On January 1 last year I reduced my time at Cuscal from five-days-a-week to three-days-a-week. It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision, it was something I’d been planning for some time and thinking about for longer. Even so, the moment I added this signature to the bottom of my work email address I was pretty nervous: “Please note, my work days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday.”
At the time I didn’t realise how unusual it was, for someone like me, to work part-time. While it’s normal for women with small children to work part-time (over 60%), it’s still pretty unusual for their male partners (less than 10%). It’s even rarer in financial services, with only 4% of men working part time. And as for Aussie men like me, in their 30s and 40s, with corporate jobs, working part-time, well we’re practically an endangered species. We’re supposed to be climbing the corporate ladder, taking on extra responsibility and saving up for, or trying to pay off, massive mortgages.
Well that’s not for me right now.
Since I started working part-time a lot of people have asked me what it's like. I’ve also had a lot of people say they’re jealous; but not many of my male friends, colleagues or contacts have made the same move – yet. Now, on my part-time anniversary, I thought I’d set out my experiences in case it encourages other men to take the plunge, or their companies to let them.
Why did I do it?
Towards the end of 2017 I felt like I was failing at everything. We had welcomed our daughter into the world six months earlier and I’d started a business, Full Time Lives, six months before that. I felt like I didn’t have enough time for Cuscal, Full Time Lives, my baby or my wife. Family and friends didn’t even get a look in. Something had to give. I didn’t want it to be my sanity and I didn’t want to drop anything, so I needed a way out. Thankfully, I found one.
How did I arrange it?
It wasn’t easy and it took a while. I worked with my manager at the time, Aileen McCardle, to make sure I had a genuine three-day-a-week job rather than the all too common five-days-packed-into-three. Thankfully, Aileen was very supportive, as was Bianca Bates. I’m also lucky that Cuscal has very progressive flexible working policies. Everyone in the Marketing and Communications Team works flexibly in some way.
How has it gone?
Broadly, very well. Cuscal and my fantastic business partner Natalie Yan Chatonsky have been very supportive and understanding of the juggling act that is required. I have learned immensely more than I would have if I’d continued working full time.At Full Time Lives I’ve been learning about the difficulties people face as they transition to new lives, as well as everything that’s involved in starting and running a business. At Cuscal my role has changed, bringing new challenges and new things to learn, both in the work I do but also in managing my time (where I’ve had to become a lot more ruthless). I now have fewer coffee and lunch catch-ups and only go to meetings when it’s essential I’m there.
But while I’ve had less time at Cuscal, I’ve had a lot more time elsewhere. And really, time is the one thing we can never get more of. I’ve had more time with my wife (and been better able to support her). I feel like I really know my daughter and I’ve been there for most of her amazing milestones and developmental leaps. When there was an unexpected family illness I was in a much better position to attend hospital appointments and just be there when needed.
Another, somewhat unexpected benefit, is that I feel I’ve been trying to live the kind of life that we talk about at Full Time Lives. A life where you balance all of the key ingredients to feel happy and fulfilled and valued.
C’mon, there must be some downsides.
Ok, well there’s the money. Three days a week is 40% less money. And while you can save money here and there you can’t make up the shortfall by bringing in your lunch from home. Luckily, our expenses went down a bit anyway with a baby and when you’re earning less you pay less tax and your child benefits go up. Coming up to a year in and, financially, we’ve pretty much broken even.
The lack of time at work is hard. I just can’t be involved in as many parts of my job as I was before and sometimes it’s hard to let go.
I’ve talked to some people who think that working part time has damaged their promotion prospects (or would if they moved to part time). I imagine this is true in some companies, but as I haven’t been seeking promotion it honestly hasn’t been an issue for me.
What’s next?
Just because I’m working part time now, it doesn’t mean I will forever. I think the traditional career path, where people head from one full-time job to another, is going to get rarer and rarer. More and more people are taking career breaks, changing careers, freelancing in the gig economy, starting businesses or building up a portfolio career. I’m pretty sure I’ll work full-time again at some point in my life.
So, to sum up. It hasn’t been easy, but it has definitely been the right decision for me. I learned more, grew more as a person and was scared more (in a good way) last year than in most other years of my life.
