[Anonymous]

I have a question for anyone who’s gone from full-time to part-time but stayed in their current position. How did you go about it?

I’m an internal auditor for a pretty large company and have been with them for three years. I’ve been back from maternity leave for 3 months and I’m miserable. I’m one of 3 women in my department and the only one who has had a baby. All of the men have stay at home wives and older children. It seems like no one understands quite how difficult it is to adjust after coming back from maternity leave. They’ve let me work from home until early next year (half of my department works remotely) but that doesn’t take away the stress of an incredibly busy schedule and workload. Right now, I have 4 big projects that my manager wants done ASAP; one includes learning ACL and how to write scripts (I know the basics of ACL but not much more), doing an audit using ACL, and another is all of our SOX work which is normally done by itself because it takes so much time. My manager has asked several times if I’m available on weekends for meetings and has hinted that we should be working during time that we’re taking PTO. Most, if not all, of my coworkers work until 9-10 at night, from home, as well as on the weekends.

My husband and I have discussed me staying at home before. It’s definitely doable, just much tighter than we’re used to. I actually want to be at home with my baby; paying the nanny is something that I hate doing because I want to be the one with him during the day. I pretty much hit my breaking point today. Anytime I try to discuss things with my manager, such as timing of projects, he tells me not to worry about it or tells me to stop being so hyper or to be patient. This job is not worth the stress and unhappiness any longer. A few weeks ago, my manager told me way too much information about my pay raise and promotion compared to my male coworker, so I’ve been pretty discouraged since then which is adding to this.

My plan is to give them either 6 or 8 weeks notice this week but to offer to stay on as a consultant on a part time (i.e. 10-15 hours per week) basis. I’m one of 5 people to quit in the last year (there are only 8 people in my department) so we’re really short staffed and making up the deficit by using consultants from an accounting firm who are A) really expensive and B)

take a lot of time to learn the process owners and processes.

I would love some advice as to how to broach this topic. I don’t want to burn any bridges and wouldn’t mind having some part -time work but something has to change from its current state.

[saemandr]

Does your firm not have a flex work arrangement?

My firm has a bunch of different flex work arrangements, one of them being where you just pick the percentage of hours you want to work compared to what is considered full time, and that's the percentage of salary you'll get compared to what you'd get if you worked full time… ex. if you want to only work 50% of what you used to work and you make $100k per year, you'll only get $50k per year and 50% of your PTO time when you go part time.

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[Anonymous]

@saemandr No, we don't have anything like that, at least not that I'm aware of. When I worked in public accounting, my firm did have a flexible working arrangement available and I think almost every working mother took advantage of it. If we had something like that available, I wouldn't quit.

[Anonymous]

I don't want to hijack your thread…but is that a common thing in public accounting? Does that require having first been a full-time employee for awhile? And can that be a permanent change? I would strongly consider down the line switching to a part-time role (maybe 75% hours), but didn't think such a thing existed in the accounting world. If public is where it exists, then maybe I should re-think my move to private… My experience in public was in the micro-firm arena, which I know is very different from most of public accounting, so I don't know much about the standard work arrangements offered in the larger scope of public accounting.

[fuzyfro89]

Unfortunately, many audit jobs are built to be “burn out” type environments… that includes both public accounting and in some cases internal audit in corporate as well.

I'd have a conversation about going part time or a contractor BEFORE resigning. See how it goes and if things can be adjusted at all. If a few weeks or few months go by and nothing changes, then feel free to put in notice.

For what it's worth, there are plenty of jobs that are truly 40-50 hour weeks and not so unpredictable. If you could handle a “normal” 40-50 hr job (sounds like you're doing more than that), then you could probably find that elsewhere…

[ruggercpa2b]

I had a friend that went down to part time however in the beginning she found that they still expected her to do the same amount of work. So the days that she was supposed to be off she ended up working anyway and not get paid for it. I finally told her she needed to have a talk with the manager she was working with and always had to remind them she only worked 3 days a week. You are going to have to say something.

I would ask to go down to part time and see what they say. I second what fuzy said above about finding something else. I have worked in internal audit where we only worked 40 hours a week. Sometimes it's hard to know how the workload is going to be without actually working at a place. I am in the process of leaving a job where they have unrealistic timelines and everyone hair works late. I had to say something about the crazy timelines and multiple things that were a priority at the same time. Granted no one likes when you speak up but I let them know their deadlines were crazy and I was about to get married. My evenings were not about to be spent working. I had to make my big day a priority after hours.

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REG - TBD
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I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[12tang]

The grass is greener everywhere when you're a CPA, for the most part. Don't feel stuck and that's my best advice to you. You're wanted in many places and many places are willing to treat you the way you deserve because they NEED you.

Don't think of it as burning a bridge either because it's not unless you leave on bad terms. Feeling bad for the team because they're stretched thin right now is their problem, not yours. I'd say explore your options elsewhere. Or see if they will convert you to PT, up to you.

I read over and over again the statistics on the number of people who dislike their job and the percentage is very high in America. Yet, they're the most reluctant to quit. They feel stuck. Free yourself from those chains, you won't regret it!

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[Anonymous]

Ideally, I think I would like to work 15-20 hours a week. I really enjoy being home with my baby right now and my priorities have shifted for the time being. But, it would be nice to have something to keep on my resume.

I'm talking to my manager tomorrow morning and I really don't know how to bring this up. Do I tell him how miserable I am and plead my case for a part-time schedule or do I just tell him that I'm leaving and offer to stay on as a consultant type as they need me, which they probably will since they're already so short-staffed.

[monikernc]

have you used all available time from FMLA since the birth of your baby? perhaps, you have just returned too soon. if you have time still available under that and can afford it if some will be unpaid – go that route.
if you have used all of that time then before you speak with your boss know exactly what you want to ask for. how many hours a week, number of days, work remote or in office, etc. if they are reluctant look into taking a leave of absence or making a clean break. make sure your nanny is willing to do part time only or that you have other options lined up.

the birth of a baby is a joyous time but the stress on working moms and dads is incredible. if this job won't allow you to experience the joy of being a new mom then look for one that will. other opportunities are out there.
good luck and make the choice that is right for you, right now. long term will take care of itself. i wish you the best.

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[Missy]

If your boss is saying things like not to worry about it or be patient, it sounds like you have a good enough rapport that you can just say with a newborn something has to give right now and obviously it can't be your family. See how it goes.

Do be prepared for them to say that just won't work with their business needs (if you go from working 50-60 hours a week to 20 they'll need to hire someone else, its hard to find another part time person in your field and if they hire someone full time they may just offer you per diem work without a prescribed number of hours) but if you are prepared to resign you can find part time or consulting work even if its bookkeeping, etc.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[taxsage]

@ Lilla

At the firm I work at they offer the reduced workload schedule. %80 is the most common choice. I have also seen Big 4 seasonal tax jobs that pay 55k. There is a lot of room for flexibility in public accounting due to the seasonal nature of the industry. Most firms would love for a seasoned professional to come in and ask to work only during the busy season times of the year as a consultant. Public accounting firms are starting to realize that millennials are not built for the traditional stuffy public accounting environment and so they are becoming more flexible in a lot ways. Telecommuting will be common practice on at least the tax side in the next five or ten years.

[Author]

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