As much as hiring the right people for the right roles is important for any business, how you hire them is equally as important.
Knowing whether you should hire employees on full-time contracts with a long-term commitment, or part-time staff with flexible short-term contracts, isn’t always easy, and a lot will depend on the type of company you’re running, its goals, workload and budget.
To help employers decide whether to offer full or part time jobs to candidates, here is a brief guide:
What defines a full-time employee?
Usually working 35 to 40 hours a week, full-time roles often come with benefits such as health insurance and paid leave, an hourly wage or a fixed monthly salary. Naturally, they provide greater job security and long-term responsibilities.
If you’re looking for consistency, loyalty and a heightened commitment to your company’s goals, full-time roles would be ideal.
What defines a part-time employee?
Typically working for up to 30 hours a week or less, part-time employees don’t usually receive the same benefits as their full-time counterparts, are paid by the hour, and often work only during peak business hours, or seasonally.
If you need a little extra help when workloads fluctuate or for short-term projects, but don’t have the budget for a full-time employee, part-time roles are a good choice.
Factors to consider when choosing
Before you decide whether to hire part or full-time temporary employees, you should carefully consider the following:
- Your industry and your business model
Industries like hospitality, retail or customer service often use part-time staff to help them managing the changing demands of customers. Growing companies or startups might want to build a team of full-time employees, while law offices or consulting firms may fill full-time roles for continuity of care and trust among clients.
Do you want your roles to be flexible, or dependable?
- Capacity and infrastructure
Although salary plays an important role when choosing which type of employee to hire, it’s also about the support you’re able to provide them with, such as equipment and workstations, training, onboarding, HR payroll and benefits administration.
For businesses in their infancy with developing infrastructures, remote or part-time staff might be easier to manage.
- Budget for salary and benefits
The salary may be higher for full-time employees, but you must also account for the cost of health insurance, paid time off, training and development and retirement contributions, among others.
For limited or unpredictable budgets, part-time workers might be best to begin with.
- Type of work and volume
Is the workload your staff will need to cope with routine and ongoing, seasonal or project-based, or independent or collaborative?
For consistent, strategic or collaborative work, full-time staff might be the best option. While for supportive roles or those that don’t demand full availability, a part-time workforce might be a better match.
- Plans for growth in the long-term
For companies who are scaling at a rate of knots, a team of full-timers will help build a robust internal culture and maintain momentum. Businesses still in the experimental stage, should opt for the flexibility of part-time employees.
- Legal and administrative considerations
Talk to an experienced lawyer or accountant about the legalities and tax obligations of hiring full or part-time workers, along with overtime laws, rules of termination, eligibility for benefits and the risks associated with employee misclassification.
Could a hybrid model be the most suitable?
Whether you carry out your own in-house recruitment, or use the convenience of work agencies in Auckland, hiring both full and part-time employees can provide you with the stability and flexibility you need at different stages of your company’s life.
The decisions you make today around hiring, can have a long-lasting and far-reaching impact on your business tomorrow, and well into the future. By working with a recruitment agency to design roles that match the rhythm of your business, you can attract the right kind of people to the right kind of roles, and enjoy lasting success with a team who will help you properly the business forward.