Should you be hiring more part-timers?
September 8, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Attracting talent, Entry level recruiting, In This Week's E-Newsletter, Latest News & Views
What’s one source of talent many employers aren’t tapping into?
Answer: Employees who want part-time work.
Experts say the number of folks only looking to work 30 hours a week or less has been increasing at a faster rate than the employers offering those opportunities.
The part-time workforce is made up largely of mothers and baby boomers approaching retirement, though it’s not uncommon to see younger workers take part-time jobs and exchange less pay for more free time.
How can companies tap into this talent pool? If a position requires full-time work, one option is “job sharing” — hiring two people to essentially split one full-time job.
What about your company? Do you have a lot of part-time positions? Have you ever split a job to attract two part-timers instead of one full-time employee? Let us know by leaving a comment.
Tags: job sharing, part-time, working mothers
September 12th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I’ve hired a lot of part timers, and we continue to have a signficant percentage of workers who work between 20 and 32 hours per week. They help to fill staffing needs of shorter durations, and they are often willing or need to work after they finish their other job (i.e., nights and weekends). So that can be a win-win. The downside to relying heavily on part time workers is that you end up with a much larger workforce when you consider it from a headcount perspective. All those people extra require care and attention, performance appraisals, schedules, paychecks, etc. It can be a lot more work for the supervisory staff.