Part-time work

[Jinny]

After telling my manager that I plan to retire in the next few months he asked whether I would be interested in going part-time. I believe if I express interest I will have some ability to craft the specifics of the arrangement. I'm interested in hearing how others have handled part-time. Hourly or salary? Paid vacation? Have set hours in the office? Benefits? I know some of this will be set by company policy and employment laws. Thanks for any input!

[brian313313]

I left the workforce in my mid-30s to go to college. My employer gave me a salary offer of half my old salary for 24 hrs/week. This included paid vacation (adjusted for the PT schedule) and the full range of benefits including health insurance which was nice and made it a fair exchange. It worked for me.

For me, when I FIRE I do not want to work part-time. I do plan to continue working but on an on-off rotation by taking only short-term contracts. When working, I get money I don't need for living. When I'm off I can travel anywhere I want to and blow it all because I don't need it. That's a personal choice of course so whatever you're looking for is what's most important.

[Jinny]

Great info- thanks. We have reached our FI number so the part-time income would be money that could be saved or spent on some "extras". Right now we must stay close to home anyway because of some family obligations so the part-time work wouldn't hold us back from any extended travel plans. I was surprised to see you received full benefits. I had anticipated having to give up medical coverage if I went part-time.

[BlueHouse]

After telling my manager that I plan to retire in the next few months he asked whether I would be interested in going part-time. I believe if I express interest I will have some ability to craft the specifics of the arrangement. I'm interested in hearing how others have handled part-time. Hourly or salary? Paid vacation? Have set hours in the office? Benefits? I know some of this will be set by company policy and employment laws. Thanks for any input!

I haven't been in this situation yet, but I've seen others go part time.  Usually it means they end up working 35 hours per week for 1/2 the pay.  For this reason, I would definitely go hourly, put a minimum in place (must pay for whole or half day...no 1 hour meetings, etc), and increase the hourly rate to include all of your fringe -- so no paid vacations or holidays, etc. 

[jade]

I am paid hourly, and work university term time (30 wks) of the year, approx 24 hours a week in the UK. As others have said, being paid hourly might be better in terms of being clear when you're working and when you're not as long as you will be paid for the same things other contract staff would be paid for. My holiday pay is added to my hourly rate. I love working part time, it definitely helps with increasing job satisfaction.