How to Make the Pitch For a Part-time Workload.

Your New Year's resolution was to formally reduce your work hours, even if it meant taking a cut in salary. In other words, you want to work part-time. You're willing to sacrifice the dollars to gain some relief from the stress of 60-hour weeks, crushing responsibilities, and incipient burnout. Perhaps you want to transition into a new career by working part-time for someone else in addition to your job. Maybe you want to go to back to school or start a business on the side. Maybe you've reached your Peggy Lee phase and just want change. Can you negotiate part-time hours where you are or must you change jobs and/or organizations?

Even when you're highly motivated it's hard to go from fifth gear to second. It's especially hard if your primary goal is to combat burnout. Without planning and self-discipline your unscheduled time will gradually fill with work. Undone work has a powerful attraction for most of us. Once that happens, your high productivity is likely to convince your boss that she can get the same amount of work from you for less money. In effect, you will have negotiated flex-time, not part-time. You will drown in your own resentment even though, in rational moments, you'll know you did yourself in because as a full-timer you raised their performance expectations dangerously high. The worst is that you'll end up leaving the organization on bad terms.

Here's another consideration. If you go from full-time to part-time, co-workers may furtively harass you and gossip about you and your intentions. They'll envy you because they will conclude you've beaten the system and they can't. Even if they don't publicly object to the deal you've cut, they're going to go nuts when they figure out that you're getting paid by the hour. (This is the most common arrangement and includes pro-rated benefits.) That means you don't have to put in unpaid overtime, which is, of course, one of the powerful attractions of part-time work. When you've worked your hours, you're history.

Your boss will fret because she can't call spontaneous meetings and be certain you'll appear. Did you know you were indispensable? You are now. Many otherwise rational bosses can't accept not having the entire medical management team physically present at least 40 hours a week.

So much for the negatives. If you still want to reduce your hours where you are instead of selling yourself as a part-timer to another employer, here's a game plan to put before your boss.

The game plan

Establish a timeframe

Do you want a reduced schedule for one year, two years, forever? You can probably sell your boss on up to three years, without causing her to consider outplacement. Indefinite is not salable to her, nor should it be to you. Why? You'll never get more than a cost-of-living raise, even if your work is stellar. Remember the trade-off between money and convenience. If the boss thinks you're a captive of convenience, you'll be taken for granted. "Where else could he go and cut a deal like this? We've got him." If it's true that you won't leave regardless, your bargaining position is nonexistent. Keeping your position burnished is also the best reason to interview for a few jobs every year.

Another reason to plan short-term: If there's the slightest economic upheaval, good or bad, your boss will yank you back into the office immediately on that pretense. Unless you've got a foot out the door to another job or self-employment what can you say? You need to think beyond a part-time schedule with your current organization so that you aren't caught out.

If you can agree on a reasonable timeframe that doesn't inconvenience anyone or endanger important results or relationships, you have a high probability of getting your boss' okay. Expect that if you are male your boss will argue harder and try to pass you some free-floating guilt. You will get what you want, but not until you convince your boss that you're absolutely serious.

Agree on productivity expectations

How many hours do you mean by part-time? For most people it's 20 or 25. If you work 30 hours you're so close to full-time you'll really end up working at home one day a week--for less money. What is realistic productivity for the timeframe you've set? How many hours are you putting in as a full-timer? If you and the boss can't agree on what you must produce, don't consider part-time work unless you thrive on combat. Review your job description and performance expectations. Prepare for a meeting with your boss by making deep cuts in all extraneous tasks, however desirable. Identify the irreducible minimum even though your boss might then conclude you will be overpaid for what you will do.

Agree on which days you will always be available unless you're on vacation or hospitalized. What department meetings are essential? One warning: If you stayed until 6:00 p.m. every evening when you were full-time you can't leave at 5:00 p.m. because you're part-time. Everyone is watching to see if you're slacking off and the grapevine will report on your activities in detail for years.

Managing co-worker resentment

Once you negotiate your new schedule, consider the issue of managing co-worker resentment. Our clients tell us you'll meet it in abundance, especially from those who lack the nerve to ask for a similar schedule. Here are the best hints for avoiding the mean guilts and keeping co-worker envy and resentment at a manageable level.

Don't be secretive

Tell everyone you've taken a cut in pay and benefits. You're not on the corporate dole; you're getting no freebies. You can't say, hint, suggest, or shout this often enough. Most people announce what they're getting once and expect the earth to shake. After you're bored telling your story, repeat. Your co-workers tend to ignore the money and benefits you've given up. They want the deal you've got with full salaries and benefits. That's a pipe dream but logic doesn't affect how they feel. They will try to punish you for your financial courage.

Keep a low profile

Don't talk about any part of your life that is not work related. Don't use children as an excuse for anything. They are a private pleasure and hobby. You'll not only alienate full-time working parents, you'll infuriate the childless as well.

Attend all office frolics

This includes important gatherings held after work. You can mange this with a few weeks' notice. You still want to be considered part of the group. Don't allow co-workers to suspect you no longer think of yourself that way. If you do, they'll "forget" to update you on office intelligence.

You'll be isolated and vulnerable because you aren't part of the grapevine anymore. Expect the super-conscientious to resent the fact you are not totally devoted to your job, that you have other interests. Your co-workers choose how hard they'll work. Those who resent the deal you cut are convinced they work harder than you ever did even when you were full-time. Ignore any hints of this nature. Do not defend yourself if attacked. Smile and evade.

You may not get an absolute one-for-one reduction in your workload. You may work a few extra hours for less money. How much is the freedom to do other things worth to you? If you're an extrovert, don't be surprised if you miss the office gang, even the commute, more than you thought you would.

Ask for a trial period

Finally, ask for a six-month trial. This is protection if it turns out you are still expected to produce the same work in fewer hours-unfortunately, a common scenario. Doing what you're paid for and not more will be a constant battle and requires diplomacy. The minute you begin to feel you're an overworked victim either renegotiate or job hunt.

Marilyn Moats Kennedy is Managing Partner, Career Strategies, Inc., Wilmette, Illinois, and a long-time member of the ACPE faculty.

KEY CONCEPTS

* Working Part-time

* Negotiating Part-time Hours

* Reducing Your Hours

* Developing a Game Plan

* Managing Co-worker Resentment

Are you planning on moving from full-time to part-time hours? You'll need a game plan to negotiate what you want, including establishing a timeline and agreeing on productivity expectations. If you can agree on a reasonable timeframe that doesn't inconvenience anyone or endanger important results or relationships, you have a high probability of getting your boss' okay. If you and the boss can't agree on what you must produce, don't consider part-time work unless you thrive on combat. Once you negotiate your new schedule, consider the issue of managing coworker resentment. Here are the best hints for keeping coworker envy and resentment at a manageable level: Don't be secretive; keep a low profile; attend all office frolics; and ask for a trial period.