Small and large businesses and organisations alike will at some point employ part time staff. This is especially true for many of our clients working at councils. We wanted to take a moment to tell you why employing part time staff could be beneficial not just for those you employ but for you as the employer as well.

1) Expanding the Recruitment Pool
Part time workers tend to consist of parents and semi-retired professionals who may not want or be able to work full time. By hiring these kinds of people, you are supporting families who are likely to take on more hours once they’re children have grown, breeding loyalty. Additionally, these kinds of people can bring in a wealth of past experience and skills to your business that you wouldn’t get from the pool of full time workers.

2) Rise to Demand
Its no secret that business can peak and drop throughout a year or a month. Employing part time workers increases the ability of your business to respond to changes in demand while keeping the quality of your service consistent.

3) Reduce Staff Overworking
There may be periods of time when your fulltime staff are swamped under and taking overtime to complete their workflow, but the extra work isn’t enough to justify employing another full time staff member. This situation isn’t ideal for you or for the wellbeing and morale of your staff. In this instance, employing a part time staff member could reduce overtime costs and help prevent your staff from being burnt out and fatigued.

4) Diverse Workforce
Employing part time staff shows potential and current clients that you think it’s important to have a diverse workforce and employ ethical employment practices. In doing this you are supporting people from all walks of life who are normally only offered unfulfilling jobs.
So, what kinds of people could you be supporting?

people who are in education
parents
people with mental health issues
people with disabilities
the elderly
semi-retired people
carers

Within Vision ICT, we employ several regular part time staff members and also provide work placements for students oversees (see blog posts by Chiara and Jasmine on their experiences working here part time). We believe that part time staff are crucial to the running of a business or organisation and we hope we’ve convinced you to believe that too.