To think if you want to work pt you may as well burn your qualifications

[Metoodear]

Having a chat with dh in the car that whatever field your in barr social work and nurseing as a women if you want to go full time

You may as well bun your qualifications because your pretty much going to be unable to find somthing with out taking a demontion or to get the summer off

I have friends who have degrees in mandarin,physiology I had a friend who worked as a high flyer Manger who had to resign as they wouldn’t allow PT work none of my friends work in their degree field because they can’t get the work pt

I myself have had to turn two jobs down one paying 25k and the other paying 28k because they wouldn’t allow PT work

I now earn 700 per month and work 3 days a week

I'm a solicitor, one of the directors in our firm is a single mum of 2 primary aged kids. She works part time to fit around school drop off and pick up. She used to have a couple of days off a week when they were younger too.

It's probably not commonplace but it can happen!

I work part time and have a degree and post grad degree and have had no issues. Maybe you're just unlucky in your area OP.

@FruitCider

Dh is a nurse he finishes at 3 and is on a full time wage not pro rata he starts at 6 he’s more flexible working than pt

Where i work theres only one person that works full time.

Literally everyone else is part time including the CEO

I went for an interview and asked for part time hours. They phoned and offered me the job but wanted me to work 5 afternoon shifts per week. When I say afternoon it is 12pm - 7pm. I said no as this would have been 35 hours. To me this is not part time hours. In the end we agreed to 3 shifts per week total 21 hours. They aren't paying me a good hourly rate because of this

I am very lucky as the company I work for is amazingly flexible on both part time hours and working from home. I think the larger companies are having to be now to attract the best talent—perhaps now they’ve been told the best talent isn’t always middle aged men—

When I started to try and get back to work I temped and the smaller companies were horrifically unethical in what they expected from staff.

Strikeout fail....meh

I work for a massive multinational and th country chair for the UK works four days.

I'm a teacher and I do 3 days. I work with male and female teachers who are part time for various reasons but mostly childcare or caring for elderly parents.
DH is not a teacher but his company encourage flexible working and wfh. He wfh on the days I work so he can do school drop off/pick up and get dinner ready.

I had to leave my job after maternity leave as they wouldn’t allow me to drop a day as a manger. I found a good role in a small not for profit organisation but I was very lucky. I tried looking for a manager level, part time role last year and it was slim pickings indeed. My current not for profit organisation has a lot of part time women as they make it work, plus they encourage home homeworking which helps even more.

I’ve just learnt that the primary school my son is at does not allow any part time teachers.

It’s such a shame that there isn’t more flexibility out there. I know 35 hours isn’t “that” much but my husband works long hours and so I wanted one of us to be more around at home.

I have had to take a step back in seniority but that’s the compromise I’ve chose. to make.

I know loads of women with decent jobs working part time. I got a big promotion when I worked 2 days a week.

Wrt part time management, depending on the sector surely most managers need to be there full time in order to manage it? I'm a manager and couldn't do it part time.

This depressed me! It really should be easier!!! I'm really lucky, I have a degree and a masters that I use in my job, work part time and went back after my second maternity leave to a promotion that i secured while I was off. There are a lot of women at my work. And a lot of part time men and women. We work flexi hours, multi based and home work. Some people have term time only contacts. I really don't see why this sort of thing isn't normal. It would be good for women, good for kids to see mums working, good for men and the wider workplace by bringing balance in a lot of ways, good for the economy, good for carbon and emissions ... This is a non-departmental public body in the UK.

I think it depends on the field AND the type of employer. I am an architect and I work part time for a very small firm with very flexible hours. At one point I looked for a better paying job at a larger firm and it was very clear that NO ONE was interested in hiring me part time (I was actually looking for 3/4 time.) I definitely make less per hour than a full time person does, and will never have the famed career that I dreamed of once upon a time. (I'm not sure that would have made me happy, so probably just as well.)

I know loads of women with decent jobs working part time

Aye, there's the rub. We do have a lot of men working part-time but it is much rarer for men to work part time in my profession than women

No reason, absolutely no reason, why men shouldn't work part-time too!

I work term time in a well paid non school role. It's my dream job, I love it and have had promotion too. It is rare though. I happened to have the particular skill set they were looking for and they suggested term time after the interview which I jumped at. I know I'm lucky though. I do think things generally are slowly changing which can only be a good thing.

I did maternity cover contracts for years all over London (IT,. Marketing, investment Banks). Part time is common, so is job share. And if you have a commute over an hour long, one day a week working from home is often built in to your contract. When I lived in rural sticks there was more part time work than full time tho and it was mostly admin & terrible £.

I agree in part with what you're saying OP, but I think the higher salary/more advanced qualifications you start with the greater the options you have for going part time.

I had four years out as a carer and have recently gone back 2-3 days/week as a contractor and am earning the same six figure salary - pro rata - that I was on full time years ago. I only mention my salary as I wish someone had told me some good news stories when I stepped down from full time work as I really lost my confidence and thought my days of earning a good living, reflecting my qualifications, were over.

Funny you mentioned nursing as family friendly. I’m away to apply for my first post grad job and was told during the careers week that it doesn’t matter that I have all A’s and impeccable attendance record and references, because I want 3x 12 hour shifts (so 33.75 hours...not far off full time) I will be given a job based on what is left. Which usually means a ward that no one wants to work on due to poor management. Also I have known 3 nurses made redundant on matty leave because the ward wouldn’t accommodate part time hours on their return. All depends on your trust I guess!

Dh is a nurse he finishes at 3 and is on a full time wage not pro rata he starts at 6 he’s more flexible working than pt

My area only tend to do long shifts, 07:00 - 19:30, 07:00 - 20:30, 08:00 - 20:30 etc. Community is same shift pattern or 9-5!

Not everyone OP. I work for a massive well know uk corporation. Always worked flexi time since 1985, had DC2 p and asked for 30 hours per week, no problem. Lots of colleagues job shared at 18 hours each. Later I changed to 32.5 hours pw then 13 years ago started WFH where I have been ever since. Flexi time, from home.

FruitCider

Dh work in the community
You keep trying your gonna find somthing it’s so demoralising isn’t it

I just completed a degree in software engineering and have had to hand my notice in as they can't offer part time hours. 90%of the part time work is for cleaners, home support and retail. Now having to go back to admin and trying to find a part time, local admin job. Extremely stressful.

Ive just quit my full time role and taken a part time position with a different company. The main reason being my old employer wouldn’t support a 3 day working week. Fortunately they are paying me my fte pro rata so even though it’s a pay cut it’s still a good salary for 3 days a week.

Lots of smaller companies haven’t caught on yet that offering flexi time/part time roles is a great way of employing qualified women.

I work in a female dominated industry but even so working part time and flexibly is nowhere like as good as it should be. Which is how so many companies have gender pay gaps despite having 75%+ female staff. All the big wigs are men, by and large. Anyone care to join the dots?!!

In my immediate family we have 2x PT teachers and my brother does compressed hours to get friday afternoons with his family (engineer). Home working is becoming more common in civil service circles too - handy when average commutes are getting longer. But full PT is still a nightmare in my line of work - there are ‘job shares’ but finding somebody to share with that can be in when you are off and then convincing the team hiring to take you on - it is an uphill battle.