Seriously, work less
WORKPLACE EX PERTS CALL FOR A BAN ON SQUASHING FULL-TIME JOBS INTO PART-TIME HOURS
Workplace experts are calling for companies to start taking parttime roles more seriously to prevent the habit of squashing fulltime jobs into part-time hours.
Flexible work expert Belinda Morgan says outdated concerns parttimers aren’t as committed and should be avoided are holding back company productivity.
“Flexible work arrangements can make a big difference in getting more women into senior roles but it’s also good to remember this isn’t just a ‘women’ issue because it’s an ‘everyone’ issue,” Morgan says.
“It’s important for men to have these opportunities too.”
Workplace Gender Equality Agency cy figures show in Australia alia 67 per cent of men n and 41 per cent t of women work full-time. Only 11 per cent of men work part-time compared to 32 2 per cent of women.
Technically, , part-time work k involves a contract ract to work less than 38 hours a week. Pay is reduced duced in line with the reduction of hours.
“A lot of people are trying to squash a full-time role into part-time hours,” Morgan says.
“This is largely because employers don’t think to change the scope of a role when it becomes part-time and do things differently. Or they hire someone upfront on part-time but because they’re so used to thinking of work being a certain number of hours, they find it very hard to work out how to make it work in less hours.
“But I believe part-time can work in every job. It’s possible with the right systems set up and expectations clear.”
MAKING M IT W WORK
Before Be Renae Joseph, Jose 32, had her first son so Arlo, seven years ago, ago she worked 60 hours a week w in her operations andmark and marketing role. But seven months after he was born, she wanted to both raise her son and return to work.
“Both my husband and I worked big, busy jobs and he still does but I really wanted to be able to structure my work around the basic care for Arlo,” Joseph says.
“Neither of us have extended family in Sydney so we had to find a way to make it work.”
She started a new job in an affiliated company, but it was set up to be part-time, created specifically for her. It’s been ongoing as she’s had two more sons, Regan, 5, and Zion, six months. She’s presently working two days a week but will shift to a four-day week next year.
“There’s been a big shift in the company’s parental leave policy since having Arlo – I’m now paid superannuation while on maternity leave and learning opportunities remain available so, while I’ve been on leave with Zion, I did a leadership course, which was great,” she says.
“You must put in the effort when you’re part-time to make boundaries known and be clear that you want to leave work at 4pm. It’s never been questioned, and I feel so supported.”
DOWNSIDES
Dominic Mcloughlin, peoplemanagement teacher at Western Sydney University and author of Be a Better Manager in 5 Minutes a Day, says management’s inertia around part-timers will be to their detriment.
“If you’re a senior person, you’re expected to be available all the time, but the irony is that most senior managers aren’t always free whether they’re full-time or part-time,” Mcloughlin says.
“Managers just aren’t reexamining the job design, which is why part-timers often shift to fulltime.
“I’ve seen it where they hire someone part-time in the hope they’ll shift full-time or where the person says they can only work part-time, the employer says ‘we’ll take what we can get’.
“Even though it saves companies money to have part-timers, there’s a certain amount of inertia about fulltime being the way it’s always been, the way it should be and that you’re not committed enough as a parttimer when they tend to have much more energy and focus because you’re so conscious of the time constraints.”