Diane Charness, president of Part-time Professional Placements Inc., a 5-year-old Potomac, Md., company, matches professionals who want flexible schedules with companies that have immediate needs, but are willing to be flexible themselves.
About eight years ago, Charness was director of corporate marketing for Marriott International Inc. in Bethesda, with twin boys and a little girl on the way. She wanted to keep her career but also needed more time for her family. Marriott wouldn’t budge, so she struck out on her own as a consultant.
She began to question the rules of the game.
Why should it be so hard to get your kids to school, make a doctor’s appointment and tend to other duties outside of work? Who decided that 9-to-5 was to be the law of the land? Since the contract was severed, wasn’t it time to begin writing new rules?
“The time was perfect for a company that could offer organizations a work force when they need one,” said Charness.
So she started a career-placement service, a hybrid temp agency that connects people looking for flexible working arrangements with companies that are willing to accommodate a new way of getting the work done.
“I don’t see why people shouldn’t be allowed to work 20 or 30 hours a week and still be considered a productive part of an organization,” she said.
Her company, soon to be called Flexible Staffing Inc., seeks out professionals seeking flexible work schedules, such as part-time, temporary assignments or job-share arrangements. Her Rolodex has been replaced by a database of 3,000 professionals and hundreds of companies.
In 1995, she commissioned a study to analyze the use of part-time and temporary professionals in the Washington area. The study concluded that most companies have professional staff members who work part-time on a regular basis, and about half planned to use more temporary or part-time employees.
“What I see happening is progressive organizations are now establishing a core group of permanent full-time workers, then surrounding that core with a contingency work force of part-time workers and temps, or people who are telecommuting,” Charness said.
The study also found that, while women were more likely to pursue flexible scheduling, men were also getting into the act. In fact, 60 percent of her candidates today are men who have been downsized, are semiretired or are looking for a flexible schedule to make time for other projects.
“There is this myth that most people are available for temporary work because they are out of work elsewhere,” Charness said. “But the truth is most people are leading much more interesting and diverse lives, and they’re looking for better hours.”
