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The use of part‐time employees to support operations has been a contentious topic in the literature. While part‐time employees add cost‐effective flexibility to operations, their impact on operational outcomes has largely been documented as negative. However, there are a number of sectors (e.g., non‐profit) which rely heavily on part‐time employees, with anecdotal evidence supporting their role in improving outcomes. Through this research, we seek to shed light on these contradicting perspectives. We do so by investigating the impact of the percentage of part‐time employees in the workforce dedicated to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) outreach efforts at United States (U.S.) food banks on the effectiveness of this initiative. SNAP is the largest domestic hunger program in the U.S., assisting over 42 million individuals, and food banks play a critical role in outreach and enrollment for SNAP. We utilize data on the operational characteristics and SNAP activities of food banks that are members of the Feeding America network and U.S. Census data on the demographic characteristics of their service area. We find that an increased percentage of part‐time FTEs (full‐time equivalent) in a food bank's workforce dedicated to SNAP outreach efforts increases its effectiveness, particularly in relation to operational and contextual factors that can benefit from a more flexible workforce. Based on these findings and our review of the literature, we propose a conceptual framework on the effectiveness of part‐time employees in different settings. Highlights: An increased percentage of part‐time employees in a food bank's workforce dedicated to SNAP outreach positively impacts its effectiveness in outreach efforts, countering negative perceptions on part‐time employees' impact on operational outcomes derived from studies in for‐profit settings.The flexibility provided by part‐time employees dedicated to SNAP outreach is crucial in facilitating outreach to older demographics and leveraging existing operational resources such as mobile pantries in reaching less‐mobile populations more easily.Policymakers should consider strategies to enhance the value for part‐time workers, such as offering incentives to organizations for improved benefits and training, which can make part‐time employment a more rewarding and lucrative option for the demographic seeking flexibility, ultimately improving the financial and mental well‐being of these employees as well as alleviating labor shortages currently impacting our economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine three propositions of how human resource (HR) system strength meta‐features—distinctiveness, consistency and consensus—operate together to better understand how they relate to affective commitment. We test a continuum proposition based on an additive (the sum of all features) and a compensatory model (the features as counteractive), a precursor proposition based on a mediation model, and an equifinality proposition based on a configurational model (distinguishing between different profiles of the features). The findings, drawn from a survey of 2844 part‐time employees from a Dutch home care organisation, demonstrate that all three meta‐features are important for generating HR management system strength and affective commitment among employees, but not to the same extent. We also find evidence that consistency is positively and directly related, whereas distinctiveness and consensus are positively and indirectly related to affective commitment via consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the trade-offs between four different aspects of European workers' life satisfaction (satisfaction with education, the present work, family life and social life), to reach balanced optimal levels across these features. This analysis was performed separately for different profiles of workers, i.e. full-time and part-time workers in 34 different European countries, differentiated by gender. The methodology employed for this purpose couples econometric and multiobjective interval programming approaches, enabling to assess the compromises of specific aspects of workers' personal and working conditions. Our findings indicate that current full-time working environments do not enable to foster higher levels of workers' life satisfaction with more than one child. Moreover, full-time (unlike part-time) working activities allow reaching worse levels across all measures of life satisfaction under analysis in a best-case scenario. This outcome suggests a change of paradigm where workers are keen on sacrificing other aspects of life satisfaction (namely their earnings and benefits) if this means having a better compromise of their personal and working lives. It is clear that promoting one-sided policies that only account for workers' satisfaction with their jobs and careers, without explicitly encompassing family values, affects fertility rates and population ageing, raising awareness of the importance of family work in policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Canadian nationally representative, multisource longitudinal data, this paper examines relationships between hours underemployment, employee turnover and human resource practices. The results of hierarchical linear models indicate that underemployed employees are more likely to leave an organisation that relies heavily on part-time workers, whereas they are more likely to stay when their employers hire regularly from within the company. These findings extend the literature on hours underemployment from individuallevel direct effects to organisational-level moderating factors, and accordingly, they provide empirical evidence that human resource professionals can use to address the detrimental effects of underemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the 510-day strike by women irregular workers in the South Korean retail industry, and analyses factors which made a group of women irregular workers, whose employment conditions render them the most marginal employees, to sustain a lengthy struggle despite financial and family pressures. This article argues there are three factors behind the struggle: first their desire to address the employment discrimination and inhumane treatment they faced at work; second their belief that the struggle was larger than just their immediate demands; and third the solidarity and support they received from both the union and full-time colleagues and from the broader community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For professionals working in demanding environments, the negotiation of part-time or workload reduction idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) may be challenging, with negative consequences for career progression. Yet there are few studies of part-time i-deals specifically, or empirical studies of their development process. This article examines the process of achieving a part-time i-deal, drawing on interviews with 39 part-time professionals in two organizations, each located in the UK and the Netherlands. The article makes two contributions to i-deal theory: first, it defines the four elements of a new category of ‘reduced time and workload’ i-deal for professionals (perceived suitability of the work, schedule, workload, and career impact); and second, it refines Rousseau’s model of the development process, by adding an initial ‘private consideration’ of options stage, where the feasibility of working part-time is evaluated against alternatives including remaining full-time, or leaving the organization. Third, it identifies as structural constraints two work practices designed for full-time professional work in demanding environments: the routine expectation of unpredictability, and the absence of substitutability in resourcing. Fourth, it shows how, post-negotiation, professionals use informal job crafting, both individual and collaborative, to try to overcome these constraints. The implications for achieving flexible and sustainable careers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a sample of 1,468 private sector establishments, this article addresses the relationship among part-time workers, commitment-based human resource (HR) systems, and establishment financial performance. Building on theoretic perspectives about equity perceptions and reciprocal exchanges, we find that the proportion of part-time workers in an establishment workforce is nonlinearly related to establishment financial performance in an inverted U-shaped relationship. In addition, the interaction between part-time workers and commitment-based HR systems is negatively related to establishment performance. The analysis suggests that those deciding about how to structure establishments’ workforces should consider how interactions between different types of workers within workforces can influence establishment performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and determinants of the so-called precarious employment across Europe and using different measures and based on individual’s self-assessment. Design/methodology/approach – Data on over two million workers across Europe (EU-15) from the European Union Labour Force Survey are utilised and a Heckman selection approach is adopted. Findings – About one tenth of the total European workforce is in employment relationships that could be related to precariousness. The sources of precariousness are mainly involuntary part-time and temporary work. Less prominent as a source of precariousness is job insecurity related to fear of job loss. Vulnerable groups are found to have a higher risk of precariousness while significant country variations indicate that precariousness cannot be examined in isolation of the national context. Finally, signals of previous employment inability, such as lack of past working experience, as well as the state of labour market significantly increase the risk of precarious work. Originality/value – The present study utilises a large-scale survey in order to investigate the incidence of precarious employment in a harmonised way and produce results that are comparable across EU-15 countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to analyse the experience of female part-time professionals with employee and managerial positions with the utilisation of flexible work arrangements in a corporate environment in the country with a full-time dominated work culture. The data represent a rare case study of the work environment in a Czech branch of one multinational company. This paper focusses on the position of female employees working part-time in professional and managerial positions. The reason for such an arrangement is their attempt to combine career and care for pre-school children. This paper evaluates the effects of flexible work policies in an environment where part-time work for female professionals is rarely available and, therefore, precious. In particular, this paper discusses conditions under which these arrangements are available and its impact on gender equality. Design/methodology/approach ' The paper represents a rare case-study of an organisational environment. The seven analysed interviews derive from a larger study on the corporate environment which included 35 interviews and a series of participatory observations. In the analysis, the following questions are discussed: What is the position of employees working within flexible working arrangements in a specific corporate culture? Which aspects of flexible working arrangements affect the professional recognition and evaluation of the employees? To what extent and how do flexible working arrangements affect employee satisfaction with their working and private lives? Findings - The data reveal the diverse and often subtle forms of discrimination and exploitation of working mothers, who use the flexible working arrangement as a work-family reconciliation strategy. Female employees working with alternative working arrangements do not have equal bargaining power in comparison to other employees, regardless of whether they are professionals, and sometimes in managerial positions. At the formal level, the part-time professionals are restricted in pay and in access to the company benefits. In the informal relations within the workplace, their work lacks of sufficient recognition of colleagues and superiors. Overall, part-time work for female professionals and managers leads to an entrapment between the needs of their family and the expectations of their employer. Practical implications - The research reveals the practical limitation in introducing policies the work-life reconciliation policies. The results show the need to focus on promoting better conditions for employees working part-time. Also, it shows that managerial and highly demanding professional positions can be executed on a part-time basis if the work environment is open towards accepting this arrangement. Moreover, the findings outline the possibilities of developing workplace practices in the Czech Republic in a woman-friendly direction. Social implications ' Specific legislative arrangements should be enacted, providing better protection for employees in non-standard employment. At the same time, the incentives for employers to enable part-time working arrangements should be provided. Originality/value ' The amount of research on female professionals working part-time or from home is rather limited in context of the post-communist countries. The paper discusses the 'double' tokenism of the women working in the leadership positions and at the same time in flexible working arrangements in the full-time working culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Because diversity is vital to many businesses, it is important to understand how demographic differences between individuals in the workplace influence employee behavior. In this study, we focused on demographic similarity (i.e., sex, racioethnicity) with one's supervisor as a predictor of employee withdrawal. Further, we examined employees' employment status (i.e., part-time vs. full-time) as a moderator of the similarity-withdrawal relationships. Design/Methodology/Approach: Using two nationally representative U.S. surveys containing more than 2,000 combined respondents, we examined variability in employee withdrawal (i.e., tardiness, absenteeism, and intent to remain). Findings: The results indicated that having a supervisor belonging to one's racioethnic group has a greater impact on withdrawal among part-time than full-time employees. Racioethnic similarity corresponded in less tardiness and absence, and higher intent to remain for part-timers. Similarly, sex similarity corresponded in lower levels of absence for part-timers. Implications: Employee withdrawal costs companies millions of dollars each fiscal year. If supervisor-subordinate dissimilarity corresponds in higher withdrawal among part-time employees, then it is imperative for researchers to determine how this might be remedied. Originality/Value: Research utilizing relational demography theories has shed considerable light on our understanding of demographic differences in the workplace. A notable shortcoming of these frameworks, however, is their failure to fully consider boundary conditions influencing the potentially detrimental effects of demographic dissimilarity. We propose that the similarity effects described in previous research may vary as a function of employment status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose |!|#8211; The aim of the paper is to examine the consequences of students engaging in part-time employment during their studies. It reports the results of a survey of part-time employment among university students. The research examined the possible consequences of combining part-time employment with full-time study, with particular reference to stress. Design/methodology/approach |!|#8211; The research consisted of an institution-wide Web-based survey of full-time undergraduates within a post-1992 university in the UK. Findings |!|#8211; The survey found that part-time employment, in common with many previous studies, is a majority experience for full-time undergraduates. It also found that some students were spending longer in their chosen employment than in time-tabled classes. A central finding was that unlike much previous research, it emerged here that students reported more positive than negative outcomes. Practical implications |!|#8211; The data shows that students continue to engage in part-time employment at a significant level and for some studying is almost a secondary activity. This perhaps raises questions about the existing model of higher education delivery and the need for institutions to consider offering more support mechanisms for individual students. Originality/value |!|#8211; The paper is of value in seeking to clarify the nature of the consequences for students seeking to combine employment and studying. Furthermore the paper builds on our understanding of the continuing growth of student part-time employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part-time workers have been considered a necessity for gaining a competitive advantage in the U.S. hospitality industry. More than 500 line employees working in the U.S. hotel industry were invited to participate in this study. Regression analysis was used to uncover the relationship between behaviors and attitudes of part-time versus full-time hotel workers. Significant variations between the two groups were found. Part-time workers showed more “voice” and “action” organizational citizenship behaviors than full-time employees did. This study provides hotel managers with a better understanding of the differences between the organizational behaviors of part-time and full-time workers and provides an evaluation for enhancing the attitudes of part-time employees within U.S. hotels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role and nature of disadvantages associated with part-time working in perpetuating the gender pay gap in the public sector. It does so by means of a detailed case study of local government workers in the UK, with particular reference to the more than one and a half million local government service workers covered by National Joint Council bargaining arrangements. The article draws from original pay data analysis and national survey work conducted by the author. It argues that little has changed since the findings reported 20 years ago by Beechey and Perkins with respect to the disadvantages experienced by part-time workers and the ‘construction’ of employment in gendered ways. However, the role of class may have been understated in previous accounts: class fractions in gender-segregated employment continue to hold deep significance and provide some potential for solidaristic approaches by trade unions alongside traditional ‘equality’ initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The House of Lords majority decision in Matthews v. Kent and Medway Towns Fire Authority overturns the narrow interpretation given to key aspects of the Part-Time Workers (Protection of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations’ core comparator mechanism in the lower tribunals and the Court of Appeal. It is a contextually astute judgment, which recognises the reductionist implications of an overly narrow approach to establishing comparability for the purposes of a less favourable treatment claim on the grounds of part-time work. The positive aspect of this decision remains overshadowed, however, by the fact that this interpretation provides little consolation to the large majority of part-time women workers whose disadvantage and inequality remains outside the scope of the Regulations’ protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1960s, British trade unions have developed a policy for representing the interests of part-time workers, a significant process of frame extension within a mature social movement. This article seeks to account for this change. It concludes that change was a product of the growth of feminist activism within unions, the deployment of instrumental and solidarity frames and a response to political opportunities provided by both the British state and European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the developments in the application of EU legislative provisions to the adoption of a principle of equal treatment in UK state and non-state pensions. It identifies many of the principal judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the UK courts and the Social Security Commissioners that removed unequal treatment between men and women in pension provision. It also highlights changes to UK legislation to implement EU Directives and ECJ case law which should remove the majority of unequal treatment by 2020. In the light of the ECJ judgment in the case of Preston, the paper briefly outlines the current state of play as regards retrospective entitlement of part-time workers to join occupational pension schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the latest developments in the area of discrimination and its effect on pension schemes in the UK. It considers whether we have now reached the final frontier. After a review of recent changes in the areas of part-time workers, fixed-term employees, disability, sexual orientation and religion, it looks at recent case law relating to agency workers and the UK's proposed approach to age discrimination and pensions from 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is based on six workplace case studies within a local economy and investigates the reasons behind the different utilization of part-time workers within these workplaces. The research examines the content and nature of part-time work in these organizations and the experiences of the part-time workforce. The findings suggest that we need to distinguish between three types of part-time workers; core, peak and ancillary. It is argued that such distinctions capture the variegated utilization of part-time workers and contribute to the debate concerning the integration or marginalization of part-time staff within workplaces. Furthermore, workplace cultures are an important arena for contextualizing these discussions. It is contended that the different uses of part-time workers can be explained by different sectoral and organizational contexts but that the nature of part-time work is also influenced by existing social relations within the workplace, notably with respect to gender, class and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the concerns about the changing nature of work and employment is that of paid labor and its implications for social integration and an individual sense of belonging. Are there adequate alternatives to paid employment? A qualitative study was set up to gain further insight into this matter. Twenty-four people on extended paid leave and 19 part-time workers were questioned. The in-depth interviews showed that the integration of people in a deviant labor pattern differs in various ways. More specifically, six types of respondents were identified; the family-directed practical re-arrangers, the family-directed ideological re-arranges, the self-directed re-arranges, the deviants, the converts and the doubters. Each type appeared to be confronted with different opportunities and pitfalls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate characteristics of the work environment, job insecurity, and health of marginal part-time workers (8.0-14.9 hours/week) compared with full-time workers (32.0-40.0 hours/week)., Methods: The study population included employees in the survey Work Environment and Health in Denmark (WEHD) in 2012, 2014, or 2016 (n = 34 960). Survey information from WEHD on work environment and health was linked with register-based information of exposure based on working hours 3 months prior to the survey, obtained from the register Labour Market Account. Associations between marginal part-time work and work environment and health were assessed using logistic regression models., Results: Marginal part-time workers reported less quantitative job demands, lower levels of influence at work, poorer support from colleagues and leaders, less job satisfaction and poorer safety, as well as more job insecurity. Results on negative social relations in the workplace and physical workload were more ambiguous. Marginal part-time workers were more likely to report poorer self-rated health, treatment-requiring illness, and depressive symptoms compared with full-time workers. Adjusting for characteristics of the work environment showed an indication of altered odds ratios for self-rated health and depressive symptoms, whereas job insecurity did not., Conclusions: This study finds that marginal part-time workers experience a poorer psychosocial work environment and safety, higher job insecurity, and poorer health than full-time workers. Work environment characteristics may confound or mediate the association between marginal part-time work and health. However, prospective studies are needed to determine the causal direction of the revealed associations., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Occupational Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Japan Society for Occupational Health.)