The+Increase+In+Part+Time+Work



=__The Increase in Part Time Work__=

__Introduction__
This wiki will look at the new trends within the increase in part-time work. It will identify the current economic climate and look at factors that have been a major contributor to the change in work. Comparing the advantages and disadvantages for both Business offering part time work and also employees accepting part-time work. Gender is also another factor i will look into and how part-time work is proportioned among both genders.

The website GOV.UK defines a part time worker as " someone who works fewer that a full-time worker. There is no specific number of hours that makes someone full or part-time, but a full-time worker will usually work 35 hours or more in one week."



__Current Situation of UK Employment__
If we look at the number of people in employment over the last 5 years, the number of people who are over the age of 16 in employment has risen by 328,000 in May-July in 2013 compared to the same period in 2008. 2008 was the start of the recession period for the UK, many cuts were made after this period. Worryingly the number of people in employment is increase at a much slower rate compared to the population increase. This means that the number of people in work fell from 72.8% in 2008 to 71.6% in 2013.

Between the months of May-July 2008 and May – July 2013 saw the number of self employed and part time workers increase due to them not finding any full time work, it went from 689,000 to 1.45 million. May-July 2013 saw almost a third of the male employees were working as self employed or part time because they could not find sufficient full time employment. This is not the same for women, 13.5% of women in the same situation.

When looking at the current situation we also need to look at the number of people claiming job seekers allowance. If we compare between August 2013 and the month previous, it fell by 32,600 to reach 1.4 million and in comparison with the year, was down 168,100. We currently have the lowest number of people claiming for job seekers allowance since February 2009.

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__Employee Advantages __

The main key benefit for any employee working part-time is flexibility. With the flexibility they are able to undertake many more tasks than a full time worker, they are able to attend extra tuition classes, care for children, volunteer for a local charity, possibly even have an extra job for a second income. With many businesses the part time workers can choose their hours accordingly, working just mornings or even just evenings depending on what they prefer. Being part-time you usually have a set number of hours, a benefit is when a college is sick or they forecast a busy periods and you are able to obtain extra hours resulting in more pay.

Recently the Uk government has also issued that part time workers get the same treatment as full time workers on the following topics:

Pay rates (including sick pay, maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay)


 * pension opportunities and benefits
 * Holidays
 * training and career development
 * selection for promotion and transfer, or for redundancy
 * opportunities for career breaks

__Employee Disadvantages __

Being noticed in the workplace is much harder for a part-time employee so the likes of promotion are much lower than a full-time employee, and when there are economic struggles they are usually the first to go as they do not have the experience or skills a full-time employee has.

The pay for a part-time working is generally lower than a full-time member in the same position, this is all because the employer is able to set this wages.

__Employer Advantages __

With the recent economic troubles cost has been at the forefront of all employers thoughts. Having more part-time workers is beneficial for their pockets, reducing their working hours and over-time makes a substantial difference. Flexibility ensures that there can always be a smooth running of any business, be it if more staff are needed to help over seasonal periods or if in times of downturn they can be asked to stay at home.

__Employer Disadvantages __

Employer disadvantages in terms of part-time work fall mainly under two categories. Firstly its knowledge, part-time workers usually have less experience and familiarity with the workplace, this can therefore hinder the pace of production or the general quality of their service. The second point is loyalty, keeping a part-time worker loyal and also motivated can be very difficult when they are not full involved in the working ethos of that business. Many businesses will see par-time worker swap businesses within the same sector to either gain a better pay or more hours which is why they see a much higher turnover of staff than full time employees.

__<span style="color: #0b0c0c; font-family: nta,Arial,sans-serif;">Gender differences in Part Time Work __
<span style="color: #0b0c0c; font-family: nta,Arial,sans-serif;">It is becoming ever more common for men to request flexible working patters so they can fit in with childcare responsibilities, and generally have a much more visible role in the upbringing of their children. However part-time work in the labour market is still hugely dominated by women.

<span style="color: #0b0c0c; font-family: nta,Arial,sans-serif;">Looking at patterns across England, Scotland and Wales they are all similar, showing that women are significantly more likely to be in part-time work. This is not a new trend, women have always been more likely to be at home with the children but with the economic struggle hitting all homes this rise of women needing to bring in a second income has dramatically increased.

<span style="color: #0b0c0c; font-family: nta,Arial,sans-serif;">In figure 1 it is showing the statistics between March 2011 to October 2012 for men and women in full and part-time employment. For men there is a clear contrast, there are 86-87% of men currently in full-time employment with only 13% in part-time work. This is a large contrast to the 56-57% of women that are in full-time employment and 43% in part-time work.



<span style="color: #0b0c0c; font-family: nta,Arial,sans-serif;">If we briefly look back at the labour market in figure 2, over the past 10 years, there is relatively small change. Women shows tiny changes in number in both full and part-time work, for men there is a small increase to the current date of increasing numbers joining part-time work. Clearly this is a new trend, men are seeing the benefits of working a smaller number of hours.



__<span style="color: #0b0c0c; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Working Tax Credit __
<span style="color: #0b0c0c; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Working tax credit is there to benefit people who have found some amount of work. It doesn’t matter if you are working for someone or if you are self employed, if your on a low income you may be eligible to claim working tax credits.

<span style="color: #0b0c0c; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">With the increase in part time jobs there has been a increase in people receiving working tax credits, this is a large benefit for someone who can not find full time work because they gain a boost in their income. <span style="color: #0b0c0c; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">People who are eligible for working tax credits are:

<span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">If you're single or in a couple, and have no children, you can qualify if: <span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">If you're single and have at least one child, you can qualify if: <span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">If you're in a couple and you are responsible for a child or young person, you can qualify if:
 * <span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">you are 25 or over and you work at least 30 hours a week, or
 * <span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">you are 16 or over and you work at least 16 hours a week and you are disabled and you get a qualifying benefit, or
 * <span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">you are 60 or over and you work at least 16 hours a week.
 * <span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">you are 16 or over and you work at least 16 hours a week and you are responsible for a child or young person
 * <span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">you are 16 or over and you or your partner works at least 16 hours a week and the two of you work at least 24 hours a week between you in total. For example, you can meet this condition if you work 16 hours a week and your partner works 8 hours a week. If only one of you works, that person must work at least 24 hours, or
 * <span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">you are 16 or over and you work at least 16 hours a week and you are disabled and you get a qualifying benefit
 * <span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">you are 16 or over and you work at least 16 hours a week and your partner is a hospital in-patient or entitled to Carer's Allowance or in prison or gets certain disability benefits
 * <span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">you are 60 or over and work at least 16 hours a week.

<span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/

<span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Working tax credit however is heavily criticized, In his article, Mr Duncan Smith describes “story of dependency, wasted taxpayers’ money and fraud”. He says the system, which largely benefits those in work, is out of control and unfair for “hard-working taxpayers”. Today’s article continues: “In the years between 2003 and 2010, Labour spent a staggering £171 billion on tax credits, contributing to a 60 per cent rise in the welfare bill. So while it does encourage people to take part-time work because they can see a boost on their income, it is not looked at very well by the tax payer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

__ Zero Hour Contracts __
In the UK we are seeing a dramatically high number of Zero hour contracts, this has been defined by GOV as “zero contract hours are usually for 'on call' or 'piece work'. What we are seeing is an increase starting from the 1990's sectors such as retail, banking and also financial sectors are exploiting this new form of contract.

These types of contracts however do benefit the likes of students, wanting to earn some extra money while studying they will take any work available to them. Businesses know that to run smoothly they always need to have a strong workforce and be able to call on people is there are people sick or not turning up for work. With this being said more and more zero contract hours are being started.

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For the employer:


 * easily accessed pool of staff to assist when demand arises
 * no ongoing requirements to provide guaranteed levels of work for staff
 * can be cheaper alternative to agency fees

For the employee:


 * provides flexible employment on same basic terms as most workers
 * no ongoing requirements to accept offers of work and no consequences if they refuse to work
 * gives employment experience and skills

Figure 3 shows the increase of zero hour contracts from 2005 - 2012. This is an increasing trend that is becoming very apparent, clearly it is possibly more beneficial to both employer and employees with very flexible working hours and also less dependency on a stable income.



__ Case Studies __
Clearly part-time work is becoming more popular and an increasing new trend, some Businesses are now know for being either totally part-time hour companies or offering major professionals roles with part-time hours.

There is a business in London who is know known for offering all its positions as part-time work. MarketingQED which is provides software to marketers has employee base of 30. The Director who is John Dawson states that nobody sits behind a desk for a full 7 hours, we all work flexibly or part-time in some way. He follows this with “ I'm a dad to two young kids, one of our coders works at home for two days a week because he finds he's more productive that way, one of our staff member works flexibly, on and off from South Africa. I find that what I give in terms of flexibility, I get back tenfold. Clearly for Mr.Dawson having his staff on this type of employment is benefiting his business through the levels of productivity that he is noticing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

__ Global Case Study __
In America the largest employer Wal-Mart have stated that they will be changing their working structure. Currently Wal-Mart have 35,000 part-time employees, they are looking to change all of these employees to full time members off staff.

This has come about because Wal-Mart for the sixth year in a row has been placed last in the American Satisfaction Index. Currently Wal-Mart is criticized for its unwillingness to pay most of their employees a livable wage, and avoiding having enough full-time staff on to properly run a retail outlet.

This is obviously a contrast to some of the businesses in the UK that are seeing it more beneficial to have part-time workers.

http://www.forbes.com/

__ Why is the increase in part-time work of contemporary relevance? __
Many of the worlds leading governing bodies recognise how important part time work is on the global economy. Noticing the trends and patterns across the UK and globally you can see how important it is, it can be the make or break of a business and benefit vast amount of the population. Looking at the economic status at the moment we are currently on the recovery, but we are always facing tough times. Having the correct managerial and workforce structure is crucial for businesses to survive. Like proven in my case study the Marketing firm in London benefit hugely from their part-time only policy. In contrast you have the likes of Wal-Mart which are now having to completely change their strategy as for them having part-time workers is not helping them.

I see part-time work becoming even more of a contemporary relevance due to increase in growing population. Currently there is a faster growing population than there are jobs and the government is going to have to offer something to the population. I believe this will come in the form of increased numbers of zero and part-time work in all industries.

__ Conclusion __
To conclude, the number of part-time work is on the increase, there are also new trends within businesses offering these positions. I do wonder if when we are much more economically stable we will see a large shift to people trying to find full time work again or, on the other hand more professionals seeing fit to cut their hours and be a part-time worker.

Zero contract hours have seen the largest increase in positions, I do however feel this is due to the growing population and increased numbers of students that need alternative sources of income. However even for the working professional they could see benefits from this type of contract.

__References__
<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Advice Group. (2011).  <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> //Working Tax Credits.//    <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Available: http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/benefits_e/benefits_benefits_in_work_or_looking_for_work_ew/benefits_and_tax_credits_for_people_in_work.htm. Last accessed 17 March 2014.

<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> ACAS. (2011).  <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> //Part time workers.//    <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Available: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1576. Last accessed 17 March 2014.

<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Equality Human Rights. (2013).  <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> //men, women and part time.//    <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Available: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/scotland/legal-news-in-scotland/articles/women-men-and-part-time-work/. Last accessed 17 March 2014.

<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> GOV. (2013). <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> //Part time workers rights.//   <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Available: https://www.gov.uk/part-time-worker-rights. Last accessed 13 March 2014. <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> ONS. (2013).  <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> //part time .//    <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Available: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/september-2013/sty-employment.html. Last accessed 17 March 2014.

<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Teleraph. (2013).  <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> //More and more join the part time revolution.//   <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/9236466/More-and-more-workers-join-the-part-time-revolution.html. Last accessed 17 March 2014.

<span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Ungar, R. (2013). <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> //Wal-Mart Returning To Full-Time Workers-Obamacare Not Such A Job Killer After All?.//   <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> Available: http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/09/25/wal-mart-returning-to-full-time-workers-obamacare-not-such-a-job-killer-after-all/. Last accessed 19 March 2014.