To think that most part time jobs are never really part time?

[Onlyonewayout]

I got offered a job at the end of last year. One of those rare term time only jobs that fitted around school pick ups. The hours I’m contracted are 18 hours. Except I’m not doing 18 hours a week, I’m doing 30 hours (I do bill for overtime). The reason I only want to work part time is that I have three kids and two of the children have special needs. The youngest has severe complex special needs and a medical condition. He’s very hard work.

The job is busy. My colleagues are busy. One is on the verge of leaving as she’s stressed and too busy, one who started 2 weeks ago is saying she’s so busy. When I’ve raised it with work, they’ve bought up that maybe they should employee me for more hours or I pass work to my colleagues (I’m not their boss and they’re already busy). One of the kids who has special needs is getting upset as she’s saying I’m always at my computer and I’m grumpy. The work has to be done. Those higher up leaver things until the last minute and it’s incredibly chaotic. They don’t respond to schedules and me and my colleague can’t get them organised.

Do actual part time jobs exist? Or do people end up squeezing a full time job into part time hours?

I’m lucky. My new job I work 22.5 hours and I just note down when I’ve done my hours - I haven’t had this level of trust and freedom previously and I definitely don’t work over my hours. I am allowed to leave loudly at the time I choose! It is very, very refreshing. So much so I have just accepted a higher grade role on full time hours, as they are so supportive around picking kids up from school etc.

That being said, my previously employer was absolutely horrendous. I had to fight for part-time hours and then my experience was much the same as yours now. It made life much more difficult.

I would arrange a chat with your line-manager And explain the situation - you have children with additional needs who need your support and the extra hours mean you cannot provide that to them. If your manager is reasonable they should look into those concerns seriously and support you to implement a reasonable workload based on your actual contracted working hours.

From my previous experience though, if you have a manager who doesn’t get it and doesn’t want you. You could be using precious energy to fight a long and weary battle.

Now I have found a supportive employer (and when I checked their flexible working policies on their recruitment pages it was very clear how clued up and supportive they are with lots of different options) I can’t believe I stayed in my old job for so long trying to fight for the right to work part-time.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing! I promise you there are supportive employers out there OP. Good luck.

*doesn't want to not you! Sorry typo

I agree that it's probably more common than not for part-time employees to work over their hours - but then do many full-time. The only people I know who don't are people where the work is hourly paid (and minimum wage, normally), but even some employees in that kind of job get pressured into working for free.

I recently reduced my hours from full-time to 4.5 days a week over 4 days, and, predictably, there has been no reduction at all in my workload. I knew it would happen and it's worth it to me to have a day a week with DS but it is a bit irritating that they just pay me 10% less to do the same work.

All part time jobs I've had have always ended up being more than my hours..

Depends on the job really. I'm a bookkeeper and work 12 hours a week (I have another job too) and it is 12 hours max. If it is a job like mine with a limited amount of set tasks each month it's fine for part time. There is nothing else for them to give me!

I never do more than my hours.

I do however have an amazing female boss who is also a parent. She very much believes work should be left at work. We’re all told to turn our work phones off when we’re not working.

YANBU op, I used to work at mothercare on a FOUR hour a week contract! I would always be doing at least 25 hours though, they just classed it as overtime.

However because I technically was only contracted for 4 hours, they didn’t have to give us much holiday or sick pay. I left after a few months anyway

However because I technically was only contracted for 4 hours, they didn’t have to give us much holiday or sick pay. I left after a few months anyway

Yes this is the other problem with part time work, but working over all the time. Though I think technically they need to work it out over an 8 week period to work out the average to see what you've accrued - I'm sure someone in HR will come along soon and correct me if I'm wrong.

I started a new job 3 months ago with my local council doing part time hours. It’s great in that they are very flexible. I can choose what hours I do as long as they’re done. There seems to be busy periods and the. Quieter ones. If I do work over my time I get it back in flexi time. I normally only work an extra hour but not very often. It’s pretty easy, unlike my old nhs job!

I worked between 60-80% since DD is born but it always was clear that on my non-working day my normal work was covered by a colleague unless it was very specific and could wait (happened maybe once a month).

The only time it didn't work when I was properly job-sharing for 18 months and my job-sharing colleague had a slightly different approach to the topic and basically ignored some work send directly to me (for organisational issues customers are assigned to one person) and ignored "my" customers but expected me to sort out hers during her days off. I had to go to our line manager to show them the full picture when I got told off for not finishing work by my other colleagues.

I wfm now since March and while I do work the odd hour more I don't log in during my days off unless it is a total emergency (twice since March and once was pre-arranged).

When I started part-time I was one of the first doing it in our company but since then we do have at least 25% doing part-time, including some without children just because they prefer a less hectic work life. It can work if the management is sorting it out properly.

I decided when I had dc1 and wanted to go part time, I'd only do it as a job share or max 3 days a week. Being there 4/5 days a week on reduced hours means most people expect you to extend your hours on those days. (And 4 days means you are always contacted on your non work day).

3 long days and not being available at all on your non work days is good. If they need someone available on those 2 days, it becomes clear quickly.

A job share is good though if you have the good other half. It becomes their problem as soon as you walk out.

Few jobs really pay well and don't need a full time staff member. That full time work load can be split between more than one person though. But it won't be if you are showing you are happy to work closer to full time when they need you to.

Chat with HR?

I’m meant to work 21 hours but often it’s more 30 plus I end up doing ten hours a day when I’m in then often a morning from home. But the full time staff often do 10-12 hours a day

I work 18 hours a week although there is pressure to do overtime. I pick and choose if I'm going to do overtime.
I actually think the best part about this job is that I can leave on time. We do shifts that follow on from each other so any left over work is picked up by the next shift.

Yes, but I think it’s tricky if you want a ‘career-type’ job to find a good part time position.

I had one. But it’s busier as they’ve asked me to do more. I started at 3 days. I’m now at 29 hrs but really they want me full time. We’ve met in the middle.

However, we have several staff who are truly part-time. No overtime required (but paid if it is which is rare) and don’t have to worry outside of work.

But they are fairly entry level type jobs (£11 ish per hour) - receptionists, data entry clerks, admin assistants etc.

My Finance Assistant actually is - 24hrs per week and can generally keep things within that time. But it’s a job that gets outgrown quite quickly.

I think most employers get a very good deal out of part-time staff with many doing far more than their contracted hours. This is definitely the case amongst my part-time friends who work in a variety of different jobs. I’m off Mon/Tue this year, but I’ll spend the vast majority of Tue doing school work. I also pretty much do all the same meetings/parents evenings etc as my full-time colleagues.

YANBU, it's often just another way to pay women less for their work, since they are more likely to work part-time.

I used to manage someone who was part time and I wouldn’t let her work overtime (for which she wouldn’t have been paid). She has the option to go full time but didn’t want to and I supported that. You need to speak to your manager about this.

I work 22.5 hours a week. Officially at least.

I’ve racked up over 100 hours of (unpaid) overtime since the end of March. I’ve actually logged it since WFH, I never bothered before.

I reckon I’ve probably worked enough additional hours in the last 20 years that I’m fast approaching retirement

Mine is 27 hours over three days, that means 3 very long days.
But of course I check the computer in-between and every so often they text me with some question or another.....I would prefer to switch off completely when it's not my days.

To be honest, the 3 days are killing me, I would prefer 2 days per week but I need the money. The compensation is it's a school (not teaching) so I do get the holidays but still get paid, so I suppose it's worth it....

I do extra hours but it's paid, usually around 7 hours a week

@WanderingMilly

Mine is 27 hours over three days, that means 3 very long days. But of course I check the computer in-between and every so often they text me with some question or another.....I would prefer to switch off completely when it's not my days.

To be honest, the 3 days are killing me, I would prefer 2 days per week but I need the money. The compensation is it's a school (not teaching) so I do get the holidays but still get paid, so I suppose it's worth it....

You aren't paid for the holidays though, you just get paid the same amount /12

Mine is. If I work longer it’s because I choose to, but that’s rare. I don’t work weekends. I chose these hours because they suit my family and me, but it’s taken a few years to get to this stage and lose the guilt of not working longer.

I’m contracted for 16 hours and I only do my 16 hours... I don’t do more just because it’s Busy.

Which it is currently but that’s not my problem.

I've done 3 or 4 days for the last decade. Three was easier to compartmentalise and make clear that other people needed to deal with any emergency when I wasn't there; four days does mean the 'whole' job is mine so if shit hits fans on my day off, I'll get a call.

It's easier to protect a day off than insist on set hours, for me. And it all comes down to how good my relationship with my boss is - I've often said I can change my day off once every 3 months or so, but not to tell anyone else that.

Thanks for everyone’s comments. I could go FT but my kids have a lot of needs and honestly I need two days where I can do house stuff and just take a break and rest up as our youngest wakes at 2am everyday.

We don’t really have HR. It took 7 months to get a contract. I have raised it with management but the option is more hours or less work. The problem with less work is that as I’m managing a large group of people, they can’t be directed anywhere else. I’m only an admin assistant though. Not some high flier.