Work, Work, Work

What's the attitude at your job toward parttime employees? Are they seen as part of the team or the ones that come in and answer the phone so the "real" employees can work?

I've had a number of parttime jobs in my life. Sometimes I'd have two because fulltime jobs weren't available and having a parttime job was a way of getting in and getting trained in case a 40 hour position opened up. In a couple of situations, all the positions were parttime, except management. Sometimes working parttime was what fit in between college, kids, and life in general.

A few years ago I was laid off from a fulltime job and took a parttime job. The institution that laid me off had also pissed me off so I figured I'd take some "me" time and let them pay some of my bills. That was interrupted when  friend called and said the school where she worked was desperate for someone who could work a few hours a week and she knew, though I had no experience with the technology, I could handle it. Since I could work and still collect on the unemployment (I'm vindictive like that), I took the job. I agreed to stay for 1 year.

It's been nearly 4 years and I'm still in the position and working a regular 20-25 hours a week rather than 15. It has morphed into something quite different from what I was originally hired to do. Technology and department needs change and I find it interesting and challenging to be in a state of flux. It's certainly the most stimulating job I've ever had.

There is a drawback though. So often I answer my phone and hear, "I didn't know your department supported my work...I'm just an adjunct." The overall attitude on campus is that parttime people aren't serious about their jobs - unless they were fulltimers who retired and then came back parttime. At that point, a person is not a parttimer, but a demi-god of some sort.

About once a week I'll get the unconscious, backhanded compliment, "Oh you're not fulltime? You do such a good job, I thought you were!" I never hear anyone say, "That fulltimer never gets back to me. You'd think he was parttime employee or something!" but that's what the first statement seems to imply.

So what's the deal? One day we're told we're appreciated, the next we're told to put our stuff in boxes because our workspace is being given to a fulltime employee. We've sat in the hallway balancing laptops on our knees trying to meet our deadlines while fulltime desks sit empty because someone is a) at a meeting, b) out sick, c) on vacation, or d) not yet hired. The fulltime spaces are sacred and cannot be sullied by the likes of the 20 hour worker. Perhaps fulltime employees are not seen as employees, but instead, those on the path to a kind of employment holiness where the reward after 25 years is a pension and a parttime job working at the same place for eternity.

Perhaps the fulltime administration is jealous so they perpetuate the attitude that parttimers are unworthy of recognition. Though the halftime and adjunct staffers have no benefits, no holidays, no sick leave or rights to take sabbatical, we are able to play golf, take guitar lessons, enjoy the sun when it shines, and raise kids we will recognize in a class photo.

So I ask those of you who work (or have worked) a 40 hour week - are parttime employees valued in the workplace? Did you ever consider working parttime to persue other interests but didn't because you didn't want to lose status? Would you do the same job parttime after retiring from it? How much are you defined by your work versus the other interests you have in life?