How can I ask my current employer to keep me on part time?

Question

How can I ask my current employer to keep me as a part time employee? I really like the job and it's an incredible learning experience. I'm 25 years old and have been employed their for about 8 months. I've learned a ton in my time working there and I know I have years before I would cap out on the potential knowledge and technical available.

The reason I am looking to move to part time at my current job is because I am a co-owner of a company that I have been contributing to in my spare time. I'm young and I think it's a great time to take the risk and jump into this opportunity. This new company is in good enough shape where I can be compensated at or above my current salary.

What would be the best steps to take in order to keep my current job as a part time worker?

Answer 1

You have to decide what's more important:

Gaining experience from your current role

I know I have years before I would cap out on the potential knowledge

..or taking the leap and believing in your company

This new company is in good enough shape where I can be compensated at or above my current salary.

Don't look for something in between. It sounds like your company has potential so I'd say focus on it full time. You'll learn more from that than staying with your current job even if it doesn't work out in the long run.

If you really want to keep working for your employer part-time you could say you'd like to focus on your company, but you'll still be available as a contractor.

Be honest about your situation.

Answer 2

Normally you wouldn't do this if you have confidence in yourself and your business. If you don't have enough faith to jump in with both feet, then it's usually better to keep your day job until you do.

Depending on your role, getting a new business going can be a full time commitment with a lot more to it than what you are perhaps used to. You may end up juggling multiple roles. And it very quickly becomes a matter of business specific training and skills needed. It's not as useful learning to use tools you don't have, than it is to maximise returns on the tools you do.

Answer 3

Your post lists plenty of reasons why staying on part time would be great for you, all of which are perfectly valid and if I were an employer looking to convince you to stay on part time those would probably be some of the arguments I'd use to try and persuade you.

In this case however you're the one trying to persuade the employer to agree to the part time arrangement - and to do that you are going to need to come up with some arguments as to why it's beneficial to them to do so.

Since you're currently employed full time then presumably there is sufficient workload in that position to require a full time employee so you're going to need to come up with either a solution to that shortfall. Such as:

• Rather than going part time you do compressed hours so you cover the full-time hours over fewer days (might work if your role doesn't operate in a particuarly ad-hoc fashion)

• Working a reduced number of days over all but with flexibility - so that you can be present more of the time when their need for your services is high and when work is slower you are in less (this would suit a more ad-hoc work pattern and gives the employer the possible benefit that they are only really paying you when they need you). You could do this either as a part time employee or as a third party contractor. Offering this as a contractor would then offer an additional incentive to them as they would be saving on any employment costs.

If however they do need a full time person in the role then you'll have to come up with a way to justify the additional cost to the company of having you as a part timer and having a full time replacement for you.

This is going to be tricky, you've only been there 8 months so it will be difficult to argue that the company would be losing too much in-house knowledge by letting you walk out the door, and given you state that this is mainly a learning opportunity for you it's unlikely that you are bringing sufficient levels of experience to the role to warrant hiring a junior or entry-level employee at a much lower wage than yourself and retaining you as a part timer for the "tough stuff".

I've got to be honest and say that your chances are slim unless they have really been struggling to find enough work to fill your full time hours. Asking if you could stay part-time as a contractor is probably your best chance but I think you need to be prepared for the "No".

If you're happy with the idea of leaving if you don't get the part-time deal you'd like then there's no harm in asking though.