Case Study on "Ft/Pt Employees to Explore"

Case Study 9 pages (4053 words) Sources: 9 Style: Harvard

[EXCERPT] . . . .

FT/PT Employees

To explore whether types of employment make a difference in terms of work commitment

To investigate factors influencing employee work commitment

To find suggestions for enhancing employee work commitment

Principle of employment type

- Definition of full-time and part-time employees

Importance of full-time and part-time worker

There is no federal law that specifies the number of hours an employee must work to be considered full-time. It is the sole discretion of the individual employer to make that determination. An employer can specify a certain number of hours per day and/or week. If wages or benefits are involved, however, then the employer is required to clearly state in writing (e.g., employee handbook) the different requirements for full- versus part-time employment (North Carolina Department of Labor). Still, employers can structure full- and part-time work in any fashion they choose. Employees can agree to the terms and accept employment, or seek other options if they do not like the terms. In today's global economy, in which employers are looking to cut costs and jobs are not nearly as plentiful as they were in more prosperous times, employees may be willing -- perhaps even forced -- to make compromises with respect to what they consider an ideal work situation. As pointed out by Hotchkiss (2004, p. 1), "For some workers, part-time jobs, or jobs with flexible hours, are the difference between being out of the labor market and being gainfully employed."

There can be some variation among types of part-time jobs. Some are permanent, meaning employees can expect to remain in the positions for a long time. With these types of part-time jobs, employees usually enjoy a regular schedule with predictable hours. When these positions are voluntary, meaning that employees chose to work part-time, job satisfaction often follows.

Casual part-time employment is not permanent and may be short-term. In some instances, workers are hired seasonally, such as by a department store at Christmas time. In other instances, employees may seek casual part-time employment. This could be the individual who chooses a part-time holiday job to make extra money for gifts, or one who takes advantage of the opportunity holiday employment provides to earn extra cash, perhaps to pay bills or save for a large purchase. College students often take casual employment when they are away from school, such as summer hiatus.

McDonald, Bradley and Brown (2009, p. 143) found that part-time employment has steadily increased in most industrialized countries over recent decades, a trend that has been particularly strong in both the Netherlands and Australia. They further reported that while there are statistics on the numbers of part-time vs. full-time jobs available, there is comparatively little information on the quality of part-time work. The literature emphasizes part-time work as a means, particularly for women, to balance career and home responsibilities.

Hotchkiss and others have found that part-time employment has increased among workers with disabilities. In many cases, the part-time status is voluntary. People with disabilities may work part-time because it accommodates their disabilities (e.g., they tire easily) or perhaps because they do not want to earn too much money and thus jeopardize their disability benefits (Hotchkiss 2004, p. 4).

From the employers' standpoint, there are advantages to both full- and part-time employees. Full-time employees may be perceived at more committed to their jobs, an issue that will be discussed further in this paper. For certain, full-time employees are on the job with greater availability and can offer a continuity that is not always feasible when a worker is physically on the premises during business hours.

2.2 Work commitment and its importance (add 1 page)

Organisational commitment is a concept that has always gained attention from both business operators and organisational scientists. The concept is perceived as a predictor of not only employee satisfaction and retention but organisational success. Organisational commitment can be referred to as the psychological and emotional attachment individuals give toward an organisational (Felfe et al., 2007). It is an obliging force that drives automated behaviour among employees to pursue an organisation's goals and values. One of the most widely accepted models of commitment is purposed by Allen and Meyer (1998), who claim that commitment is constructed with three main components; affective, continuance and normative commitment. Affective commitment is defined as emotional attachment or identification of involvement of individuals to an organisational (Allen & Meyer, 1998). Staffs who indicate high degree of affective commitment usually participate and remain with a company merely because their positive feeling toward a company. Continuance commitment, furthermore, associates cost of leaving a company recognised by employees (Allen & Meyer, 1998). Those employees recognise that cost of leaving, both economic costs (pension accumulation) and social costs (friendship with colleague) is high, he/she then continuously commit with an organisation. Finally, normative commitment is seen as employees' feeling of obligation to a company (Allen & Meyer, 1998). This type of commitment associates with moral obligation, reflecting employees' idea of remaining with an organisation because he/she ought to. Though, the model of commitment purposed by Allen and Meyer appears to focus on only willingness of employees to remain with an organisation, it is very vital since employee retention can play a significant role in determining success of an organisation.

Organisational commitment is truly important in this business era, especially within competitive business environment. According to Jain et al., (2009), organisational commitment associates with employee satisfaction and retention which are known to be major problematic issues for organisations. Firms have to typically deal with shortage of experienced employees who may have left because of various reasons, including satisfaction. This incident negatively affects stability of organisation, preventing work operation from improvement. Another study by Felfe et al., (2007) also indicates that employees with high level of organisational involvement usually express higher degree of job satisfaction and engage with organisational matters or tasks than those with lower level of involvement. This commitment behaviour eventually yields competitive advantage to an organisation. Thus, the concept of organisational commitment is truly important in businesses as it can be a significant variable of organisational achievement.

2.3 Factors influencing work commitment

2.3.1 Type of employment

There is a continuous argument criticising a lack of commitment among temporary or part-time workers. John and Natalie (1997) conducted a survey examining factors caused dissatisfaction of temporary employees, which can severely impact level of commitment toward tasks given or an organisation. In their study, temporary workers felt that the managers do not listen to them, do not encourage them to achieve tasks as well as failed to create trust. In the same vein, the recent research by Cuyper et al., (2010) also found lesser involvement/commitment with job roles among temporary employees, comparing with permanent ones.

As Hyde (2008) points out, "part-time employment has traditionally been associated with low-skilled, poorly paid occupations." It should not, then, come as a surprise that workers in these positions do not experience the same level of organistional commitment as their better-paid, more respected co-workers. Soltani and Wilkinson (2009) empirically investigated whether temporary employees are treated as a resource or as a cost in hotel industry and found that they are considered as a cost, not a resource to a company. Flexible workforces are highly disadvantaged with lesser opportunities for training and career development. Nelen and Grip (2008) also highlights that human capital investment typically provide to full-time workers rather than part-time staffs due to lesser return on investment rate. Lower provision of training not only holds back workers' skill development which is a key to work engagement but affecting attitude toward an organisation. These may be potential reasons explained why temporary workers usually lack of organisational commitment.

Nevertheless, Cuyper et al., (2011) contends that temporary employees display higher level of organisational commitment than those permanent workers and that the former can excel at work than the latter, after reviewing previous studies relating temporary employment. Temporary workers can be categorised into two groups; voluntary and involuntary temporary workers. Referring to this study, both of these groups can demonstrate high level of organisational commitment and often perform better than permanent workers because they expect future permanent employment (involuntary workers) and seek to achieve employability or job experience with a company (voluntary workers). The assumption of Cuyper et al., (2011) is later supported by Kinnunen et al., (2011) who conducted an empirical study examining employee motivation between temporary workers and full-time workers. They found that temporary workers (voluntary) indicate higher motivation and participation with tasks given compared with permanent workers as well as job exhaustion which is one of key determinant factors that can reflect level of commitment is lower among temporary workers than full-time employees. However, Felfe et al., (2007) argues that degree of commitment employees attach to an organisation is not determined by types of employment but their commitment toward their form of employment.

Over the last decade, part-time work has become increasingly available in professional roles in both the public and private sectors (Hyde 2008). With these positions has come good pay, benefits and job security,… READ MORE

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