I learned a lot about various industries and how supportive they are as it relates to working moms. It turns out that the medical profession doesn’t really support a non-traditional approach to career (e.g., flexible role or job share). According to both the conversations I had and my research, medicine as a profession has a pretty high turnover rate when it comes to working moms. Maybe the medical industry should look at what doctors like Dr. Swati Avashia have negotiated and created so that more doctors who are moms stay in the industry to serve patients, teach doctors of the future, and research new medical and health solutions. And it gives doctors a more holistic approach to life which could be key to keeping more moms in the medical field.
Negotiating a Part-time Role Before Motherhood
The vast majority of professional part-time working moms who I interviewed transitioned to a part-time role after becoming a mom. For many women I spoke with, becoming a mom for the second or even third time made juggling all the things so much more complicated. Swati’s approach to her career was different. Dr. Swati Avashia is a physician – a doctor of internal medicine and pediatrics.
After medical school and residency, Swati completed a 2-year public health fellowship. She then went into clinical medicine and worked full time for about a year and decided she wanted a job that allowed for time for self-care. She chose to join an organization that valued provider wellness and work-life balance and worked 32 hours per week. About a year after starting this role, she got pregnant. After her daughter was born, Swati cut her hours once she returned to work after her three-month leave. To balance the demands of motherhood and work, for one year, she chose to have her benefits covered under her husband and worked for the same organization but as an independent contractor working twelve hours per week.
When her daughter was about two years old, Swati found her current role as an assistant professor in a residency program at a major university in Austin, Texas. It is also part of a healthcare system where she sees patients. She has been a salaried employee for the nine years she’s been in this role.
Power of Negotiation
Swati recognizes that she has a rare position within the medical field. For this she feels so fortunate. And she knows part of why she could negotiate is because of the skills she brought to the table. And this idea of knowing your value and your unique strengths is something I heard time and time again, especially from working moms I interviewed who work for a company.
Swati also creates a win-win scenario. She’s willing to go the extra mile and give 150 percent while at the office. She also loves to teach and her students gain knowledge from someone with a specialized set of skills. That is incredibly helpful and beneficial to residents in this program.
What does Swati’s schedule look like?
Swati shares that “the schedule [she] has now is kind of to die for.” She works about 24 hours a week. Her daily schedule is pretty consistent. Monday and Tuesday she works until noon and Wednesday and Thursday her hours are 8-5 pm. Her schedule has changed over time as she originally started out working five days a week and leaving in time to pick up her child in the afternoon from school. Over time has schedule has evolved to meet the needs of her family and her role at the office, creating win-win scenarios.
About six times a year, Swati covers the hospital service for the weekend. And then two times a year, she covers the hospital service for two weeks where she must be in the hospital all day every day. Full time providers in her group have hospital responsibilities in the morning and clinic responsibilities in the afternoon when they are on hospital service. Since Swati is part time and generally puts in 32-40 hours a week while on hospital service. She is not scheduled for clinic during those two-week blocks.
With this schedule she’s able to disconnect from the office Friday to Sunday with occasional phone calls on Friday. Swati can truly step away from work on those days as she knows any kind of patient emergency is covered by a well-trained colleague.
Biggest Challenge
Hands down Swati said that boundary-setting was her biggest challenge. She shares that when her original schedule had her ending her day at 2:30, people were constantly coming to her right as she was leaving. She was even sometimes getting assigned tasks as she was wrapping things up at 2:15, which she didn’t see until the next time she worked. The lines were incredibly blurred between work and home.
She has since adjusted her schedule so there is more of a boundary between her professional and personal time.
Learning Something New
One of the things that surprised me about Swati was how she used her non-working time. She took advantage of her down time to learn something new while her daughter was in school. As if being a doctor of internal medicine and pediatrics wasn’t enough, Swati was able to study and receive a certification in integrative and holistic medicine.
A Holistic Approach to Life and Other Benefits of Working Part time
“I feel like being able to work PT allows me to have a holistic approach to my life.” This is an interesting benefit. It’s a point that working moms struggling to deal with all the things share with me. Instead of struggling, Swati gets to thrive in all the areas of her life, but it does take work. She actually has time to exercise and make healthy meals. And Swati loves that her role at work gives her a lot of variety so that it’s never boring.
Swati is also able to be more present at home with her daughter and more present at work since she knows she will soon have mommy-daughter time. She is able to volunteer at her daughter’s school and attend school events and take her daughter to extracurricular activities during the weekdays so that the weekends are less hectic.
Working part time has also allowed for some non-work pursuits as well. Swati enjoys crafting with her daughter and currently serves on one of the City of Austin commissions.
Advice:
Swati has specific advice for any moms who want to work part time:
- Be aware of time creep. You’re paid for a specific number of hours. When work spills over, you’re not compensation for that additional time. Be aware of the extra time you work and re-negotiate as necessary if you see this time creep over extended periods.
- Work full days not half days. Swati suggests that working moms negotiate entire days off. While she did enjoy flexibility in her original schedule that gave time for important things like breastfeeding and having bonding time with her child after school, she realizes that having full days off gives you clear boundaries. She also adds that childcare is much easier to arrange if you’re working full time since most nannies want to work full days and even some daycares charge you for a full day, regardless of the hours your child is in their care.
- Know what can wait. Swati says, “If it’s something that can’t wait, I deal with it.” A lot of things can wait, though, or they can be covered by one of her colleagues. It’s the same thing she does for her colleagues when they’re out of the office.
- Understand non-traditional opportunities and roles that are offered in your field. Find work and careers that offers you shift work or flexibility (e.g., teaching). Other moms I interviewed shared that knowing this upfront impacted what they studied within their given field. They took on their specialization because of the long-term flexibility.
- Be open and high performing when you’re actually at work. “You truly have to be invaluable to the people that are hiring you.” While Swati has flexibility and reduced hours, she also gives 150 percent when she’s at work. She wants to be invaluable to her manager and team and provide the richest teaching environment to residents.
- Consider how you divide duties with your significant other. Understand each parent’s role at home and as it relates to kids since it’s not only one parent’s role to take on all these duties, even if one parent works part time.
- Make sure you have an electronic master schedule. With a two-career family plus children’s extracurricular activities an electronic schedule such as iCal or Google calendar has been Swati’s saving grace. Both partners keep the schedule updated so it means she can schedule activities, social events, lessons, playdates, and workouts on the fly with a quick glance at her handheld device.
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And if you want more stories and advice like Swati’s, don’t forget you can find all sorts of stories, tips, insights, and advice from other inspiring working moms in the Mompowerment book, available on Amazon (affiliate link).
