All I can say is, "Wow."
Wednesday night P and I had a long discussion about minivans and car shopping in general. Finances, budgets, long term goals, that sort of thing. My biggest concern in buying a new car was that it would put us two steps back in our goal of me being able to quit my job. After talking it through, it appears that P and I have not been on the same wavelength, or time frame, for this happening.
The truth is, I don't really want to quit my job all together. I like my job. It is my mental outlet, and my social lifeline. I just don't want to work quite so much. A part-time schedule would be my ideal.
Upon hearing this, the sound of relief coming off of my husband was audible. I'm not kidding. Turns out the reason he has been so avoidant of the whole quitting-work thing is because he's terrified of the prospect of losing my income. But when we talked about it at length, and I assured him of my desire to keep working, just less, he was much more eager to discuss it.
So here's our plan now: no new car. We'll put a little money into some needed repairs on my current car, get it all working nice and pretty, and then try to keep it for a long time. It's a fine car, really. Keeping it means that my options are much more open. We're both feeling good about this decision.
Here's the "wow" part. When I told P that I really wanted to work part-time, for the sake of my sanity and my family's quality of life, he jumped all over it. He said, "Well, you can do THAT right now!" I almost fell off my chair.
I wasn't prepared for him to be so agreeable so soon.
Okay, so this was Wednesday night. I've been thinking about this for a long time. What I would do if I could work fewer hours. I mean, how would I approach my employer with this request? There is a risk involved in broaching this subject. In my company, there are no part-timers. If the company were not open to this idea, would my credibility be at risk? Would I be viewed as non-dedicated? Would this request be used to quantify lower pay increases, or fewer added responsibilities. Would it make me a pariah?
The HR manager is a friend of mine. We had our babies at about the same time, and talk every day about baby stuff and work/home conflicts. Typical working mother stuff. I went to her first (on Thursday). There wasn't much need to explain my reasoning to her. She would do it herself if she could! The thing about her is that she's got the company president's ear. She went to him, that very afternoon, and presented my request. I was nervous about her doing that. But she came back to me afterward and said he was very positive about it, and gave it the thumbs up! One hurdle down. The next hurdle would be my boss. He was the unknown in this whole thing. He has the decision, ultimately. I wanted to go to him myself, but HR Friend said no, she would do it. After all, she'd just been given the president's green light, so Boss would at least have to consider it.
Positivity all the way!
By lunch time on Friday, I had a promise from my Boss that we'd start working out the details in a week or so (after our year end) to see if it's feasible. Who would take on some of my work, the re-organization of duties, etc.
It sounds to me like it's going to work. Like maybe in June or July this will be a reality. Monday - Thursday, 6 hours a day. Every Friday off. This is what I've asked for.
Boss said not to get too overly excited just yet, because it's all just in the talking-through stages, but I can't help it. It's a giant step forward for me, as a working mother. My decision and the company's response has been met with MUCH interest by other working mothers in my department. This may turn out to be a precedent-setting situation. I feel obligated to make it work!
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