[leann2001nl]

6 weeks is still more time than essentially everyone else gets.

Not sure how much people are really traveling 1.5 months per year

[Dr_Cocciolillo]

Depends on your employer

Drug reps get way more than 6 weeks off , all in. 6 weeks is not much time off given the weekends and holidays we work.

[Unknown Member]

You take the number of work days of a 1.0 FTE in your group for a year and multiply by (for ex) 0.6. The rest of the days are extra vacation. You can adjust call accordingly or if it is paid separately can arrange per preference.

[pbernard_996]

At 60 percent FTE then maybe you can set up something a Tuesday Wednesday Thursday schedule. That means 4 day weekend every week. 4 days is enough to hop a flight and explore a new city. Then use the 6 weeks for 3 2-week trips abroad to get your international travel fix.

[ljohnson_509]

Additional question. If you needed to make 100k and health insurance. Whats the best way to do this radiology?

[amado.rodriguezbenitez_967]

I am still not able to comprehend how your overall time off (lets call it vacation) decreases dramatically when you go part time.

[ljohnson_509]

At 60% fte, you get 30 vacation days instead of 50. You work 3/5 days a week. You may or may not get post call days off depending on negotiation. So seems like your not truly working 60% less since vacation and post call are lost.

[Unknown Member]

The way that works is how you define vacation. If like most people you think of vacation as any day that is not worked then it is impossible for your vacation to decrease if you go part time. On the other hand, if you define vacation as the number of weeks you can request as a block, where the group will then later assign random days off to the partners because of their poor scheduling ability, and those random days off do not count as vacation, then you can have the scenario where your number Of vacation weeks go down when you go part time, as those number of weeks are decided independently of assigned days off.

[amado.rodriguezbenitez_967]

I guess I am just used to thinking of full time in terms of x (total #) number of weeks worked a year with part time people working some fraction of that… hence they end up with way more time off.  Since we schedule in week blocks I never think about 2 or 3 day workweeks being possible or the norm for somebody, but our group is small. 

[btomba_77]

Quote from MD20/20

I guess I am just used to thinking of full time in terms of x (total #) number of weeks worked a year with part time people working some fraction of that… hence they end up with way more time off.  Since we schedule in week blocks I never think about 2 or 3 day workweeks being possible or the norm for somebody,[b] but our group is small.  [/b]

 
Yeah … when you get to over 100 rads you get a lot more potential variability in scheduling.
 
We haven’t been in “weeks off” schedule mode since around 2000.   Now the days are ad hoc…. some weeks, some 3-4-5 day weekends , some stand alone single days.
 
 

[ljohnson_509]

Dergon, So 80% fte would be say 160 shifts instead of 200. But if your entitled to say 50 days of vacation, you lose 10 by going 80%. So net gain is 30 days off for 20% of pay which is a crummy deal. Especially if your still doing call at the same frequency.

[btomba_77]

That’s not how it works for us.  As I said above,  40 additional days off of the schedule.  Nights and weekends unchanged.
 
 

[ljohnson_509]

Ok, I get it now Dergon. Do you let anyone who asks go part time at your practice?

We are tightly staffed now and am afraid that by asking for part time, I may put myself at a disadvantage in an employed situation. Even if they say no.

[btomba_77]

Quote from Drrad123

 Do you let anyone who asks go part time at your practice?

 
No. It is generally a reward for years of service by people in good standing with the group. 
 
It comes down to what can be negotiated with the chair.  Back in 2013 during the crappy job market years people were denied part time and told that they were free to retire.
 

We are tightly staffed now and am afraid that by asking for part time, I may put myself at a disadvantage in an employed situation. Even if they say no.

While my chair knew I was looking to back down, I delayed my formal ask by 2-3 years to make sure we got to fully staffed before actually pulling the trigger.
 
I did not want to be viewed as not being a team player.
 
The timing of the request matters.
 

[DanielQuilli]

Never heard of such nonsense. Is not the whole point of going down in % to have more time off? If we go to 80% we are working 80% of what a 100% partner does, days, evenings, weekends etc. vacation goes up not down.

[amado.rodriguezbenitez_967]

Agree with the diagnosis of nonsense.  The thought that by going part time you will end up with reduced vacation and thereby not actually work significantly less time (but for presumably a lot less money) seems like Orwellian corporate doublethink.  Hard to wrap ones mind around that arrangement or why anyone would volunteer or accept it as a matter of fact. 

[ljohnson_509]

Hows vrad for a part time option that doesnt tie you to a location? Would you get health insurance part time? Whats the least amount of time theyd let you work?

[benoit.elens]

Let’s say if somebody in your group goes from 100% to 60% — work 60% of shifts/take 60% of call, do they get paid 60% salary?  Or is there an additional “hit” for going part time?
 
Likewise, if somebody goes 100% remote but takes 100% of shifts/call (possibly even more productive due to less presumed interruptions), is there a salary penalty and if so, what is it?

[btomba_77]

Quote from ChuckI

Let’s say if somebody in your group goes from 100% to 60% — work 60% of shifts/take 60% of call, do they get paid 60% salary?  Or is there an additional “hit” for going part time?

 
Salary (and benefits … CME , retirement) on an equal percentage
 

Likewise, if somebody goes 100% remote but takes 100% of shifts/call (possibly even more productive due to less presumed interruptions), is there a salary penalty and if so, what is it?

We have not crossed that bridge yet. But we hired a few remote people at full salary over the last year.
 
And I can tell you that there are now at least three people (just that I know of) who are long-term on site rads who are going to want the same deal sooner rather than later.
 
It’s going to become an issue.

[Unknown Member]

The terms of going part-time are at the mercy of the employer or, in a partnership, the other partners. That’s really what it comes down to. 
 
Don’t assume that part time arrangement as a partner in PP will give you more favorable terms than if you are employed, it’s variable. 
 
In my group, the radiologists want the part-time partners to take an equal NUMBER of evening shifts and weekend calls per year as everyone else, not an equal PROPORTION. That’s what they consider to be fair, naturally the part-time partner (me) considers it not fair, but it’s a matter of perspective and power. The vacation question is moot as it is essentially linked to days worked, once one is decided then the rest of the days off are vacation. Some groups/employers will consider it “fair” that you get the extra time off, but that those days are assigned based on the groups need: this week it happens to be Tue/Thurs, the next week Mon / Fri; the next week Wed/Thur; and the following week they need you every day so you don’t get any day off but the following week you’ll get 4 days off to make up for it.  That’s what they consider fair. Other groups will consider it “fair” that the part-time partner gets to decide what days of the week they want off – say every Monday and Friday;  though I have a hard time imagining that, as the partners will generally say that their vacation ability being limited by the part-time partner always getting first dibs on a Monday or Friday is not fair. Same with rotation assignments. If you are 40% neuro as a full time partner/employee, when you go to part time, they could try to preserve your 40% neuro;  they could preserve your two days a week of neuro which ends up being more than 40% of your new schedule; or, more commonly I’ll bet, they’ll say, “hey you lose your 40% neuro if you go part time since neuro is an ‘easy rotation’, you get to sling barium and do plain films or whatever we want you to read and you’ll say Thank You.”   
 
If going part time is an established pathway in your group, the terms will likely be better and less negotiable. If you are the first current partner to negotiate a part-time arrangement, good luck, they will probably nickel and dime you on the details unless you are buddies with the shot-caller. Such negotiations speak to the importance of developing needed skills (e.g. willingness to do mammo), serving needed functions (e.g. volunteering for Christmas call if you don’t celebrate it), always being helpful to your group leaders and being on their good side. When it comes to negotiating with your partners, it is good to be well-liked by the group, but it is far better to be buddies with the group leaders (e.g. if you are one of them).

[btomba_77]

Quote from Drrad123

Say you go from 100% to 60% FTE in an employed position, should weekend calls, vacation and pay go down by 40%? How about post call days off, should those go away? Seems like having some extra days off each week is nice, but going from say 10 weeks off to 6 weeks can curb travel plans when things open up again. Anyone have experience with going part time and whats optimal?

There is no right answer. In our group your weekend and night call responsibility does not decrease when you go part time.
 
We base the number of additional days off of the clinical schedule based on a 200 day work year. So if you go to 0.8 you receive 40 more days off of the schedule. 
 
Some people take that as  a fixed day per week, others take it more in block time. ( This only works if the part time people are flexible in using their time.  And it works a *lot* better when the group is adequately staffed.)
 
We don’t have post-call days off … so no comment on how that works.