Another term for "part time"

September 7, 2011 8:21 PM

What's another term for "part time", that would be more appropriate when attached to someone who is on a company's board of directors?

Ok, strange question. I'm working at a Japanese company that is updating their website. They have a board of directors, and one of them recently switched to being a "非常勤" director. That word translated directly would basically be "not full time", or in English, part time, but the people updating the website think it sounds a bit odd to list someone as a Company Director(Part Time). Any ideas on a way to phrase this that sounds more official than "part time"? I am having a total brainfreeze on this one.

posted by farce majeure to Grab Bag (22 answers total)

would it be too much a stretch to call them a "consulting director" thus indicating that they're called in when he's needed?
posted by nadawi at 8:25 PM on September 7, 2011 [4 favorites]

Contingent Staff? Strategic Contractor?
posted by blurker at 8:35 PM on September 7, 2011

Associate
posted by bq at 8:36 PM on September 7, 2011

Isn't it sort of implied that if someone is on the board of directors they're not necessarily working on the board full time?
posted by JauntyFedora at 8:37 PM on September 7, 2011

There are terms like "Associate director," but that implies he is of lower rank than others on the Board, which I gather isn't the case. Can you just leave it off- do people need to know he doesn't work every day? If he is of equal rank to the others and just works less hours, I'm not sure it's relevant to have on the website.

Then again, "Consulting" is pretty good too.
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:40 PM on September 7, 2011

I would just leave it off - if he's a director, he's a director. However, Japanese business culture may dictate that you display something differently, particularly if the other directors are 'full-time'.
posted by dg at 8:43 PM on September 7, 2011

The government of the United Kingdom usually uses some sort of footnote to indicate people who only attend Cabinet part time. For example, Number 10 now uses three asterisks, and down at the bottom has:

*** attends Cabinet when Ministerial responsibilities are on the agenda

Simply putting an asterisk by this person's name and at the bottom of the list putting a descriptive note like "as necessary" might be more appropriate. It is a bit more understated than inventing a new title that explicitly gives the director a lower status than the others.
posted by grouse at 8:46 PM on September 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

If he's part-time as an honorary thing, then director emeritus would be appropriate--even common. If it's not an honorary position, then I like consulting director, but you could make it really obscure by calling him a director pro re nata.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 8:55 PM on September 7, 2011

It's not clear to me that you need any modifier.
posted by John Cohen at 9:02 PM on September 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Visiting?
posted by kickingtheground at 9:05 PM on September 7, 2011

I vote for emeritus.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 9:08 PM on September 7, 2011

Best answer: They're called Advisory Directors at my firm.
posted by valeries at 9:21 PM on September 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yes, I agree with the general sentiment that a modifier is probably not needed. Unfortunately I'm not in charge of actually deciding what to put on the website, only for translating the Japanese website into English, and as the Japanese website has the modifier, so must the English version. I going to run consulting director by them and see what they think.
posted by farce majeure at 9:27 PM on September 7, 2011

Response by poster: ahhh, advisory director is good too
posted by farce majeure at 9:27 PM on September 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Chiming in on Advisory.
posted by deludingmyself at 9:30 PM on September 7, 2011

We use the term non-executive director to indicate a director who does not have a full time executive role in the organisation.
posted by yogalemon at 9:52 PM on September 7, 2011

We have someone like this and don't use a modifier. I've heard the euphemism 'strategic director' used a couple times, but it almost always raises eyebrows. I like advisory director a lot more.
posted by devilsbrigade at 10:22 PM on September 7, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks all. I politely mentioned that we probably didn't need to have any sort of modifier once more just for good measure, and they actually listened to me this time! I think they're going to take it off of the Japanese site too. For anyone who cares, I was going to go with Advisory Director though. Thanks again
posted by farce majeure at 10:32 PM on September 7, 2011

From what I know of Japanese, an Arubaito (from the Deustche "arbeit") isn't just "work" but rather, part-time work. So, Arubaito Torishimariyaku.
posted by Rash at 11:16 PM on September 7, 2011

They're called Advisory Directors at my firm.

Yeah I've got a book here that uses the term Soudan-yaku or maybe Komon for the semi-retired director-advisor... but before I came in here and learned of the Japanese angle, I was going to suggest "Casual."
posted by Rash at 11:21 PM on September 7, 2011

Response by poster: Yeah, arubaito generally refers to casual part time work, something like working at a convenience store, and I think they were worried that a"part time"label would convey the same nuance that arubaito does, which is why they didn't want to go with "Company Director (Part Time)"
posted by farce majeure at 12:14 AM on September 8, 2011

Although a director is a director is a director (except when they're not a director), the practice in the UK would definitely be to call him a non-executive director if he is not involved in the day-to-day operation of the company. As you may be aware, listed companies (particularly in the US and Australia) are supposed to have a certain proportion of their board to be independent directors, this usually means non-executive as well.
posted by HopStopDon'tShop at 6:51 AM on September 8, 2011