Working part-time in a "real job"

digiology

Hi all,


Since finishing college I've avoided working in industry for the simple fact that the amount of hours don't suit me. Other pursuits of mine (not likely to ever make me money but extremely important to me) need 40 or 50 hours a week of my time.

The thing is that, its an awful shame as I would be a very good employee and would like to develop a career part-time. I certainly don't need a typical full-time salary to survive.

My ideal workweek would be four days a week plus 25 days holidays a year (effectively giving me a three day week for six months if I spread out the holidays). I'd expect 4/5th the salary of a similar position and be prepared to be on call on the weekday I'm out.
I don't think that's unreasonable but there is something about the power relationships that seems to make such demands unlikely to get you anywhere. Imagine asking for that in an interview!
Then again I'd be willing to do 2 or 3 years in a company at regular hours if I thought they'd offer me such a "privilege".
I know some companies offer fewer hours to women who have children and don't see how this would be any different from a company's perspective.


I'm wondering what other people's experiences are in trying to get part-time hours but still have a good job. My background is in computer science so experiences related to the software industry are particularly relevant.


Any suggestions on career directions that are more likely to be suited to my lifestyle are also appreciated.

tenchi-fan

I know people who don't work a 5 day week. their recipe is basically, work your way up to a good wage by staying a long time in the company, and then ask for reduced hours. I know a woman who works 5 days over 2 weeks.

Alternatively, self-employment (maybe on a consultancy basis) is the way to go.

If you're skilled enough, it should be possible to negotiate a 4-day week - the argument of course that you'll only require 80% of the asking salary.

Similarly, if you start a job on a 5 day week and get on top of your workload, while avoiding taking on new tasks, you might be able to convince your employer to reduce you to a 4 day week.

wli

My bro's gf works in IT and networks in big company in dublin, she has being there for 3-4 years and recently starting doin a masters in computers or somthing at night part time. the work load from college was getting bigger and bigger so she asked for reduced hrs in work, initally they said no...

A couple weeks later she decided to leave the position permanently to find part time work some where else whilst finishing her thesis, she had to give a months notice.

Less than a week later she was offered the 3 day week and a pay rise, equating to getting paid for a 4 day week.

So now shes working 3 days getting paid for 4, pretty sweet,
but she did go thru some hardship to be given this previllage.


I think wat you are trying to achieve is perfection and i love the idea,
best of luck, sorry i dont have any positive advice on the matter,

Please please let us know if you manage to find the ideal position your looking for,
But dont hold your breath, industry works that way, squeezing every minute..

tenchi-fan

wli wrote: »

But dont hold your breath, industry works that way, squeezing every minute..

I think the trick is to get a big salary so you can afford the paycut when your hours are reduced. This is the difficult part these days. If your employer knows you are willing to work for say €30k, he will expect you to work for 5 days for €30k.

Of course, there's another side. And that is, if you know you'll get paid 25% more for an extra day, your best intentions of getting by on a 4 day week might go out the window!

digiology

I think the trouble with working your way up up in a company so you have some power in choosing your hours is that its hard to know if that's likely before you invest a few year in the company.


Perhaps I could specialize in something very scarce and specific.


As for being able to afford it, I don't see that as a problem, software jobs typically pay way more than I'd ever need (at least for the foreseeable future).

dan_d

You sound very, very like a friend of mine....his "real life" took up a lot of time and he wanted the same if he could get it.

Now, to be fair, he was made redundant way back, and is now in a developing country living the life of reilly (whoever he was!) doing all the things he loves and a bit of work around it to keep some money coming in.

The way I see it, you've got 3 options. Either find a position that allows you to work from home and try and arrange your own hours accordingly, try and find a job that is looking for someone 2-3 days a week only, or else work your way up a company til you're in a position to set up your own working arrangements.

The only way to look at the money side of it is will you make enough to keep you happy, keep you going? After that, tying yourself to getting paid for 4 days and working 3, or other conditions is going to make your search even more complicated.

You're probably right in the specialised thing too though. Either make yourself invaluable to a company - or else get a company to invest so much money training you on courses etc that you are worth a lot of money to them.

I know there's nothing specific there, but there's my 2 cents!!

Thoie

digiology wrote: »

My ideal workweek would be four days a week plus 25 days holidays a year (effectively giving me a three day week for six months if I spread out the holidays). I'd expect 4/5th the salary of a similar position and be prepared to be on call on the weekday I'm out.

I think one of the problems is that in most companies it would be rare to start out with 25 days holidays - particularly if you're only working a 4 day week. It depends on precisely how long the working day is, but if, for example, you were on a 7 hour day (9-5 with an hour for lunch/breaks), 4 days a week, you'd be entitled to about 15 days a year + bank holidays (9). Additional days holidays are often given after a certain period. Some places give an extra day for each year you're there, others for every 2 years.

Would you be willing to do 2 or 3 days a week, for 2/5 or 3/5 of the salary? Some companies do job sharing, usually in administrative roles.

Secretarial temping, if you have the skills, can be quite flexible, in that you let the agency know up front what days you're available. As long as you're up front about it and don't start messing around ("oh this week I'll only do Mon, Wed, Thurs") most will be fine with that.

digiology

Yeah I should have reduced the number of holidays. I had a job a while back with 25 days a year, 4/5ths of that would be 20 but if it has to be 15 so be it.

I think I could manage on a half-job but administration is a waste of time for me, I want something technical and challenging.


Yeah, this is looking like a difficult task. I'd love a real career and the ability to move between companies although that wouldn't be a big deal if there was scope for development within a company.

I would have thought 3 or 4 day weeks were common in order to accommodate for women (and you would think that would generalize to parents which should generalize to employees!).

I wonder if there are particular countries where this is more common, I remember reading an article about Berlin last year saying something like "if you work part-time in Berlin, you've failed", as if to say part-time is the default.

Eoin

As has been mentioned, 25 paid days annual leave would be pretty generous for someone on a full working week, let alone on a 80% of a normal working week. Also remember that in many companies, a certain amount of days are mandatory days off. For instance, my sister gets 20 days leave, but at least 6 of them must be taken when the company says so.

I think the trouble with working your way up up in a company so you have some power in choosing your hours is that its hard to know if that's likely before you invest a few year in the company.

I don't think that's really an option, unless you work for yourself. The more you work your way up in a company, the less they'll want you to work reduced hours. They're not really going to want to invest in someone who doesn't want to commit.

Women returning to the workforce after having kids probably have a much better chance though.

Thoie

digiology wrote: »

I would have thought 3 or 4 day weeks were common in order to accommodate for women (and you would think that would generalize to parents which should generalize to employees!).

Most companies do allow 60/80%, and all the ones I know (which is a limited number of companies, I haven't done a survey ) have it open to both parents, not just the mother. From my perception though it's normally after people have been there some undefined number of years - I don't think I've ever seen anyone start on a 3/4 day week in a career-type job. Perhaps I haven't been paying enough attention.