Ask the Expert Dr. Kathleen Wells is a professional career coach and Director of Coaches That Care. She has coached thousands of clients through the stages of successful career development. Proposal for Part-time Work Schedule Q: I will be going on Maternity Leave in a few weeks, and I want to go part time when I return back to work. My company is open to the idea, but my manager has asked me to write a proposal in order for him to make a final decision. How do I get started? What do I say, and what information needs to be included? Nicole A: Dear Nicole, Congratulations on the coming child. Best of luck there. As for your proposal for your boss, that is fairly easy. The main thing to do is to let him know what is in it for him. He doesn't care what you get out of it, not on the practical, bottom-line level anyway. Let him know what you can do for the company on a part-time basis, how effective you will be, exactly what parts of the job you can accomplish because of your excellent organizational and prioritizing skills. Let him know if you are willing occasionally to put in more than part-time hours if special needs come up. Remind him how good you are by listing some of your accomplishments so he remembers why he is considering keeping you on a part-time basis. A good resource for flexible work schedule proposals is Pat Katepoo's e-book - Flex Success. It is a workbook that contains proposals for part-time, telecommuting, job sharing and more. You can get more information on it online at http://www.workoptions.com Good luck with this and your growing family! Kathleen Wells