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.

One only needs to walk in my front door or glance into my car to know that I am not an organized person.  I love everything to be clean and in its place and though it’s how my mother raised us to be, I am just not capable of it.  My sister inherited the neat gene leaving me surrounded by dust and clutter.  I take offense at well meaning people and magazine articles that tell me I should just do this or that and everything would be so simple and so much better.  Just take 5 minutes a day to run a cloth over the furniture or convert empty shoeboxes into the most adorable toy holders.  If I had 5 extra minutes a day I would put it to better use – like showering, or cutting my children’s nails instead of letting them grind down naturally like rodents.  So, I’d like to take five minutes to tell you what I do to get by and stay sane with 3 small children and two jobs.  And it has nothing to do with shoeboxes.

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

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.

Let’s take a look at 3 different moms and see who is the best off.  Jennifer works full time. She works all day, has to pay someone to pick her kids up from school, comes home to an ever growing pile of laundry and dirty dishes. I can guarantee that when she walks in the door after a long day she has the kids running up to her with questions, demands and complaints from their day and she has to feed them, make sure their homework is done and get them to bed and by the time she has a moment to herself, is too tired to tackle those piles. Her children ask her “can you come to this school function, like some of the real moms?” and from other adults “when do you get to spend time with your kids?”

Leslie works part-time outside the home. She drops her kid off at school, goes to work and leaves work in time to pick them up from school everyday, only to get questions, demands and complaints from that child about their day. She also has a pile of laundry and dirty dishes, but at least she can tackle some of it while the child does their homework or eats their after school snack. Her children ask her “why don’t you volunteer in the classroom, like some of the other moms?” and from other adults “does the money you make working part-time justify you actually going to work?”