Building part-time and telecommuting options into a workforce management strategy
As baby boomers retire, and as global competition raises performance expectations for many technical and professional positions, employers increasingly struggle to find the talent necessary to grow their organizations. Meanwhile, more employees are seeking arrangements that allow a better balance with family life.
To recruit and retain such workers – typically parents, retirees, students and those caring for aging relatives – more employers are offering work/life balance initiatives including part-time/job-sharing, flextime and telecommuting options.
Part-time work is hardly new. Thirty-three percent of companies responding to a 2005 poll by the Society for Human Resource Management said their organization formally employs part-timers. And a 2006 SHRM study found that 57 percent of companies surveyed offered flextime, while 35 percent allowed employees to work compressed weeks. In addition, 26 percent allowed part-time telecommuting while 19 percent provided full-time telecommuting.
Skilled workers in short supply
As labor markets tighten, some employers are finding they must rethink flexible arrangements and do more to attract high-quality part-time employees.
Jewelry maker Richards & West Inc. has had increasing difficulty finding highly skilled, experienced jewelers – who are typically concentrated in New York City – to move to Rochester to help handle the company’s growing repair workload.
But when the opportunity arose to become the authorized repair shop for an internationally known jewelry designer, Richards & West needed to quickly bolster its staff of jewelry “evaluators.” The 60-employee company bucked industry norms and hired two part-timers to share a position estimating and performing repairs on high-end jewelry.
Gary Keim, partner and vice president of administration at Richards & West, says both part-timers had been full-time jewelers at the company years earlier, and had thorough experience in repairing this and other lines of fine jewelry.
Fully developing one’s skills in what remains a hands-on craft requires ongoing training and many years of experience, Keim says. Most manufacturers insist on employing such skilled “bench jewelers” only as full-timers.
But Keim admits that the work can be physically taxing; for that and other reasons, the two part-timers had no desire to return to full-time work. “They don’t need the pay,” Keim says. “They’re here because they love working with jewelry.”
A year into the experiment, Richards & West is now looking at creating a benefits package to keep their part-timers happy – perhaps including prorated vacation, holiday or sick days.
The advantages of scalability
Employers that hire part-timers often do so because it allows them to adjust staffing as demand for their products and services fluctuates. And, when company and employees have a history, hiring and training costs are minimized. Continuity of employment also means more consistent customer service.
Respondents to the 2005 SHRM survey report that offering flexible work arrangements has helped their organization keep employees who otherwise might have been lost.
“The employers we know that hire (part-time retirees) tell us they love their dependability and their excellent customer service skills,” says JoAnne Sims, employment specialist at Lifespan. She runs the Bridge to Employment Program for people 50 or older looking for part-time and contract work, and facilitates the Flexible Workforce Network for people of all ages seeking part-time and contract work.
Such employees – happy for the opportunity and focused on how much they must accomplish in a compressed week – often deliver above-average efficiency and loyalty. Those who are away from the work for several days each week often bring fresh energy and eagerness to challenging assignments.
Aligning culture
Despite the positives, however, many face difficulty in finding reduced-hour work that matches their experience and desire to contribute. Such work often pays poorly and rarely offers health or retirement benefits.
“The world is built around full-time work,” Sims says. Coaxing more employers to consider part-timers, especially older folks, requires a change in thinking.
Preconceived notions – that part-timers are not as committed, for example – present significant obstacles. Employers worry that work will be late, incomplete or poorly done. Some cultures equate productivity with face time, leading to resentment of reduced-hour arrangements. Employees fear that accessing flexible arrangements may dampen their advancement opportunities and compensation growth.
Crucial to the success of reduced-hour or telecommuting arrangements, HR experts say, is a culture that:
- Uses well-drafted policies to clarify expectations about flexible arrangements.
- Effectively communicates details of the arrangements to all affected parties.
- Ensures that work is distributed fairly.
- Provides regular supervisory feedback to part-timers.
Recruiting and retaining reduced-hour workers
Companies that decide to hire part-timers often find that the competition to land quality talent can be intense. Employers must establish proactive part-time recruitment strategies that identify where business requirements and the motivations of such workers meet.
Those seeking reduced-hour positions are different than the rest of the labor pool, experts say. “(They’re) typically younger or older and typically motivated by different things,” Lisa Bordinat, senior vice president and director of consulting services for Aon Consulting’s Talent Solutions Group, said in an interview with SHRM.
To fill its midday shifts, for example, Digital Credit Union in Massachusetts recruits retirees and parents of school-age children, SHRM reports. For its evening and weekend work, Digital looks for students. And to fill summertime vacancies, the credit union seeks teachers.
Digital also succeeds by offering benefits on a prorated basis, providing regular reviews and ensuring reduced-hour employees are invited to all company activities.
Conclusion
An organizational culture that supports employee autonomy, allows discretion in how work is performed, encourages supervisors to support work/family initiatives and does not penalize employees for using work/family benefits will contribute to decreased work/family conflict, higher employee satisfaction and lower turnover intentions, according to the Journal of Vocational Behavior and SHRM.
Experts agree that effectively managing nontraditional work arrangements depends on making strategic decisions about the performance and loyalty that an organization expects from its reduced-hour and telecommuting workforce.
“In this tight labor market, I advise employers that are not sure they can afford another full-time employee to at least consider starting with a part-timer,” Sims says. Employers that refuse to do so “are missing out on a resource of very skilled people.”
“Hiring experienced part-timers has made us a far more flexible company,” Keim says. “It’s the perfect blend.”
Susan O'Brien, vice president of outsourcing services at HR Works, contributed to this article.
