There are advantages to having both full-time workers and a part-time labor force. If you plan on hiring soon, consider your options carefully.
Part-Time vs. Full-Time Employees
When deciding on your best option for new hires in the next wave, it's usually a better idea to consider what needs the hires will fulfill and what roles they will play in your organization, not just whether one choice is better overall. That way, you can ensure you have the right balance for your business at every phase of its growth.
Only key personnel work full-time for some companies; the general labor is part-time. For others, consistency and quality control might dictate that most of the work gets done by full-time employees, with part-timers providing extra hands in busy areas and floating between roles.
Pros & Cons of Part-Time Employees
Part-time labor generally costs less per employee than full-time labor. If you have to ask for additional time, asking a part-timer to expand availability in the short term means you do not need to pay overtime the way you would if you asked someone already full-time to work over. There are some exceptions, however.
If your insurance is affected by the number of employees in a given role and their experience level, then rates rise when you hire more part-time workers simply because the risk pool widens. Trade-offs in efficiency also arise. Part-timers are less focused on the tasks of this job and often have to balance multiple jobs, which means you have more people with less focus on doing the work. For highly skilled labor, this can lead to hidden costs like decreased efficiency.
Pros & Cons of Full-Time Employees
A full-time employee tends to be more productive because the worker focuses on your organization's needs exclusively and has greater accountability for the output of the role. That means they could wind up making you more per hour over their wages and benefits, but those wages and benefits are worth more.
Engaging someone full-time typically means offering health insurance, retirement planning assistance, and other core non-wage benefits in addition to an hourly wage that makes exclusivity attractive. When you need to ask for extra labor beyond the regular schedule, the full-time workers are usually entitled to overtime compensation that part-timers in similar roles would not collect simply because they did not meet the required hours yet.
Overtime Laws
The exact rules regarding overtime vary from one state to another, so if you have a part-time employee who puts in more than eight hours in a day, that qualifies for extra pay in some areas. In other places, only working over 40 hours per week qualifies. In either case, non-exempt hourly employees are the only ones entitled to overtime under Federal law.
Payroll & Taxes for Part-Time vs. Full-Time Employees
Payroll taxes are based on local, state, and federal tax requirements and apply to full- and part-time workers. If you need to pay the same hours at the same average wage, it does not matter much whether you are paying full or part-time workers from a tax perspective.
Which One Should You Hire
There's a simple way to tell whether hiring a full-time vs. part-time employee is better. Full-time workers are a better investment for crucial operational roles and those with high-quality control needs. Part-time workers are the best choice if you need labor in non-sensitive roles or temporary help during a busy season. Either way, connecting with your team is more accessible with tools like those provided by Custom Virtual Office.
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