A guide to getting the most out of under utilised workers: engaging your part-time staff.
Temporary contract or part-time positions are important for your business’ and employees’ flexibility.
Part-time work is now very much the norm for millennials starting out in the working world. According to Statistics Canada, the rate of full-time employment for those between the ages of 17 and 24 from 2014-16 was 59% in men. Women seen a total of 49%, down from 76 and 58% respectively for the same age groups in 1976-78.
These young workers are often perceived by employers as flighty, which could give a reason as to why temporary work is popular. What can be done to improve their part-time experience?
Employer/employee transparency:
Many part-time employees are unsure of their employee benefits or do not have proficient knowledge of their legal rights. In many cases, with minimal access to health benefits or sick leave, even something as trivial as a running injury could be damaging to a part-timer’s income.
Part-time workers enjoy the same rights and protections as full-time employees, such as overtime pay and statutory holidays, and there is no law that says that part-time workers aren’t entitled to benefits. Being open and informative with your employees encourages a trusting environment in the workplace. Additionally, businesses that elect these open discussions tend to be on the right side of compliance.
Technology = Flexibility
In large companies operating with a majority 9-5 workforce, employee software has become a necessity over the last 5 years with 91% of corporate employees are using at least one mobile app in 2017 (Insight). This is no different for smaller organisations; with a much more varied workforce and dynamic environment, it should be considered an essential part of the business.
Offering mobile tech to staff allows part-time employees to remotely interact with the workplace. It also help to seamlessly handle HR processes, collaborate with coworkers, and allows for a much smoother work/life balance & crossover.
Mobilising the workflows that manage your day-to-day and week-to-week processes are a time and cost-efficient way to make your employee (and your) life easier. Again, this has a huge effect on employee/employer transparency and employee experience.
Planning future prospects
Without a full-time job prospect, your part-time employees could be already looking for other opportunities. For them, these opportunities will offer them a better career path. That is why it is important to engage your part-time staff. Employees will want this full-time prospect for key living requirements.
A recent article in the Harvard Business Review entitled “Why Do Employees Stay? A Clear Career Path and Good Pay, for Starters”, found that a major factor that increases turnover is allowing workers to stagnate in one position. That means workers that stay longer in the same role without a title change are likely to leave that organisation to achieve the next step in their career. For a millennial, part-time worker, this could be as simple as trusting them with a full-time position. This proves to them that they are a key member of the business.
Hourly employees are not as easy to engage. So making this extra effort can go a long way!
See how Bizimply can help to engage part-time staff, see our employee engagement survey.
Get talking with one of our team members and book a free demo of Bizimply today!
