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Original poster

Academia: part time / full time question - what are my rights?

17 replies

madcows · 29/04/2010 10:23

Hi everyone,
Wonder if anyone can advise. I'm a full time lecturer and thinking about going part-time. I've spoken to a couple of people in my dept, who've said don't do it... I'll end up paid part time, and working full time.
What I'm wondering is - if I go part-time, and then change my mind in a year or two, will I have the right to my full-time job back?
(Setting this in context, my Uni has redundancies in looming in some depts (not mine...)
thanks,
madcows

OP posts:

flowerybeanbag · 29/04/2010 10:24

You won't be entitled to keep the option open on increasing your hours again, no.

RibenaBerry · 29/04/2010 10:31

Nope, it's a permanent change. That protects you from them changing you back to full time, but the quid pro quo is that you can't demand to go back up either.

Original poster

madcows · 29/04/2010 10:39

damn... that makes the decision much harder. The people in the dept I spoke to (both men) told me to unofficially drop my hours a bit (ie leave to do school collection a couple of days a week) and see how it goes. (Which is, I'm pretty sure, what they do.) But I hate working evenings and weekends.
thanks,
madcows

OP posts:

SethStarkaddersMum · 29/04/2010 10:45

someone in my old university was allowed to go part-time when she had her 3rd dc with the option of returning to full-time later.
but this was exceptional and she was a research star.
good luck.

inveteratenamechanger · 29/04/2010 10:46

Hi madcows.

I am in academia too, and also think about going part time. But have similar fears to yours.

A big factor for me is thinking about what might happen after the election. Lots of people are predicting cuts in higher ed of up to 20% = lots more redundancies. My feeling is that going p/t would make me a lot more vulnerable.

So I think on balance I probably will stay f/t. But like you, I'd much prefer to do the job with shorter hours.

Original poster

madcows · 29/04/2010 10:48

My other option is to use my parental leave to go down to part time for 6 months. But I'm not sure what they'd think about me doing it only for my busy teaching terms...

Also, all the teaching has been fixed for next year, so I don't think I could do it until Sept 2011 anyway, which seems ages away...
madcows

OP posts:

flowerybeanbag · 29/04/2010 10:51

Parental leave needs to be in blocks of a week, so unless you have a different policy where you work, that wouldn't help you go part time. Your employer can also postpone it if they need to for business reasons.

Original poster

madcows · 29/04/2010 10:54

I thought parental leave could be taken as up to 3 months full time, or up to 6 months part time>??? Maybe I'm wrong???

OP posts:

flowerybeanbag · 29/04/2010 11:28

That might be the policy where you work, but otherwise it's blocks of weeks only, not days.

slalomsuki · 29/04/2010 11:34

I too am in academia but I refused to go part time ona job share with a colleague who was 2.5 days a week after dc3 was born. She worked hard, had to come on on her days off for exam boards and the like and wasn't really appreciated.

Have you not thought about asking for flexible working instead rather than part time. I did and although I am ful time I am allowed to drop of and pick up kids, have time off for school holidays which the uni doesn't get and have flexible time off if the uni holidays don't exactly coincide with the school ones

Original poster

madcows · 29/04/2010 11:36

Thanks for that! I'll check before I think any further!
madcows

OP posts:

Magicglassesfairy · 29/04/2010 12:54

Madcows
I also considered the 4 days option but instead asked to be able to take up to 1 month unpaid leave each year (similar to parental leave but my dd is now too old) in addition to AL and this was agreed, but not under flexible working (if that makes sense).
This is working well for me at the moment - I can use AL to take days off here and there and use unpaid leave for holidays, so I feel less pressured. I am losing 1/12 of pay rather than 1/5 for still doing a f-t job. It will depend on your dept's policy on when you can take AL, and also might not work if kids were in nursery rather than school as it's not predictable.

muddleduck · 29/04/2010 13:04

I went part-time after ds1 was born. My HoD was really flexible and said that I could gradually increase my hours as an when I wanted to so I've gradually stepped up from 2.5 days to 4 days. I suspect things are tougher now as they have less financial flexibility by HoD always made it clear that he was happy for me to be part-time but that ideally he wanted me for as many hours as I felt able to work.

Work wise it is a mixed story. My research pretty much died while I was 2.5/3 days as they didn't really cut my admin/teaching enough, but I'm still very glad that I did it.

The other thing to watch out for is whether you have specified hours/days. IME it is normal to not have specific contracted hours/days, which I found made it really tough. Some (childless) people kept scheduling lectures for my non-work days and couldn't see the problem with this. It was ages before I felt able to stand up for myself and say that I wouldn't do these.

peppapighastakenovermylife · 29/04/2010 20:36

What type of role do you have? Is there huge pressure to research?

Personally I had a 0.3 contract whilst finishing my PhD. I now have a full time one - I do not do three times the work now - and not because I am slacking but because I was over worked on a 0.3.

If you are mainly teaching and they will say halve your teaching hours if you go to 0.5 then great do it. If you have a research element then I wouldnt advise it. They might say in theory you have half the expectation - but in reality I doubt it. You will end up working more than a 0.5 - although perhaps you will 'get away' with only being in the department half time.

I work with people who are on part time contracts. They either over work or work to the book but will never get anywhere (sorry) and are at high risk. Alternatively get a teaching only contract but again in the current climate...

I am just in the process of data collecting so I can just write a few papers whilst on maternity leave

My current strategy is to work flexibly but to work when the kids are in bed but I do pick them up at a reasonable time etc.

Original poster

madcows · 29/04/2010 20:47

Thanks everyone, for your input. It seems to be the same story everywhere. Go part time, but end up working more than part-time... or end up doing much less research/writing. This is exactly what I don't want. Yes, there is an expectation that I will research/write/ get funding etc... and this is the bit that I enjoy. It seems maddness to end up in the situation where I get paid less to do the bits of the job that I least enjoy.
I think I'll probably stick with it for now... with the unofficial felxi-hours that I've started doing since Easter, and reassess in a few months time.
Thanks again - but depressing, isn't it!
Madcows

OP posts:

peppapighastakenovermylife · 29/04/2010 20:49

I think that is probably a very sensible idea . Academia is unfortunately all consuming and so competitive right now. I feel like I am writing for my life as such as unable to take a break - but bet I would be doing just as much on a fractional contract.

inveteratenamechanger · 29/04/2010 21:30

Yes it is a bit depressing. Things are tough at the moment.

My mantra is just to stay sane. Like peppa I work quite flexibly, but end up doing a lot at night, which is exhausting.

I think it would be even worse to be under the same sort of pressure, but for half the money, and none of the respect.

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