Part-Time Employee Benefits: The Ultimate Guide
Everyone loves employee benefits. In fact, most applicants will equally consider salary and benefits when considering employment with your company. Some will even choose to accept a lower salary than another position may offer if the benefits are better. These benefits can cover a range of advantages from better healthcare, provided meals or gym services, and paid vacation time.
But most benefitted jobs are full-time, so many part-time employees end up missing out. Fortunately, there are several benefits that are tailored to part-time positions. Here’s what you need to know about offering benefits to part-time employees.
For more information on part-time benefits, or to request a quote, contact Beckham Insurance Group today.
Part-Time vs. Full-Time Employment
The biggest difference between part-time and full-time employment is the hours an individual is allowed to work per week. These hour requirements can vary between businesses—but typically, part-time workers average 25 hours per week while full-time employees average 40-50 hours per week.
Hiring part-time workers can be a good move for growing businesses to increase their staff numbers without needing to take on the legal responsibilities associated with hiring and keeping a full-time employee.
The Importance of Part-Time Benefits
While benefits are required for full-time positions, generally, there are not as many rules in place mandating benefits for part-time employees. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t offer your part-time employees benefits! Instead, offering benefits to part-time employees who would otherwise not receive them can be a great way to attract and retain the best employees.
Offering these advantages when they’re not legally required can go a long way in showing potential employees that your business cares about them and their future, thereby widening your applicant pool with the best people for the job.
Top Part-Time Employee Benefits
Most people are familiar with the most popular employee benefits for full-time workers. Many of these are also great options to offer your part-time employees. Among the best benefits that are available for both position types are paid sick leave, insurance, and retirement-related benefits. Let’s take a closer look at these benefit types and how they look for part-time situations:
Health Insurance
Health insurance is one of the top benefits that employees look for when applying for a job, and it’s one they rarely get in part-time positions. Unlike full-time positions that are legally mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), part-time positions don’t have to offer health insurance. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t offer it. In fact, so long as federal and state laws are upheld in regards to minimum hours for coverage, any part-time employee may be eligible for coverage. Typically, these minimums sit at around at least twenty hours worked per week.
Ancillary Benefits
Offering part-time employees access to ancillary benefits is not common, but it can go a long way to help attract and retain employees. Ancillary insurance options like dental insurance, vision insurance, life insurance, and more can help your employees manage unexpected medical costs that may not be funded under their regular insurance, providing peace of mind for your employees and their families.
Paid Sick & Vacation Leave
Everyone gets sick, and it’s easy to see why employees may need specific days set aside that they can cash in to stay home, rest up, and get better. Full-time employees are guaranteed time off for sicknesses or vacations if they choose to take them, but not part-time employees. This provides you with another chance to rise above your competition and show your employees you care about their physical and mental well-being by enabling them to rest when they need to.
Overtime & Holiday Pay
One of the most common benefits that part-time employees receive is overtime pay. This essentially guarantees that any eligible employee who exceeds their company-set weekly hour limit is entitled to one and a half times their usual pay. This means that an employee who is only supposed to work thirty hours a week at $10 per hour can make $15 an hour if he exceeds that thirty-hour limit.
With holiday pay, full-time employees are able to enjoy additional compensation for hours worked during holidays, but part-time employees don’t receive those same benefits. By providing this benefit, especially if you have exceptionally busy holiday work hours, can go a long way in promoting employee morale and supporting your part-time staff.
Retirement Plans
Retirement is one of the biggest, longest-running concerns among professionals. People worry about saving enough money for retirement, how long they need to work to achieve their retirement goals, and much more. One way that full-time employees are able to offset some of this worry is by contributing to a 401k plan through their employer. Part-time employees may be eligible to apply for that very same benefit and reduce their own retirement stress as well. The only limitation may be a minimum yearly hour requirement for plan eligibility.
Employee Benefits Made Easy
We hope you consider offering benefits to your part-time employees. At Beckham Insurance Group, our knowledgeable and experienced employee benefits representatives are here to help make your benefits administration as easy and stress-free as possible. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you build a competitive and comprehensive benefits program.
