120. Part-Time Work: Advantages & Challenges

We have no pictures of me (Anjuli) working and so you get the munchkin at work.

I worked full-time as a radiologist for my first 5 years (2018-2023). At that point, I dropped to 60% to spend more time with Bruce and Jordan and travel in the RV. I am very lucky that my career is such that I can be part time without issue. Diagnostic radiology is shift-based and so I am able to simply work less shifts, which is not the case for many doctors.

The advantages of part time work are easy to imagine... more time to do the things we want to do with the people we want to do them with. I am able to take time off in days or blocks, it's very flexible at my job as long as there is adequate staffing in the times I am gone. I feel I have much greater work-life balance than when working full time. When I was full time, I felt like the weekdays just go by on autopilot with only a brief time in the evening to see the family before going to sleep and head back to work the next day. Saturday was spent recovering from the work week and Sunday was spent catching up around the house and with life/errands. I feel like with the part time schedule where I use days off both in scattered days during the work weeks as well as the travel blocks, I can actually live the way I want to and have more of a life besides work. Even as Jordan's school schedule ramps up and we can't travel for as long, I still have plenty of old hobbies and new interests to explore.

There are a few disadvantages to consider as well. Since I work less overall and have blocks of time off, my clinical skills are at greater risk of atrophy from disuse. I don't just stay in the groove all the time like when I was full time. It takes more mental effort each time I return from a long trip away. It's no worse than when I took maternity leave, but recurs more frequently.

The other obvious disadvantage is less income, since my base income decreased proportionally as I dropped to 60%. I take more call weekend shifts when we are here, which increases my pay somewhat. But overall, yes, we decided the trade off was worth it for what we planned and were ok accepting less money to take advantage of this time while we are all still young (-ish, ahem, Bruce).

The last disadvantage that I didn't fully appreciate was that certain administrative positions were more difficult to do in the part time status, specifically my position as associate vice chair of quality. I felt too disconnected and absent (since I was) to be able to do the job to the level I felt was acceptable, so I asked to be removed from that position. Jobs that require a more regular presence might not work well with this sort of schedule.

Summary: I know I am very lucky to be in my field and, specifically, in my department here at UVM that gives me this flexibility. This would probably not be the case in most other jobs, even in radiology. However, if you have the financial means and a job that would allow for this, I would highly recommend going part time and traveling!