March 2007
Balancing Work, Life
Part-time professionals tip the scales
By Andrea McGovern

Professionals like Jackie Weller, a manager at Skoda Minotti & Co., are finding that a year-round, part-time schedule works as well for the company as it does for her. Photo by Marc Golub

Jackie Weller is a manager at Mayfield Village’s Skoda Minotti & Co. After her first child was born, Weller wanted more time at home with her daughter, but says part-time jobs in her field were “unheard of” in 1991. She took a proactive approach, marketing herself with a cover letter offering her services during accounting’s peak times. “I told them how this was a good match for the firm as well as for myself,” she said. “I got a lot of response to the proposal.”

Since that time, Weller has consistently found part-time employment in the accounting field. For seven years after the birth of her second child, she only worked during tax season. Later, as her children went to school, she was able to add hours, and make different transitions in her work life, keeping open the ability to take summers off to be with her children. She joined Skoda Minotti & Co. three years ago. Last year she began a year-round, part-time schedule. Diane Brezovec had worked at Lubrizol in Wickliffe as a CPA for nearly 22 years when the conflicting responsibilities of career and family finally became too much for her. After nearly nine months of soul searching, Brezovec decided to resign from her position as a segment controller in the company’s accounting department.

To her surprise, the company countered with an offer of a part-time position. Brezovec now manages Sarbanes Oxley compliance for the company, a piece of her previous job that was carved out and expanded to create a 28-hour position. She now goes to the office four days a week from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. These professionals are representative of a growing segment in today’s workforce – highly qualified workers seeking alternative schedules to achieve a better work/life balance.

Workplace demographics in flux

“The demographics of the workplace are changing,” said Marty Mordarski, manager of workplace research for the Employers Resource Council, Northeast Ohio’s largest employers’ association with more than 1,100 members. The ERC surveys hundreds of local companies annually as part of its Northcoast 99 program, which each year recognizes the 99 best workplaces in Northeast Ohio. “We are seeing more demands from job candidates for flexible work options, such as part-time positions, job-sharing and telecommuting,” Mordarski said. “People want to spend more time outside of work attending to other needs.”

Of the 2006 Northcoast 99, 96 percent stated that they offered flexible work hours and part-time options. A smaller percentage said they offered job-sharing or telecommuting. This emerging workforce, as it has been dubbed, is “confident, self-reliant and distinguished by a set of workplace values and expectations that vary drastically from what managers have previously encountered,” according to a recent national study by Spherion Corp., a staffing and recruiting company. It goes on to say that this group is growing, and is expected to comprise the majority of employees in 2007.

In a previous study conducted in 2003, Spherion found that already 96 percent of American workers “agreed that an employer was more attractive when it helped them meet family obligations through options like flextime, job sharing or telecommuting.”

Flexibility required Mordarski says local employers are feeling the pinch when it comes to filling skilled jobs.

“We hear, especially from the people who are trying to recruit people for highly skilled technical positions, that there is a big demand for talented people,” he said. Mordarski said people in the job market who know their skills are in demand increasingly are using that leverage to get employers to make concessions, and job/family balance is an area of high priority.

From his vantage point, Mordarski said technology, healthcare, accounting, administrative and clerical jobs seem to be at the front of the wave in offering alternative scheduling solutions. “Hospitals and other healthcare organizations have led the field in their efforts to bring in talented people and get them to stay,” he said.

Nancy Foster, corporate human resource director for Lake Hospital System, agreed that the health care market tends to offer its employees a high level of flexibility. “If you are an RN or pharmacist and you can’t work certain hours, I guarantee that we can find you other hours,” she said.

She said the nature of filling positions in a 24/7 operation makes for numerous opportunities for the employee not interested in putting in 40 hours a week. In other fields, the nature of the work and how it is billed allows for a clean division for employees working fractioned weeks. Skoda Minotti’s Weller manages several clients’ accounts for the firm, including the other staff members involved in those accounts. She was recently promoted.

“This company is great. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or have taken on too much, they will work with you and adjust your work accordingly, and vice versa. I’ve also gone to my manager and asked for more to take on,” she said. Mordarski said jobs in some fields, such as manufacturing, may have fewer flexible opportunities.

“It depends on the requirements of the job,” he said. “The time involved in making a transition between two people would cost production time.”

Sharing the load While the national buzz regarding emerging workers also cites a rise in other creative scheduling concepts, such as job sharing local companies do not seem to have responded with many such opportunities.

Although the ERC’s survey indicated 60 percent of their companies offer such arrangements, an informal survey of a number of local placement firms and human resource professionals brought a common response – “I don’t know of anybody who offers job-sharing.” Telecommuting, which does seem to have a high level of acceptance among local employers, can be a double-edged sword. According to Mordarski, “with technology and wireless technology, so many people are finding themselves in a 24-hour work environment. On the other hand, if (the company) is giving you a Blackberry and 24-hour access, maybe you don’t have to be there. Some people love the 24-hour workplace. But it’s important to demonstrate the nature of the job for which we are recruiting ahead of time,” he said.

Benefits vs. flexibility

According to the 2002 Northeast Ohio Work and Family Survey performed by the Greater Cleveland Growth Association and Cleveland State University, 75 percent of the companies surveyed stated they had part-time workers in their employ. The caveat is that these were also jobs that offered no benefits. Only 17 percent offered part-time employees full benefits.

“In general, part-time workers are not offered benefits,” ERC’s Mordarski said. That may be one reason why women, who may be covered by a spouse’s benefits, seem to more commonly take part-time positions.

According to Time Magazine’s October, 2006 special report, “America by the Numbers,” in dual-career families, men spend an average of 42.5 hours per week at their jobs, while women spend just under 24 hours. Women still do the bulk of the housework at 19.5 hours per week, nearly double the men’s average, and they also spend nearly twice as much time caring for their children as their husbands. Both men and women average 64 to 70 hours a week in paid and unpaid work.

“I made the decision (to go part-time) because of my children,” said Lubrizol’s Brezovec. At age 7 and 13, they were missing out on activities and sports.

“I was working 60 to 70 hours, and so was my husband. I felt the kids were getting shortchanged. I was just not happy,” she said. Brezovec said cutting back her hours is one of the best things she’s ever done.

“The kids are very happy. My work is still demanding. Sometimes I’m not there when a meeting is held, or I have to ask people to reschedule. Sometimes I stay later or come in early for a deadline. I may work on weekends or overnight, or have a meeting from home at 9 p.m., because of a time difference. If I am home I can still work, but I am not working 70 hours. My schedule is 28 hours. I’m not letting work run my life. I feel the company has been very accommodating.” Skoda Minotti’s Weller is happy with her situation, too.

“This has worked out really well for me,” she said. “My career goals have changed as my family situation has changed. Today I am taking it all in stride. I know there has to be more of a sacrifice in family life if I want to expand my career. When the time is right, on both sides, I will do it.”

New priorities Mordarski said he sees big generational differences when he’s in the field working with organizations. He said in many cases it is the younger workers, either the ones entering the workforce now or the next younger group - from Generation X up to approaching middle age – who are the driving force behind workforce change.

“The baby-boom generation defined the word ‘workaholic,’” he said. “In general, as a generation they approached the workplace and work as an opportunity to make a difference. But their children grew up in families where both parents worked, where there was divorce, with single parents or parents they didn’t see. This shaped their attitudes about work before they entered the market.” Mordarski pointed out that Generation X is currently the largest group in the workforce with children, and Generation Y is rapidly entering the market.

“They don’t want a 24-hour work day, they want to spend time with their families,” he said, noting this is a group that has come of age with news of terrorism and disasters, and they know life is short. “They want to make the most of their lives while they can, not spend all their time at work.”

Andrea McGovern is a Mentor freelance writer.