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Original poster

Why do people work part time ? I've never understood it...

540 replies

mozhe · 17/05/2007 00:45

I never have, but lots of colleagues in NHS did....you end up doing 3/4 of the work for 1/2 the salary, and get passed over in the promotion stakes...And have you noticed that it's nearly always women who do this ? Why ? I actively discourage junior staff from doing this but lots seem to....

OP posts:
Aloha · 17/05/2007 14:53

Well, she's a psychiatrist....

Twiglett · 17/05/2007 14:53

actually edam (Bugger your comment came up in threads I'm on)

the problem is that this particular poster abuses her position as a doctor (as she's admitted to before) by advising vulnerable patients in line with her beliefs that actually daring to parent your own children is a waste of your precious money-earning and career-progressing potential

Marne · 17/05/2007 14:55

I work part time, dh works part time and we run a small buisness from home. This works well for us as we both get time with and without the kids. Money is'nt evrything and my kids will always come first.

I would'nt of had kids if i wanted to work 8 hours+ each day and not see them grow up.

Cammelia · 17/05/2007 14:55

That's not the point of the debate though edam, the value judgment of type of work could equally apply to many jobs.

Aloha · 17/05/2007 14:55

Actually, this is a psychiatrist who is supposed to have some dim understanding of human motivation, presumably, who professes not to understand something as simple as a parent's wish to spend more time with their beloved children.

Chelseamum · 17/05/2007 14:56

I used to work 7am till 8pm... if I was to do the same hours i could not see my children during the week. Only at the weekends!

I don't get how she has a balanced life/work!
jUST DON'T GET IT!

gess · 17/05/2007 14:57

I was about to say that I was slightly disturbed that someone with mozhe's values would be a psychiatrist. Especially as she seems to think her way is the only way.

gess · 17/05/2007 14:59

She doesn't chelseamum and if she thinks she does she's either in denial or suppression.

I have occasionally done very long days, and in the weeks that I do those I just pass the children. I understand I'm lucky to have the choice not to have to do that all the time, but no way could those hours all the time be described as a good work/life balance.

OliveIsDoingHerPaperwork · 17/05/2007 15:00

I work part time so we have money for decent wine

and it is the only place to get a hot drink without having to let it go cold as dd2 NEEDS A POO AND IT IS COMING

Gobbledigook · 17/05/2007 15:00

7am to 7pm 5 days a week does not = work/life balance to me. Plus, my children get up at about 7.15-7.30 and they go to bed around 7pm. So for 5 days a week I wouldn't see them at all. So, you may as well be a weekend parent - although then I bet you are running round like a loon doing your shopping etc because you've had zero time in the week.

And, yes, other people can look after your children but I don't want someone else to look after my children. I didn't have them so I could pay someone else to do the bulk of it.

Blandmum · 17/05/2007 15:00

I love working part time.

Not only do I enjoy being with my own kids more (because I have other adult conversation etc), I enjoy my work more as well. Because I'm not spending time at work champing at the bit, wating to go home to be with my kids. And also because I have more time to organise my. I teach less, but what I teach is far better.

For me this is the best choice. But other people have other needs regarding work/life ballance. I can't make the call for other people.

Nikki76 · 17/05/2007 15:01

Where's Xenia???? Something is very wrong if she hasn't posted on here!!

NKF · 17/05/2007 15:01

I haven't read the whole thread but I've always assumed that people worked part time because it suited them to do so. Is there more to it than that?

Aloha · 17/05/2007 15:01

Yes. You would think it was a pretty vital part of the job description to understand that one size does not fit all - and at least to make an effort to understand other people's motives.

Twiglett · 17/05/2007 15:01

actually I think we can all rest rather assured that this particular poster fabricates large parts of her online character to make us believe s/he's something different from her/his actual life

Chelseamum · 17/05/2007 15:01

Thank you Gess! Sometimes comments like hers makes you feel totallly inadequate but they are so not honest to themselves and lay their frustations on to other women with are happier with their choices!

bozza · 17/05/2007 15:03

Hmm I am currently out of the house from 7.20 until 5.10 so I see the DC for 20 mins in the morning and 2hrs 20 mins at night. So 2 hours 40 mins on the days I work. Then on the days I don't work I get 12.5 hours with DD, and 6 hours with DS who is at school. That makes a huge difference to the amount of time I spend with them.

Chelseamum · 17/05/2007 15:04

She does 7am to 7pm x 5 days a week.

Aloha · 17/05/2007 15:05

I think she does something like get the nanny to make sure the children sleep for a long periods in the day so they are kept up late for her. Which clearly will not work at all once any of them are in school.

GiantSquirrelSpotter · 17/05/2007 15:15

Haven't read the thread, but I work pt because I don't consider work to be the most important thing in my life. My children are my priority; work is important, but no-one ever died wishing they'd spent more time in the office.

That may change over time and of course we all have phases; at some stage work may take priority over your children's needs and tbh I don't see anything wrong with that; there is nothing wrong with children knowing they aren't the first priority at the moment, as long as they know they will be tomorrow/ next week/ next month. If they grow up feeling that they are permanently the least important thing in their parents' lives, then that must be damaging.

I'd quite like to do full time work for three or four months then one or two days for the rest of the year. That way, you'd get the balance between the adrenaline high of meeting deadlines, immersion in work culture, full on work etc. for a short time, followed by a re-charging time and lovely time with your children.

Not many jobs like that though!

GiantSquirrelSpotter · 17/05/2007 15:17

I also find it bizarre that you (the OP) claim "never to have understood it".

Why not? Have you never listened to your staff? What's so difficult to understand? It's not astro-physics.

bozza · 17/05/2007 15:17

Yes aloha she does. And only really feasible for under-5s if you can afford childcare in the home. My just 3yo is never going to sleep for 3 hours at nursery, and nor would she if I sent her to the childminder I use for DS - otherwise there would be nobody to collect DS from school!

Aloha · 17/05/2007 15:19

I feel incredibly sorry for her staff, who quite legally want to work part time, being harangued about how wrong they are by their boss, who clearly opposed part time work. They must be bloody terrified of what it will do to their career.
Have you ever made the slightest effort to understand it? Don't you think that might a sensible, important and not very difficult thing to do?

Blandmum · 17/05/2007 15:21

Late FIL was a real workaholic. He had no real bond with his sons, and walked away from them when dh was about 13.

He never made any effort to make a realationship with them. At one point he told dh that he got all his pleasure in life from his work and his music (note, not even from spending time with his second wife ). Dh always felt that his father was a very sad individual. I agreed.

I love my work, it gives me great satisfaction. but it is only a part of my life. Other things are more important to me.

Twiglett · 17/05/2007 15:23

unicorns, fairies, sprites and elves