Leila
Specialty: Pediatrics
1. What are your current and past work experiences in the field of medicine?
I finished my residency in 1998 and have worked part-time ever since in academic medicine. On July 1, 2006, I was promoted to associate professor. My current position is considered 80% FTE, which for me is about 40 hours per week but it varies over the year. I have inpatient and out-patient responsibilities along with teaching and curriculum development.
As a medical student I had not really thought about part-time work as an option. My first child was born during my third year of residency and since that point I knew that I wanted to work part-time.
2. What do you feel are some of the advantages of working part-time and how has being able to negotiate played a role in creating a position that works for your professional and family roles?
Working part-time has given me flexibility which has been so valuable to me for my responsibilities at home I have been able to negotiate in areas that are important to me by being flexible in others. My responsibilities in the areas of curriculum development and teaching offer me greater flexibility than my hours of patient care. For nine weeks of the year I am on the floor with residents and I complete these weeks in three-week segments. Those times I do not have as much flexibility, but it balances out in other times.
My chair and section head have been great to work with and as long as I am forthright about my needs and I get the work done they have worked to accommodate me. I have also worked hard at looking at my schedule and figuring out how I can get things done so that my part-time work schedule has a minimum effect on my colleagues. You need to be a team player.
My husband also is a part-time pediatrician and we have negotiated with our employers so that our schedules work for each other and our two children. For example, we have negotiated that we each have different days off, what we call our “protected days”. Currently, my husband has Thursdays off and I have Tuesdays off. Knowing that my husband is not working on Thursdays means that this is a day that I can carry a heavier load and do the things that I might not be able to if I need to leave at a certain time.
3. You mentioned that your husband is a part-time pediatrician. How have you and your husband worked together to prioritize what was important to negotiate in your positions?
My husband is a community pediatrician. Currently, he has Thursdays completely off, but on days he is working he has less flexibility with his hours. We have had to negotiate different days off with our employers and work together to see where we can negotiate in schedules. We joke that between the two of us we are 1 ½ pediatricians. It seems at times that we are constantly reassessing where we are at and what needs to change. For example, as my children have gotten older and are in school for longer amounts of time, I have become more flexible with Tuesday, my day off. Now, sometimes I will go in early on Tuesday for a while because I feel it is more important to be able to leave work early on another day and pick my children up from school. So, my day off has actually become a bit less important if it means being able to leave early and spend more time with my children on another afternoon. Also, when I am busy with inpatient responsibilities which are full time, my husband will take one vacation day off each week. This allows our household to run more smoothly when I am working long hours.
4. What advice would you give someone who is negotiating their first part-time work arrangement as a physician?
From the beginning it is important to be honest about what you are looking for in terms of part-time hours. It is also important to really think about what your priorities are and where you are willing to negotiate and where you are not. Market yourself in terms of what you can do, not from what you cannot do. It is important to emphasize that you are part of the “team” and are willing to help out when needed and when you can, carry your own load plus a little more. For instance, on Thursday when my husband is at home I know that if the need arises, I can pitch in and help a colleague out who might need to leave early that day. It is important to be open to doing things like that for colleagues.
5. Do you have any advice in terms of negotiating for a part-time salary and/or benefits?
I never was in a position of going from a full-time position to a part-time position. My position is 80% so my salary is based on that percentage. I have made sure to have one weekday off from the beginning and that has worked for me. I have been very clear that I can be flexible on other days, but Tuesday is protected. It is also important to understand that most doctors who work part-time work more than what they say. I have my beeper on and check work e-mails on days I am not at work. That is just how it is being a physician. I don’t think that you can really compare a part-time salary with a full-time salary because to me it is hard to put a price on flexibility. I feel I get so much more from my part-time schedule because I do not feel guilty leaving to spend time with my children.
6. Do you have any role models or resources that you used to help you negotiate the terms of your part-time position?
I did not have one specific role model when I was negotiating my first part-time position. I did have women physicians who shared their stories about being a woman in medicine when there were fewer women around. Many of these women physicians shared their experiences about how they managed both work and family. I think I took from their experiences that it was important for me to realize that my priorities for both work and family would continue to change as my children grew older and that I could negotiate for different things as my career and family goals changed.
There were not any resources like books or online Web sites that I used when negotiating a part-time position.
7. What do you think is the hardest part about working part-time?
I think sometimes I feel like I am not excelling in either area--work or motherhood. I can be at work and feel I could be doing more and then go and pick my child up from school and feel like I should be doing more as a parent (creating scrapbooks or stitching quilts from old baby clothes). Mainly though, I like the flexibility I have and that does not have a price. My part-time schedule is worth it to me.
Content provided by: Women Physicians Congress