When is a part-time job not really part-time? Why women are overworked and underpaid

We’ve known for a long time that the traditional 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, no longer works. More employers are offering some level of flexibility, including working from home and shorter working weeks. For many, though, a four-day week isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

A shorter week is often billed as a way to reduce stress among workers, improve work-life balance and help parents balance childcare with their careers. When implemented properly – fewer working hours with no reduction in pay – research supports these claims. In a UK trial of a four-day week involving 3,000 workers, more than two thirds reported lower levels of burnout, 39% said they were less stressed and 40% reported fewer sleep difficulties.

But there’s a catch. Whether a four-day week is genuinely beneficial depends on how it’s implemented. Sometimes, it just means cramming the same workload into fewer days, or being expected to work beyond your contracted hours without additional pay.

What looks like flexible working on paper can quickly become unpaid overtime, unrealistic expectations and blurred boundaries between work and home.

“I've worked with enough people who've lived this to know the pattern. You negotiate the hours, feel good about it, and six weeks later you're working a full week and wondering how it happened,” says Francesca O’Connor, co-founder of workplace culture firm Happy HQ.

“There's a version of part-time that works: the scope's been adjusted, priorities are clear, there's an honest conversation about what won't get done. And there's a version that's just the same job with fewer hours stapled on. The second is far more common.”

Why women end up in part-time roles

Women are still more likely to work part-time because they shoulder most caring responsibilities, which means they're more likely to end up in roles where the hours have been cut but the expectations haven't moved.

“The result is a lot of brilliant women get measured against a full-time standard, while being paid for part-time hours,” says O’Connor. “When they can't meet it, the story becomes about them, not about a role that was never properly scoped.”

Over time, this leads to burnout, stalled careers and women stepping back from high-paid roles.

(Unsplash)

Look out for red flags on the job advert

Elizabeth Willetts, founder of Investing in Women, says one of the biggest red flags is a job description that looks identical to a full-time role, just with fewer hours attached.

“If there is a strong emphasis on being ‘always available’, ‘going above and beyond’ or ‘working in a fast-paced environment’ without any discussion about boundaries, priorities or workload management, I'd encourage candidates to probe further,” says Willetts.

The most successful flexible employers are those that focus on outputs rather than hours. It’s also worth asking whether they regularly review workloads to ensure part-time roles are genuinely part-time in practice, not just on paper.

Find out if the job is designed to be part-time

“The question to ask before you accept isn't whether you can do the job in fewer days, it’s whether any responsibilities have been taken out of it,” says O’Connor.

“In an interview, you should ask: What has been removed from this role to make it genuinely part-time? How has it worked on reduced hours before? What happens when demand outstrips the hours someone's contracted for?” she adds. “Vague answers, or a confused look, are your answer.”

Additionally, take note of whether the recruiter talks about outputs or hours. Healthy organisations care what you deliver, but less healthy ones care whether you're reachable at 7pm on a Thursday.

“A lot of brilliant women get measured against a full-time standard, while being paid for part-time hours”

Francesca O’Connor, Happy HQ

Ask about accountability

It’s also important to ask who covers the role when you aren’t around. If the answer is nobody, it’s a clear signal that the role is probably full-time.

“Key questions to ask an employer is about accountability - are you wholly accountable at all times for something?” says business psychologist Lee Chambers, founder of Male Allies UK.

“Leaders who validate long working hours, congratulate presence over performance and belittle part-time staff as part-time are walking red flags,” he adds. “If you're made to feel that you're indispensable and there's a sense of 'we can't do this without you', whilst well-meaning, this can be detrimental to part-time hours.”

What to do if you’re working a full-time job in part-time hours

If you suspect you’re doing a full-time job in part-time hours, the first step is to raise it early. Often, we just take on the extra work and responsibilities because we want to prove ourselves and appear committed. However, this isn’t sustainable.

Note down your workload and the hours you are putting in, including emails sent out-of-hours. “Create a time log, and communicate - explain that there's too much to achieve in part-time hours. But most importantly, don't stay quiet until you leave,” says Chambers. 

“Sometimes businesses just don't understand what you are doing behind closed doors, so it's important to tell them, and their response to your extra hours for free should be very telling, too.” 

Speak to your employer with evidence

The question isn’t about whether you can ‘cope’ – it’s about whether the job you’re contracted to do for three or four days is actually a five-day role.

“Raise it with evidence, not feelings,” says O’Connor. “Say that you’re contracted for three days, but over the last six weeks, you’ve consistently worked the equivalent of four and a half. That's a different conversation to ‘I'm struggling’. This is about workload design, not whether you need to work on resilience.”