The Benefits of Working Part-Time: Why Employees Are Shifting & What HR Leaders Should Know
Workers are increasingly opting for part-time jobs. For HR leaders, there's an opportunity to understand this changing demand and reimagine the role of part-time contributors.
According to new research, the benefits of working part-time are captivating key talent. But what's driving the trend? While there may be several factors contributing to a shifting work landscape, understanding what those factors are can help organizations adapt.
For HR leaders, leveraging part-time workers can help achieve important goals while keeping costs in check. There's also an opportunity to keep key talent that might need greater flexibility, while still allowing them to contribute. Here's a closer look at what's shaping the demand for part-time opportunities and what HR leaders should consider.
Understanding today's part-time work landscape
The part-time work landscape has evolved significantly in the last few years and the statistics show that it's a broad group of individuals with diverse motivations seeking part-time employment. Overall, trends point to a shrinking workweek. As part of the Today@Work report "People Are Working Less," the ADP Research Institute noted that the share of people who are working part-time jobs has risen from 43% in December 2019 to 47% in December 2023. In addition, adults 35 and younger are working an hour less than they did four years ago, while hours worked by older age groups held steady.
Higher wages may be giving employees greater flexibility, with ADP Research Institute data showing that the average year-over-year pay increase for job-stayers in 2022 and 2023 was 6.9 percent. Those who changed jobs saw an increase of 13.4% over the same period. From a demographic standpoint, women work fewer hours and account for a much higher share of all part-time jobs (56%) than their share of full-time jobs (47%).
What qualifies as a part-time job is quite flexible. If an organization's full-time positions are 40 hours, any job that requires fewer hours would be considered part-time, notes Kasara Weinrich, principal consultant, future of work strategy at ADP.
The benefits of working part-time for employees
Weinrich suggests that there are many reasons why workers seek part-time roles. While increased compensation for certain roles may provide workers the economic freedom to choose fewer hours, the bigger picture is multi-faceted.
One very large reason may be caretaking, she notes. Individuals may have caretaking responsibilities for young children, older parents or family members facing health issues. Part-time work is a strategy that allows them to stay in the workforce but meet other needs when they arise.
The demand for flexibility is also driving part-time work. "I would like to believe that part-time work gives individuals more flexibility and they're able to do the work as their own schedules allow," suggests Weinrich. Employees who favor non-traditional hours or want to pursue other passions outside the workplace may enjoy the flexibility part-time work provides.
Individuals struggling with an acute health diagnosis, chronic illness or mental health challenges may also seek part-time employment. The greater flexibility could offer the ability to attend doctors appointments, manage stress and still generate much-needed income.
While employees overall have seen rate increases, the pay for certain skills has dropped, notes Weinrich.
"We've seen a lot of fluctuations in the rate of pay for certain skills. Compared to four years ago, the rates an organization was willing to pay for certain roles has dropped significantly. And so it could also be a strategy for people to have multiple part time jobs to kind of get the same sum that they may have been able to acquire just a few years ago, so it could be an economic strategy as well on both ends," she says.
How part-time work benefits employers
There are core advantages for employers supporting part-time work, notes Weinrich. In some cases, organizations have realized from a strategic perspective that certain roles don't need to be done within the traditional 40-hour timeframe. On another level, organizations aren't required to offer benefits to part-time workers, which can create bottom-line benefits.
Making roles part-time may also play a different role in talent strategies. "It is also a way to mitigate having to do full or widespread layoffs in certain functions or roles and simply reduce the expense. It may be an employer's strategy that they don't need to completely eliminate this person and can come to an agreement about the number of hours that work for both parties," says Weinrich.
In other cases, an organization may have a star performer that's facing outside needs — for example, caretaking demands — and be thinking about leaving their role as a result. Being willing to transition a role to part-time, with or without the expectation that it will eventually return to full-time, can help keep high-performing contributors, individuals with in-demand skillsets and valuable institutional knowledge available.
Choosing the roles for part-time workers
In many cases, part-time work is available in specific industries like retail or home health-care, or in certain types of jobs such as adjunct professors or freelance designers, says Weinrich. However, employers are broadening the scope of these roles and there are a few best practices that can help.
When identifying roles that can successfully be completed part-time, it's important to look for jobs where employees control their schedules. These would be roles that aren't client-facing, cross-functional or highly dependent on collaborating with other teams that have set schedules, Weinrich notes.
It can also be helpful to choose jobs that have clearly defined responsibilities. "Often when you're hired for a full-time role, your job transforms. You're hired for a specific function, and then within nine months, they're adding things to your plate or aligning you with strategic initiatives," says Weinrich. Positions that are likely to be more stable in their duties and outputs, requiring the same skills and performance over time, can be great choices for part-time work.
Shaping the future of part-time work
With part-time work on the rise, there's an opportunity for HR leaders to consider how to increase the engagement of this growing segment. In some cases, says Weinrich, the agreement is straightforward: the part-time worker completes tasks in exchange for compensation, but they're not necessarily seeking advancement opportunities in the way a full-time worker might.
However, that's not a universal given.
Weinrich notes that there's an opportunity to offer a deeper integration into the organization's culture for part-time employees who want it, whether that's invitations to company events, trainings or similar gatherings. There's also an opportunity to focus on inclusive communication, offering part-time employees access to knowledge, resources and connections that are routinely part of full-time workforce experience.
Investing in AI and collaboration tools can also help foster those digital connections to culture. However, she cautions, it's important to be realistic that a part-time employee may not be available to join a last-minute meeting and some may choose not to participate — and that's totally okay.
Finally, although businesses aren't obligated to offer part-time employees benefits, some are choosing to do so. For example, one approach might be that after an employee has been employed for a period of time, they become eligible for health insurance or tuition benefits.
"There's an opportunity to reimagine what that part-time contributor looks like and make an overture for a more inclusive environment if that's right for the part-time worker," says Weinrich. For HR leaders, a growing part-time workforce offers important opportunities for growth and developing new strategies to support talent and fill certain roles.
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