Why no part-time contract roles?

[Fred Bloggs]

I have never asked to work part time but seeing as I find a typical contract week usually involves about 8 to 10 hours of actual work (the other hours in the week are spent practising the art of seeming to be busy whilst actually doing nothing, an essential contractor art form) I would think it likely that I could negotiate it without losing any productivity what so ever.

[chicane]

For what it's worth, my current clientco has two part time contractors on site who work three days a week of their own choosing. Both contractors started full time and negotiated a part-time arrangement a couple of months after joining.

I think in this particular case, I think the availability of part-time work is a side effect of the fact that despite the required skillset supposedly being commodity-level, the clientco seem to find it extremely hard to recruit contractors of the required skill level and experience. They're therefore more keen to offer flexible terms to existing contractors rather than let them go in the hope that somebody else equally good will be on the market.

Not sure if clients in other sectors have such difficulty in finding the right people, but there must be scope for flexibility where this is the case.

[SueEllen]

It's funny you should say that because the reason I am looking for such flexibility is I am a dad looking to maximise time spent with the family, rather than commuting or sleeping in filthy hotels.

In recent years I've worked with more fathers who have been part-time but they have all been permies.

They got to work that way as the companies worked out it was more beneficial to keep them employed part-time then to let them leave or make them redundant.

Having said that I do manage to find those part time roles too, but they are a few and honestly a lot of full time roles I have witnessed do not require being there 5 days a week.

Again it's a management problem.

Finally the biggest gripe I have with this is that there seems to be a big shortage of talent in many areas of IT, and the likes of Facebook, Google are apparently paying silly money just to retain some coders in the Co, instead of looking for smarter options...

It's caused by the business short term mentality of if you train people up they will leave immediately they have experience in that training, and it's cheaper not to pay for training as you can get the skills on the market.

The vast majority of permies won't move if they are trained up, treated decently by management* and their pay isn't well below the average for their skills.

*this is not about working hours.

[xchaotic]

I think I might get shot down in a barrage of bullets, but I reckon it's because part-time roles were (historically) taken up by Mums. I don't think that this mindset has ever really changed and, speaking as a woman, it's bloody hard being a contractor in a male dominated arena.

It's funny you should say that because the reason I am looking for such flexibility is I am a dad looking to maximise time spent with the family, rather than commuting or sleeping in filthy hotels.

Having said that I do manage to find those part time roles too, but they are a few and honestly a lot of full time roles I have witnessed do not require being there 5 days a week.

Finally the biggest gripe I have with this is that there seems to be a big shortage of talent in many areas of IT, and the likes of Facebook, Google are apparently paying silly money just to retain some coders in the Co, instead of looking for smarter options...

[JoJoGabor]

I get offered very short term work or part time contracts quite often, through consultancy companies I have got in touch with, usually via jobserve or linked in. Whenever a consultancy phones about another role with them, tell them you can't do this one but are available for part time work in the future. You have to sell it to them a little, but once you are on their books there seems to be fairly regular work with them...

Not that ve actually taken any of the short term roles yet!!!

[TykeMerc]

Good points about the part time contracts, I've done a few over the years, but they're exceedingly rare. Shame really as it's an enjoyable way to work.

[NotAllThere]

I work part-time roles, full time! I think the biggest reason there are few part-time roles is that most contractors aren't interested - because they want a 6 month, 5 day a week contract. The clients know this, so they either try to get a role together that does 5 days, or do without. Similarly for very short contracts. It's also less worth the agencies' while.

I've had a few calls over the years from agencies, one of which actually panned out, but they are rare. I've got my roles through recommendation, and one via this board. When clients know you're available for parttime, have some idea that you're quite capable, and you offer flexibility (I have contracts for 30 days, for example, in a year - but the client is obliged to use all those days), then your name begins to get spread around, and you have sufficient work.

This is, to my mind, a definite gap in the market. A client might require 2 days a week of a particular skill, indefinitely. Or they might need someone for a single 3 week development. In either case, they'll find it very hard to find anyone who's interested in working that way. I think the need is there - it's just the clients aren't aware of it yet!

[PinkPoshRat]

I think I might get shot down in a barrage of bullets, but I reckon it's because part-time roles were (historically) taken up by Mums. I don't think that this mindset has ever really changed and, speaking as a woman, it's bloody hard being a contractor in a male dominated arena.

[Old Greg]

I could be just me or my niche, but I am really struggling finding roles that would accept part-time or remote working from day 1.
Every single contract over the past 4 or so years, I have managed to work remotely to some extent after some time.
The pain is at the beginning, it could be 3 months, or 6 months and is of course very disruptive to my private life.
In fact I would be very willing to take a cut from the day rate as long as the role offered flexible options from day 1, or at least day 10.
Has the HR, managers and agent not caught up to the idea yet?
I have, just in the past couple of week, declined all offers I have received, just because I don't want to move at the moment. At least some of them, could easily be done remotely, yet no one could be bothered to even discuss such an approach.
I also know that if I accepted the role as such I could then negotiate remote work afterwards, but it doesn't feel very clean - as you agree to certain conditions, which you then negotiate - I would much rather be more upfront about it.
It really sucks.

Is it the agents who don't want to discuss it? I have a part time rcontract at the moment and am now looking for another, but even saying to an agent, 'I could start tomorrow 4 days per week for 2 months and then go full-time' is met with a blank refusal. I think they don;t have the confidence to use one of their CV slots, which is fair enough for a bog standard role but bizarre for a very niche role for which you're perfect. I do have an interview next week for another part-time role but they are very hard to find.

[TykeMerc]

WSS.

Remote working is great, unfortunately many managers have the mindset that they're only managing if your bum is on a seat in their office.

[SueEllen]

Unfortunately some client managers still have the concept that if they cannot see their staff working they aren't working instead of going on the results the staff produce.

They then unfortunately extend this view to contractors.


And yes we are all aware of studies showing that staff tend to work harder or produce more if they work remotely due to less distractions.

[xchaotic]

I could be just me or my niche, but I am really struggling finding roles that would accept part-time or remote working from day 1.
Every single contract over the past 4 or so years, I have managed to work remotely to some extent after some time.
The pain is at the beginning, it could be 3 months, or 6 months and is of course very disruptive to my private life.
In fact I would be very willing to take a cut from the day rate as long as the role offered flexible options from day 1, or at least day 10.
Has the HR, managers and agent not caught up to the idea yet?
I have, just in the past couple of week, declined all offers I have received, just because I don't want to move at the moment. At least some of them, could easily be done remotely, yet no one could be bothered to even discuss such an approach.
I also know that if I accepted the role as such I could then negotiate remote work afterwards, but it doesn't feel very clean - as you agree to certain conditions, which you then negotiate - I would much rather be more upfront about it.
It really sucks.