Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think people who work part-time shouldn’t get the same promotion chances as full-timers?

206 replies

ThatCandidBear · 24/08/2025 21:10

If you’re only doing 3 days a week, how is it fair to expect the same career progression as someone putting in 5? AIBU to think promotion opportunities should be tied to hours worked?

OP posts:
godmum56 · 26/08/2025 08:30

ThatCandidBear · 24/08/2025 21:43

That’s exactly the tension I was getting at, efficiency and results should matter but often what gets rewarded is visibility or posturing. Makes you wonder how much ‘hours worked’ really tells us about contribution.

so full time workers never posture?

Notagain75 · 26/08/2025 08:31

ThatCandidBear · 24/08/2025 21:27

Job shares can definitely work when the setup is right, I’ve seen them succeed too. I’m more questioning situations where the workload or responsibility can’t easily be split. That’s where it feels less straightforward to treat part-time and full-time as identical for promotion.

I can't think of any roles that can't be split with a bit of imagination and thought.
It sounds as though you don't approve of part time work and want to discriminate against them which in reality means against women as the vast majority of part time workers are women

Iocainepowder · 26/08/2025 08:34

Wow

Apart from this impacting more women, which has already been mentioned…

I work ‘part time’ but still 28 hours, which is 4 days. Everyone told me not to drop one day because I would basically still end up doing a full time job crammed into 4 days and get paid less to do it. Which i what I am doing.

Working full time doesn’t equal quality over someone who works fewer hours.

PistachioTiramisuLimoncello · 26/08/2025 08:38

Don’t be ridiculous

GameWheelsAlarm · 26/08/2025 08:56

Yabu

Promotions are not based on who has served the longest time.

Any business that uses time-served as a promotion criterion will not thrive.

A 3-day per week employee who has been in the role for 2 years has the same amount of actual hands-on practice of doing that rote as someone doing it 5 days a week for 15 months but has the full 2 year's experience of having a brain that is familiar with the role, understands its challenges and can think about improvements, because brains don't switch off in non-work hours. If the promoted role needs more of the latter kind of skills, as well as other skills not generated by time-served, the pt employee could well be a better bet than a full time employee

ByQuaintAzureWasp · 26/08/2025 09:08

If it needs 5 days to do the job they can rightfully advertise it as a 5 day job. Personally I would advertise it as a job share also ... so I get the best people doing the job.

overwork · 26/08/2025 09:29

@PrissyGaloredo you get your FT staff to arrange cover for their own annual leave too? Just seems an unusual stance, PT staff will get pro rata AL so they won’t be off more often than your FT staff

MellersSmellers · 26/08/2025 16:54

Haha, OP. My manager made your very comment to me in about 2002. I replied that the fact that I worked part-time was already being taken care of by the reduction in pay and it was unreasonable and unfair to have a presumption against promotion in addition.
Your logic is flawed. Contribution is not related to hours worked, as others have pointed out. And promotion opportunities should be driven by skills and ability.

MarvellousMonsters · 27/08/2025 14:32

In truth working part time does stall career progression. This is one of the many reasons women get the short straw because it’s normally women who reduce their hours when they have children, but men don’t. It’s actually unethical and discriminatory to not consider or facilitate training and promotion for part time workers, there are lots of reasons people don’t work 5 days a week, many of them family/caring/health/disability related, but these people are still capable and intelligent, it’s deeply unfair to keep them in ‘junior’ roles because if it.

EnchantedQuill · 27/08/2025 14:56

fthisfthatfeverything · 25/08/2025 20:29

I went part time after I had children, 5 hours a day, 5 days a week and was never thought of for any thing any more.
it was like, part time weren’t really staff members and it was hurtful.
Some days I done more in my 5 hours than a full time employee done.
so I done my job & went home.
your only a number

Hopefully your job doesn’t involve writing as your spelling and grammar is atrocious.

rwalker · 27/08/2025 15:13

EnchantedQuill · 27/08/2025 14:56

Hopefully your job doesn’t involve writing as your spelling and grammar is atrocious.

Please don’t be a twat
as someone who who has always struggled with literacy
child of the 70’s so you were on the slow table when it came to English
I never understand why people feel the need to be so fucking rude and point peoples short comings
It’s a cheap shot

AmIHumanOrAmIAYeti · 27/08/2025 15:54

Notagain75 · 26/08/2025 08:31

I can't think of any roles that can't be split with a bit of imagination and thought.
It sounds as though you don't approve of part time work and want to discriminate against them which in reality means against women as the vast majority of part time workers are women

The managers at my first job job-shared. It was a fucking disaster. The Director had returned from mat leave and the only way she could get to go part time was to agree to it permanently.

So when my boss (who worked to the Director) wanted to come back part time, the Director said she would only agree a job-share and on a perm basis. They found some money to appoint a job-share partner for 2.5 days a week, with original post holder doing 3 days and they had half a day together in the middle.

They struggled to find someone with the right skill set who wanted 2.5 days a week so they appointed based on the 2.5 day element rather than someone qualified for the role.

So, both job-share partners had young children who started nursery to facilitate their return to work. In 18 months neither of them managed a full week, either due to holidays, child sickness or their own sickness. Clients got bored of not knowing who was meant to be working which day, the lack of consistency, there were rarely handovers between them because of missing the shared days more often than not, and so me and a colleague ended up doing their work as well.

Luckily for me I was able to jump several ranks due to the experience this gave me and I left soon afterwards. Clients started leaving and the organisation had to make redundancies. The second job-share partner was made redundant, at which point the boss discovered that she had started her own business and had been sneakily poaching clients. Original boss is still there nearly 30 years later doing the same job part time and is just waiting to be able to retire.

Job shares can work really well, but they aren’t easy to get right.

Matharoibreach · 30/08/2025 18:22

ThatCandidBear · 24/08/2025 21:10

If you’re only doing 3 days a week, how is it fair to expect the same career progression as someone putting in 5? AIBU to think promotion opportunities should be tied to hours worked?

I worked three days a week in my post, when my children were young. A promotion came up at work, it was a post I had been doing all the work for over the years. I applied, did an interview and got it. I had to go full time, which was ok since the children were older. It would have been unfair if I couldn’t have been considered for the post, part time does not mean we’re lazy - statistics showed I did as many examinations as my full time colleagues- added to that I did extra work related to the post I have now!

LearnerGardener · 30/08/2025 18:28

It's partly due to so many women working part time that we have unequal pay and more men in senior posts, as average across nearly all paid work. So suggesting only full time workers should get promoted perpetuates unequal pay and men more likely to be managers.

Atina321 · 30/08/2025 18:32

The number of hours worked does not equate to being good at the job.

Are you bitter? Do you need to do some work on yourself to be able to get a promotion?

I didn’t apply for promotion in my
last job as I was part time. Since moving to a new job I have done 5 different roles and advanced 2 pay grades, currently working on advancing another pay grade. This says to me I wasn’t incapable of promotion when I was part time, just that it was infinitely difficult to find a part time job at a higher pay grade.

Promotion isn’t a ‘given’ in most roles, it is learnt by having the right skills for the job.

Certain people seem to think age/time served means they deserve a promotion when they actually do the bare minimum in their current role and don’t take any opportunity to develop themselves.

TiptoeThroughTheToadstools · 30/08/2025 18:46

ThatCandidBear · 24/08/2025 21:10

If you’re only doing 3 days a week, how is it fair to expect the same career progression as someone putting in 5? AIBU to think promotion opportunities should be tied to hours worked?

If things operated this way, then you'd see lots of women being passed over because they work part time to fit in with family life and lots of men in all the senior positions. I think you are being incredibly unfair to part time workers. Yes they contribute less time, but that is reflected in their pay. If the position can be carried out part time or job share, then there is no reason not to give it to someone who doesn't work full time.

IBEAN · 30/08/2025 19:01

Not only are you out of order and wrong, it is against the law to discriminate against part time workers so are you being unreasonable? Totally unreasonable and not aware of the law surrounding this. Educate yourself.

IBEAN · 30/08/2025 19:05

It is, but you have to admit that whining about promotion for part timers, being unaware of the law on discrimination and then producing poor written work is rather an indicator of someone who might not be getting promotion for other reasons, no?

ITryHarder · 30/08/2025 20:13

You seem to have an defense for any situation any commenters present because you're not getting the answer you want, that, under no circumstances, should a part-timer be promoted over a full-timer. And that just can't be because there may be other factors playing into it.

Maybe the part-timer is more or less assertive, maybe handles her time better, maybe is less pushy or a better people-person. It depends on what the promoted position requires, and which the 'boss' thinks is a better fit. If you honestly believes you're more qualified and deserving, you should ask your boss directly 'why'. Would you have the same beef if a new hire was brought onboard?

Brightandbeauty · 30/08/2025 20:14

You'd hate me OP.

Began my role full time.

Went off for maternity 2 years into role.

Went back to work part time.

Got promoted last week, but kept part time hours.

Many people have been at my place of work for 10+ years, but different people have different aspirations. I've made it clear that I'm ambitious and have always tried to demonstrate my abilities when working. I feel my efforts have been seen and that I am the right person for that promotion (if I do say so myself).

Sherrijames138 · 30/08/2025 22:01

I know people that are more productive working 3 days than the majority of their coworkers are in 5 days. How many hours one works has very little, if anything, to do with performance - it's what a person DOES with their work hours that matters.

Sherrijames138 · 30/08/2025 22:06

Huh? But that IS exactly the way it is in real life.

Sherrijames138 · 30/08/2025 22:08

TiptoeThroughTheToadstools · 30/08/2025 18:46

If things operated this way, then you'd see lots of women being passed over because they work part time to fit in with family life and lots of men in all the senior positions. I think you are being incredibly unfair to part time workers. Yes they contribute less time, but that is reflected in their pay. If the position can be carried out part time or job share, then there is no reason not to give it to someone who doesn't work full time.

Huh? But that IS exactly the way it is in real life. It's definitely not a "would be" situation it's reality.

Sherrijames138 · 30/08/2025 22:08

TiptoeThroughTheToadstools · 30/08/2025 18:46

If things operated this way, then you'd see lots of women being passed over because they work part time to fit in with family life and lots of men in all the senior positions. I think you are being incredibly unfair to part time workers. Yes they contribute less time, but that is reflected in their pay. If the position can be carried out part time or job share, then there is no reason not to give it to someone who doesn't work full time.

Huh? But that IS exactly the way it is in real life. It's definitely not a "would be" situation it's reality.

TiptoeThroughTheToadstools · 30/08/2025 22:19

Sherrijames138 · 30/08/2025 22:08

Huh? But that IS exactly the way it is in real life. It's definitely not a "would be" situation it's reality.

Do you mean men being in higher up positions? Yes, I dont know the stats but I would imagine that's very much the case. However there are a lot of women in managerial positions that perhaps wouldn't have been able to get there if they had not been able to climb the ladder because they went part time to care for their families. In my work, most of the higher positions are held by women and a lot of them are part time and job sharing.

Swipe left for the next trending thread