TAPP Blog

We asked working mother, Ariane to tell us about the arrangement she has made with her company to work part-time and how it has impacted her life.

I've been hearing so much lately about how, in other countries, the culture around work hours and time off is quite different from what we are used to in the US. I was curious, so I did a little research. What I found out got me to wondering about how deep into our lifestyles these differences reach.

One of my co-workers happened upon an interesting blog post that discusses a "part-time revolution" in the UK, where 5.1 million people work part-time by choice. Apparently, part-timers in the UK are protected by legislation that states they should be treated no less favorably than full-time equivalent colleagues. Read more.

I recently had dinner with a friend ‘Emma’ who is expecting her first child. A very exciting time for her and her husband. I asked her whether she had decided what she was going to do after the baby was born – stay home, go back to work full time, or work part-time. She said that her company didn’t have part-time as an option and she was planning to go back full time. I laughed and said that there was a great resource I had heard about – TAPP- which might be able to assist if she decided she did want to work part-time.

As the writers on this blog have acknowledged, our reasons for working part-time are numerous. Many part-time employees are parents who wish to have more time to devote to their families. Others work part-time because they want the flexibility to pursue other interests. And many work part-time simply because they’ve yet to find ideal full-time employment.

For much of my working life, I have been a part-time employee, a practice that I continue to this day (though I am no longer employed by anyone but myself!). And at one time or another, every one of the above reasons for working part-time has been true for me.

Growing up Catholic and attending Catholic school for 12 years, I always attended Church on Easter Sunday. I always got a pretty new dress and new shoes. Up until I was a teenager I always wore a hat and gloves too. I have to say, even as an adult, I look forward to seeing how the little girls are dressed (especially the girls, since I have a boy) almost as much as I look forward to the red carpet at the Oscars. I was a little disappointed this Easter. Don’t get me wrong, there were some adorable outfits, but I saw some of the young boys in shorts, sneakers, and some of the girls had dresses above the knee.

In some office cultures you find co-workers participating in group social activities, like fantasy sports leagues, book clubs, and health & fitness programs. Some of these activities are sanctioned by employers and some are arranged by individuals.

I recently traveled with a group of people for a meeting. At dinner one night, someone posed the question “if there were an ad in the paper (or online) and it was your ideal job, what would it be?” Money is not a consideration. The answers in this group ranged from living in the North End of Boston and cooking/learning from the chefs in the restaurants to being a commercial photographer to volunteering at Children’s Hospital. Two people said that they were in that job.

It was interesting to hear each person’s answer to the question and how similar or different it was to their current job. It is a good exercise to do to see if you are in the right field or type of job. If you are in a job search, it should be a starting point for your job search. What are you passionate about? Does it lend itself to a career (either full time or part-time)? What skills does it take? Is it industry specific? If you liked your previous position, was anything missing?

From Good to Great by Jim Collins is the book which I am reading now. The focus is on what has distinguished truly great companies and their CEOs from other companies. One element of having a great company is having the right people ‘on the bus’. And not only having the right people on board but having them in the right seats is critical to distinguishing a great company from a good one. The focus of this book is on large multi million or billion dollar corporations - very different from the micro shop that I run. However there are many points which I think translate to all size organizations:

1. Hire staff at all levels who are passionate about what the company does or provides
2. The right people will be self motivated. (however management has to work to ensure that they do not demotivate these individuals).
3. Don’t settle for just anybody when looking to hire. It’s better to wait than to settle.
4. When a company is in time of transition, get the right people on the bus and the right people off the bus before determining the direction.
5. If it seems like you don’t have a fit with an employee, first determine if it’s the role you have assigned to that individual before ending the relationship.
6. If it is not a good fit, act… let everyone move on with their lives. (a tough one)

What Jim Collins does not discuss but I think is connected is retention. When you have the right people, what will you do to retain those individuals? How do their life events factor into your retention plan? Do you work with staff to reduce hours to a part-time schedule; create a flexible schedule, etc?

I love spreadsheets.  I make a spreadsheet for everything!

You recently published your first children’s book. That’s exciting! What is the story about and what was your inspiration?

I made the decision mid-last year to take a 6.5 month leave of absence from my full-time job at Massachusetts General Hospital to give myself time to travel the world and work only at a part-time pace. While I have had a part-time job consistently for the past six years, I worked solely part-time for about six months straight (while I was in the country, in between jaunts to Europe) while on leave from Mass General.

So today’s Groundhog Day and conveniently enough, I had some thoughts about Groundhog Day the movie. For those who haven’t seen the movie, it’s a film starring Bill Murray and he has to relive the same day over and over again until he gets it right. Sometimes my days seem like Groundhog Day; unfortunately I’m not sure when I’ll get it just right. The days seem to run into each other and I have no idea which day it is because I’ve done the same thing for the last four. I get home; we have to do homework, have to make dinner and then have to get everything ready for the following day so we can do the same thing all over again.

Flex time and work life balance are buzz words these days but what do they really mean? And how does part-time work fit into this mix? These days when I hear part-time on the news these days it is usually in connection with the unemployment rate and those who are underemployed… creating a negative connotation. Yet, there are many who choose to work part-time in order to take care of children or parents, go to school, ease into retirement, etc.  So yes, these individuals are seeking a work life balance but not in the way which may be considered typical.

I define a part-time employee as someone who works less than 30 hours per week or is working on a project basis for a company (e.g. edits documents as needed). A part-time employee is NOT always temporary and may not be hourly or junior level. It is possible to work on a part-time basis in most industries with some planning. I have seen jobs posted for part-time lawyers, doctors, marketing professionals, development directors, account analysts, accountants, etc.

So I recently watched the movie “Multiplicity” starring Michael Keaton It’s not a 5 star movie, and it hasn’t earned any Oscars but very amusing and entertaining. The premise of the movie is that a man clones himself in order to have more personal time. So he sends his clone to work while he plays golf. His wife ends up needing help at home so he clones himself again to have the third clone at home while he again goes out to play golf. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

I run a small business. I’m a new owner but have managed the day to day affairs of The Guild Associates (GA) for many years (with some guidance). Work life balance is a concept that is used frequently throughout the TAPP website and constantly appears in the media. Work life balance can take many forms: working from home; a varied work schedule, how time off is administered, etc.

As I listened to the TAPP webinar this Tuesday, I was really surprised to learn that Lynn Berger, the speaker – career coach and author of The Savvy Part-time Professional: How to Land, Create, or Negotiate the Part-time Job of your Dreams – was able to describe a proven plan of action to take with your employer when you are trying to transition to part-time.

Welcome to the first TAPP blog post!

The TAPP staff set creating a blog as one of our goals for 2012. Our hope is that it will provide information and dialogue with the TAPP members and potential members.  There will be TAPP staff bloggers as well as guest bloggers so if you want to contribute, please contact us. After all, we believe that collaboration is fundamental to an association.