Next month my schedule will change. I will henceforth be off on Fridays with my work week truncated to Monday through Thursday. I am excited to be enjoying a long weekend every weekend. And while the schedule change is relatively minor, this event does feel like an important career moment for me. It is the first step on a journey that will ultimately lead beyond my professional career. It is this recognition that makes this modest schedule modification more significant than one would think it deserves.
As some readers know,
my current employed position has been a dream job for me. Prior to this, I was in a small private
practice, which I loved, but was much more challenging professionally and
personally. My partner and I ran the
business. Working nights, weekends and
holidays were routine for decades. On an on-call night, if I slept through until morning, I felt as if I had won the lottery. And we served our patients and referring
colleagues in community hospitals 24/7.
I now practice exclusively out-patient gastroenterology seeing
office patients and performing procedures.
As I am in the autumn of my career, the loss of autonomy in the employed space does not distress
me as it would have had I taken this position years ago. I am thrilled at this point to be relieved from the responsibilities
of hiring personnel, meeting payroll and overhead, negotiating with
insurance companies and hustling to recruit patient referrals. Yes, there are moments now when I am reminded of
my employed status such as when I request vacation time. When I was in charge of my own practice, I took
time off whenever I wanted. Now, vacations
requests may run into a speed bump or two, but this is a small price for all of
the upside I enjoy.
I am not taking Fridays off because I feel overworked or that the work no longer brings me joy. I simply want to lengthen the weekends. I’ll keep you posted on the journey which is about to begun without a finish line in sight.
Looking forward to following how this unfolds!
ReplyDeleteBest to you!
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that working 4 days a week is considered part-time. Especially since all the charting that physicians take home to do brings their average work day to over 10 hours per day. Meaning for physicians, 4 days a week will equal over 40 hours of labor. And people wonder why physician burnout is so high.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! Godspeed!
ReplyDeleteWhen I reached my 35th year of being a physician, I scaled things back. The old place of employment wouldn’t allow me without screwing me on pay. I found a position that worked me Monday through Friday, no nights, no weekends, no holidays, and no call. They actually paid me better than my old job, which was a huge plus.I chose how many weeks I wanted to work. I started out at thirty weeks, and by the time I left, I was down to 18 weeks. Since I was looking at 70 on the horizon, I fully retired. Ramping down over five years was a Godsend, and exactly what the doctor ordered.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, but be careful. You may find that the equivalent of 5 full days of work will now be crammed into those 4 days, and you end up spending evenings or your "Friday off" catching up.
ReplyDeleteExactly my story. I ran my solo specialty practice at average 10hours a day, Monday to Saturdays for 28 years. I missed family events ( most hurtful) and fought loosing battles with insurance and taxes, till I wised up to work for somebody ( another company) for 4days a week. My compensation was as good as my self-employed " heist " but strictly take home. No hiring/ firing staff, no overhead, no calls, no meetings.
ReplyDeleteGetting 7to 8vhours sleep as added benefit, I scaled down to three days a week and
Appreciate excellent and thoughtful comments. Had the First Friday Freedom Day 4 days ago and it was sublime. I think this is going to be a very smooth adjustment for me! In a perfect world, the standard workweek would be Mon-Thurs. I invite you all to return to the blog and contribute further. Best, MK
ReplyDelete