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Would senior engineers be interested in working reduced hours or part time?

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Re: Would senior engineers be interested in working reduced hours or part time?

#61

Post by mgkimsal »

> we're not so much looking for contractors/freelancers to work on specific projects, but for an experienced senior engineer

It may not have been intended like this, but an 'experienced senior engineer' can also be a 'freelancer/contractor'. The post doesn't make it sound like that.

You want someone to be part of a 'team' - that'll totally be up to how you interact with someone, not their tax/corp status. If you want to be paying someone senior to help on multiple projects, advise on broader topics, etc., by all means get that. But if the person doesn't want to be in a W2 relationship with you, do you pass them over because of that?

Re: Would senior engineers be interested in working reduced hours or part time?

#62

Post by unrestifarian »

Absolutely, yes. I'm not sure why more companies don't simply reduce hours in lieu of paying out higher salaries. I'm quite sure many devs would stay at a company if they offered an effective 20-40% raise by offering them a 32 or 24hr workweek. And, to the benefit of the company, my guess is there won't be a big loss in productivity.

Years ago, I was in need of a big a salary adjustment, and I offered to work for 3 days at the same pay, and the owner said yes. We were both very satisfied with this arrangement. He kept me and I was still productive, and I had more time to pursue other interests.

Re: Would senior engineers be interested in working reduced hours or part time?

#63

Post by 6510 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #6

The problem for me is that there seems to be a lot of overhead in getting to do productive work (ramping up, accumulating knowledge and experience to be productive in solving a problem). It might make more sense for part time to mean 6 months a year vs. 3 days a week, but that has its own drawback. I'm not really sure how to reduce time in work without falling off a cliff given that problems at the senior level tend…

It should mean 3/5 the effort on average over a year. That could be 5 hour days, 3 days per week or some 48 hour weeks then take a few weeks off afterwards.

You get much greater value out of the employee.

Re: Would senior engineers be interested in working reduced hours or part time?

#67

Post by frogperson »

Healthcare being tied to employment in the US is what keeps this from being more popular. If your employer is going to pay a fixed amount of premium every month, they will want as many hours as they can get out of you.

Untying healthcare from employment will have a HUGE positive impact on work life balance.

Re: Would senior engineers be interested in working reduced hours or part time?

#70

Post by codegeek »

mgkimsal wrote: post #61

> we're not so much looking for contractors/freelancers to work on specific projects, but for an experienced senior engineer It may not have been intended like this, but an 'experienced senior engineer' can also be a 'freelancer/contractor'. The post doesn't make it sound like that. You want someone to be part of a 'team' - that'll totally be up to how you interact with someone, not their tax/corp status. If you want…

I think what OP means is that they want someone who is committed only to their company but part time. Freelancers juggle b/w various clients and frankly cannot produce the same level of output/commitment/results/care that committed employees can. Freelancers can decide their own schedule which may not work. Part time employees even though will work less hours, will still be employees with committed time etc. So the best option is to find employees but part time so that both sides commit to each other but the employee gets to work less and use that time for real work/life balance (hopefully not another job/gig)
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