This article is written by Alex Shahryar-Davies, Lead Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand. The views expressed here are Alex’s own and do not represent those of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade or the New Zealand Government.

  • The problem: Enabling part-time work is too often seen by organisations as a challenge to be managed, rather than an opportunity for wellbeing improvements and productivity-building.
  • Why it matters: Increasingly, staff rightly want to be able to work more flexibly. And from my experiences, organisations that enable this will benefit.
  • The solution: Re-conceptualise part-time work as an opportunity for wellbeing and productivity gains for individuals and organisations, and find ways to actively enable and support part-time work arrangements.

The situation

Until 2021, I had worked in full-time roles throughout my career. But a combination of factors led me to change to working part-time for a while. Since then, I’ve also been reflecting more actively on what productive work really means. I’d like to share what I have learnt from my experience so far, offering some thoughts on how to find greater productivity without having to work longer hours.

I’d also like to give a special shout-out to the many public servants working in part-time roles - past, present, and future (that could be you!) - and the managers and teammates who have supported them. With or without realising, you have most likely enabled greater productivity in your workplaces.

I’ve found that having limited time available each day has enabled me and my teammates to be more aware of how we each add value as a team, and complement each other’s skill sets and professional development priorities.

What I’ve learned

I’ve learned two key lessons from my experience over the last eighteen months or so:

First, working fewer hours can be an excellent way to improve your productivity while also achieving more balance in your life. Of course, not everybody is in a position to reduce their hours. But in addition to improving my overall wellbeing, I’ve found that working part-time also provided me with a unique opportunity to work in more productive ways.

With fewer hours at work each week, I have been forced to focus pretty ruthlessly on my top work objectives, on a daily if not hourly basis. Part-time workers can’t afford to fill up their week with unproductive tasks. Importantly, this doesn’t mean cutting informal catch-ups or team meetings, or spending less time on your learning and development. It means being extra thoughtful and deliberate about how you utilise your time to be as productive as possible over the long-term. I have learned to cut to the chase faster on pieces of work (when it makes sense to do so), and I also like to think, perhaps slightly selfishly, that I’ve encouraged those I work with to also be more efficient because there are less available hours per week for them to engage with me.

Second, having fewer hours at work in which to get things done has made me think harder about what my unique value-adds are in my team and my organisation from a “functional” perspective. Rather than trying to do a bit of everything, I try to focus on which types of work I’m able to add the most value to, whether that’s liaising with external stakeholders (and letting others focus on internal stakeholders), coming up with new ideas (and letting others focus on reviewing the detail of our existing ideas), or putting my hand up for speaking and presenting opportunities (and letting others focus on writing papers).

This needs to be done in close collaboration with other teammates, so that everyone is comfortable with the balance of functional tasks. It’s also important not to only do what you’re already good at, but to pick up functions that will stretch and develop your skills. However it shakes out, I’ve found that having limited time available each day has enabled me and my teammates to be more aware of how we each add value as a team, and complement each other’s skill sets and professional development priorities.

Both of the insights above have touched on learning and development. As for all workers, it’s also vital for part-time workers to carve out time and space to be intentional about your professional development, both in terms of on-the-job learning and as dedicated “separate” time for formal development opportunities. I’ve found that scheduling short but regular times in my diary enables me to think about my learning and development needs, even if that time is just spent thinking rather than necessarily “doing”. Having a supportive manager also makes a huge difference in feeling like you are empowered to carve this time out and that it is the right thing for the individual and the organisation to do.

I sincerely hope that workplaces around the world, including in public sectors, will get better at embracing part-time working. In doing so, with or without knowing it, they will enable greater productivity as well as improved work-life balances.

One day I will presumably return to working full-time. But my short yet impactful experience of working part-time has given me valuable insights into productive work that I hope will help me for the rest of my career.

Key Takeaways

Being deliberate and thoughtful about how to use the limited number of hours I have at work each week has improved my productivity and sharpened my focus on my unique value-adds.

From my own experiences, I’ve found that working part-time can boost both overall wellbeing and overall productivity. And who wouldn’t want that?

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