Working part time, is it just a big old con?

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And in fact, rather than being the "best of both worlds" (seeing your DC and keeping your hand in with work, and the brain ticking over), it's actually the WORST of both worlds because you're part time everything?

I've been back at work 2 days a week for a good while now ( so this is a considered opinion) but just feel like I"m not giving the best to either my child or my employer.

I work remotely from home for a great company, but the other problem with the flexibility is that with iphones etc everyone's at the end of an email almost all the time and it's really hard to switch off, even on my days off.

is is just me?

PS should just say 'peekaboo with my daughter' on Skype. Not just any old random person!

Def the worst of both. I have a workload as big as a full time staff member. I have bosses that pretend to be in favour of PT workers (because of policy/EO etc) and who evidently don't actually agree with it at all. I work 10 hour shifts, end up doing over time due to the amount of work. I arrive home in a state of exhaustion to find DH frazzled, house in a muddle and no supper. So the day starts again. Night shifts that people moan about ... easy pre children.

Work frequently asks for me to cancel my free days to fit something else in, but will make life very difficult when I ask to have the days off owed. The implication of making my job untenable if I'm not flexible is generally inferred. Not being in a financial position to stick fingers up and push off to another company or stop working, I have to get on with it.

I have to work very hard to make my relationship with DH and DS good as I know I get a tiny bit stressed .

The Government's ploy to keep parents at work and unemployment figures low. The other side of the coin can be that some relationships become fragile, divorce/separation rates increase and children's emotional development potentially shattered.

Sorry...I'll stop ranting and go away now. You've hit a sore point with this posting!!!

I work three days a week, and DS (16 months) goes to nursery those days.

For me it completely is the best of both worlds. I hated maternity leave, went completely stir crazy without adults and the stimulation of my job. But I'm not ready yet for DS to be looked after full-time, I like that he spends more than half the week with me.

I think the three days he is at nursery are good for him as he gets a bit more stimulation and gets to play with other toddlers - he's an only child and I don't have any local friends with kids so it's his only chance.

I'm lucky in that I job share (with another working mum) so it doesn't impact on me if there's some kid of work emergency on my days off. But I love love love the balance I have of my job and spending time with my son.

I am totally with Ormrenewed - working part time is like herding cats, particularly if you are in any kind of managerial role. This might reflect my general managerial skills, but every time I came back into the office, I had to rebrief my team on their project as I felt that when I wasn't there, they acted like they didn't have to work for me, and spent 2 days a week on ebay and facebook. So my three days were unbelievably stressed and hitting deadlines was always a bit of a gamble.

The stress just wasn't worth it in the end; I now work freelance from home which is great, but has its downsides eg people drop by because they think you're not really working, there's an expectation to do the chores as well as your job (as if my bf would also be expected to hoover and clean around his desk as well as clean the loos in his office).

Lucky you if you have a job or job share that works well part time; for now I'm taking a full 6 months off then going back into the fray properly so I don't go mad.

Where I'm working at the moment I've been trying some different arrangements to see which I like best.

The choice (for me) is between doing 4, 4.5 or 5 days a week - it depends what's needed on which of these I do per week.

I've tried one full day a week off - but what I like best (at the moment) is two half days, one half in the morning of one day, one in the afternoon. Because I'm a manager of people, they like this arrangement too, because it means I'm there at least some of all 5 days per week.

It works because:
*employer is flexible
*teams I manage are motivated anyway
*I have childcare covered (and paid for where needed) for whole 5 days, just don't use some of them

I'm interested to read what you say Rhian82 - I was thinking of looking for an overseas contract next for precisely the reasons you mention. Skype - good invention, that!

Sorry I don't mean Rhian82, I mean Pandora69 re overseas.

I agree with Rhian82 about maternity leave. For me personally it was a totally over-rated concept!

i am currently doing very well at my job (although i don' particularly enjoy it). The problem is i can't advance - there are no part time opportunities in jobs above me. I am also going on mat leave again late this year so not a good time to seek a bump up.

going full time isn't an option as my kids are simply too young and i want to spend time being their mummy instead of getting my mum to do it.

giving up isn't an option as DH is not working and (having calculated the benefits carefully) we would be vastly vastly worse off.

so, PT it is....in this set of circumstances, not an alround win, more the best of a bad bunch.

I did part time work for a while, but hated it. It didn't suit my working style. I've always been an all or nothing kind of employee, so I couldn't handle the 'got to be out of here on time' mentality that I had to approach and I found the stop/start nature of working part time too difficult to adapt to.

In the end, I gave up my job as I was lucky to have that choice. Now I've 'downsized' my career to a job. I work at my daughter's school now...I have no travelling to do, work when she's at school and get school holidays.

My pay is low, my status has gone out the window, but I love my new job because it's interesting and I face something different every day.

It's difficult to change roles if you need the money to live and I know some people don't have a choice. Others love the job they do. I'm thankful, however, that I got a chance to step back for a while and figure out just what I really wanted. And it was nothing like the role I'd trained for over 20-odd years of working, so effectively I'm a 40-odd year old woman starting again from scratch. Not ideal I know, but I've FINALLY got my work/life balance sorted.

Haven't read this entire thread so apologies if I am repeating what others have said. I work part-time 3 full days per week and it works really well for me. It is a great balance as when I leave the office on a Thurs I completely switch off from work until I go back again the following week. I know am in a lucky position as my job is actually a 3 day per week job and I am not expected to cram in 5 days work into 3 days. However, a good few of my friends who work part time are struggling as they are expected to squish a full-time role into part-time hours.

From my experience, I DON'T agree.

I work 2 days a week and I love it!! 2 days is just enough for me to get the adult conversation that I enjoy and do something other than being a mum. I suffered from PND and going back to work was a lifesaver as it gave me my confidence back.

I don't feel too guilty about leaving my daughter either as I am with her for more of the week than I am away from her.

It really depends on the type of job that you do. I work in an office environment and don't manage people. I can go in to work, do my job and come home. I am lucky that I don't take my work home withme

I work 2.5 days a week and it is PERFECT balance for me. I really do feel as if I have the best of both worlds.

Working from home is really hard - you can end up feeling as if you never leave the office and can never relax. This, more than part time working, is the difficult bit, IMVHO.

I occasionaly work from home and I find it really difficult. I can work from the office or my room to do my papaer work and plans but at home I always have a reason to put things off. (one more coffee, I'll just hoover up etc) It's so much better going to the office that said similar problems there! Just one more coffee, some one wants to natter about stuff with you. I try to get in really early well 7.45 which is really early for my work or late (after 6)

to the ladies who find PT a good deal - how does it go with your employer? That is, i see people i know i am better than get promoted above me, bcause - they can do full time and have been there proving their worth whilst i have been on maternity leave (so in a way fair enough, but that doesn't please my ego) - whereas those options are closed to me as a part timer.

is it because advancement is still open to you, or perhaps, that it doesn't bother you that it isn't - you're happy where you are? - that your job works so well ?

I also found it much easier when i only had one baby - now i have two, and there is only a year and a bit before she starts school - i wanted to give up by now so i wouldn't miss helping her learn to read and write (which i sort of am, but only PT) -babyhood i find all too missable! - but i am missing a big chunk out of two kids lives - and will be out of three by the time i return september 2011...

I work part-time and it all works for me.... At the moment.

I do worry about when my DD goes to school and how will juggle hols, school plays and things but I know that I could not be SAHM and I know that it wouldn't be good for my daughter.

I do also love my job even though it is not some mega cool complex thing I do - I work in finacial services - but god damm I like it and feel am quite good at it - which is more than I can say for motherhood!

I work 0.75 as a FE lang. lecturer which works out about 3.5 days a week. I do love it but it is hard. I have one dd at school and one at nursery. I always have to rush off to pick up one or the other. It has got a bit easier now they are not so young, when they were 1 and 2 it was MANIC and i was permanently knackered. Better now. I do tend to forget about them while i am teaching and i guess that is a good thing. It is right though what someone wrote here at the beginning, if something doesn't go right, everything goes tits up.

been watching this with interest.

I'm looking for a 3 day week secretarial job and cannot wait. I've been a SAHM not through choice now for 5 years now and I've really had enough. We need all the money we can get at the moment as well, and although it's not going to be greatly paid, it is going to make a little difference.

It's all I can think about at the moment actually .

I figured secretarial with not much responsibility was the way to go at the moment. Then I can maybe think about some sort of a career once the kids are both at full time school with after school clubs etc.

i think it could be the worse of both, not that i know![sahm]
but i imagine your trying to do everything and having little time to yourself

I work 0.8, and really enjoy it. I was very firm at first that I wasn't available to answer emails etc, attend meetings on the days that I don't work. I also emphasised that I would have to cut down on the amount of work I took on, and people took this on board.

One thing I do now is that I never say 'I work 4 days a week', or 'I don't work on Fridays' - I always make it clear that I am working the fifth day, but not in paid employment. So it's 'I work in this job 4 days a week', or 'I don't work here on Fridays'.

I think promotion and conditions are my main problems with part-time but can't go full-time as it involved one evening and a weekend morning.

Although I am happy working 3-4 days per week, there is no chance of promotion at my place as they won't even consider part-timers. Also, all those that work full-time are given an area/patch & work only in one or two places per day and get a lunchbreak. I & other part-timers find ourselves filling in the gaps & travelling all areas/being in 4 or 5 places per day with no breaks & little continuity. I work in the community in a very male-dominated profession with little chance of things changing in the foreseable future .

On the plus side, DH's employers are very flexible & he manages the school run a couple of times a week by sometimes working from home so there are family-friendly roles out there!

I think part-time involves a lot of compromises both in the short & long term (prospects).

Just a thought-

maybe it's different for those who started full-time for their current employer? Just those of us that start-off part-time have it arder?

I work part-time and love it. My dd is 2.5 and has been at nursery for 3 days a week since she was a year old. I am a freelancer and charge by the hour so don't feel bad if I have to leave early or work at home.
I am 41 and have had a career/worked long hours/cared about my work more than anything else. Now my DD is my priority, but for my sanity (i love the banter of work) and hers (she loves nursery) I work doing a job I have done for nearly 10 years, and can do standing on my head.
My DH has a job in the Arts where they are very reasonable about work/life balance, and my mother looks after DD if she is ill and I need to go to work.
I am imagining that this will all change when she goes to school though, may need to find a new job.

nope - i started as a FT then cut down - if i had been promoted before Mat leave, i'd have probably been able to hang on to the better role, its just impossible to get there whilst PT.

I work five mornings, in a school, so definitely the bonus of matching holidays with ds. However, the think I find hardest is that I can never get properly into one role at a time. I'm always going from one thing to the next, without properly giving myself to anything, iyswim. So I'm mummy-me, then work-me, then housewife-me, then mummy-me again, then wife-me, then bed then it all starts again. Maybe that's how it is for everyone, but I find the chopping and changing does my head in. Would much rather just do 2 full days or something similar, and just get it all done at once.