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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think people don;t seem to understand that if I work half/part-time, I only get half the money?

65 replies

undercovamutha · 03/03/2011 18:07

I DO appreciate being able to work part-time, and having an understanding boss who was prepared to let me reduce my hours when I had the DCs.

But AIBU to be fed up that everyone thinks I should be just so grateful all the time for being able to work part-time. I work 50% hours, and to get my work done I have to bring a lot home to do, I am very regularly on the phone to clients in my 'free-time', getting texts to check my emails etc. I arrange all doctors appts etc in my own time, and go into work very early to have any chance of getting my work done. If I worked full time, I would get double the pay I get now and actually be paid for the hassle!

And yet all people ever tell me is how lucky I am to be working part-time. I feel like shouting 'I only get paid half the money you know!'. Why does it always feel like you are being done a huge favour for which you must be eternally grateful?

OP posts:

JetSetWilly · 03/03/2011 18:08

I hear ya

MitchiestInge · 03/03/2011 18:10

Is that you ucm?

Hulababy · 03/03/2011 18:10

I get the "Ooh, you are so lucky|" coments, normally when heading home at lunch time. I always reply with the "But still only get paid half the wage" or similar.

musksticks · 03/03/2011 18:11

Im so with you

Its the curse of the part time worker

DurhamDurham · 03/03/2011 18:11

I work 4 days at work and usually have a friday off (or a wednesday if I feel like breaking the week up) and I get so many comments from work colleagues who work 5 days.
They go on and on about how lucky I am, it's like they think I get an extra day off paid. I suggest they ask if they can drop a day and take home less pay. They tend to go quiet at this point.

Lambzig · 03/03/2011 18:12

I know I feel the same. Its like you have to apologise for only being there half the time as if you are bunking off the rest.

I have just had someone at work call me asking to speak to me (a peer not a boss) and when I explained I wasn't working today and asked if I could call her first thing tomorrow, she said "Well its important and quite urgent so I need you to spare me half an hour now" and proceeded to talk at me for ages. I was out of the house, didnt have a pen to write any info down and will have to call her back tomorrow anyway. She ended the conversation saying "oh you are lucky not working, I'd love to have my feet up on the sofa eating biscuits all day".

So annoying.

I know I am lucky to be able to work 50% of my time and to be able (just) to afford to, but it really is frustrating to be so patronised.

musksticks · 03/03/2011 18:13

I have had other colleagues whinge that Im not in

er, I only work 3 days a week

bigTillyMint · 03/03/2011 18:14

Same boat for me too.

I wish it was full-time money for part-time work though

tougholdbird · 03/03/2011 18:15

I get 'did you have a nice day off?' when I come back in to work after my non working day. Bugs me lots.

musksticks · 03/03/2011 18:19

Im about to quit a job because the expectation to work on non paid hours is too high. i applied for a 0.6 job but the other staff seem to think my non paid days are when i have noting else to do so I should be available to just come to meetings and do marketing days etc at the drop of a hat.
We recently had a staff meeting in which they decided to do our marketing open day on a friday 2-7. I have no childcare on that day as its a non working day. So I told them it was unlikely i could attend as I didnt have child care. this was met with stony stares and criticsm and rolling eyes.

arseholes

SharonGless · 03/03/2011 18:20

Most people I know who work part time don't have the reduction in workload either so the company end up getting more out of you for less money.

Also most people who work flexibly are treated less favourably when it comes to promotion/moving departments. Have less holidays too!

hardhatdonned · 03/03/2011 18:23

As a full time worker who has no chance of going part time - mainly due to finances - i do think you're being a tad unreasonable. A lot of part timers where I work have had their work loads so drastically reduced to accomodate their hours they may as well not turn up. But where does the work go. My desk.

GwendolineMaryLacey · 03/03/2011 18:27

Agree with all of the above. And certainly about the reduction of workload. My job went to jobshare when I reduced my hours but I still somehow seem to be doing the lion's share. My jobshare is leaving next month and I know damn well they won't replace her now. Doesn't take a genius to work out what'll happen.

My finances were such that I couldn't afford to put dd in full time childcare or be a sahm so I was buggered both ways.

tougholdbird · 03/03/2011 18:28

hardhat are you saying the part timers in your area do not do the work they have been allocated? Or that they don't have any work to do? If you have an unreasonable workload you need to have a discussion with your management - they can use the savings in salary from part timers to fund some more effort, surely?

LessNarkyPuffin · 03/03/2011 18:29

'Part-time' is often not as part time as is suggests. If you work three days a week you probably end up giving them a fourth for free when you add up the time you spend working on stuff at home.

hardhatdonned · 03/03/2011 18:30

Basically where I am we don't need the part timers but as nearly all have come back from mat leave and the company is legally obliged to give them their jobs back it's turned into a catch 22 really. We have one person who has come back on 1 day a week basis, that day is spent catching up with emails and gossip in the office then they bugger off again. The work is there, just the part timers where I am don't want to do it.

diddl · 03/03/2011 18:32

Well you are lucky that your boss has enabled this & that you can afford it.

But having to work at home-wouldn´t you be better to slightly increase your hours?

MrsVidic · 03/03/2011 18:33

I love working part time. I get more than half the money because of tax and I get to see my dd grow up while still having a career.

However, I believe the key to successful part time working is to begin the job as part time so people font have the expectation that you can stay on and realise family comes first.

Saying that I've just done a few overtime hours covering my job share on sick and now have had to say firmly I can't fo it on a regular basis due to childcare as I miss my dd!

CBear6 · 03/03/2011 18:33

It doesn't sound like you've had your work load reduced at all though if you're doing work in your own time and are having to go in early, etc.

My employer moved me from my "permanent" job role back into the job role I was doing four year ago on the grounds that I'm "never there". I was in maternity leave last year and sick leave for a little while following a mmc. They then told me that I "haven't done a full week" since I came back - um, no, because I dropped to three days and you approved it.

I've also been told I'm lucky to get to spend half the week at home and that I shouldn't be bothered about this new job role even though I hate it enough to be in tears all of the time because I'm "only" part time so it doesn't matter. I also find that my opinions and input were often discounted because they said major decisions didn't affect me as much because I'm not there that much with only being part time.

You're not being unreasonable. Yes, we're lucky to live in a country where part time working is possible and employers must consider all requests but at the same time there's a lot of ignorance about what part time actually entails and in a lot of cases part times are treated like second class employees.

hardhatdonned · 03/03/2011 18:34

Also the concept of "you're part time and end up giving a day for free on top" applies to full timers too. I tend to do 2 or three full days a month over time on average. It's shite however many hours you choose to work.

GrimmaTheNome · 03/03/2011 18:34

I work part time and my boss usually comments in annual reviews that I'm pretty much as productive as many fulltimers.

But then I love my job, I love that if its a beautiful day I can go for a walk and put in hours in the evening (I write software, from home, all my colleagues are in the US so they don't care what hours I work)

I'm in a nice win-win situation, TBH - as I'm a 50 year old PhD with 25 years in the industry, half a salary is enough.

So if anyone tells me I'm lucky (which oddly, no-one ever does) I am the exception to the rule - I am.

GwendolineMaryLacey · 03/03/2011 18:35

They're not legally obliged to approve PT working requests though if the work doesn't suit it. Sounds like your boss needs a kick up the arse for letting it happen.

OTTMummA · 03/03/2011 18:38

Hardhatdonned, you need to speak to management, as your situation is simply not fair, and a waste of resources.
I work 3 days a week, the 3 busy days, go in early, stay late and do much more work in terms of results than the rest of my management team.
I recently had a review of my performance and came out above my senoir work collegues.
They frankly get paid to babysit the running of the day.
I do the actually work load needed to be done.
They know it, i know it, my AM knows it.
I am also the only one with a young family aswell, the rest are single, with no ties and have plently of free time to organise themselves, they just choose not to.

LessNarkyPuffin · 03/03/2011 18:45

Hardhat I'm not an naive. I know full time work doesn't consist of the contractually required hours, and 8 til 7 is common than 9 to 5, often with work to take home. It's usually when people cut down to 3 days rather than four that employers seem to have the most trouble splitting workload. I think you're being screwed by a company that's obviously gone too far the other way.

LessNarkyPuffin · 03/03/2011 18:46

random an in there

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