In the most recent Women In Optometry Pop-up Poll, an overwhelming 87 percent of respondents said that they would ideally like to spend fewer than five days in the office seeing patients or managing administrative tasks. A four-day a week schedule seemed ideal to 47 percent of the respondents and a three-day week seemed ideal to 39 percent. Only 6 percent thought a five-day workweek is an ideal schedule.
The ideal doesn’t match the reality for most people, however. Forty-four percent of the respondents said they are currently spending five days a week in patient care or in-office business administration or planning now. Another 17 percent said they’re spending six or seven days a week in the office.
Indeed, 48 percent of respondents said that while they are working full time now, they would prefer to be working a part-time schedule. That’s a significantly higher proportion than the 28 percent who said that they are content with their current full-time schedule. Twenty-four percent of the respondents said that they are content with their current part-time schedule.
Of the poll respondents, 83 percent were female ODs and 14 percent were male ODs. The remainder was mostly women who are not ODs but working in the profession. Among women ODs, 50 percent said they’re currently working a full-time schedule but would prefer a part-time one. Twenty-seven percent said they’re content with their part-time schedule and 23 percent said they’re content with their full-time schedule. The highest percentage of women ODs (46 percent) said that a four-day-a-week schedule would be ideal. Another 42 percent said they’d ideally work three days a week in the office.
Among the male ODs who responded, 46 percent said a four-day-a-week schedule would be ideal and 29 percent said a three-day-a-week schedule would be ideal. Seventeen percent said a five-day workweek is preferred. Half of the men said they are content with this full time schedule, 13 percent are content with their part time schedule and 37 percent said they are currently working full time but would prefer a part-time schedule.
Fifty-five percent of women ODs said that they are currently working at least five days a week.
| Days per Week | % of women OD respondents |
| 1 | 1% |
| 2 | 1% |
| 3 | 15% |
| 4 | 27% |
| 5 | 39% |
| 6 | 15% |
| 7 | 1% |
Thumbnail image courtesy of Pixabay
