โToo many organisations are missing the opportunity for flexibility,โ Gilbert says. โFlexible working options significantly boost retention.โ
โThere are pockets [embracing] the four-day-week, but it needs to be more the norm rather than the exception โ there are studies that show the proven business benefits.โ
Demonstrate your value
If you want to keep your current job and negotiate a school hours work week, Gilbert suggests you get clear on the value you bring to your role.
โItโs about focusing your mindset and demonstrating value based on impact and outcomes achieved rather than hours worked โ donโt default to the assumption you need to take a role less senior [in order to work part-time hours],โ she says.
โI think there is a bit of a stigma around part-time work that people who are in part-time roles arenโt as serious about their careers, which is just not true. We need leaders to role model flexible ways of working and start to experiment with things like job-sharing leadership opportunities.โ
Reassessing your definition of success is an important step when finding balance between work and family.Credit: iStock
Understand your definition of success
Kate Toon, author of Six Figures In School Hours, says that embracing a school-hours digital marketing career required her to adjust her earning expectations.
โFor me, the key was working out my minimum viable income, the least amount of money I needed to survive and have an OK life, instead of constantly being aspirational,โ says Toon, who is mum to Orion, 15.
โReally cutting costs meant that I didnโt have to work quite as hard. But then, because I didnโt feel pressured to work hard, I was able to work harder. Itโs a weird thing, but when you take the pressure off, it frees you a little bit.โ
Dropping back to a school-hours job might not earn the same as a full-time corporate job, but Toon says there are more ways to measure โsuccessโ than just income.
โPeople leave a full-time job and say, โI want to make the income I made in my full-time job and that will be successโ, but Iโm like, โIs that success?โโ she says.
โYouโre no longer commuting, youโre no longer spending $20 on a sandwich at lunch, and you no longer have to work with โMaureenโ. Why measure yourself against someone in a full-time job? Why make that your metric?โ
Work around your body clock
Jessami Kingsley, founder of Virtual Forte.
Jessami Kingsley, 45, from the Bellarine Peninsula, regularly wakes at 5am most days to knock over a couple of work hours before the busy morning starts.
Kingsley started her business, Virtual Forte, which links professionally skilled mums with flexible virtual assistant roles after leaving her project management role in 2020, looking for a fulfilling occupation without a four-hour commute.
โMy most important thing is spending time with my family, and I do the bulk of my work before my kids are even up and the craziness starts,โ says Kingsley, mum to Eden, 8, and Paddy, 5.
โI can work when Iโm at my most productive, scheduling emails [for later in the day] โ I get more done, and itโs more rewarding.โ
Toon recommends the Pomodoro method of working, where you do four sessions of working in 25-minute bursts with five-minute breaks.
โOnly put three things on your to-do list, including the time youโll allow for each task. Thereโs this idea of Parkinsonโs law that whatever time you give a task, itโll take that long,โ she says.
โWrite your to-do list for tomorrow the night before so when you turn up at your desk, you just do the first thing on your list.โ
Only work when youโre working
Above all, Toon says you donโt want to end up working every waking minute just to be able to do the school runs.
โItโs super important to know whether youโre โonโ or โoffโ so youโre not trying to work while youโre with your kids โ it means youโre hyper-focused,โ she says.
โYouโre more productive if youโre just focusing on one thing. And if you need to use the soccer practice time [to work], do the most low-brain unimportant tasks โ reconcile your Xero accounts or do your social media. But ideally, if youโre at soccer practice, you sit and read a book and do nothing and save your work for your work time.โ
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