I don't as a general rule post personal stories here, but it's been such a busy year, in great part because I've been juggling two part-time roles plus school since returning to Canada. I gather from talking to colleagues and friends that this isn't such an unusual scenario.
There are lots of reasons why part-time work is more prevalent than it used to be, many of them economic. Businesses don't want to hire people for more man-hours than they need to, which is perfectly reasonable. Many businesses these days are outsourcing their labour and taking advantage of short-term and part-time employment contracts to manage increases in labour needs that seem to be temporary.
There are personal reasons for choosing part-time work. Many parents with children prefer to work part-time rather than full-time so they can take care of their children more easily, youth prefer part-time work because they are still studying, and people nearing retirement age often prefer part-time work because they're preparing for their leisure years.
These are great pluses for part-time work. The downside of part-time employment is that it typically does not come with benefits like paid holidays, healthcare coverage, or a retirement plan. One of the few companies that offered comprehensive benefits plans that part-time employees can be eligible for is Tim Hortons restaurants, the most popular coffee shop chain in Canada.
It has been my experience that some fields of work also tend toward part-time or contract employment anyway: retail and service roles are traditionally part-time roles, for example. This past year, I have taught at a private community college, and college intructor roles are also usually part-time in the private sector, and we are paid an hourly wage rather than a salary. My field, career and employment counselling, has also tended toward contract work, in great part because much of the work is in publicly funded programs, and ongoing funding cannot be guaranteed to employees working for publicly funded programs.
Working in both education and career counselling as I have for the last five+ years, it seems like I was destined to be working either part-time or contract, or both, and that's what happened. I have not found time to blog since returning to Canada because I have been very busy 1) doing research and writing the research proposal for my Doctorate, which I am working on at the University of Toronto; 2) working two days per week as a career counsellor at the University of Waterloo; and 3) teaching as a private college instructor the other three days per week.
I can't say that I recommended juggling three commitments this way. It's rather difficult not to let any of the 'balls' drop. I am stubborn, however, and I needed to support myself with as close to a full-time salary as possible. Living in Toronto is expensive. Fortunately, my Doctorate is part-time, so I can work full-time hours (at two part-time jobs) and still manage to get it done. Free time has become something of a luxury, but that's the consequence of my decision, and I can live with it. I'm fortunate enough to have a supportive partner, and no children as of yet, so it has been manageable.
