Are Part Time Employees the Deal of the Century?

About a year ago we were invited out to the countryside for a friend’s birthday party. The weather was perfect, with a stunning blue and white Bavarian sky over lush green rolling hills as far as you could see dotted by the odd red roof or light brown cow. All day long we sipped wine, grilled everything you can grill and ate frozen Snickers.

In between the more serious business of eating, we talked about everything under the sun. We were a youngish, urban, professional group from all walks of business and it was a great chance to compare notes on the workplace with other working moms.

One discussion stood out for me because it dichotomized two sides of a debate that I have been personally interested in since having children:

Part time employees and the role they play in modern business.

On one side of the debate was Tanja, an experienced orthopedic surgeon who took twice as long with her residency because she has two kids and only works part time. She feels it is unfair that her residency was extended so long when, except for the actual hours present in the clinic where she works, she performs at the same level as her colleagues. At the end of the day, she sees the same number of patients, performs the same number of surgeries, fills out the same volume of paperwork.

“Part-time workers are the deal of the century,” she informed us. “They cost about half what the full-time people do and they work much more efficiently. When I was full-time I would take a long lunch break, chat for an hour and procrastinate before doing my paperwork because I had plenty of time. Now I get in, check out my case load and usually grab a sandwich between cases because I have to leave at 3 p.m..  I do the same amount of work as most of my colleagues for half the price.”

Brigitta, a tall, blue-eyed Austrian who manages the entire pension fund of one of the world’s largest companies nodded encouragingly but disagreed.

“I think some jobs lend themselves to greater flexibility than others. Your job is a perfect example. If you’re operating on someone’s knee it doesn’t matter if you do it in the a.m. or the p.m., and Monday may work as well as Tuesday. But if you’re working on something like ongoing negotiations, where you need to be in constant contact with the other parties and easily reachable, it’s not feasible to make the other person wait or brief someone else to step in on your off days.’

Then she smiled and added in a friendly voice – who says a woman responsible for billions of dollars in a male dominated culture can’t also be genuinely nice?- with steely undertones, “I just hate it when I can’t reach someone.” 

Well, who does like that?

She focused on Tanja’s situation again, “Look, I’m pretty easy going about letting folks leave early or work from home but I have plenty of colleagues that are total hardliners about that because it makes them feel out of control.”

Tanja rejoined, “Exactly. They feel uncomfortable but that has nothing to do with results.”

Brigitta added, “I see your point. But you know, it’s easier to work with people if they’re right there.”

Tanja said, “Ach, ja, it’s definitely easier.  But is it better?”

Brigitta (raising her wine glass), “Hey, if someone would offer me my current job at 80% FTE I’d jump at it!”

We drank to that.

Photo credit iStockphoto