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Confessions of a Part-Timer
13 May 2010
By Andy Humphrey
6 months back, my blog post “Career Choice or Dead End?” reported on the challenge facing me, as a full-time research scientist with 12 years’ post-qualification experience, coming to the end of a fixed-term contract in the middle of a recession. The challenge was a stark one: was it possible to continue my research career as a bona fide career, or was this the time to get out and do something else altogether?
My colleagues were as supportive as they could be in the circumstances. The head of the institute where I work had promised me honorary status, so I could keep using the university facilities (and my university address and e-mail) as well as work on loose ends from the research threads I was pursuing. Several of these, although funded from the grant I’d been employed to work on, were my own ideas and it was important to me to carry them through to a conclusion. I was even tentatively offered some travel expenses. About the only thing the institute weren’t prepared to do was to pay me a salary for the work I wanted to do.
That was 6 months ago. Things have changed since then.
A week before my contract was due to expire, the institute threw me a lifeline by redeploying me onto another project – with a different PI, and in a different area of chemistry to the one I’d been following for the last 3 years, but in the same lab. It was funded from the tail end of another grant after the previous postdoc on the project had emigrated. The catch was that this was a part-time post, 2.5 days a week for a year.
So: 6 months into the contract, how do I feel about it?
I’ve found that working part-time on a project carries with it a different set of expectations to working full-time. My PI wants my 2.5 days a week to be 2.5 days IN THE LAB – which means that others have to share the burden of lab admin (ordering chemicals and consumables, seeing to maintenance of equipment, Health & Safety inductions, etc.) that used to fall on me. My lab time is more focused, and probably more productive, hour for hour. And there is no expectation that I’ll be putting in unpaid overtime.
I have a more varied week, with an extra 2.5 days to do other things – some of which earn me money! I get a small irregular income from freelance writing. I’m also a trade union rep, one of a small (and overstretched) team of personal case workers who support other union members in difficulty. Now that I’m part-time I am allowed to be part of the union’s Facilities Time Agreement, which buys out a fraction of the working week to free up time for union officers to do their duties. Instead of having to squeeze my case work into time that I sacrificed from the working week (and would usually have to make up by working late) I can now set aside dedicated time for my union duties, and get paid for doing so. My research PI has been happy for me to fit union work flexibly around my lab work, sometimes over 2,3 or even 4 days in the working week. This often brings me into the lab on extra days, so my research benefits too.
I’m no less busy than when I was a full-time researcher. But I’m less stressed and my work-life balance actually has some semblance of balance to it. If there is a downside, it’s that my earnings are less than when I was working full-time. And, of course, there are those unfinished experiments from my last full-time contract, the ones my future research proposals depend on. I still mean to get round to finishing them one day. Perhaps when I’m not quite so busy...
Rachel Talbot13 May 2010 at 03:41 PM
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Thanks for the update – it’s really good to hear how well your end of contract has worked out for you. I do wonder whether there will be an increase in part time contracts as money becomes tighter and tighter due to cuts in funding.
Simon Smith13 May 2010 at 04:14 PM
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Glad that you've discovered the joys of working part-time, Andy! I switched to working part time out of choice several years ago, and would never want to go back, for all the sorts of reasons you mention. Of course, I realise that full-time work can be a financial necessity for many. But for all that, your main problem - lack of security of tenure - doesn't seem to have been addressed, does it? Presumably you're starting to think about what happens when this contract ends. I'm in a similar situation: I took a short-term post through redeployment, in a slightly different research area to my main interest. In the meantime I had hoped to win a Research Council grant, but my application wasn't successful, so I'm back to square 1, hoping to find another short-term post through redeployment to buy me more some time while I wait to hear about an application for a fellowship. I've thoroughly enjoyed the work I've been doing in a different field, and undoubtedly benefited by learning new skills from working with people in a different discipline. Nevertheless, I do keep asking myself if this any way to develop a career. Improvisation often seems to be about the most essential skill for a career researcher!
Tennie Videler13 May 2010 at 09:48 PM
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Hi, I also worked part-time for the last six years of my research career (and still do..) to fit around school hours. The bizarre thing was that I felt a real exception doing this, I was the only part time member of research staff I knew... if only this forum had existed then... I too thought it was great. it meant that there were certain experiments I couldn't do in the short hours I worked but there were always plenty to be done! I really think I was more effective and focused for working shorter hours....
Andy Humphrey14 May 2010 at 01:08 PM
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Simon: you're absolutely right. My current contract is up at the end of October, and it's not obvious that there will be a renewal. I loved your comment about improvisation - we certainly learn to be adaptable in this business!
Sarah Davies14 May 2010 at 11:05 PM
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Andy - again, thanks for the update. It's really great to hear how things have worked out for you. Your experiences - part-time research work combined with other bits and pieces - may soon be mine (or, as Rachel points out, those of many researchers...), so it's good to hear that it's been such a positive change for you. I suppose my one question is whether a shift towards part-time contracts will tend to penalise those who simply can't afford to take a part-time post while waiting for something more permanent to come along. They're perfect if you have a family, or a partner who will pool resources, but what of those who are forced out of research because they need to pay their rent? OR - am I too pessimistic about the chances of 'topping up' part-time work with other related (paying) activities?
Hannah Dee16 May 2010 at 07:40 AM
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Hi Andy - rather than describe this as being a "part timer", you could describe this as a "Portfolio career" . It's a term I rather like, and a route I'm finding fairly attractive. What you're doing combining paid researcher work with paid union work and voluntary research work. I thnk that there's a sense in which a lectureship gives this variety - you'd be doing teaching, admin, research, maybe some union stuff. But the researcher role generally doesn't and I know that from time-to-time I've found full time research, well, a bit dull. Good luck with keeping it up - have you any other options for when the contract is up?
Sarah Davies16 May 2010 at 05:13 PM
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I love the idea of a portfolio career - 'portfolio' is, along with 'boutique', one of my favourite words to get into unusual contexts. In an ideal world I would have a portfolio career of boutique research...
Andy Humphrey17 May 2010 at 01:43 PM
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Sarah: Even if there are more part-time research contracts in the future, I still think they will be the exception rather than the rule. This is particularly so in the sciences, where the expectation is that researchers will be mainly lab-based, and where the requirements of funding bodies dictate that work has to be completed (insofar as it ever can be...) within a fixed period of time. On a couple of previous jobs I asked about the possibilities for flexible working and was basically told "the nature of the job doesn't allow for it", and I don't see there being a large-scale shift away from that in the future. Hannah: "Portfolio career" - I love it!
Simon Smith17 May 2010 at 04:08 PM
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Hannah - do you know what the definition of research is according to the European Charter for Researchers? “any activities related to ‘basic research’, ‘strategic research’, ‘applied research’, experimental development and ‘transfer of knowledge’ including innovation and advisory, supervisory and teaching capacities, the management of knowledge and intellectual property rights, the exploitation of research results or scientific journalism” Combine all those, and that's some portfolio! I suppose the issue is whether it's better to have a lectureship, where you'd have some sort of prescribed combination of the above but with job stability, or to piece it together yourself, which might give you more flexibility, but less security.
Hannah Dee17 May 2010 at 04:39 PM
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Simon - have you ever had a post where you got to do all those? I'm on my 3rd post-doc, and I certainly haven't. Whilst the remit of the title "Researcher" is broad, in practice, it seems to involve much more constrained activity.
Simon Smith17 May 2010 at 05:08 PM
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You don't know how lucky you are, just being able to focus on your research! No, I'm joking, that's my experience on the whole, too. But the point I was making was that if universities took that definition seriously, Andy's paid role might not change, but he ought to receive some credit for the voluntary 'research' he does, and even the union work. In other words, I hope that by giving such a broad definition of research, they're trying to encourage more enlightened views of how all those 'peripheral' activities can add to your research skills and your value as a researcher.
Matthew Salois19 May 2010 at 04:58 PM
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Great post Andy, and I am very happy how things have worked out. I think that all employers (both academic and non-academic) are considering ways to restructure. This includes adapting HR rolls to incorporate more part-timers and less full-timers. While part-time contracts may remain the exception rather than the rule, I do believe it is we will see a notable increase in the number of part-time contracts being offered. In fact, this trend may likely be stronger in high-skill areas, like university research, in which recruiting can be more costly. Those employers that have down-sized their staff will find themselves short of an adequate labor supply when the recession does finally end and in a particular quandry. By maintaining a pool of part-time workers, businesses and universities give themselves added flexibility during tough times.