Negotiating pay: full vs part time

[Britan]

My pregnant brain is having a hard time calculating this out… need some help thinking through numbers.

At my last job, the last record I have (2018) I was making 80k base salary with a bonus of $4,500. Full time, so I had all benefits. I think I got a decent raise in 2019, but I don’t remember what my leaving salary was when I left at the end of 2019.

Im now working part time at a different company but same basic job. $45/hr for 20 hrs per week so I do not get benefits. But I’m not a contractor, so I do get company laptop, IT support, etc. I wfh, even sans pandemic, so I do have to provide my own office space.

Im debating going back to full time after baby 2 is here, in part to pay for the exorbitantly expensive childcare for an infant. It may not be worth it (because then we have to pay childcare full time vs part time, however it’s nigh upon impossible to find part time infant care here anyways). But I’m trying to get a full picture of what it would look like financially if we did that. And I’m having a hard time finding a good calculator for this. Most just do $/hr * hrs worked, but don’t include the benefits vs no benefits calculation, so I have no idea how to calculate what I’m “worth” for salary.

[yachi]

There's different ways of looking at this, but here are some ideas:

Health Care:  Here what you're looking for is the difference between being covered on your spouse's plan, and being covered through your employer when you work.  So if spousal coverage costs $100 per pay period on our SO's insurance, and you can be on your own plan at full time for $50 per pay period, then you're saving $50 per pay period.

Access to 401(k):  If you're already maxing out all your other tax-advantaged accounts, this has some value.  You can roughly consider this value to be the taxes saved on what you can put into your 401(k)

Paid Time Off:  Add up all your vacation days, and holidays, subtract from that any holidays you get now.

Building up Credits for Social Security: I'm not really sure how to value this one, but there is *something* there

Depending on the type of person you are, there are benefits of disadvantages to working full time that can't really be turned into dollars.  You'll likely advance faster when you're full time.  You'll have more time away from home at full time.

[Britan]

I guess my question is… if converting $45/hr straight to 40 hrs/week, that would give about $93,000/ year. However is it reasonable to expect that, given that I’d also be getting benefits? Is that high? Given what I had been making and the rate of pay increases I’d been getting, that’s about in line with what I’d expect if I had just continued full time (though I also had more managing duties back then, which I hated and don’t want now).

The PTO is the biggest draw for me - right now I have no sick leave, no PTO, and no holiday pay. So if son gets sick, or daycare is closed for any reason, I have to take the unpaid day or try to work + do childcare. Every holiday is an “ugh” for me. 401k is the next biggest draw. Free money in the match, and since we have nearly maxed our other tax advantages accounts this year, having a 401k would be a nice additional savings vehicle (assuming we aren’t net negative after paying childcare).

Fortunately the job is 100% remote either way.

But at the end of the day, I like the flexibility of part time, like… a lot. Not sure how to quantify that. But damn it’s nice to take a guilt free nap in the middle of the day.

[Metalcat]

I would absolutely ask for the exact came hourly rate, and then let them counter with something lower if they want to factor in benefits, etc. Don't do that negotiating work for them, that's ridiculous.

[Britan]

Well they’re the ones who want me full time, so I kind of put it in their court to make me an offer to consider, I just am not sure how I’d evaluate whatever number they came back with, if it was lower than $93k. I’m somewhat optimistic, as I’m the only one willing and able to do a particular task for a pretty unreasonable client, which has been a contributor to pretty high turnover on the project. I actually don’t mind because I find the work intellectually satisfying and the clients are slightly less unreasonable than a newborn and toddler, so lower stress for me than being a SAHM, lol.

But yeah, I’m thinking I’ll keep the same hourly rate equivalent as my baseline. If they offer me more, neat. If less, I’ll either stay part time or ask for more.

[yachi]

Well they’re the ones who want me full time, so I kind of put it in their court to make me an offer to consider

That's good - it already let's them know they need to think about an offer and you won't just take whatever they give just to be full time

I just am not sure how I’d evaluate whatever number they came back with, if it was lower than $93k.

If it comes down to that, you could always just ask them:  "Hey, I received your offer for full time, it looks like it comes to $XX per hour [pause long enough that they can interject and explain why it's a lower hourly rate] As you know I'm going to need full time child care to make this work.  I was wondering what went into deciding on this number."

They can explain what went into it, you can say thank you for explaining, I'll have to think about this and keep thinking about the offer.

I’m somewhat optimistic, as I’m the only one willing and able to do a particular task for a pretty unreasonable client, which has been a contributor to pretty high turnover on the project.

This is huge.  It's very costly for a company to cycle through people whether they realize it or not.  There's time spent interviewing, training.

I actually don’t mind because I find the work intellectually satisfying and the clients are slightly less unreasonable than a newborn and toddler, so lower stress for me than being a SAHM, lol.

That's important.  A less-stressed mommy can be a better mommy, and the trade off of more time at childcare can be worth it.  You should make sure your have good figures for how much childcare will cost you before an offer comes in.