The Important Differences Between Part-Time and Full-Time Hours You Need to Know
In 2024, just over 28 million people in the US were employed part-time, compared to almost 134 million full-time employees. The reasons for working part-time vs. full-time differ greatly. Some employees may prefer the flexibility of part-time hours, while others might need to work full-time if they are the sole source of income in their household, for example.
Understanding how part-time vs. full-time hours impact your organization is a must for any HR professional. Part-time and full-time employees often have different requirements and support needs, resulting in a juggling act for HR teams.
Failure to create a supportive and inclusive environment for employees could have harmful consequences. For example, a 2024 report from SHRM revealed that 35% of people say their mental health is negatively impacted by their job. High-pressure environments, lack of support, and poor leadership are among the top contributors.
Read on to learn the difference between part-time and full-time hours and more about federal laws that impact part-time vs. full-time employment. We’ll also explore how to manage different schedules to ensure each of your employees feels invested in and valued in the workplace.
What are part-time hours?
Part-time hours are when employees work fewer hours than a full-time worker. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employees who typically work less than 35 hours per week are considered part-time. However, when businesses decide to hire part-time employees as part of their workforce, they often set varying levels of part-time hours to suit their needs.
For example, retail-based employers like Amazon may bring on part-time employees to cover weekly fluctuations and demands, such as timing their shifts to cover higher traffic on weekends. Under the company’s current policy, Amazon employees are considered part-time if they work 20 to 29 hours per week.
However, within federal agencies, the US Office of Personnel Management defines part-time employment as less than 40 hours per week. Additionally, employees who participate in job sharing can work up to 32 hours per week, within available resources and at an agency’s discretion.
Are part-time employees exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act?
In the US, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes guidelines that affect all employees. But the FLSA doesn’t define part-time or full-time employment—this is determined by the employer.
How long is a part-time shift?
There is no set number of hours that make up a part-time shift. This depends on the industry, organization, and specific role. So, a part-time shift in the finance sector could look different from a part-time shift in construction, for example.
What is full-time employment?
Full-time employment is when an employee works a total number of hours that is considered to be full-time. There are several definitions of what is considered full-time employment, and these can vary depending on the organization.
For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines full-time-employment as more than 35 hours of work per week. Meanwhile, the IRS defines full-time employment as at least 30 hours of service per week, or 130 hours per month.
Full-time hours can also vary by business. For example, Amazon employees are considered to be full-time employees if they work 40 hours or more per week. While full-time employees at Trader Joe’s work 38 or more hours per week.
What are full-time employees entitled to?
Under the FLSA, full-time employees have to be paid at least the minimum wage for up to 40 working hours. After 40 working hours, employees are entitled to overtime compensation. This compensation can take the form of time-and-a-half wages, or, where legally allowed, employers can award compensatory time off. This is where employees can take leave that matches their overtime hours worked.
In addition, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) defines full-time hours at 30 hours per week for the purposes of determining a business’s employee count. This determines whether an employer meets the 50-employee threshold, beyond which they’re legally required to offer health insurance.
Which benefits are associated with full-time hours?
Under the ACA’s employer shared responsibility provisions, employers with 50 or more full-time employees must either:
- Offer minimum essential coverage that is affordable and provides minimum value to full-time employees and their dependents, or
- Make an employer shared responsibility payment to the IRS.
Outside of what is required by laws such as the ACA, employers have great flexibility when designing their benefits plans. For example, you may decide to offer the following benefits to full-time employees:
- Pensions and retirement benefits
- Dental insurance
- Paid vacation time.
Businesses may also require employees to work for a period of time before they become eligible for any benefits. For example, paid leave may be granted to employees after 90 days, 6 months, or 12 months at the company. The number of days of leave given each year may also depend on the length of service.
What is a prorated employee?
A prorated employee is an employee who is paid a pro-rata salary. A pro-rata salary is when employees are paid for the number of hours they worked in proportion to what they would earn if they worked full-time.
Typically, you can work out a pro-rata salary by dividing the full-time hours multiplied by the actual work hours by the annual salary. For example, an employee may earn a salary of $150,000 annually. However, if that employee starts working on May 1 instead of January 1, they will only receive two-thirds of their pay for the year.
This means that, for the first year, the employee will make $100,000. Once a new year arrives, the employee will be paid their normal yearly salary of $150,000—as long as they work the entire 12 months.
HR professionals can use proration to determine the amount of pay an employee should receive based on the actual amount of time worked. This can be useful for calculating pay for part-time workers, new hires who join the company mid-way through the month, and employees who leave the company during a pay cycle.
Proration may also be applied to annual bonuses. However, it’s important to prepare new hires for this reality, especially since their pay stubs and W-2s will reflect this lower, prorated salary.
What’s the difference between part-time and full-time work?
The number of hours worked is the main difference between part-time and full-time work. Other key differences include:
- How much paid time off they are entitled to
- The responsibilities they are given
- The amount of work they are given.
Full-time employees may be given additional responsibilities and more work as they have more availability. However, it’s important to never treat part-time employees less favorably or deny them the same opportunities.
The number of Americans working part-time has increased since 2020, with almost 28 million employees working part-time in the US in 2024, compared to around 24 million employees in 2020. So, you need to carefully consider your employees’ requirements and the impact their working hours and limitations have on your workload planning.
What’s the difference between on-call and part-time?
Unlike part-time or full-time jobs, an on-call job doesn’t have a fixed schedule. This means employees must make themselves available for a window of time where they could be called into work if needed.
Part-time hours: pros and cons
Better work-life balance: Working shorter hours and fewer days a week may help employees have more energy overall.
Easier to gain experience: Part-time employees can try new jobs without needing a lot of prior experience, and they can look for the right company culture without committing to a full-time contract.
More affordable: Part-time workers may be eligible for certain statutory benefits—like workers compensation coverage—but it’s often up to the employer’s discretion. If you’re on a tight budget, you can hire qualified professionals part-time without footing the full-time bill.
More workplace flexibility: Part-time workers can bridge personnel gaps quickly and efficiently.
Fewer benefits: While some companies offer benefits for part-timers, it’s not as common as for full-time positions.
Less job security: They may be seen as more expendable since employers don’t have to make as big an investment in them.
Schedule stress: Part-time workers may have less consistency with working hours.
Lower engagement: Part-time employees don’t spend as much time at work, so they may not contribute as much to company culture or be motivated to achieve company goals.
Less dependability: Again, because there’s less involvement and commitment on both sides, part-timers may feel less beholden to their employer’s needs.
Managerial stress: Part-time schedules mean more workers for managers to supervise and train, and managers have to repeat employee training and other communication more frequently.
Full-time hours: pros and cons
Better benefits: Applicable Large Employers (ALE) must provide eligible employees certain benefits—like health cover.
Higher take-home pay: Full-time employees, especially salaried positions, work more hours, so they earn more money.
More responsibility: Since they spend more time at work, full-time employees can handle more broad responsibilities like management or inventory tracking.
Increased loyalty: The additional benefits attached to full-time employment tend to create more engagement and dedication.
Risk of burnout: More hours, responsibility, and higher expectations can lead full-timers to feel overwhelmed, taken advantage of, or just plain tired of their job.
Less flexibility: Employees might not feel like they can maintain a good work-life balance because of the hours they work.
Risk of employee burnout: We’re saying it twice because it cuts both ways—for employers, pushing full-timers too hard can kill the golden goose and make them less productive or engaged.
Higher payroll and benefits costs: Because of overtime rules and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements, you may need to pay them more for their work and have to offer health insurance.
Federal laws that impact part-time vs. full-time work
It’s important to understand how part time vs. full-time hours impact federal laws and what applies to them. We’ve broken down some important laws to carefully consider when managing your team.
Affordable Care Act
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers an employee full-time if they work an average of at least 30 hours a week or 130 hours a month. However, the IRS and ACA don’t regulate when employees put in their hours. This means that the 30-hour cut-off still leaves employers a fair amount of flexibility when determining what constitutes part-time versus full-time hours.
The ACA also requires Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) to offer affordable, minimum essential healthcare coverage and report additional information to the IRS—or they may be subject to penalties. An employer is considered an ALE if they had at least 50 full-time or full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) during the previous year.
If you have 50 or more FTEs, you’ll have to either provide health insurance that meets the ACA minimum requirements or make an employer-shared responsibility payment. If you have under 50 FTEs, you’re considered a small business, which means you don’t have to offer health insurance (but you still can if you want to).
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulates several aspects of employment, including child labor, recordkeeping, minimum wage, and overtime. According to the FLSA, you’ll need to pay employees overtime pay of at least time and a half (with some exceptions) if they meet the following criteria:
- They work over 40 hours in a single workweek
- They’re considered non-exempt*
But what does that mean for those in full-time employment? Most likely, if they’re hourly workers, you’ll need to pay them overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week. But, if they’re salaried (exempt) employees, you can ask them to work more than 40 hours a week without paying them overtime.
Scheduling: Part-time vs full-time hours
Part-time hours are usually more flexible for the business and the employee. Full-time hours, however, tend to be more restrictive.
With that in mind, here are some key things to consider when scheduling part-time vs. full-time hours.
Avoid overloading part-time employees.
One danger that companies can run into is attempting to fit part-time hours into full-time duties, whether that’s overloading a role or setting unrealistic deadlines.
Review employee benefits.
Benefits for full-time workers, such as a new perk or free lunches, may not be included for part-time workers. However, these kinds of issues can create friction and leave part-time employees feeling second-best. So, make sure to carefully review your benefits so that part-time staff are also recognized.
Plan for part-time staff.
With part-time hours, you’re starting to spin more plates, which can be tricky for HR teams or management to handle. If you don’t plan your expectations, workloads, and capacity around your part-time staff, you could end up with gaps in your coverage from messy organization or communication.
Value your employees.
At the end of the day, your staff are at the center of your organization. Whether they’re part-time or full-time, employees need to feel valued. Failure to value your people could result in a diminished sense of belonging.
Offer training and development plans.
Training isn’t just about building employee skills. It’s also about developing their self-confidence and drive. Investing in their career growth can empower them and make them feel more motivated at work.
Part-time or full-time? Either way, do the right thing
As with many aspects of HR, there are many rules and regulations to consider with different types of employees. And, while those are certainly important from a budget and compliance perspective, employers shouldn’t lose sight of the employee experience as they weigh up different schedules.
Whether your employees are working full-time or part-time, you need to help them feel valued and invested if you want your business to succeed. You also need to ensure all roles are properly managed to ensure part-time workers aren’t overburdened—and neither are the day-to-day operations of your company.
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