Thoughts on part-time work

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 7 October 2009 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

p.s. this photo was taken by Dan!

I'm increasingly grateful that I work part-time, as opposed to full-time. Having a flexible time schedule ROCKS. It allows me to spend more quality time with the kids and Husband. It means that there'll always be one parent around, even when the other is super busy. And, it means more opportunities for little surprise moments together. I'll give you a couple of examples:

(A) I've come to realise that Dan is chattiest during lunch. He eats breakfast like a zombie. (After praying, his usual style is to stare blankly at a wall until I grit my teeth and force him to put something in his mouth. He wakes up 15 minutes into the meal!) And dinner is often a hurried affair because the kids are starving and Mummy needs to hurry them on to bathe, drink milk, and so on.

So, lunch is a wonderously languid affair in comparison. And I love having lunch with Dan because he is fresh from school, can remember every detail of what happened, and will voluntarily tell you about his whole day, even if you don't want to hear it. :)

You see--I would not be able to have lunch with Dan if I worked full-time. And, the days I do come back late, when I ask him "What did you do in school?" during dinner, he usually forgets 80% of what he did, and ends up saying something generic like, "I coloured." or "I learnt Chinese." Blah.

(B) Working part-time means I can pull a kid out of morning school once in a while to spend one-on-one time with them.

(C) When Husband is busy saving Singapore from crime, in the wee hours of the morning or late into the night, I can re-arrange my work schedule so that the kids are well-taken care of. Even when in-laws or grandparents are overseas, I can just shift my time around and "fill in". Or, when kids are sick and need to stay home, or when there are school breaks, I can work from home or work during their naps and still be there to take care of them and spend time meaningfully with them.

(D) A flexible work arrangement also means I can drive Dan and Husband to school/work every morn, and still get to work on time. Today was a pleasant surprise because Husband had a 9.30am meeting out of office. So, we managed to sneak in a short walk after dropping Dan off to school. Little surprises like that are so worth it!

Well, I know that the part-time job that I have is truly a blessing from God. And I'm encouraged that more and more mums I speak with are able to find part-time work, once an unheard of thing in Singapore. I know mums who are part-time lawyers, lecturers, doctors/GPs/radiologists, tuition teachers, writers, editors, choir conductors, counsellors, policewomen, managers, civil servants, online bakers, the list goes on! It's really so cool to know that part-time work seems to be getting more common and accepted, and that this is helping women to balance their family life better.

However, no matter the changes, it still seems that full-time working mums are the norm. Perhaps this is just the reality, as the cost of living in Singapore is very high and a double income is sometimes necessary. Moreover, Singaporeans do have very high "standards" when it comes to living hahahaha. Well, I thought about it--and hey, being a part-time worker actually does save $$ in some ways too!

#1 You save $$ on buying work clothes! Ha. OK, you still have to buy, but can buy less!

#2 For our family, we have saved on buying a 2nd car! With a flexible work arrangement, I don't have to rush to work early in the morn, so can take bus/MRT etc., while HUsband can drive if he needs to.

#3 We eat out a lot less, because I am still able to cook dinners/meals! Healthier too!

Hee. Well, even though part-time work is enjoyable, talking to a friend recently made me remember that it also requires a little adjusting to. Depending on your boss, part-time work could end up being full time work load on a part time pay. Your colleagues may not also take kindly to someone new in their office who gaily skips out of the office at odd times like 3pm. There is also the mental shifts that a part-timer has to make--for me, it was always weird that the office was so QUIET. Deadly quiet. And then, the minute I stepped home, my kids looked like midgets (cos I had been dealing with normal sized adults in the morn), noisy midgets! There is less time for yourself, unless your kids sleep early at night. There is less dilly-dallying in the office--you cant afford to! (Imagine working 3 hours a day, 1 hour of which you play Bejeweled Blitz! How to get everything done?) And of course,.... depending on your organisation, the propsects of being promoted to a higher position/rank is less likely.

But you know, if you are a part time mum, the chances are your priorities are firmly set already--family first, everything else second. So, things like promotions do not matter. In any case, as a Christian, our work ethics are called to be different, full time or part time. We are to work as if working for God--earnestly. Work is a means to an end. Our identity and worth is in God, not in our colleagues or our bosses' assessment of us.

Don't get me wrong--to me, work is not just an impersonal means of earning a buck. I really do enjoy my work and my colleagues. I think work is meant to be enjoyable. But in my case, I also enjoy work because of what it allows me to further enjoy--my family, and my life outside work. !!