DH and I had a long talk about my career and what I should do. I'm very undecided. I like working but I don't like not being able to see LO on a daily basis (currently I don't see him Tuesday and Thursday and part of Saturday). Currently, I work FT and have a chargeable hour goal per year. I'd like to go PT but DH says that is pretty much impossible in accounting. Even if you go PT you still end up working FT. Has anyone sucessufully gone PT? Or is this the impossible dream..
-
You pretty much know my story . . . for me, it is an impossible dream.
ETA: But I see my LO on a daily basis . . . I do pickup/drop off (DH has only picked up a handful of times), and am usually on my own for dinner, bath, and bed, too. I just pick up where I left off with work once LO is down for the night. I also spend a lot of Saturdays (at least a half day) at the office. I am really trying to push through more at work, but with the phone conferences, interruptions, and never ending stream of work (good problem to have, I know) . . . I feel like I just *shoot and move* *shoot and move* *shoot and move* . . . it's totally a triage sometimes in my office.
-
is working from home an option at all in your mind? I know what you mean about working FT even if you say you're going to work PT, but if those extra hours (when necessary) were at home, would that bother you?
i don't know what kind of accounting you do, but it doesn't sound impossible to me. At least in law i can say there's plenty of variety across the field in how many hours people work, etc. you just have to find the right fit. and i work with many semi-retired accountants who work part-time, so i know it exists.
In my opinion, it's not an impossible dream, but it may be one that requires you to think outside the box a little bit
-
Could you move out of the accounting field and in-house somewhere?
-
@Pirouette: sorry I meant public accounting. I could move to industry and that wouldn't be an issue. But I find industry boring.
-
I was just going to suggest that, @LindsayInNY! There are tons of people with accounting backgrounds working in financial services.
At my very first job, all my managers were former public accountants (big 6 at the time).
-
@LindsayInNY: I was in house at a large utility for 5 years and I was sooooo bored. There was a lot of workplace drama as well which I don't think helped the situation.
-
@littlek: Do you think the boredom came from the industry (utility) or the field (accounting)? There are a lot of companies in your area... PayPal, AOL, LivingSocial... Maybe they're hiring in-house for tax/accounting?
-
My DH worked for a Big 4 on the assurance side until last year, when he moved to industry. Pretty much all of his co-workers, male and female, jumped ship once they started having families. He said that life is so much better on the other side when you are the one calling the shots.
I work for a consulting firm at 80%. Like you say, it is very difficult to maintain the balance since I still pretty much have to do a full time position in 80% of the hours. Sometimes I work way more than 100% but am only paid 80%. It kind of changes with the projects I work. But I have done it for 2 years now because it gives me an excuse to really put my foot down and bow out of a 5pm meeting or take a Friday off.
-
I think it is possible to cut down your hourly goals but going PT I don't think is necessarily doable at least for me - projects need to get done timely and I would end up working anyways.
-
I have already accepted that in the role I am in now (Consultant) I could never really go PT. Apparently one of the other ladies tried to do this (3 days/week) when she came back from mat leave and the partners paid her less than 50% of her salary but then expected her to be available to take calls, deal with client issues, etc while on her off days.
As others have mentioned maybe looking in house is an option unless you would consider starting your own practice since then you could control how much you work
-
I work 80 percent as a lawyer and I just stay out of the office and refuse to respond to anyone on that day. I think that you have to be able to manage your workload and say "no" a lot for it it work, and take a hit in your career, and work somewhere where they won't fire you for saying "no". It would be extremely easy to work more than full time in my position now, but I just have to keep refusing work and not taking on too much.
-
I'm a CPA that was at a big 4 prior to LO. Now I'm a SAHM, which pretty much sums up my take on it. When the economy tanked and my firm had layoffs, everyone in my group who was PT was layed off. It depends on your practice, but I think it is extremely hard to adequately meet client needs on a PT schedule when you're in a demanding client services role. Those I knew on PT were either still on email all the time or took a drastic step backwards in their careers. And honestly, a lot of coworkers resented PT schedule people because they felt like they were always having to cover for them. I'm sure some firms and practices are much better at it than others - this is just my personal experience. I'd try to get a PT job in-house rather than stay at a firm.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
12 comments