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In my experience part employees have more “context switching” to deal with obviously, so it really is case by case whether or not someone’s more efficient as a

In my experience part employees have more “context switching” to deal with obviously, so it really is case by case whether or not someone’s more efficient as a part timer

barbs 6y ago
In my experience, context switching is more a problem in the short-term, where you're working on two problems at once and switching between them constantly. Or, when you're working on one thing and you're interrupted by a question from someone else in the office. Also, here's one source that suggests increased productivity with a 4-day workweek (Microsoft Japan): https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776163853/microsoft-japan-says-4-day-workweek-boosted-workers-productivity-by-40 https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776163853/microsoft-japan-say... More here: https://30hourjobs.com/4-day-work-week/ https://30hourjobs.com/4-day-work-week/
Delk 6y ago
I think that depends somewhat on what the rest of the time is spent on. When I worked about half-time and studied half-time, I found that it was difficult to get switched from one to the other after already having spent time and energy on either during the same day. Dedicating full days for one activity helped with that, but having a longer break of potentially several days between working days may of course also require more time for getting back to speed. On the other hand, at some point I worked ~30-hour weeks (also because of attempting to study at the same time, but I dropped that once I found the attempt unproductive), about 6 hours a day, Monday to Friday. I had more energy both for work and other (non-mandatory) stuff I liked to do. I'm pretty sure I was just as productive as when working 8-hour days on the same job, if not more, because I was able to focus better and more intensively. The added hours in the longer days were just empty space. My 30-hour scenario of course differed from what might be a more typical part-time arrangement in that mentally I was pretty much considering it a full-time job and not just a side gig, or as one half of something. Nevertheless, that experience (among some other, somewhat similar ones) has made me seriously question whether the 8-hour days unconditionally make sense from an efficiency point of view.

In my experience part employees have more “context switching” to deal with obviously, so it really is case by case whether or not someone’s more efficient as a part timer

barbs 6y ago

In my experience, context switching is more a problem in the short-term, where you're working on two problems at once and switching between them constantly. Or, when you're working on one thing and you're interrupted by a question from someone else in the office. Also, here's one source that suggests increased productivity with a 4-day workweek (Microsoft Japan): https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776163853/microsoft-japan-says-4-day-workweek-boosted-workers-productivity-by-40 https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776163853/microsoft-japan-say... More here: https://30hourjobs.com/4-day-work-week/ https://30hourjobs.com/4-day-work-week/

Delk 6y ago

I think that depends somewhat on what the rest of the time is spent on. When I worked about half-time and studied half-time, I found that it was difficult to get switched from one to the other after already having spent time and energy on either during the same day. Dedicating full days for one activity helped with that, but having a longer break of potentially several days between working days may of course also require more time for getting back to speed. On the other hand, at some point I worked ~30-hour weeks (also because of attempting to study at the same time, but I dropped that once I found the attempt unproductive), about 6 hours a day, Monday to Friday. I had more energy both for work and other (non-mandatory) stuff I liked to do. I'm pretty sure I was just as productive as when working 8-hour days on the same job, if not more, because I was able to focus better and more intensively. The added hours in the longer days were just empty space. My 30-hour scenario of course differed from what might be a more typical part-time arrangement in that mentally I was pretty much considering it a full-time job and not just a side gig, or as one half of something. Nevertheless, that experience (among some other, somewhat similar ones) has made me seriously question whether the 8-hour days unconditionally make sense from an efficiency point of view.