10: Employing people Flashcards
Full- time employees
Staff working 35 hours or more per week.
Benefits of full-time employees:
- Higher output because they are able to commit to longer hours.
- Available all the time to handle unexpected events.
- Might be able to build up a better working relationship with customers or suppliers. In a competitive market, good customer service may be a key differentiating factor.
- It might be easier for full-time employees to take advantage of training opportunities.
Drawbacks of full-time employees:
- High cost of employing people full time, especially if the value of their output falls in times of less than full capacity.
- Might not give the business flexibility in terms of an ability to increase capacity or improve the skills base of the business.
Part-time employees
A part-time contract is a form of employment that carries fewer hours per week than a full-time job. Workers are considered to be part-time if they commonly work fewer than 30 or 35 hours per week.
Term time workers - some business employ people during term time and give unpaid leave during school holidays.
Zero hour contracts - no fixed number of hours that a person is expected to work, but the hours worked changes as the demand for the employee changes.
Benefits of part-time employees:
- Flexibility. If a small business wants to operate for longer, or increase output slightly, they can employ someone part time to cover the extra work.
- Used when busy periods of trade.
- Used to extend trading or production periods.
E.g. supermarket employ part-time staff to work at evenings or weekends. - Allows people to manage work alongside other commitments, such as family. Means business have access to a wider pool of labour and can employ people who they would not otherwise be able to attract if all they offered was full-time work.
- Some part-time staff job share, allowing a wider range of skills and talents to enter the business.
- If someone cannot or does not want to continue working full time, employing them on part-time basis means the business retains valuable experienced staff.
Drawbacks of part-time employees:
- Part-time staff may find it more difficult to be able to access truing opportunities to the same extent as full-time staff and special arrangements may need to be made.
- May be more difficult to communicate with part-time employees.
- Less able to build close relationship with customers.
- Costs of employing and managing people on a part-time basis may not be much lower than on a full-time basis.
For example, it costs as much to administer a part-time salary as it does a full-time one.
Temporary employee
One who is employed for a fixed period of time. Often these workers are seasonal workers and may work full or part time. They rarely have the same benefits as permanent employees such as pensions of health insurance.
Benefits of temporary employees:
- If the volume of business may be uneven or uncertain the entrepreneur can keep the level of staffing flexible.
- There may be specific tasks or jobs that need doing, which may have a finite time period.
- Business may lack certain skills, which are only needed for a specific period of time.
- A small business may wish to make or sell a product or service for a fixed period of time, and therefore has a need for type of labour for a fixed time period.
- May help a business through a period of short term staff shortage or loss. e.g. Maternity cover.
Drawbacks of temporary employees:
- May not know the workings of the business or its culture.
- May not be as motivated as permanent employees.
- Constant changeover of employees may make communication more difficult.
- Customers may not like a constantly changing workforce, particularly if the business is a service business.
Consultants
Businesses or individuals who provide professional advice or services for a fee. Often the advice is on how to make the small business more successful or to deal with a specific problem.
Benefits of consultants:
- Small businesses can gain the benefits of specialist skills without having the cost of employing people full-time.
- Entrepreneurs can add to their skills base as and when they need to.
- Business can adjust size of workforce up or down quickly.
- Avoids need to search for and recruit more staff, which can be risky if the wrong people are recruited.
- Business start-ups can gain the advice of specialists in the early stages of the business. Often this is provided free or at a subsided rate.
Drawbacks of consultants:
- Consultants will not know the business as well as the employees.
- Consultants may not be as motivated to work hard for the business employees.
- In some cases, consultants can be expensive.
