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When working parents consider going part-time, the question often sounds straightforward: Should I cut back my hours? But beneath that lies a tangle of deeper issues—identity, ambition, money, family dynamics, and long-term career trajectory. It’s rarely just about schedules or paychecks.
For some, the hope is relief from burnout or more presence with loved ones. For others, it’s a way to preserve their career by making it sustainable. Yet without clarity and intentional boundaries, part-time can just as easily create new pressures as it relieves old ones.
Here are some things to consider before making the decision:
When someone tells me they’re thinking about going part-time, my first question is always: What do you hope this will give you?
Sometimes the answer is obvious: more time with children, space to care for ageing parents, recovery from burnout. Other times it’s murkier: a sense that life is slipping by too quickly, or that work has crowded out everything else that matters.
It’s important to pause here. Because “part-time” is not a silver bullet. Working fewer hours won’t automatically create balance, ease guilt, or generate fulfilment. In fact, unless you’re clear about what you want to gain—and disciplined about how you’ll use that time—the space you carve out can quickly fill with the same obligations, distractions, and patterns that left you depleted in the first place. I’ve seen people go part-time only to spend their “free” hours running errands, fielding work emails, or taking on invisible labour at home. Instead of relief, they feel even more fragmented.
That’s why it helps to move beyond the surface question of “Should I reduce my hours?” and toward the deeper one: “What is the life I want to create, and will going part-time bring me closer to it?”
Questions to reflect on:
There’s the fantasy of part-time—leisurely mornings, meaningful afternoons, a career that flexes gracefully around life. And then there’s the reality.
In some workplaces, part-time can mean doing nearly the same work in fewer hours, with less pay. Unless responsibilities are explicitly renegotiated, “reduced hours” often become compressed hours where the same expectations are squeezed into a smaller container. The result? More stress, not less.
This is why clarity and boundary-setting matter so much. Without a realignment of duties, you may find yourself trapped in what I call the “illusion of part-time”—officially working 60 or 80%, but in practice carrying the same mental load, answering emails on your days off, and constantly feeling like you’re falling short both at work and at home. It can leave you not only exhausted, but resentful.
Questions to reflect on:
Finances often make this decision feel tangible. A reduced salary is the most obvious consequence, but the subtler effects are equally important: diminished retirement savings, lower Social Security accrual, or loss of employer-sponsored benefits. These ripple effects compound over time.
That said, some professionals discover that once they account for reduced childcare, commuting, or outsourcing, the trade-off is manageable. Others find the long-term cost outweighs the short-term relief.
The question is not simply “Can we afford it?” but also “What does this financial decision represent about what we value?”
Questions to reflect on:
Even when the numbers work, the inner shift can be surprisingly difficult. For many high ˆachievers, work is not just a job, it’s a primary source of identity. Going part-time can feel like a loss of status, relevance, or ambition.
I’ve seen professionals struggle with a quiet internal voice: Am I still serious about my career? Will people think I’m less committed? Am I letting down my colleagues? Sometimes, they try to silence these doubts by working just as much in fewer hours, overcompensating to prove their worth. That undermines the very reason for going part-time in the first place.
This is where mindset matters. Part-time work requires redefining success—not by how many hours you log, but by how you use them. It requires tolerating the discomfort of doing less, while holding onto the bigger truth: that stepping back can be a strategic, intentional act, not a retreat.
Questions to reflect on:
Many women I work with often imagine that part-time work will instantly create harmony at home. More time for children, more support for a partner, more balance. And sometimes it does.
But it can also surface new tensions. If one partner reduces hours, assumptions about who shoulders domestic labour may shift—sometimes explicitly, but often invisibly. Children may not respond the way you imagine; more presence doesn’t automatically translate into more connection. And caregiving for elders can quickly exceed the hours you’ve carved out.
That doesn’t mean the choice is wrong. It simply means it requires explicit conversations. What will this change look like day-to-day? How will household responsibilities shift? What do family members hope for—and what do they fear? These conversations may be just as important as the HR paperwork.
Questions to reflect on:
For ambitious professionals, the biggest fear is often: What will this do to my career?
And the honest answer is: it depends. The hard truth is that, in some fields, part-time status is stigmatised. Colleagues may equate fewer hours with lesser commitment. Promotions or leadership opportunities may be harder to come by. In other fields, performance matters more than face time, and part-time professionals continue to advance.
But here’s a reframe I often share with clients: Going part-time doesn’t have to mean stepping off the track. It can mean running the race at your own pace. It can mean preserving your career by making it sustainable. It can even mean broadening your definition of achievement to include the personal, not just the professional.
What matters is intentionality. If you see part-time as a failure, others may too. If you frame it as a strategic decision—a way to align your work with your values and capacities—it is more likely to be respected.
Questions to reflect on:
It’s also worth asking: Do you need part-time, or do you need something else?
Sometimes what people truly want is not fewer hours but greater autonomy. A flexible schedule. The ability to work remotely part of the week. A job crafted to shed responsibilities that drain energy but don’t add value. In some cases, those adjustments can deliver as much relief as going part-time, with fewer trade-offs. Part-time can be the right choice. But it’s one option among many. Exploring the full menu can prevent premature decisions.
The decision to go part-time is rarely just about schedules. It reaches into questions of identity, ambition, money, relationships, and what it means to build a sustainable life.
The goal isn’t to settle the question once and for all, but to respond to the realities of this moment. Life has seasons, and work can too. A part-time schedule may be exactly the right fit for a while, and then lose its utility. Full-time may feel overwhelming at one stage, and energising at another. The point is not permanence, but responsiveness.
So instead of asking only, Should I go part-time?, consider asking: What do I need in this season to make my work and life more sustainable? Your answer may shift over time, and that’s the point. These choices can ebb and flow with you.
Subscribe to A Cup of Ambition. A biweekly newsletter for high-achieving moms who value having a meaningful career and being an involved parent, by Jessica Wilen. To learn more visit acupofambition.substack.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jessica Wilen, Ph.D., is a trusted partner to top-tier leaders and organisations looking to elevate their leadership, strengthen teams and cultivate sustainable, high-performing cultures. As a member of the Fast Company Creator Network and author of the popular newsletter, A Cup of Ambition, Jessica writes about working parenthood, the psychology of work, and women in leadership.
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