Moving to part-time - experiences, advice?

[medb22]

Hello everyone. I'm strongly considering moving to part-time, and would really appreciate any advice/words of caution from anyone who has done this.

For context, I'm a Humanities lecturer (not UK), and have been full time in my department for fourteen years. I've been unhappy for a long time, increasingly so since Covid. I have two kids under 7, one of whom has some additional needs (ASD Level 1). The much-lauded flexibility of academia means that I've been able to shorten his day in nursery - picking him up around 3, so he doesn't have to do a full day. This means, of course, that I end up working at least three evenings/nights a week and a half day at the weekend to manage my own workload. He is due to start primary school next year, and I worry about how he's going to manage dealing with the change (it would be two new settings - school, and wrap-around care).

To be honest, I feel like general quality of life is bad at the moment. I've never really enjoyed the teaching side - I have major imposter syndrome, am a perfectionist, completely unable to shake things off, etc - and this has really ramped up over the last few years. During term-time, I'm very on edge: constantly stressed about work, resentful of having to work late into the night etc. I'm only half present both at home and in work, and both are getting the bad half, if that makes sense.

We are extremely lucky in that we could absorb my salary drop if I did move to part-time. I'm on a strange contract, which means I can't be promoted (a sort of permanent fellowship, I suppose). There's no chance of moving onto a more standard contract unless a new post is created, which there are no plans for. So, I don't have potential pay increases to factor in. However, two colleagues I've spoken to, both of whom started as part-time and have recently moved to full-time, have been really negative about it. They both said that they found it completely impossible to 'ring-fence' their hours and manage expectations around workloads from both other faculty and students, and that they felt they were working almost full-time for half pay, effectively. Ultimately though, they both see this as a career, and indeed are on a career path. I just want to leave, or at least, have a somewhat more bearable life: it's not like I can look forward to a nice salary bump over the next two decades, and I don't feel that killing myself to do good work for what a salary level that is basically a couple of steps up from entry-level rates until I retire. I feel like everyone in the house would be a bit happier if I was less unhappy, tbh.

I would really appreciate any advice those of you who have experience of part-time work in academia might have. Thanks so much.

I have worked pt in academia for over 5 years now. My experience has been positive on the whole but has not been without challenges. I did experience near burnout but worked with a therapist to overcome this. The burnout was not just work, it was also covid stresses.
On ring-fencing hours - ultimately it's up to you. Managers are always asking for more. However I am RUTHLESS and do not take on work I can't complete within my hours.
Now, the most difficult aspect for me was the drop in level of seniority (not formally but in how others perceive your status) and barriers to participating in decision making. I had to make my peace with not being at the grown-ups table anymore.

Thanks so much, Dox9. That's a really helpful perspective. I'm not overly concerned about a loss of superiority - my contract title means that many colleagues perceive and treat me as 'junior' anyway (another bugbear), and since I'm 'stuck' in this contract, I don't feel particularly invested in being part of the 'bigger picture' of the department anymore. I can see myself being ruthless with colleagues about staying within hours - I've been a very obliging colleague since I started and am very fed-up now of being taken for granted. I suppose it's harder with students, who are wont to email at any hour of the day anyway. Is it matter of putting in your email sig/on the vle: 'I work part time, and so will answer emails on X and Y days only'?

All this is theoretical of course, since I've no way of knowing whether my HoD will actually agree to it. The uni would be glad to get rid of me completely, as my non-standard contract is a bit of a thorn in their side, employment law wise! So I may end of having to choose between full time or redundancy, which - I probably wouldn't mind, honestly.

Don't make any big decisions when stressed out is what my gp advised. Try (if you can get) pt before redundancy.
Re students emailing at all hours. Let them email but manage their expectations about response time. State your working hours in your email and leave it at that. A bit extreme but I had a colleague who used to put a delay on her outgoing email in order to get people out of habit of expecting an immediate response.

Last bit - I do occasionally work outside my hours but only if it is either paid overtime, time in lieu agreed in advance, something I want to do for me or a meeting with very senior or external stakeholders. It doesn't happen often and is always my choice to do it. But equally there would be no issue in me taking time for Dr appt, dentist, dc school events. So there is a bit of flexibility both ways to keep everyone happy.

I have worked part time for many years. It has not hampered my progression and I have been promoted a number of times. I would say you do have to be very careful about your time and have clear boundaries. If someone wants me in a meeting it has to be on one of the days I work. In my department we have a transparent process for allocating work, so part timers don't get over burdened. Of course, it's inevitable that you will do some work beyond your nominal hours , but that is par for the course in academia. Full timers often put in time evenings and weekends, so part timers can expect to do some extra work too,
I thoroughly recommend it if you can take the financial hit (remember the pension implications too).

I have been part-time for about 12 years. When I started nobody was p-t but now it's become much more common. I've also progressed during this time and have taken on leadership roles. I really like it and it's definitely saved my health and allowed me to be a more hands-on parent. I think you just have to be really ruthless about working your hours and then stopping. I tell myself that I am not getting paid for the extra time (and also losing out on my pension) so I'm going to make the most of it! It took me a while to realise that this means saying no to about 90% of the opportunities that come along - you have to hold out for the ones you really want to do. People are often negative about p-t in academia, but I think it can work well if you are boundaries.

I am able to buy additional service so my pension still accumulates at FT rate. It isn't quite as tax efficient but there's no huge difference. Its worth exploring what is possible with your university pensions department if you do end up going pt.

Thanks everyone - I really appreciate the replies. Good to know that there are positives! When things settle a bit, I would probably look at retraining. Additional work in my own time is ok in principle (I do most of my research/writing outside contracted hours), it's more being expected to come in for meetings and so on 'out of hours'. Progression isn't a concern - I can't progress on this contract anyway, and to be honest I don't see myself staying in academia long term. I hear you about making a decision when stressed - to be honest though, I've just been getting more and more stressed and unhappy over the last 5 years, and I think I just need to do something now.

I may have a chat with my HoD about using parental leave: either 2 days a week until it runs out, or in a block covering a semester. I've never taken any, and it's use it or lose it, basically, and actually - if I move to part-time, that will also go pro-rata, so better to use it first I guess.

Thanks again - lots to think about here.

Quote: I've no way of knowing whether my HoD will actually agree to it. The uni would be glad to get rid of me completely, as my non-standard contract is a bit of a thorn in their side, employment law wise!

Hi OP,
I just wanted to suggest that if you decide to request part time work you look into your organisations policies for carers and the law around flexible working requests for carers (you are a carer beyond being a parent as your child has additional needs). I think if you make your request in writing quoting a flexible working request for carer then they will be less likely to decline and if they did decline would need some pretty firm reasons why your request could not be accommodated.

www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/work-and-career/other-rights-at-work/your-right-to-flexible-working

Thank you, Winter - I didn't even think about that aspect. I'm not in the UK, but imagine there's something similar here. I will check it out.