[Anonymous]

Any moms with young babies make part time in public work? I am having a tough time trying to decide if I should stay at my current job. I have been at my firm for 5 years and am a second year senior, expecting my first baby in July. Off the bat I should say that my firm is great in many aspects, but we don’t have many women in our office that balance families and work.

We are having a lot of issues with turnover, especially at my level, and they are willing to let me make my own schedule after the baby to keep me. I have always gotten excellent reviews and they have made it clear that they’re willing to work with me. I am still unsure if I want to stay. I don’t LOVE my job, but the pay is good and like I said, I’m happy with the firm, the benefits, etc. My other option at the moment is just quitting after maternity leave and finding something else, specifically a job at a school where the stress/demands are less. My biggest priority is that I don’t want to work more than 4 days per week so that I can spend time with my daughter.

Specifically, here is what I’m thinking I would like my schedule to look like. Any other moms in public, do you think this is reasonable?

Part time, 24 hours a week. 7:30am – 4:00pm. The reason for those hours is that I’m traveling from the suburbs to the city and it routinely takes me more than an hour. Traveling “off peak” would cut it down to maybe 50 minutes. I’m flexible on which days but any extra hours needed would be from home.

During busy season I will work up to 40 hours a week, but anything over 32 is from home, including any time needed on weekends.

I’m going to throw this out to my boss tomorrow. I don’t anticipate that he’ll have any issues with it, it’s more my coworkers and managers that I’m worried about…anyone who has been in my shoes- help!

[Lion_of_the_Rock]

Congrats on the kid. If you work part-time will you still be paying a full-time price for daycare? Sometimes it pays to do the math and figure out if working part-time is still worth it.

My wife is a CPA and I have been a stay-at-home parent for five years because my previous job salary would just cover daycare and it really wasn't worth it (DC metro). From what I've seen (a small sample) most women, or men, either continue full-time work or stay-at-home. It is hard to work part-time, and take care of a kid, and presumably take on all of the house chores too. The women that I know who stayed home full-time went back into accounting at their previous level rather easily if that makes a difference.

Good luck. The kid will change you in a good way!

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[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response. My mom and MIL will actually split the childcare so daycare cost is not a factor – we are blessed in that regard!

[y_u_no_pass]

This sounds like a good set up to me. You may change your mind once you have her, as this is still a lot of hours, but I say go for it! I hope it works out well and congratulations!

Florida CPA!
Took final exam 2/25/15.
Sent in Application 3/12/15.
Issued License 3/20/15.
Used CPA Excel solely for all exams.

[Author]

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