By Sarah Dauncey, Head of Partnerships and Practice
Is part-time the forgotten flex? It certainly appears so. While hybrid and home working have been at the forefront during and since the pandemic, there’s been little, if any, focus on part-time. This is despite the fact that almost a quarter of the workforce (8 million people) work reduced hours, and that many people, particularly parents, carers and those with health issues, can only work if they can find a part-time role.
Here at Timewise, we’ve been championing part-time for almost 20 years, including by proving that part-time doesn’t mean part-committed through our much-respected Power List. But our concern that the need for, and value of, part-time work were being ignored spurred us to find out what part-time work really looks like today – and what it ought to look like in the future.
It’s official – there is no one-size-fits-all solution
Backed by the Phoenix Group, Lloyds Banking Group and Diageo, we’ve carried out a large-scale study, A Question of Time. This saw us survey 4,001 workers, and run four focus groups, so we could understand how part-time work is perceived and experienced across the labour market, and how those experiences and attitudes vary by gender, age, class, ethnicity and other demographic factors. We also included some analysis of the Labour Force Survey, the UK’s largest study on employment services.
What we learned from our new evidence is that the picture is highly complex, with big disparities between how different age groups, gender groups, ethnic groups, and income groups experience and perceive part-time. We’ve always argued that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for flexible working, and this study certainly confirms that approach. Here are some of our key findings – and why they point to ‘fluid flexibility’ as the best way forward for employers and employees alike.
- The role of gender – and the problems this raises
One interesting insight is the role that gender plays, not just regarding who works part-time, but also in terms of why they do so. As you might expect, the data shows that more women (76%) than men (24%) work part-time. But our analysis shows that, while women of all ages are overwhelmingly working part-time to undertake caring responsibilities, men are more likely to do so to better manage their mental or physical health. This raises a number of alarm bells, at an individual and a societal level.
Firstly, the fact that the burden of caring continues to rest so heavily on women has huge implications, fuelling issues like the gender pay gap and pension inequality. This is reinforced by the fact that part-time workers are disproportionately more likely to be struggling financially (45% of low-income respondents work part-time, compared to 12% of those with the highest household incomes). In part, this is a feature of the lack of part-time opportunities at a senior level.
And secondly, it shines a light on the implications of the current healthcare crisis. The fact that a noticeable proportion of people need to adjust their working hours to manage their mental and physical health is a red flag that shouldn’t be ignored, and demonstrates that flexible working has a strategic role to play in supporting the health and wellbeing of the workforce.
- The ‘boss block’ that’s getting in the way of part-time progression
The research also highlighted a positive shift in people’s perception of part-time working in connection with career development. Back in 2012, when we launched the Power List, 75% of people thought that having a part-time job at a senior level just wasn’t possible. But now, according to our research, only 46% of workers report that part-time limits career progression (although a high proportion are still undecided). It’s not as low as we’d like, but it’s a big step in the right direction.
However, once again, there are real disparities of opinion between different groups. And it’s particularly concerning to find that the group who are the most likely to think part-time is a barrier to progression are managers – that is, the very group of people who act as gatekeepers to career opportunities, and who are often actively involved in job design.
This ‘boss block’ could be a real problem in terms of widening access to part-time jobs. This is; ironic because managers are also among the most likely to say that they would consider working part-time in the future.
- The need for organisations to be proactive about flexible working
Another interesting finding is that almost a third of workers don’t feel comfortable about speaking to their employers about reducing their hours (and almost a quarter aren’t sure). And again, this varied significantly between different groups, with respondents with caring responsibilities reporting feeling more comfortable with having these discussions than any other group.
This was reinforced in our focus groups, where participants highlighted the sense that people have to make the case for flexible working, instead of it being available to all. As one younger participant commented, “There’s a want versus need culture. You would need a strong excuse to have flexible working. You have to need it and not just want it.”
Our recommendations for opening up part-time
These are just some of the issues highlighted in our research; you can find more data and insights in our report. But, of course, the next question has to be, what should be done about it? If we believe that part-time is a valid working arrangement (which we, and forward-looking employers and policymakers certainly do) then how can we ensure it’s more widely available and doesn’t hinder career progression?
The short answer is: we need a more fluid approach to flexibility. One that better supports employees to manage their work / life balance, while acknowledging that one-size-fits-all doesn’t even apply to one person throughout their career, let alone to a workplace as a whole.
After all, just because someone wants to work part-time when they have a young family, it doesn’t mean that they won’t be able to increase their capacity at a later date. And just because someone has worked full-time throughout their career, it doesn’t mean they might not prefer to work part-time to ease into their retirement. So, as one of our older research participants put it:
“There needs to be a flexible approach to flexibility – a rethinking of it so that working arrangements can be adjusted more easily. (…) Jobs need to be designed more flexibly and fluidly to respond to people’s needs and changing life circumstances.”
Employers who understand this will be better able to attract staff, and from a diverse range of backgrounds, retain them, and enable them to thrive. And they can make this possible by:
- Making a range of flexible working arrangements available to all roles, at all levels. This would make it possible for people to flex their arrangements up and down to match their needs without ruling themselves out of career development and progression. Part-time is just one of the options there needs to be more of; job shares, compressed hours, term-time hours, and annualised hours are all highly valued forms of flex that are not widely available.
- Showcasing the possibilities of working part-time, including at senior level. It’s often said that people need to see it to be it; championing senior part-timers can help show what’s possible and encourage others to seek their own part-time career path.
- Adopting a gender-neutral and reason-neutral approach to part-time and flexible working. And even better, being proactive about offering it, rather than waiting to be asked; ideally, it should be part of regular appraisals or review conversations. This can help the shift away from part-time being so gendered, and full-time being the default, and ensure that even more employees have the work-life balance that allows them to thrive.
There are many more recommendations in our report, including some for policymakers, which we don’t have room to include here. But they all point to one thing: if we want to get part-time and flexible working right, the answer is fluid flexibility, which gives people more choice and control throughout their working lives.
Published December 2023
