The Reality of Part-Time Work

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Sally Kohn: Organizations talk balance incessantly, but the reality on the ground is quite different. She says women who work part-time have fewer hours, less pay and are more likely to feel overwhelmed. "Overload" means having too much to do in the amount of time you've got to do it in," she says.

There are a lot of reasons working part time might make sense: among them, you have more hours in the week to take care of kids or parents, take on freelance work, go back to school. But working part time can stall career advancement, and oftentimes women end up doing a full-time job for half the pay while taking on more responsibilities at home.

We speak with Linda Duxbury about the problems she’s seen some professional women run into when they work part time. She suggests factors to consider before reducing your hours and conversations that can smooth the transition. We also talk to an incredibly organized consultant and mother of three whose part-time schedule hasn’t kept her from getting promoted.

Our HBR reading list: