Hi Kathy:
Thanks for your feedback. You make some interesting points. I will open with a response to the “Jealous” comment and the challenge to my values. In this way I can be more objective to your other comments. I find that comment most judgmental, condescending and uncalled for. Over 25 years ago I took a $60,000 a year cut so I could be with my wife and family thus taking me off the fast-track up the corporate ladder. I will never achieve the success I was heading towards nor will I forget the time we all had together up to my wife’s passing 15 years ago. Recently, due to the decision of a drunk driver, I am now raising my 3 year old grandson and I eat breakfast and supper with him every day. I wonder if your comment towards me was really intended to make you feel better.
We are medium sized engineering firm and the nature of our work requires me to have 80% of my team as 40-hour and less than 30-hour part-timers. It has been this way for the past 20 years. We don’t have the resources to keep them all and remain competitive. The scope of the work results in fluctuating needs of these part-timers i.e. length of project and skill set. Because I am hiring part-timers they often have other jobs and thus tend not to be as flexible as you suggest. I typically hear “Hire me on full time and I will give you that level of flexibility.” I have hired and rehired dozens of part-time project folks and I have 1 permanent staff member who is a part-timer, and has been for the past 12 years. When she approached me because she wanted more time with her family, I worked it out so she could become a .6 employee: the company’s first. She is a talented engineer I don’t want to lose and so I have gone to the wall on many occasions so she could remain a .6 employee. During our 2009 base staff reduction program, I was able to keep her and 1 other part-timer. Explain that to a full-timer.
I have found the main issue with dissatisfied and underappreciated part-timers or full-timers, is unshared expectations. I believe every relationships breaks down for that very reason. During my interview process I ask each potential full-time or part-time candidate what expectations of me and the company they might have. I share my expectations with them. I give both of us a chance to rebut and then we make a decision regarding employment. Most find this discussion awkward; all have acknowledged they were treated the way they had expected to be treated. Because of this practice, in 38 years of work, I have only let 2 people go. Unshared expectations.
We are all part-timers even if we work 40+ hours a week. As I, and others like me, near retirement, I understand this more than any less-than-40-hour-per-week part-timer. And you will too. Therefore, as a part-timer, my self-esteem comes from those things I did which I believed to be esteeming: no accolade required. My pride shows through in the quality of work I produce: no perk required. And I have always taken full ownership and responsibility for my own happiness: a choice. I believe in coaching, mentoring and humor with the intention of removing the blocks preventing anyone from being the greatest they can be. After I leave, it is my expectation this company will continue to grow, prosper and flourish because all owners and employees will know and understand the expectations of all parties and live up to them. Not because I was here.
Part-timers are valuable. Full-timers are valuable. Everyone is valuable. Recognize your own value. Don’t base your value on other peoples’ comments. Don’t base you value on perks and accolades. My grandson’s hug lets me know this is true.
Regards,
Mike

Dear Mike,

I am a part-timer, due to my role as an academic running a key program at the university whilst still wanting to be an active person in my profession. I think you completely misunderstand the potential that a part timer can provide for a business. Flexibility may be greater with a part-timer who can potentially have days on site which match demand whilst not commanding a wage when the need is not there. Skills may be equal or better. I can easily maintain a pleasant demeanour and respond kindly to my colleagues during the two days (often up to 20 hours) of work that I provide for our organisation. It is a very stressful place to work and I suspect that full-time would make me less able to curb my frustrations with poor processes. Instead, I return each week, having carefully considered what steps I want to take to assist the organisation to become safe and pass accreditation. Far from being unskilled, I am the only person with any significant experience in our field working there. My role in the two days is to assist with skills development for our team, see the most complex of clients and counsel those team members who are having a difficult time with the organisational problems that exist. I am always available for support whilst at my other role, but it is also important that the team learn confidence and autonomy as they will need to improve their decision making and scope of practice to best serve the organisation.

I can see the point of the mercenary analogy, but your attitude to part-timers is very unlikely to instil in them any sense of belonging to the team and you are likely to lose out on discretionary effort in the long run. People know when they are being looked down upon. Master your own story – is it simply a chip on your shoulder about the demands of weekend work that is the problem? Or are you jealous of those who might put family first in their value system ahead of financial gain?

I wish you well in your corporate endeavours, but hope you can reflect on the positive values a part-timer might bring on their days on board, whilst helping all your workers to form a true team.

Kathy