5 ms·

: you can turn part of that salary into more vacation time there are not many companies hiring you for full time at $x that will allow you to work 3 days a wee

: you can turn part of that salary into more vacation time there are not many companies hiring you for full time at $x that will allow you to work 3 days a week for 50% of $x, much more likely they will let you go and hire somebody else (unless you've been there forever and are the only person that can do something, in which case the company should worry about you getting hit by a bus) money can be used to purchase many things, but in our field work/life balance is not one of them, unless of course you mean be lucky to have a good exit and then for the rest of your career you can work on what you like for part-time, but that is not realistic if you need a salary to put food on the table

chris11 11y ago
I wouldn't exactly say that. I just had a friend get a full-time position. He negotiated his work week to less than 40 hours, with full benefits. That said his hourly pay did seem on the low side.
vinceguidry 11y ago
> there are not many companies hiring you for full time at $x that will allow you to work 3 days a week for 50% of $x, much more likely they will let you go and hire somebody else (unless you've been there forever and are the only person that can do something, in which case the company should worry about you getting hit by a bus) Your calculus is a bit off. A company will not hire you part time because employees need time to learn the job. This includes the culture and political aspects. Once you've been there for awhile, that all changes. Now you're a part of the company, so the company is going to be way more willing to jump through hoops to keep you around. The reason they wouldn't let you come in at 3 days a week, is the same reason they will start letting you (if you negotiate it right) after you've been there a year or so. It's tougher and more expensive to assimilate a new employee than it is to make a productive current employee happy. If you can show to the company that the bottom line won't get impacted by a proposed change, make it clear that you'll leave unless you get your way, (hard to do convincingly) and offer an acceptable path to move from A to B, then you too can find work/life balance. It's not impossible, but it's not easy either. I'd put it as being slightly harder than getting a 20% raise, which I've done. Now that I think about it, if you want a 20% raise, then one path to getting it might be to start the process of negotiating something like this, (to let them know you're serious about not being happy) and then come in one day and ask for more money. If you play your cards right, they'd be much happier to open up the checkbook than to deal with the prospect of having half their workforce ask for the same thing you just got. (that's the real reason they don't want part-timers. Even if they can trust you not to abuse it, what about the next three people that ask?)
- Retric 11y ago
  Another approach is to suggest you split a job with another person. I have seen several young mothers take this path as they don't need full time daycare, and don't end up with a long employment gap.
potatolicious 11y ago
Some companies won't be willing to consider it at all - but I think you might be surprised at how many would. I've seen it happen for multiple people, even at companies where that's the last thing you'd expect. We've been conditioned to believe that $$ (and in our field, equity) are the only knobs that can be adjusted during negotiation. In reality the actual field of negotiable variables is much, much wider. YMMV of course, and negotiating for non-cash things can often be harder than negotiating for more cash, but it's eminently doable and is in fact done all the time - just poorly advertised. Note: this is also why ability to negotiate for cash is and important skill. It's often easier to negotiate for cash and then trade that cash for non-cash benefits rather than negotiating directly for what you actually want.
kchoudhu 11y ago
> in our field. I'm working in the same field as you, and I talked my employer into a remote position abroad in a region with more statutory leave than in the US, working four days a week. All this was done without a pay cut. Knowing your own worth and having a clear idea of what you want from life allows you to buy work-life balance.
dreamjobexec 11y ago
Sorry but I disagree; What about companies such as Netflix with their unlimited vacation time? I have definitely started to see many more software and consulting companies who started to follow suit so I think it is realistic
- st3v3r 11y ago
  We've heard of plenty of companies say they offer unlimited vacation time. Have we seen studies about how much it gets used?
  - dreamjobexec 11y ago
    Not sure.. I think we have to wait for places like Netflix to publish their data (if they decide to) .. but I can tell you from first hand experience I worked in such as company and I loved the flexibility and I have given such flexibility to those who report to me and the results were great.
    - jacalata 11y ago
      Netflix says they don't even collect vacation data, which means they can't be pressured into publishing it and nobody can prove that their employees don't take any.
    - st3v3r 11y ago
      So if I were to decide that I was going to take every Monday or every Friday off, that'd be kosher?

chris11 11y ago

I wouldn't exactly say that. I just had a friend get a full-time position. He negotiated his work week to less than 40 hours, with full benefits. That said his hourly pay did seem on the low side.

vinceguidry 11y ago

> there are not many companies hiring you for full time at $x that will allow you to work 3 days a week for 50% of $x, much more likely they will let you go and hire somebody else (unless you've been there forever and are the only person that can do something, in which case the company should worry about you getting hit by a bus) Your calculus is a bit off. A company will not hire you part time because employees need time to learn the job. This includes the culture and political aspects. Once you've been there for awhile, that all changes. Now you're a part of the company, so the company is going to be way more willing to jump through hoops to keep you around. The reason they wouldn't let you come in at 3 days a week, is the same reason they will start letting you (if you negotiate it right) after you've been there a year or so. It's tougher and more expensive to assimilate a new employee than it is to make a productive current employee happy. If you can show to the company that the bottom line won't get impacted by a proposed change, make it clear that you'll leave unless you get your way, (hard to do convincingly) and offer an acceptable path to move from A to B, then you too can find work/life balance. It's not impossible, but it's not easy either. I'd put it as being slightly harder than getting a 20% raise, which I've done. Now that I think about it, if you want a 20% raise, then one path to getting it might be to start the process of negotiating something like this, (to let them know you're serious about not being happy) and then come in one day and ask for more money. If you play your cards right, they'd be much happier to open up the checkbook than to deal with the prospect of having half their workforce ask for the same thing you just got. (that's the real reason they don't want part-timers. Even if they can trust you not to abuse it, what about the next three people that ask?)

Retric 11y ago
Another approach is to suggest you split a job with another person. I have seen several young mothers take this path as they don't need full time daycare, and don't end up with a long employment gap.

potatolicious 11y ago

Some companies won't be willing to consider it at all - but I think you might be surprised at how many would. I've seen it happen for multiple people, even at companies where that's the last thing you'd expect. We've been conditioned to believe that $$ (and in our field, equity) are the only knobs that can be adjusted during negotiation. In reality the actual field of negotiable variables is much, much wider. YMMV of course, and negotiating for non-cash things can often be harder than negotiating for more cash, but it's eminently doable and is in fact done all the time - just poorly advertised. Note: this is also why ability to negotiate for cash is and important skill. It's often easier to negotiate for cash and then trade that cash for non-cash benefits rather than negotiating directly for what you actually want.

kchoudhu 11y ago

> in our field. I'm working in the same field as you, and I talked my employer into a remote position abroad in a region with more statutory leave than in the US, working four days a week. All this was done without a pay cut. Knowing your own worth and having a clear idea of what you want from life allows you to buy work-life balance.

dreamjobexec 11y ago

Sorry but I disagree; What about companies such as Netflix with their unlimited vacation time? I have definitely started to see many more software and consulting companies who started to follow suit so I think it is realistic

st3v3r 11y ago
We've heard of plenty of companies say they offer unlimited vacation time. Have we seen studies about how much it gets used?
- dreamjobexec 11y ago
  Not sure.. I think we have to wait for places like Netflix to publish their data (if they decide to) .. but I can tell you from first hand experience I worked in such as company and I loved the flexibility and I have given such flexibility to those who report to me and the results were great.
  - jacalata 11y ago
    Netflix says they don't even collect vacation data, which means they can't be pressured into publishing it and nobody can prove that their employees don't take any.
  - st3v3r 11y ago
    So if I were to decide that I was going to take every Monday or every Friday off, that'd be kosher?