The number of people opting to work part time has been increasing since the pandemic’s recovery, reaching new highs in recent months, The Wall Street Journal reported.
As more people want more time for family, hobbies or other interests, they are willing to take a pay cut for the privilege. But first, they have to ask.
"Historically, work has been pretty binary,” said Claudia Naim-Burt, the co-founder of an employee-coaching company, in an interview with the Journal. Many employees who need more time for child care or who have difficulty coping with a demanding client think, “Either I stay and I do exactly what I’m doing, or I quit my job.”
Georgia Dixon of Leeds, England, tried to shrink her role at an education company by looking at her job description and determining how she could get her central responsibilities done in four days, instead of five. The first time she asked, she was denied the request. She tried again six months later, after receiving positive feedback on her performance from executives around the company, and was granted permission for a four-month trial.
“You have to mentally prepare that it might not go how you expect,” she told the Journal. She left her job last year to focus on her own human-resources consultancy and currently works about four days a week.
Kathryn Valentine, whose consulting firm helps companies attract and retain female talent, recommended that employees point to their past accomplishments and start a collaborative conversation with boss, instead of making demands.
Employees who are looking to cut back their hours by 20 percent or less shouldn't assume that they have to take a pay cut, she told the Journal. She suggested that they focus the conversation on their output, not the time they will be putting in. Even workers who want to cut their hours in half can negotiate to retain more than half their salary. Valentine recommended asking to preserve 80 percent of their full-time salary, with the aim of settling around 70 percent after negotiations.
“I’ll be working fewer hours, but I’m not going to be delivering 50 percent less,” she suggested saying.
More part-time positions for people who want them would be good for the economy, said Lonnie Golden, an economist at Penn State Abington who studies the part-time workforce. He predicted that there would be an increase in labor-force participation because people would have jobs that worked for them. As a result, fewer workers would leave their companies.
“Is it feasible? Probably more than your employer lets on,” he said of part-time roles.
Working reduced hours need not mean an impediment to career growth, as Colin Bock of Winnipeg, Canada, has demonstrated. Bock, an engineer, presenting his bosses with a written proposal for a four-day week 15 years ago. At that time, he set out his three-year vision for his role, demonstrating that he was dedicated to staying with the company long-term. He suggested an immediate 15 percent pay cut, but requested a 10 percent raise down the line, citing market data and his own good work. The company agreed. Bock is now an engineering leader at his company. Although his weekly hours have crept up to nearly 40 in recent years, he reasons that it’s better than the 60-hour weeks that many full-time professionals work.