Are we saying goodbye to the 9-5 job?
I’ve been living in Dingle and working in journalism for 15 years. I’ve done so on a freelance basis through necessity as there are no full-time jobs available for 100 miles.
This was fine until I acquired a mortgage. Then I needed a more consistent source of income.
Teaching was it. I’ve now worked in adult basic education for nine years, teaching three or four classes a week during term time.
During the recession, freelance work dwindled so I had to try my hand at other things. Because I’m a good baker, I set up a stall at my local farmers’ market selling cakes and even though I no longer have that stall, I still occasionally make cakes to order. I am also a native Irish speaker and speak French too so I sometimes give grinds in these subjects to students.
As if I didn’t have enough to do, I had a baby 10 months ago. So, that’s yet another ball for me to juggle.
This way of working is not easy. Things change from hour to hour as I switch from being a journalist to a teacher to a baker to a mother and then back again. However, while it may not suit most people, the variety in my working life suits me. It gives me a broader perspective on the world.
That aside, I do worry about the insecurity. Knowing there is nothing for me to fall back on if I get ill is stressful and I often daydream about having the luxury of paid holidays.
Ireland is the 14th most expensive country in the world, which means our mortgages, childcare costs and basic living expenses are high. As a result, most of us have no option but to work full time.
According to a 2015 survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the average Irish person works 35 hours a week compared with the British who work 32.2.
This survey only takes account of the work during the official working day. Thanks to the internet, many of us check and answer work emails even when we’re away from the office. It’s no wonder that the most common response you get when you ask someone how they are these days is that they are busy and stressed.
Part-time workers account for more than one in five of the workforce. They include students, parents who work during school hours and the semi-retired. They also include people like Jennifer who enjoy jobs such as teaching and nursing but want to reduce the stress involved by reducing their working hours.
People who can’t afford to work fewer hours are discovering other ways of addressing their work/life balance. The IBEC Flexible Working Arrangements Report 2016 looked at 373 companies in Ireland and found that 65% had flexible working arrangements in place. These included permanent part-time positions, job-sharing, flexi-time, personalised hours, career breaks and sabbaticals.
This isn’t just happening in Ireland. Silicon Valley leads the way with the likes of Google and Amazon offering options such as making one in every four weekends a long one or trialling 30-hour working weeks.
Ibec’s director of employer relations Maeve McElwee can see this becoming the norm. “Longer working lives will become standard as the pension age increases,” she says. “This means more of us will inevitably take career breaks to retrain or recharge or to look after children or parents. If we can afford it, we might move to working part-time when the children are at school and then maybe back to working full-time afterwards. Life is changing and work will have to follow suit.” Ibec’s annual surveys show that Irish employers are already responding to these changes.
“It’s not just two-thirds of companies offering some form of flexible working,” says McElwee, “31% are increasing e-working in their organisations and 29% are offering more flexible contracts. We’re seeing more and more of this.”
MARY Connaughton, the director of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Ireland, has witnessed this change during her 30 years in the HR industry.
“The 9-to-5 job for life has already disappeared,” she says. “It used to be that the permanent pensionable job was the norm and people thought they would build their careers within one organisation.”
These days, fewer companies offer full-time contracts in order to avoid the expense of paying pensions and other benefits. Connaughton thinks some workers have played their part in this change too.
“Skilled workers may still work in one organisation for a few years but then do some consulting, work part-time or take time out for travel or education,” she says.
“People are more interested in seeking their own path to do what they want.”
Technology is enabling this, in that fast-speed broadband allows many people to work remotely.
“How and where work gets done is not as important as it used to be,” says Connaughton. “Employers realise that what’s important is that it gets done.”
Patricia Murray is the organisational psychologist at the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) where she manages the agency’s Mental Health at Work Programme nationally. The change she sees in the workplace involves people who are interested in changing careers first trying the new ones on a part-time basis.
“People between the ages of 48 and 52 are realising they can’t retire at 60 or even 68,” she says.
“Many, especially men, have had to do jobs they don’t enjoy and are now thinking about re-engineering their skills to do something that they do like. Teachers are setting up grind schools and bus drivers are trying chauffeuring with the aim of transitioning to that on a full-time basis.”
She also sees more people developing portfolio careers, where they have multiple sources of income from working several part-time jobs.
“I know an administrator who is in her 50s with two grown-up children and interested in health and beauty,” she says. “She works as an administrator during the week, works on the beauty counter in a chemist on Saturdays and practices as a reflexologist on the side.”
Dr Eddie Murphy, the psychologist on RTÉ’s Operation Transformation, sees pros and cons to this flexi-working. “It’s useful to those starting out in their careers,” he says. “Taking on part-time work can help you to gain experience in a diverse range of jobs and give you a taste of different industries. This can be ideal if you don’t really know what you’re good at or what you might enjoy doing.”
It also presents an opportunity for those who would like to progress to full-time employment at some stage.
“If you’ve been sick or busy raising children, taking on small commissions could be your way back to the jobs market,” he says.
However, there are drawbacks. “It depends on the ages and stages of our lives,” says Murphy. “If you’re at the family formation stage, having a low or irregular income can make it a challenge to get a mortgage.”
The same benefits aren’t always offered to people who work in this way either. “If you work on a freelance basis, you don’t get sick pay, holiday pay or parental leave,” says Murphy.
“What happens if you get sick? If more and more of us are going to work in this new way and it looks like that’s where we’re going, safety nets have to be put in place.”
Murphy’s point is highlighted by the current controversy over women’s pensions. Traditionally, it was women who took time out of the workforce to have children and then worked part-time when children were young. Some women who did this are now facing a shortfall in their State pension as a result.
If the likes of CIPD’s Connaughton are correct and if permanent pensionable jobs are a thing of the past, the situation offers both positive and negative potential for workers.
Connaughton sees the positive for skilled workers. “They can experiment with different ways of working to find the way that works best for them,” she says.
Murphy sees the negative possibilities. “These new ways of working give opportunity and choice to some individuals but the system needs to fairer for all,” he says. “If we stick with the current system, with its lack of safety nets, there will be even more of a divide between the haves and the have-nots in our society.
“Pensions are only the start of it.”
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