To think there should be more part time jobs

[Banana99]

I'm unemployed (by choice because I thought I would get something else).

I've had employment agency on the phone again offering me full time work. I've had several agencies tell me if I could work full time I would be employed tomorrow as they are desperate for people!

Except I can't work full time, my childcare options are rubbish (older primary child) especially in the holidays and DHs work is long hours and unpredictable.

Why don't they split more jobs in 2. Literally could tear my hair out with it.

I have a civil servant friend who wants to go term time only, but she can't because there is already someone in her office who does it - her child is now 20 and has moved away but she just likes going on holiday then! Helpful!

I just think places underestimate having a motivated and happy staff

Saying that I've just seen an advert for a part time job that's perfect so fingers crossed!

People tend to go from full time to part time in a job they are already in then never leave. Like my mil she went part time 3 days a week when she had her children her youngest is now 21 and she still works part time there and she doesn't need to work at all.

YANBU. Not every role could be part time and there are some good reasons not to want PT staff, but this doesn't cover every instance where an employer doesn't offer PT. I've known of places where they just don't want to because they don't want to.

I think maybe some employers don't realise, also, that they can often get away with paying less if they offer flexibility with hours. I've had a couple of jobs where my salary if I'd worked FT was less than it could've been if I'd taken a FT job at somewhere I'd not chosen for the hours, iyswim. It's clear that there's a lot of untapped talent out there for those employers willing and able to take PT employees.

Hopefully you get the role OP, in my experience PT work goes best when you're somewhere you've always been PT and that's what the role always was, rather than reduced your hours. I know that goes against the MN wisdom, and accept some jobs are impossible to get PT unless you've proved your FT mettle first. But I've found my boundaries are respected better when I'm in a role that was advertised as PT and all cards have been on the table right from the start.

Blimey I'd love a full-time job! I currently have three part-time jobs and it is a major fucking ballache.

Samma do you mind saying which area you're in? My 18yo dd has been desperately searching for a part time retail job for a couple of months. She can currently only commit to doing evenings and weekends, with the possibility of adding some weekday hours once she's given her lecture timetable in September. So far, she's had no luck whatsoever, not as much as a single interview!

Yes the people not leaving part time roles is true. As no part time are advertised chance of one of us part timers leaving is slim. Plus people work part time for many reasons, older staff use it as a bridge to retirement, some have caring for elderly parents or they just like having freedom to go away for weekend etc. My Dd is 10 but I don't plan on going full time again unless I have to.

I thought this post was a joke when I first saw it! Where I live (city in south east) there are loads of part time jobs but fewer full time ones.

Agree with PP that retail is definitely the way to go if you want PT work.

Good luck.

An employer pays less NI with two part - timers than they do with one full-timer, as each file gets an ni-free amount. Pensions are usually a percentage of pay, so that wouldn't increase either.

Costs that can be greater are things like uniforms, training and specialist equipment.

Can't talk for other sectors but in retail there's a distinct need for evening / weekend staff. Most shops are quieter during school hours, and those in P/T positions during school hours would generally not leave until retirement. To keep pay costs down, businesses will often try to recruit less people to work more shifts, to increase employee engagement and make the training / personnel costs pay dividends. Moving into management positions make it nigh on impossible to gain P/T work. I know that if I needed to reduce my hours I would have to look outside of the business I've worked for for many years. It's not great but it's the reality of a world where the only costs businesses can ultimately control is their pay line.

I agree OP. More part time jobs are needed.

I also wish that more employers were willing to allow working from home, which is so much easier these days via the internet.

It took me a good 2 or 3 years to find a suitable part time role once I was able to start looking. It was soul destroying searching and I thought I would never get anything ever again.

I got a job a couple of years ago, and do work from home for several months of the year.

I've started a business focused entirely on making job-sharing work, for exactly this reason. There is a huge pool of talented people who want to work part-time (in challenging and well paid roles) and jobs with employers and clients who need a full-time service. We've got big corporates queuing up, wanting our help to source them candidates. I think I can't mention our website because it would be advertising. But if (any of) you want to PM me, I'm happy to chat.

You should try tesco - I see them advertise a lot

I have a civil servant friend who wants to go term time only, but she can't because there is already someone in her office who does it - her child is now 20 and has moved away but she just likes going on holiday then! Helpful

But why does having children trump anyone else's right to work as they want?

And I say that as a parent who had to change careers due to childcare

I completely agree with the OP (and good luck, civil, that sounds like a great idea).

I think the value in retaining people you've trained up, or recruiting people that have huge experience and are so grateful for the part-time role that they're very loyal, is huge. I suspect less so in relatively unskilled roles, but in anything where experience and training matter, as a manager I'd rather have two part-timers with relevant experience than train up one new full-timer.

The other aspect, which some people have mentioned but I think is underestimated, is all the life stuff that full-timers tend to do in work time, which part-timers do on their non-working days. No nipping to the Post Office, or leaving early for a hair cut, or suddenly working from home to get to a GP appointment in the middle of the day (all things that have recently happened to full-timers where I work).

I think she's confused why this woman likes going abroad during the school holidays when she doesn't have to.
It doesn't trump - it's just why her request gets refused. This woman is also holding on to this one working pattern for decades so no one else can do it (she could go part year still but be off another time - her husband is retired also)

There are loads of part time jobs if you want to work for a low wage in unskilled jobs.

I also dont understand it. I had to give up a great role that i loved because they wouldn't consider part time/job share or flexi working.

It seems.to get a decent job you have to work full time.

Have you looked for someone with similar skills/background and applied for jobs as job sharers? My employer take quite a lot of people on this basis.

An employer pays less NI with two part - timers than they do with one full-timer, as each file gets an ni-free amount. Pensions are usually a percentage of pay, so that wouldn't increase either.

Costs that can be greater are things like uniforms, training and specialist equipment.

Thank you GBP99 - I stand corrected. Things have changed since I last had to worry about this!

I have a civil servant friend who wants to go term time only, but she can't because there is already someone in her office who does it - her child is now 20 and has moved away but she just likes going on holiday then! Helpful!

My office (also public sector) about twenty years ago decided that anyone who after that time took term-time only would have to relinquish it when the youngest child was 16, or perhaps 18; but people then doing it would keep it. I believe there is one woman clinging on to her term-time rights - and she provides childcare for her granddaughter!

My mum used to work in a clinic where virtually all the staff were part-time. As long as all the professionals and their nurses were there it didn't matter. They were all working mums. Then some manager came in who didn't like this for some reason. My mum retired at that point!

Isn't it in Holland that a majority of people work part time?

There are definitely some managers who don't like part time work and wfh just because.

Agree with computers sayibg there can be disadvantages for the organisation re job sharing but always surprised that in 2016 so many places are still so close minded re flexible working. Obviously there are some jobs like teaching where you are stuck to the 9-5 or similar but for so many office jobs there is usually no reason why more people can't work their hours at any time if the say that fits in with their lifestyle, including splitting a say into two shifts, working three or four long days, working from home...

Not only is it better on a personal level it would have a knock on effect on commuting traffic, easier to get gp appointments, etc

Thanks Mangols.

I'd argue that the advantages to the employer with job-sharing significantly the slightly increased salary:

1. When you retain staff, you retain the huge investment in training you have already made.
2. The cost of hiring and training a replacement as a percentage of salary are huge.
3. There is loads of evidence that employers with a diverse workforce have a far better bottom line.

And there are loads of additional advantages. Job-sharers are innovative -working together to come up with brilliant solutions. And they bring together a set of skills and experience which outweigh what any single person could bring. They use less managerial time, and are efficient. And the employer has continutiy - cover during holiday and sickness and so on is just built in.

We've interviewed so many sharers who have been able to progress on a career track which would have been closed to them if they had gone part-time; and that includes CEOs and NEDs. And they all talk about how inspiring it was, and how much they learned from their pair, and how great it was to have someone to share the challenges with (especially as they got more senior and things got more cutthroat).

Anyway - I would evangelise, I know. And it's not for everyone. But it resolves the fundamental mismatch between the desire to work part-time and jobs which can only be done full time. And we have more employers (all ftse100/250) than we can cope with! So I guess they think it makes sense.

Sorry - embarrassing empassioned post over.

I think if set up properly job-sharing can work really well, but if not it's a disaster - separate email addresses, right hand not talking to the let hand etc, everyone else picking up the pieces.

Spare a thought for those of us who start reading job ads that sound really good only to see 'pro rata' next to the salary and then realise that it's part time. Too many part time jobs around for my liking :(

"Except in the ed. biz. most jobs are the same all the year round."

No, lots of places are really quiet in August and around Christmas. I think not paying people for parts of July and August would suit some companies, but I'd be really worried about the precedent it would set for staff who want to work all year.