Part time work

[JROH]

Hello mustachian parents!

I am fast approaching the end of my maternity leave and had decided to stay home.  When I called my boss to let them know I was offered a sweetheart of a deal- 3 days a week!  This sounds ideal-  best of both worlds.  It would be on a trial basis for 90 days and at the end we would re-evaluate whether or not the arrangement was working for both my employer and myself.  The only problem we are facing is childcare.  We had been interviewing full time nannies prior to going down this path.  I will need a part time nanny quickly.

My problem is this- since I had come to terms with staying at home, now I am even balking at the idea of part time!  But the mustachian in me is thinking of the extra cash and professional connections that my job provides.  Not to mention adult interaction!

I am wondering if any of you could share your experiences.....do you work part time?  Do you love it or hate it?  Did you decide to stay at home after working part time?

My fears are as follows:
1.  Early mornings after late nights.  My kids are night owls
2. Breastfeeding-  I currently breastfeed and am concerned that time away will negatively impact my efforts.
3. Finding quality childcare.  This will obviously be the most important.  I won't go back to work if I can't find the right person to watch them.  Family will help with one day and we'll need a nanny for the other two days.
3.  On the flip side,  if I leave work (banking), will I be able to get back into the game in a few years?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[frugal rph]

I currently work 5 days every 2 weeks. The type of schedule you will have makes a big difference.  Will you work 3 days in a row, every other day, or what? I think you will get used to the early mornings after late nights because a day to either sleep in order take a nap with the kids isn't that far away.

I tried to find a part time nanny to watch my kids at my place, but that didn't work out. I ended up very happy with another mom watching my kids with her kids. I do have to drop off and pick up the kids, but she provides food and the mess is,made at her house, not mine. Since she watches her own children too, she doesn't need certain days off or call in sick.

I think part time work is good for me as a person. I need some adult interaction, and it keeps your career going without being overwhelming. It is much easier to go back to a full-time job from a part time one versus staying home. My only concern for you would be will your employer be trying to get you to cram 4 or 5 days of work into 3?

Finding the riget childcare situation may take awhile, so don't give up. Good luck! !

[little_brown_dog]

I used to work part time, now a sahm. I never worked pt with kids though. One thing to really consider is the expectations of your pt status. Many times employers/bosses have a really hard time adjusting their expectations when a staffer drops their hours. Often they agree to the pt status just to keep a good employee instead of losing you. Logically your boss knows you are working fewer days, but it can be very hard adjusting expectations to accommodate this change. They are used to you being more available, and may become disappointed or frustrated when you aren't around on your days off, or when you inevitably can't do as much in a week. I had this problem – it didn’t matter how productive I was during my pt work hours, there was still frustration that I was unavailable to help some days of the week, and the expectation that I would be able to get 60 hours of work done in 20.

[COlady]

This is exactly what happened to me! I now work M-W (22 hours per week) and my 9 month old twins stay with a nanny which is expensive but well worth the money. For me this has been the best of both worlds! I couldn't imagine life any other way now. 

Most of the moms in my twins group stay home (some want to but the majority can't afford childcare for 2 I think).  There are a few that work 50+ hours per week with a spouse that works similar hours and they simply never see their babies! They're always posting about how they will go home and get their babies out of their cribs and just rock them while they're sleeping. I cannot imagine!

Go for it! You can always quit if you decide you want to stay home full time.

[COlady]

I used to work part time, now a sahm. I never worked pt with kids though. One thing to really consider is the expectations of your pt status. Many times employers/bosses have a really hard time adjusting their expectations when a staffer drops their hours. Often they agree to the pt status just to keep a good employee instead of losing you. Logically your boss knows you are working fewer days, but it can be very hard adjusting expectations to accommodate this change. They are used to you being more available, and may become disappointed or frustrated when you aren't around on your days off, or when you inevitably can't do as much in a week. I had this problem – it didn’t matter how productive I was during my pt work hours, there was still frustration that I was unavailable to help some days of the week, and the expectation that I would be able to get 60 hours of work done in 20.

+1, I would be make sure you're paid on a hourly basis. I am a contractor so I'm only paid for the time I work and I do not receive benefits (but my hourly rate is much higher to compensate).

[mamagoose]

Do you know any other moms in your neighborhood with nannies? Nanny sharing is very popular in my neighborhood, and it gives the kids built-in BFFs. Don't be afraid to ask your other mom friends if they'd be open to sharing their nanny - they might welcome the new baby friend. The downside is that since the other family did the legwork tracking down a good nanny, you'll probably need to take your kid to their house instead of your own.

Another option - do you know other part-time working moms that you could trade days with each other's kids? Same concept.

[COlady]

Do you know any other moms in your neighborhood with nannies? Nanny sharing is very popular in my neighborhood, and it gives the kids built-in BFFs. Don't be afraid to ask your other mom friends if they'd be open to sharing their nanny - they might welcome the new baby friend. The downside is that since the other family did the legwork tracking down a good nanny, you'll probably need to take your kid to their house instead of your own.

Another option - do you know other part-time working moms that you could trade days with each other's kids? Same concept.

GREAT IDEA!!! You could save a lot of money going this route too. I can't do this because I have twins and you can't expect one person to watch more than 2 infants at a time :).

[mm1970]

This is going to depend on lot on the company, the job, etc.

I have worked PT twice, and it was mostly great.  There are times that companies/ bosses will pressure you into doing more.  Getting paid hourly was much better for me in that situation, because 35 hours is 35 hours.  One of the companies I was "salary" part time, and that wasn't as good.

Sometimes bosses will want to demote you because you aren't working full time - try to avoid that.

Honestly, the sleep is an issue for at least a year, as is breastfeeding.  I was tired, sleep-deprived, hated pumping, had clogged ducts from it also. 

I had at home childcare that I loved, and I worked 5 days a week, just short days.

My recommendation would be to do it, because you can always quit later.  It's easier to try it and quit later than to quit now and try to get back into it later.

[Jen]

I work part time (70% of a standard work load at my firm) and love it.  I have daycare for my son four days per week, which gives me some flexibility as my job is client-service oriented, so I have to be responsive regardless of whether it is officially a working day or not.  But that actually works out great for me, because I can occasionally use daycare while I get a few solo errands done, etc.  I love my arrangement because I'm paid very well for my work, it takes some financial pressure off my husband and allows us to pay down our mortgage very quickly, and my job provides excellent benefits (my husband is self-employed).  Plus, I generally like my job and like getting some adult interaction - but still feel like I get to spend a lot more time with my son than if I worked full time.  I find it makes weekends less hectic, plus I can schedule all doctor appointments, etc. on days I'm home, which makes things less stressful.  I'd recommend at least giving it a try, although I think it totally depends on your employer and how good you are at establishing boundaries.  Best of luck!

[JROH]

Thanks everyone!  Really great insights for me.  I spoke with my boss and have decided to stay at home, largely based on some of your insights.  The work load expectation was higher than I could do on a PT, salaried basis (in my opinion) and it was going to shift largely into the grunt work that no one likes to do.  Also, talks of "getting things done despite part time hours", aka, working on your own time.  Based on that, I realized it would be better for me to say no to the position. 

It feels really good to have looked at all the options and picked the one that worked best for myself and my family.  I am not sure how long I will maintain my status as a SAHM, but I have a lot of confidence that when/if I return to work I will find something worth going back for!

[mm1970]

Thanks everyone!  Really great insights for me.  I spoke with my boss and have decided to stay at home, largely based on some of your insights.  The work load expectation was higher than I could do on a PT, salaried basis (in my opinion) and it was going to shift largely into the grunt work that no one likes to do.  Also, talks of "getting things done despite part time hours", aka, working on your own time.  Based on that, I realized it would be better for me to say no to the position. 

It feels really good to have looked at all the options and picked the one that worked best for myself and my family.  I am not sure how long I will maintain my status as a SAHM, but I have a lot of confidence that when/if I return to work I will find something worth going back for!

This sounds like the best move, honestly.

In my first job with my first baby, the company policy was that part time was hourly.  So I had a baby in our small subsidiary right before another woman. She went back part time. My supervisor suggested that I take a demotion and no longer manage my 2-people.  I said "no thanks" and continued full time.

However, that boss left when my son was 1 year old, so at 1.5 years, I asked my new boss to go part time.  He said yes, and no demotion required.  So that was great.  I was nominally on 30 hours, but if I ended up working 35, I got paid for it.  (Important, because at 30 hours, i still needed FT daycare).  The good part about the job aspect is that I didn't do grunt work - on the contrary, I offloaded the grunt work to the 2 guys who worked for me - and we called it allowing them to grow.  (And it really was helping them learn new skills, I was quite senior to them.)

I also trained my two contemporaries to plan better.  If they needed summary data for the Friday 8:30 am meeting, then they needed to ask me before 1 pm on Thursday.  There was a history of them asking for data at 3 pm when I left at 3:30 pm.

Alas, sadly, we got new management that told me they didn't believe in part time work.  Yes, the other woman was still part time. 
So I quit to go work for the old boss, but part time.
That other woman was pressured to work more and more hours, and travel more.  She eventually quit and went into consulting.
A third woman married shortly after I left and had a baby, and went back part time.  They were a bit nicer to her, but as they pressured her into more hours, she quit.
Woman #4 has a 1 year old baby, and I think she's still part time.

Anyway, my new company was "salary part time".  As we ramped up, I found myself getting paid for 30 hours but working 35 hours.  At that point, my son was 3 and and I agreed to go full time (5 extra hours of work for 10 extra hours of pay).

The "working on your own time" is what can eat into your life.  Not that I don't work weekends, etc - I was more likely to be the person here on the weekend, BUT I also could not stay late because I had to pick up the kid.

Fast forward, second baby.  New company, great new boss (at this point there are a few layers between me and "old boss").  Came back pretty early but at 25 hours a week (hourly) and then came back at 32 hours/week (salaried).  I was much better at setting boundaries, and I also had a team of 6 people working for me by now - so again, I worked on the important stuff and empowered my employees and trained them to do the other stuff. 

I eventually went full time when my son was 1 (many reasons, namely I felt I needed more time at the office to do my job effectively).  My team was laid off 10 days later.  So, yeah, I regret going back full time.

Wow, that was long - but just wanted to repeat that it sounds like you are doing the right thing here.  Although were it me, I would probably still work part time and try to make it what *I* wanted it to be first.  Meaning - sure they want you to do the grunt work, and work at home and such - but honestly, you can refuse to do that.  Best case, you do a great job at what you like to do, they appreciate your work and your dedication, and they change their "attitude" on what it's like to have a mother working part time.

Worst case, they dump the grunt work on you anyway, are unhappy that you aren't doing 45 hours of work in 30, and grumble at you.  In which case, you quit.  This is more what I did and other coworkers did -it's almost like I felt it was my duty to try and set things up a certain way for others and prove what is possible.  Especially hard for a woman in my area of tech.  And when I hit a wall (forcing me back to FT), I quit.

[The Happy Philosopher]

I'm a big fan of part-time work and creative solutions. When employees are happier they do better work. Two happy part-time employees are much more effective than a miserable full-time employee. Good luck!