I am an Environmental Engineer by trade, and a writer wannabe. I work for a small Environmental Consulting firm. All employees have home-based offices and we pretty much work whatever time of day we want when there are no meetings or site visits scheduled. For the first 4 years of my second son's life, I worked 32 hours a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and had Tuesdays and Thursdays off. I am now working full time, but given my flexible schedule and home-based office, I can drive the boys to and from school and attend pretty much every room party and field trip. I am dreading the day the owner of my company retires and I have to get a real job.

http://3boysundermyroof.blogspot.com

Wow, you hit the nail right on the head with a dilemma that I am facing now, and I don't have kids. Last October, I left behind a 10 year career in (ironically) child care policy because I was burnt out. I was fortunate enough to have a husband whose income could adequately cover our expenses, and I took the time to write a book about unusual things to see and do in NYC. (FYI - It's called Off the Beaten (Subway) Track and will be out in the spring from Cumberland House Publishing.) Now that the book is done, I want to continue to write, but I also want to go back to working on policy issues that affect families. It is near impossible to find a part-time job that will let me do meaningful work for a few days a week. After all the time I invested developing my skills, I'm so not interested in being an admin assistant or receptionist (not that there is anything wrong with doing that work, I don't mean to sound degrading) at this point in my life.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

I totally agree with your post today. I am currently looking for a new full-time job because it's what I need for my family. I've been dreaming of the perfect part-time job that would allow me the flexibility I need with a young son, but can't seem to find anything that pays anything near what I can earn full-time. The part-time jobs I can find, you don't need an education for and I really want to use my skills and background. Just because I'm a mom and want to spend more time with my son, doesn't mean that my brain shuts off and that I'm not worth what I was before I had a kid.

Alicia
BalancingMotherhood.com

Didn't we all imagine that a increase in technology would allow us all to do some work from where ever? A full-time job that let me work from home 2-3 days a week, then come into the office for those required face-to-face interactions is, I believe, many people's ideal.

I still wonder why most companies continue to stick to the "in the office, 9-5, traditional way of doing things" model.

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

The problem I've found is that even if they let you work from home, they won't let you do it part-time. I don't get that.

Surrender, Dorothy - When I was your age, we just let them ride in the back window.

Thanks for writing this - I think it's so true and really sad. I used to work in venture capital -- talk about male dominated! - and when I got pregnant I thought about asking my boss if I could work part-time, 4 days a week, after my child was born. But then my assistant told me about the only other woman who had worked at that firm before-- she asked to work pt-time after maternity leave, did it for half a year, and then was let go for some other reason. Apparently the senior mgt didn't believe that part-time is real work. (I needed to keep my job so I worked full-time, until after 3 years I couldn't handle it anymore and started my own company. It's a full time job - more, actually:) - but I get to choose the 80 hours a week that I work!)

Nataly Kogan
CEO
Workitmom.com

My friend, who is a pediatrician in New York and a new mom, has been able to find several opportunities that have allowed her to work 20 - 30 hours per week, max. It took some time for her to find these opportunities, but with persistence and constant questioning of employers, she's been able to hammer down the professional schedule she needs. Of course, her employers have often asked for more, but she always says "No". Her advice to professional moms is to keep looking and asking for what you want, even if the employers aren't offering these options up front.

Good luck ladies,
Helene
The Modern Woman's Divorce Guide
http://themodernwomansdivorceguide.com

I work at home for my husband. He started his company way before we even met and when I got laid off a week after finding out I was pregnant with my first kid, it was a no-brainer for me to work with him (the company that laid me off, did let me work from home part time for almost a year while I decided if I wanted to stay with that company). While we do have times (like now) where a stable 2nd income would be a blessing, we get by somehow. If I had to be honest, I probably spend about 4 hours a day working. That is, some days I have nothing to do but blog (admittedly, sometimes I just blog instead of working) and other days, I'll spend 4 hours driving around to sites and when I get home around 1pm, I work until the kids get picked up from daycare and sometimes even into the wee hours of the morning.

Last year and the year before, I was easily spending 14 - 18 hours a day working, half that time I was pregnant and the other half with a newborn. It wasn't easy and I definitely don't ever want to do that again. It was difficult to spend time with my little girl and it got to the point where we weren't even eating dinner until 10 or 11pm. Despite being at home, I felt, if just a little bit, what mothers who work outside the home must feel. The day I got out of the hospital, I had to work. I got an email from a client: "Congrats on the newest addition to your family! You must be tired with two kids now. We need this site in a hurry, can we get by Friday?" Two days later, I logged almost 300 miles in one day photographing 16 sites around SoCal, while my husband was with the toddler and the baby all day. Although we were a little sad, it was a relief to finally put the 2 year old in daycare at the beginning of last year (and yeah, we slept the first 2 days she was in daycare).

We put the baby in daycare last fall, since we both really needed to get work done. Now that things have slowed down, we go to the gym during the day or have long lunches, play video games (we so productive!), etc. In our case, the technology available has helped. We were able to take mini-vacations and still get work done. We use our phones to keep in contact with clients and they don't need to know we're eating seafood by the beach. But on the homefront, the technology isn't helpful at all. We do feel handcuffed to our clients no matter the time of day. They have no problem giving us a job at 4pm on a Friday requesting it for Monday morning.

So, I guess my point is to be careful what you wish for and look carefully. Both of us are a little burnt out and talk of getting "regular" jobs...I guess the grass is greener on the other side.

"I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal. I cannot be comprehended except by my permission. I mean...I...can fly like a bird in the sky." Ego Trippin' by Nikki Giovanni
Visit me at faboo mama

I have a question for all of you. It looks like I may start hiring some folks for my company moving ahead in 2008.

My preference would be to have virtual workers who are professionals wanting maybe 15 or so hours/week with very flexible hours. I don't really care when the work gets done - as long as it gets done by the time I need it for some of the work.

In that type of position, would you expect benefits too? Or would you be willing to be contract staff?

I think one of the reasons folks don't necessarily go part time, virtual is that they are unsure how to manage this type of workers.

Cynthia

Cynthia D'Amour
http://www.peoplepowerunlimited.com
Blog: http://cynthiadamour.com
Developing leaders at http://www.chapterleadersplayground.org

For the last year and half my husband has been working full time from home (and a shop he rents about a mile away) and I've returned to graduate school part time. It's nice, but its hard. When I'm finished with my degree there won't really be much I can do from home with it and will have to try to return to the workforce outside the home. I want to but I don't, you know? It's the whole "having it all" syndrom that we were brought up with. How do you balance having it all without dropping something? Working from home would be one way to try to do this but its just not feasible for everyone. Not successfully anyway.

Something I've been thinkng about alot. Actually I just posted on my own blog about this whole "having it all" thing.

http://www.sleepingmommy.com
"If sleep deprivation is an effective form of torture, then the CIA should seriously consider employing my children."

Tere
A Mom, a Blog and the Life In-Between

This has been my dilemma for almost 2 years now -- I love to work (and feel I am a better mom because of it), and we need my paycheck, but it kills me to be tied to a set schedule, to knowing I have to be in my office from X to X, 5 days a week.

I suppose there are options for part-time work and all that, but my particular problem is that I need my full-time paycheck. If we could stand a pay cut so I could have more flexibility, I'd do it in an instant. But as a professional with 10 years under her belt, who earns a pretty nice salary and lives in a city with a high cost-of-living, it's not an easy move to make.

Part-time work at full-time pay? Sounds ideal. Sign me up when you find it!!

I think I should clarify - I'm not talking about working full-time and getting full-time pay. I'm saying if you make a salary of $50,000, then you're essentially getting about $75,000 worth of benefits with healthcare, paid vacation, etc. If you work 20 hours a week, then if you were making EQUIVALENT money, you'd either get $25/hour plus benefits or $37.50/hour without benefits. That's what I'm looking for. How can you make the equivalent of your full-time, salaried hourly rate working 20 hours a week? It's hard to find. Those who offer part-time work usually aren't willing to pay more than $15/hour. That's like making less than $30,000 a year for full-time work, which is less than most professional women make.

I don't get it. What's going on? I'm going to post on a similar topic to this that affects working parents on Monday -stay tuned.

Also, Cynthia - I think the answer is that if you don't want to pay benefits, break it down so that you're paying a high enough hourly rate to cover benefits, like I just outlined above. Look at salary survey sites, pick the midrange, break it into an hourly rate by diving by 2,000, and then add approximately $15,000-$25,000 if you're not offering any benefits at all before doing the division.

That, my friends, is a fair part-time salary. Where the hell is it?

Also - I just got here from following an ad in my BlogHer ad network with my name on it. I think I'll go squee my way down the street now - that was pretty cool.

Surrender, Dorothy - When I was your age, we just let them ride in the back window.

Tere
A Mom, a Blog and the Life In-Between

Yes, Rita, I did get what you were saying; I was unclear in my own comment. While I need my current salary to make ends meet (or rather, to get the bills paid and still be able to save), if I could find part-time work that paid an equivalent to the full-time salary, it would be really, really great (the break-down you give is a good example).

I think that cutting from full-time down to part-time will always entail a sacrifice as far as pay, but were part-time pay more on par with full-time pay (a more equitable break-down: work half the time, get half the pay), it would be more feasible to cut corners, make ends meet, and not be struggling.

Today I took a PR class. One of the things the instructor encouraged us to think about was getting a virtual assistant to help us with our pr efforts and general business efforts.

In the past I have heard the term virtual assistant and thought it would be someone who would do envelope stuffing. While that is true, some of the work she talked about VAs doing do take a higher level of skills - lots of writing and marketing type work.

Check out the list of 101 things VAs can do at http://multiplestreamsteam.com

According to today's instructor, VAs hourly rates tend to run $40 - $80/hour and VAs work from their homes.

I don't know a lot about VAs; however, sounds like it might be worth looking into for some.

Hope this helps. Cynthia

Cynthia D'Amour
http://www.peoplepowerunlimited.com
Blog: http://cynthiadamour.com
Developing leaders at http://www.chapterleadersplayground.org

I work full time, 20 hours in the office, 20 hours from home. There are days when the being at home working while my girls are around is a huge challenge, but I am still grateful. If I could find a way to swing just 20, and to have them be from my home, I'd think I'd found nirvana. I am going to keep looking and hoping. Great post.

It isn't easy working from home part-time for great wages. But I found it! And I wrote about it and this whole problem women face at :http://mybayouvieux.blogspot.com/2007/10/my-thoughts-on-w-o-r-k.html

I get to do all that mommy stuff with my 16 month old and 4 year old. I get to attend all the school stuff and play outside with them on beautiful days. But on the other hand i have to be very disciplined. I have to work late at night after everyone is in bed and then get up early with them all. I have to work on weekends when Daddy can take the kids. It can be tough to get my 15-20 hours in a week.

For instance, my son was sick this week. Barely worked. Trying to catch up now. But, as hubby said, I would have stayed home from work if I worked on site. Good point.

I am not going to complain. I found a gem of a job! I wish the same for all women who desire to find it. Read my blog I listed above! I am calling for change! I like what "Cdamour" said above. I've actually been trying to convince my fellow mom friends who want to return to work that they too can work from home and be virtual assistants or whatever their specialty. THey just have to ask and go after it. I might consider like "Cdamour" actually starting my own business contracting out my friends!

Let's get it going ladies! Good luck!

What a great post that touches on so many issues. I am a full time working mom, so I can completely relate. It is hard to balance it all and at times I wish I could cut the work load down for more family time. But I love my job and working full time. My sister, however, was ready to tone it down and seems to have found the perfect solution.

After my niece was born, my sister went into a job share program. She and another mom share one full time job. One of them (my sister) works an extra day and she gets the full time benefits of health care, etc. The other woman only works two days a week. The salary is split between them equally. The company sees it as only one full time position, one salary. I think this is a nice alternative and hope to see it become a more popular way of retaining valuable employees while allowing care givers a way to balance their lives and careers.

I am suprized that no one has commented on the expense of part time daycare. Not only does your $$ per hour value drop for part time status in the workplace, daycares charge more per hour for part timers. Who can really blame them, they are limited in the number of children they can care for and accepting part timers takes up a slot that could be filled by a full timer. I have been able to find a couple of decent paying part time jobs in the 9 years I have been a mom. I eventually just gave up because I was bumped from daycare everytime a full timer wanted to join if the center was full.
I have also had one work at home gig. I quit that when I realized my pre-school aged daughter was situated in front of a TV for hours while I attempted to get work done. She would have been better off at daycare. Working at home is best for parents of school aged kids.

Rita,
This is a great topic! I cobble together income now from a few sources after having tried (and failed) to work full-time AND raise three young daughters. I'm now a contracted fundraiser for my daughters' school but I get to work from home most of the time. In my spare time I write for Babble (Nerve's parenting blog) which isn't enough to pay for any serious bills, but certainly helps around the edges.

I wanted to be able to stay at home when the kids get sick, take time to keep our lives somewhat organized, and still NOT miss out on my sweet little (last) baby -- who is now 2 1/2

I wish more companies would smarten up about creating part-time opportunities. Until then, it is incumbent upon US to create our own possibilities. If we have the experience and education, we CAN make it happen..

And btw, Strollerderby (Babble's parenting blog) is hiring!! Email me for more information: redsydarling@gmail.com

www.redsy.com

Red is good

I have to say I'm one of the lucky ones. I work as a programmer contracted out to a large financial company. I work 30 hours per week all from home and get full benefits. I have 4 weeks of vacation (at 30 hrs/wk), full medical, 6% matching 401k, sick time, etc. You name it, I have it. And if I work more than 30 hours, I get whatever I bill over that amount. Yes, I'm a lucky woman.
I worked for 2 years full-time in the office before I had my first child. When that happened, my husband also went into the police academy when she was 7 weeks old. I went back to work at 8 weeks. I was SO stressed at having to go back to my job full-time, shuttle her back and forth to the sitter and drive a 40 minute commute each way all while learning to be a mommy for the first time. I asked to go part-time first about a month later. It was to a point where I was willing to quit over it. I was way too stressed. Thankfully, the client appreciated me and agreed to let me go part-time. I worked 4 7 hours days and would take Mondays off and make it a rest day just for me and my daughter.
When my husband got out of academy, we were transferred and I was going to quit. My client agreed to let me finish a few projects from the new city and then I was going to quit. A few weeks turned into a few months and I'm still working at home.
Now we've moved back and I've had another child but I still work from home. I work 30 hours a week, 6 hours a day. I take my girls to preschool and do the extra activities that they have. I normally try to be available online to the client between 9am and 4pm even though I may not work every single minute. Sometimes I can be found working at midnight. It all depends.
I do have to say that once you are in this type of position though, you are sort of stuck. I worked my way into this type of position and it's not something you easily come by. I know of only 2 other people in my client's company that are part-time and they don't work from home. I can't easily go find another job. So if I'm looking to "move up", it's not that easy.
Overall, I absolutely love working from home. I love being home with my kids. BUT it's A LOT of work with the kids home and trying to complete tasks.
I would agree with previous posters and say don't be afraid to ask. If you are valued as an employee and it's approached correctly, you may just get lucky.

amy
Permission to Peruse

An interesting thread...I have my own web design/programming biz out of my house and have for about 10 years. My husband just came to work with me. I think working on your own is a great way to make this work...HOWEVER...kids are still an issue.

I have had "mother's helpers", "nannies", done preschool programs for a few hours a week and still you feel completely divided between telling the kids to hush while you're on the phone and spending quality time with them.

The kids are both in school now and so my husband and I "tag-team" the days they're out of school (which SEEMS like a lot!...how do you people with 40 hour a week jobs do that?). It works most of the time, but I still feel like I end up doing housework and kids more than my husband does. So, working at home is good and bad.

All in all, the good outweighs the bad, but you have to look at how you work, how disciplined you are AND you have to have SOME childcare. When someone first told me that I scoffed (I had little babies at the time)...but with a 7 and 5 year old who have always had me around...I have to agree.

Sharkeysday
http://www.frequentlywrongbutneverindoubt.com
http://www.midcenturystyle.net/mbatr