What do you think about this study out today? And what are your experiences?
Part-time work worst for mums
By Stephen Lunn June 27, 2007 08:05am
WOMEN who return to work part-time after having children have more difficulty juggling career and family than mothers in full-time jobs.
And those who think they can solve the problem by starting their own business are wrong, with self-employed women even more likely to be stressed because they lack time.
"It is a double whammy for part-time working women - their jobs aren't the best career option and more is expected of them on the home front," said Barbara Po****, head of the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia.
Professor Po**** conducted in March the first national survey of work-life outcomes, called Work, Life and Time, polling 1435 male and female Australians.
The results, to be released today, "confirm that long work hours have a negative effect both on the individual in terms of health and in the broader context of friendships and community involvement".
Professor Po**** said men tended to be more dissatisfied with how they managed their work and home life, but women were more stressed because of time pressures, particularly women with children.
"This is a significant finding given the uniquely Australian dependence on part-time work by women with children," Professor Po**** said.
"Many other countries, such as Sweden and France, have a much lower proportion of female part-time workers, underpinned by extended leave arrangements and quality child care.
"Australian women have instead used part-time work as their mechanism of choice. I suspect this leads to them having the worst of both worlds in terms of career advancement and time with their families."
Sydney mother of three Susan Smith-Moore, 37, has just resigned her part-time job styling properties for sale, admitting she couldn't do it all.
"I worked three days a week, but I found myself taking calls every day," Ms Smith said. I've always been diligent at work, and found myself putting work before family. I was work angel and home devil, telling clients nothing was a problem and then yelling at my kids to get in the house.
"My employers were great, but it got to a stage where I'd be at the kids' swimming lessons and get back in the car and there would be five calls I had to return. I would feel sick when I heard the mobile ring. And this was a job I liked."
Interest in the issue of work-life balance is high, with governments at all levels becoming aware it plays a part in planning for labour markets, health and community services.
"Men and women with the worst work-life outcomes report poorer health, more use of prescription medications, more stress and more dissatisfaction with their close personal relationships," the report found.
Professor Po**** said while three-quarters of Australians were satisfied overall with their work-life balance, the remaining 25 per cent were dominated by men and women with children.
It found people sacrificed more personal time for work than the other way around. "Only 5.5 per cent of workers feel their personal life takes time from their work often or almost always, compared to a quarter that feel the reverse," the report found.
Women with children were the standouts when it came to time pressure, with 72.5 per cent often or almost always feeling rushed for time compared with 44.2 per cent of women without children.
Workers over 55 and under 34 were more likely to have a better work-life balance than men and women in their mid-20s.
it's an interesting thought - and perhaps depends on the type of part time work you're doing - the person they interviewed seemed to have an on-call type job, so she was never really away from the pressure of work - i think if you have a job that you walk in at the start of your shift, and walk away leaving it all there at the end of the day, it would work ok....
i guess it's a balancing game - and you have to be able to dedicate to family time when you're not working. we have a very high number of part time mum's at our workplace, and none of them complain about things like this (and we're a pretty vocal bunch!). some of it may also come down to the mindset of the woman and her partner - if you can share the workload at home so you both have quality time with your children, it's great, but if you have a partner who believes that because you're "only part time" you should do everything at home, it's never going to work!
I work PT 2 days a week (well when i can be bothered to go in). I think it works for me as those days DD is in FDC so its not like im missing family time. My DH thinks i work FT at home and for me going to work is my choice and does not mind either way.
But i couldnt do an 'on call' type of job. I like the walk in, walk out job. Work stays at work. Unlike DH who brings it home and he revolves aorund work... i find that hard and frustrating.
I work one day a week and yes that day is stressful but I feel better knowing that I can have adault time with workmates, and its not to much that I feel like i'm not doing my job as a mother.
I think If I tried to work full time I would end up going nuts trying to guggle 4 kids and house stuff at the same time.
I feel that is an individual choice and that each person is different when it comes to work and children.
Only worked for me when I was also studying (2 days work, 3 days uni each week)... I did this for 3 years. My DD was at school though.... and rarely ill... when she was ill the wheels certainly fell off the wagon!!! I wasn't paid and I missed uni but eventually DH got 'parenting leave' entitlements from his employer, that was a God send....and he stayed home instead.
Couldn't do it with my young boys... they have colds so frequently ATM it would be impossible.
Have to admit to being very happy with just DH in the workforce ATM... however I really miss the mental stimulation and the social contact.
Oh and my DH is very domesticated.... it would have been impossible to have worked/studied if he didn't do his fair share.
I work 2 days per week, plus whatever they need done at home (like designing the work website) as well as running my own business & looking after Zander. It does get pretty full on at times, like today when I had to get my groceries, have a flyer to do for work & a package to post of for the shop, yet here I am on BB
I'm not sure how they can say part-time is harder. It seems like you girls all have it under control!! Maybe the people in the study didn't have as helpful husband's and they were expected to do all of the housework too. I agree that if you share the workload it would be much easier. And the regular contact with adults would be good for you as long as you don't overdo it and get too stressed. An understanding employer is also a plus.
I work 1 day and a bit per week for my own business (bookkeeping, so only have to deal with it when actually working). Maggie is in childcare 2 days per week, which leaves me either some me time, or some catch time for housework or shopping etc
I find having some work does take the pressure off me from having to do all the house work, well I still do most of it, but DH understands (most of the time) that I can get busy and the house will be untidy. Also it is nice bringing in a bit of money.
I think I can see where they are coming from in the article. I have seen in with part-time colleagues when I was working full time, they would do 5 days work in their 4 days of actual work time. I suppose it really comes down to the type of work that is being done part-time, I certainly would not work part-time and be on call the rest of the week, I need my time off work.
I can see how PT work can be a problem. I work a 5 day fortnight and it is shift work. On days that I work arvo shifts it is not unusual to only have a couple of hours sleep before spending the day looking after DD. I love that I still get to have a lot of time with her, but some days I'm so tired I can barely face the thought of cooking dinner, let alone all the other house work.
Peoples expectations of a PT worker are different to a FT worker. I find that I'm still expected to do all the social things and people are less understanding of my tiredness than they are of my FT friends.
But despite the tiredness I don't think I'd change things. I get reasonabley well paid and get to enjoy the company of other adults. If I have to spend a couple of days being tired so I can enjoy being with DD and not have to worry about finances then I can accept it.
I can certainly see where the article is coming from, and think it's true to a point. But I have tried both and I couldn't go back to full time work. I did it for about 5 weeks when Jack was 7 months and it was just too much. I dropped back to 4 days a week which was the least I was able to do at that stage. That was still too much. One week day to get things done isn't enough and I wanted more time with Jack (although I did see him every lunchtime when I was working). This time I have just started 2 days a week (at home for the moment but will be out of a client site soon). It is going really well. Sometimes I do feel that I need to a bit extra on other days but it's still a good balance. I will probably be going up to 3 days a week around October, and I think that will be ok too, but I'm definitely not going to work more days than that. I am so lucky my work are being flexible.
One other comment - I think the hardest part of working (apart from being away from your child(ren) of course), is getting out the door in the mornings and getting home, getting kid(s) fed and bathed and in bed at a decent hour. When I was working before Tom was born, poor Jack would often have to woken in the morning, often ate as soon as I could get food ready for him and then he'd fall asleep. He was having showers in the morning with DH more often than not as he was too tired for a bath at night. And we had no family time while he was awake. And I think that's the biggest reason why working full time with kids is very difficult.
I work part time shift work which is both great and awful. My DH aslo works shift work - again with it's positives and negatives. I have a great boss and a job where the actaul work doesn't come home but the emotional stuff sure does.
I think you just manage with what you've got. I'd love to be home, but I'd rather do part-time and full.
I work 3 days per week in a job share, which I love but I do bring work home and I think when you have 2 people sharing 1 job they do more than 5 days work between them. Since I am a teacher I am not on call at least! DH doesn't really help around the house and never has even when i was fulltime so in that respect part time is much better.
Ive done the part time thing (2 days a week, 4 hours a day). I found it too much with two littlies. Work would often ask if i could work an extra hour here or there....i felt guilty if i said no. Then when i left work at the end of the 4hrs, i would have to drive 40mins to pick the girls up at mums, stay there for a bit, we didnt get home till after 4pm some days. I put 110% into everything i do, but i cant split that percentage i.e work and family. Therefore i gave work away and am now a SAHM.....and luvin every moment.
It's a well known fact that companies flog far more productivity out of their part timers than their fulltimers! For all that, I'm not keen to ever work on a completely full time basis again. I just value the rest of my life more than that! Plus I figure, with the ageing population, we'll all have to work longer anyway (the days of retiring at 55 will be over by the time we get there) and so it's better to pace yourself and enjoy the journey!
I think it depends on the type of work and the employer. I work part time, 2 days per week as a legal secretary. I go into the office, do my job and when I leave the office, I leave work behind until the next week, I don't give it a second thought. It never interferes with my family life.
My employer is fantastic and while my DD is with my MIL when I'm at work, if for some reason I need to swap my days to accommodate her, it's never a problem. I'm swapping my days next week so I can take her to a Play School concert
The extra money I bring in when compared to the effort and time I need to put in away from my family is amazing and for this reason, I will probably go back after my 12 months mat leave when this baby is born. It's just too good a job to give up.
I do understand that not everyone is so lucky with their work arrangements though.
i havent read all the responses, but just had a thought... maybe the majority of women they surveyed that were working part time, are woman who are in the same company/job as before when they were working fulltime, so it is a whole new ball game of juggling and trying to nut out how to work the job part time, along with the company also working out how to re-structure the role, whether to job share etc, so its a tempremental time of seeing what will fit, and what won't...
i fail to see how anyone with a pretty standard, walk in walk out job where you don't take your stresses home, you just do what u are paid for and leave, how that can have a negative affect on you... im looking to go back into the workforce this year, but there is no way in hell i want to be doing what i was doing before (commercial real estate).... i would be happy to work on reception, do typing, work in a shop (no disrespect to these roles whatsoever, i just know my stress level would be minimal and i would be able to balance work/home life fairly easily compared to working in my previous career)
oh just realised i should have been more specific, i would have found it highly stressful working in any role during the early stages of my dd's life, but now that things have finally settled down and she is sleeping slightly more regularly, i feel i could handle it... (she is now 10 months)... i honestly don't know how the mums with little newborns do it. my cousin will go back after 6 weeks, she has 5 kids, two step kids.... at 6 weeks i was still an emotional wreck, so yeah have no idea how they do it. wonderwomen.
I tend to agree Emma. I managed a part time role quite easily when my DD was young. It was as a teacher's assistant thus a "leave the job when i leave the place" kinda role. If I had been a teacher it would have been trickier especially at weekends, juggling family time and time to plan/marking etc... although I know many teacher/mothers must be able to do it quite well. ETA: also agree with the "wonderwomen" who return to work when their babies aren't sleeping!
PT work bad for mums?
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