Summer is here, bringing with it the busy season for frozen dessert professionals. Now may be the time to consider expanding your workforce to cover the pending demands summertime temperatures bring.
Sure, it may sound cliché, but the saying is true: the key to a successful business is an exceptional team – and that includes full- and part-time employees. As a business owner or hiring manager, it’s important to understand the many benefits an employer can reap by hiring good part-time employees, especially those who embody a full-time attitude.
According to www.monster.com, an online job search resource, approximately 20 percent of working Americans are part-time employees working less than 35 hours per week. The majority (78%) of this working class are 16-29-year-olds, and part-time female employees outnumber male 33 percent compared to 20 percent.
In regard to these figures, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shares that the recession increased the number of people who wanted to work full-time but could only find part-time work.
As you consider hiring part-time staff, the question may arise, “What kind of individuals want
to work part time?” The Office of Personnel Management reports that many factors play into why part-time work is more conducive to certain lifestyles as opposed to full-time employment including:
• Balancing routine and/or unexpected work and family demands
• Recovering from an illness
• Pursuing an education
• Devoted time to a volunteer activity in the community
• Participation in a special hobby or interest
• Making time for themselves
Moreover, www.morebusiness.com, an online resource website for entrepreneurs, points out why the prospect of part-time employment is an attractive alternative to full-time employment. Some facts to consider are that people now require flexible schedules or a chance to learn more about an industry before pursuing a full-time career in it. Furthermore, part-time positions offer additional income for people who work one or more jobs, and last, part-time positions are often more available than full-time positions, which makes it much easier to find employment.
Another important factor to contemplate is that the educational requirements are usually less demanding for part-time work aside from education and healthcare employment, says www.chron.com, an online publication of the Houston Chronicle.
Data from www.morebusiness.com, points to the benefits of hiring part-time employees for an employer looking to expand on his/her business opportunities. By hiring part-time staff, employers can look forward to advantages that include:
Part-time Employee Benefits:
• Employees with the availability to work extra workloads during peak times
• Replacements for full-time employees on leave or sick
• Retaining employees with specialized skill sets that do not exist among current team members
• Relieving the impact on your bottom line
When asked what the benefits of employing part-time staff members are, Lynne Lee, human resources manager at PreGel AMERICA, knowledgeably said “The company automatically saves a substantial amount of money.” Lee elaborated, “No benefits, holiday, overtime, medical, dental or 401K is paid out for part-time staff since they do not work the allotted time of 40 hours per week required to obtain these advantages.”
As an employer, the cost of salaries is much steeper as part-time employees earn half of the standard paycheck.
However, the decrease of monetary earnings does not prohibit a productive attitude from part-time workers. As a matter of fact, www.duport.co.uk, an online business advisory firm set in the United Kingdom, reports that it’s not uncommon for part-time workers to do as much in their shorter day or week than a full-time worker on the same staff.
Typically, part-time is considered working less than 40 hours, or whatever the state mandates as a part-time shift. However, another alternative to offering full-time employment is called job sharing, says the Duport website. According to their definition, job-sharing is when two, or sometimes more, people share the responsibility, pay and benefits of a full-time job. They share the pay and benefits in proportion to the hours each work, and may split days, split weeks or alternate weeks, or their hours may overlap.
Businesses can benefit from the advantages of offering job-sharing opportunities, being that it is a means to fill a full-time position if necessary. And because of the free time the rest of the day offers, part-timers and job-sharers typically don’t tend to need time off for medical appointments, and their sick rates are usually far lower than full-time staff, which promotes morale and productivity.
When considering hiring summertime help, remember that the list of advantages for both the employer and part-time employee is plentiful. Offering part-time or job-sharing employment opportunities can expand staff size, the bottom line can increase, coverage during peak times of the business day can be ensured, and businesses can have a well-rounded team with a multitude of skill sets.