The 2012 PT Employment Package

What happens @ the organization you represent when an employee needs to transition from full time, to part time, for whatever reason? Whatever the reason for the transitional occurrence, the transition itself must be done in a tactical manner. 


In this year, 2012, if you plan to transition, individually, or as a member of an HR team, a full time employee into a part time employment capacity; there are two main things you need to consider...


Employee Compensation


On both ends, the organizational and employee end of the spectrum, employee compensation is of the utmost importance when an employees make the move from FT to PT. Both parties have an interest in making sure that the new compensation model is fair, especially when compared to the old model. 


You also need to decide if the employee will be allotted the continuance, if received already, of whatever benefits it is that you offer. Remember, there is no legal definition of a part time employee, nor is there a federal law requiring that you continue to offer benefits to part time employees. This is particularly beneficial if the reason for the transition is to increase corporate profits. If the employee will potentially walk as a result of the transition, you may want to consider continuing to offer benefits as an incentive to stay. If you offer health insurance, check with your provider and see if they impose any hourly requirements for employees to receive health insurance. 


One additional thing to consider, in relation to employee compensation is participation in a 401 (k) plan, or any retirement plan you offer. Employees who work at least 1,000 annual hours MUST be offered the opportunity to participate in any retirement plan, including 401 (k) plans, that your full time employee's participate in. Remember that your waiting period for participation can be up to 1,000 hours worked OR 12 consecutive months of employment. 


Employee Workload 


Before considering employee compensation, when deciding if a transition will be beneficial to your organization, you ALWAYS need to make sure that individual and team duties, tasks and responsibilities will not suffer, directly or indirectly, as a result. More importantly, you need to make sure that the transition will not impact the overall customer experience, AT ALL!!!