far between. Good luck! It's worth it! |
Anonymous
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After my second daughter was born I decided to pose the same question to my boss, but going to a shorter day as opposed to 2x a week. Like the PP mentioned, I offered a trial period and saw if we could evaluate how it was working for both of us after 6 months. Turned out to be a fantastic move for me for a while and after a year, I went back to full-time.
And if you're honest about wanting to stay with the company and stay up-to-date while scaling back, that might bode well with showing your boss that you're not checking out early. Good luck! |
Anonymous
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If you are a valuable employee with specialized skills and are difficult to replace, they should be willing compromise in order to keep you. I went back after my DS was born at 60% (3 days per week) instead of full time and also now work from home 2 of those 3 days. DS goes to a nanny share.
I presented my boss with the projects I thought I could continue to work on and tasks that I thought could be passed off to other employees, who happened to be needing additional billable hours. It worked out, but I was also prepared to work on whatever they wanted me to as my side of the compromise. Truthfully, they knew I could afford to stay home (DS is in big law) and would walk if they only gave me the option of full time. I love working part-time but I have given up the opportunity for promotion and will likely go longer than usual before getting my next raise. I'm OK with all of that. Good luck, OP! |
Anonymous
Whoops, DH is in big law, not DS 
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Anonymous
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I really considered going part-time, but at my federal agency, they would only do 64 hours or less. I wanted to do 70 hours, but they wouldn't let me. The other things that I had to weigh: in a RIF, part-timers go into a pool with other part-timers. At my agency, there are only 6 part-timers and I would be the most junior, meaning I would almost be assured of losing my job. Maybe in a more robust time with federal budgets not being in jeopardy, it was a chance I might have taken, but not in today's climate. Also, my agency would give away my FTE and I would have to compete for an open position should I ever have wanted to go back full-time. I think all of this is agency-specific b/c I know other feds who don't have the same restrictions.
In the end, I decided against it, but I did do a lot of research up front before I proposed it to my boss (who would've said yes). |