Part-Time Employment

We tend to regard part-time employment as the exception rather than the rule. Historically this was not the case. While some people have always performed the equivalent of what we call “a full-day’s work” for pay, in many respects the Industrial Revolution was the creator of the full-time salaried job. It also increased working hours by a half or more over what people had traditionally known. For most of human history the majority of people have engaged in several activities in several locations in the course of a week, often without monetary payment, rather than a single task in one setting (see Volunteer Work). In the winter months most people worked less than a full day’s labor, adjusting their hours according to the number of daylight hours and the dictates of the weather. Work responsibilities were also spread more evenly through the extended family rather than concentrated on one, now often two, members of a nuclear family.

The Growing Incidence of Part-Time Employment

Even in recent times, part-time employment has been the norm rather than the exception for certain kinds of people. Women have frequently held part-time or less-than-average full-time positions, and after a period of decline this older pattern is now returning. Large numbers of immigrants, even those who have been in a country for some time, also have part-time or occasional work. Many rural workers are involved in seasonal work. So too are many students in schools, colleges and universities, though increasingly these continue to hold down part-time positions alongside their studies. Overall, part-time employment has been steadily growing during the last decade and looks set to continue doing so well into the future.

There are various reasons for the trend: (1) the downsizing of many workplaces and contracting out of responsibilities to other people, (2) a lower outlay on salaries, insurance and health schemes, (3) the greater flexibility required by many new kinds of work, (4) the growing desire for self-employed or multisided work, (5) the search on the part of some baby boomers and many baby busters for a more balanced life and (6) the call of God upon some to launch out into freelance or tentmaking Christian service.

Some social commentators believe that we are in the midst of a paradigm shift with respect to work. The traditional job is dying. For example, the number of people who are part- or full-time telecommuters doubled in a two-year period, and the number of traditional or traditional-looking jobs even in a country like Great Britain is about 25 percent of the total work force. In years to come, increasing numbers of people will find themselves “dejobbed.” We are moving toward a workplace without jobs as we have known them. The bulk of jobs are on the way to becoming temporary rather than permanent. Guaranteed employment and tenured positions will be a thing of the past. The existence of the much-written-about organization man or woman, who is wedded to a firm or company for much of his or her life, or the career path of rising through a sequence of jobs that increased in salary, responsibility and complexity will be rare (see Career).

In the entertainment and communications industries, traditional job structures ultimately became too inflexible to cope with the constantly changing nature of the work. This will prove to be the case in other kinds of workplaces. Individuals called in to perform a particular function, telecommuters working for several firms at the same time, teams or even whole firms hired for a particular project, these are the wave of the future. The result will be an ever larger number of what the freelance consultant William Bridges calls vendor workers, who sell their services to a variety of clients and tend to work on projects on a short-term basis. While such a development opens up the possibility of further exploitation by employers, as has often been the case with part-time employment, this will be offset by the competitiveness of certain work situations, the high quality of the people being employed and the beginning of protective structures or regulations for part-time workers.

A Survival Guide to Part-Time Employment

A greater challenge may well be the psychological, social and economic adjustments workers will have to make to manage and benefit from these changes. Those already in part-time work have always had to cope with the sense of inferiority associated with not having a full-time job. Workers who in some industries have already shifted from a five- to a four-day working week have had difficulty adjusting to not being able to socialize during their time off with their friends in traditional jobs. If, as is likely, some part-time work takes on the pattern of shiftwork or working at different hours, the long-observed problems of physical, psychological and marital problems experienced by such people will spread. Since economies—from benefit provisions to tax collection—are still largely built around traditional employment arrangements, there is still little recognition or support from the government for the emerging part-time employment economy. On the other hand, some businesses are taking responsibility to develop new financial practices and packages for the new kind of worker.

What can part-time workers themselves do to make a satisfactory transition from traditional employment into this new situation? First, it requires a more inner-directed and self-motivated attitude than a traditional job. This is not always easy in an increasingly outer-directed and peer-motivated culture. Giving additional time to prayer and meditation, especially to journaling one’s daily life, strengthens one’s inner life with God and develops a greater capacity for one to stand on one’s own. If selling oneself is also awkward, focusing on what could be contributed to specific projects, rather than what one has to offer generally, may help overcome the difficulty.

It is also important to establish contact with others who are working part time. People can then meet regularly to talk about common concerns arising from their nonstandard working practice. Congregations and some parachurch organizations could help develop such groups. In addition, belonging to a support group or home church within a congregation creates a place where people can talk and pray about their work and provides a weekly anchor and reference point.

Since part-time work does not always have the regular rhythms of a traditional job (for example, working intensively one day or one week with little to do the next), it is important to learn and live with flexibility. This is not necessarily easy, and individuals will differ in their attempts and ability to deal with it. For most it is important to establish “islands of order” (Bridges), routines that hold fast even in the most demanding work schedules but especially during spells when there is less to do. These may include reflection and prayer times (see Spiritual Disciplines), hobbies, exercise or sports, ongoing commitments to others, a project or a cause. While these may expand or contract according to circumstances, they will be a consistent feature of one’s day or week.

Since part-time workers, especially those who are self-employed, are often among the lowest paid, and even if well paid sometimes have highly fluctuating incomes, it is imperative for them to have a broader financial support system. This could take different forms, and I offer two from my own experience. Those in the same work position could agree to help each other out or have a common fund from which any can draw when necessary but must repay as soon as his or her position stabilizes. A church-based support or communal group could also commit itself to helping one or more of its members during the transition into part-time employment or during other difficult times.

The wider challenge of part-time work, especially if it becomes more entrenched in our society, presents considerable challenges to Christians, though no more so than those already faced by members of some industries and those involved in freelance work. It is helpful to remember that the tradition of part-time work has some significant Christian precedents. We often forget that the apostle Paul was mostly a part-time, not full-time, missionary, who made tents to support himself and his associates (Acts 18:3; Acts 20:33-34; 2 Thes. 3:6-10). The secret to living this way, he said, lies in learning “to be content whatever the circumstances,” knowing “what it is to be in need” and “what it is to have plenty,” doing “everything through him who gives strength” (Phil. 4:11-13).

» See also: Calling

» See also: Self-Esteem

» See also: Shiftwork

» See also: Work

References and Resources

W. Bridges, Jobshift: How to Prosper in a Workplace Without Jobs (London: Nicholas Brealey, 1995); C. Handy, The Age of Unreason (Boston: Harvard Business School, 1989); J. B. Schor, The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure (New York: Basic Books, 1991).

—Robert Banks