Part-time Work is for Everyone

Welcome to another Flexible Success newsletter. Each edition includes a tip, a quote, a question and an interesting read - all related to part-time and flexible work. It's designed to be quick and easy to digest, and to provide you with some food for thought for the week ahead.

Theme: Part-time Work is for Everyone

A TIP

Part-time work should be for anyone, in any role, for any reason. But it is still too often considered a 'women's issue' - something that is only important to women with kids.

Societal attitudes are slowly shifting though. We're starting to see a few more fathers working part-time, and hearing that plenty more of them would love to have this option.

But what about people who want to work part-time and don't have kids? This can still be harder to negotiate. I mean why would anyone just want to have more spare time?!

The good news is that there are quite a few organisations starting to lead the way. For example, Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services group has a ‘Flexibility for any reason or no reason at all’ policy.

If you're looking to take your role part-time and need to convince your employer to get on board, a good starting point is to make sure you're across what organisations like Macquarie are doing, as well as the business case for flexible working.

A QUOTE

"I’m in a position where I can afford to take time to enjoy the things in life I love, and I don’t want that rare opportunity to go to waste. But finding an employer who is okay with that is not always an easy task." ― Kerri Duncan, Mamamia contributor

A QUESTION

If you're a people manager, or in a position of influence in your organisation, what could you do to make flexible and part-time work accessible to more people?

AN INTERESTING READ

I really enjoyed this recent Mamamia article about the challenges of negotiating part-time work when you don't have an 'acceptable reason' (i.e. kids).

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