Want to Work Fewer Hours? How to Ask Without Sabotaging Your Career.

(Illustration by Lynne Tuttle/Barron’s; Dreamstime (3))

How do you tell your boss that you want to keep working—just not as much?

Thousands of American workers have this talk every year with their managers. Some are nearing retirement age; others are caring for children or aging parents. It can be a tricky conversation.

If you don’t handle the request for part-time work correctly, you could end up hurting your status at the company or even putting your job at risk.

Gabriel Shahin, a financial advisor in Glendora, Calif., had a client around age 60 who arranged to reduce both her hours and pay by half. She lost her health and retirement benefits because she wasn’t working enough hours.

It got worse. “Within a year, she was the first to be let go during a reorganization,” Shahin says.

He had another client around age 55 who was working long hours and burning out at her job as a software engineer. He helped her negotiate a package in which she worked 30 hours a week, received eight weeks off a year, retained retirement and health benefits, and retained about two-thirds of her former pay.

“She remained essential to the team and stayed employed,” he says.

Barron’s spoke with financial advisors and a former human resources manager on the do’s and don’ts of requesting to go part time.

Be Ready for ‘No’

If you need that paycheck, think hard before even discussing part-time work with your employer. “It’s a lot easier conversation if you know that you can give up the job,” says Milo Benningfield, a financial advisor in San Francisco. “If you’re afraid of losing the job, it’s a tougher conversation, and the odds are you won’t get everything you could get.”

Carolyn McClanahan, a financial advisor and medical doctor in Jacksonville, Fla., advises a different approach to protect your job: “You just open it up by saying, ‘I’m thinking about the future, and what are the possibilities for the future as I go into the next phase of life? What are the possibilities about ever working part time?’”

Know What You Bring to the Table

Don’t assume you will do the same work for fewer hours a week. Be ready to explain how you will add value as a part-time worker.

Have a concrete plan for how your part-time job will be structured, says Victoria Neal, an HR knowledge advisor with the Society for Human Resource Management, and a former human resources manager herself.

You might propose doing something that no one else in the company does as well as you do.

If you have been at a firm for a long time, your institutional knowledge may be valuable to your employer. You can propose working with younger employees. “Explain how this will be a win-win for the organization,” Neal says.

Don’t Tie Pay to Hours

Depending on your experience, skills, and contacts, your employer might get substantial value from you as a part-timer.

“You’re saying, ‘This is the value I’m bringing, and that doesn’t necessarily equate to the number of hours or the task you’re working,’” says Robin Snell, a financial advisor in Palm Harbor, Fla.

Other workers have less leverage when it comes to negotiating salary. Present all your attributes and make sure the job is a good fit before discussing pay.

Protect Your Benefits

Know exactly how many hours you need to work to retain medical and retirement benefits. Make sure you retain the right to invest in the company’s 401(k) retirement plan. Know how much vacation you will be getting.

Don’t Give Too Much Notice

Two weeks’ notice is often enough. Telling your employer months in advance that you want to go part time on a certain date can make you vulnerable if the firm is pondering cutbacks. Since you have already asked to work fewer hours, you may be the natural person to be laid off.

Giving a lot of notice also makes it easier for your employer to train a replacement and not need you as a part-timer. “Employers sometimes have to have their back against the wall to make a decision,” Snell says.

Write to Neal Templin at neal.templin@barrons.com