5 ms·

Not familiar with UK employment practices, but: do the businesses pay any benefits to part-time employees?

by kova12 7y ago

pmyteh 7y ago
Benefits are a much smaller part of the package. Health coverage, for example, is nationally provided. For most of my employers, the main benefits would be vacation (which would be pro-rata), pension (ditto), and sick leave (effectively ditto, as it pays out based on actual salary). There are some much smaller fringe benefits (gym discounts, say) which would be given regardless of hours worked, but I'm not sure that would make a material difference. For high-end jobs you might get private health coverage (or, under earlier tax regimes, a company car). I'm not sure how they are normally handled.
- sopooneo 7y ago
  One interesting thing about pro-rata vacation for anyone thinking about going to part time: you still get exactly the same number of weeks off regardless. The trick to that I will leave as an exercise to the reader. It's something I was thrilled to discover by accident.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    > The trick to that I will leave as an exercise to the reader. Huh? Sorry, I'm not following.
    - sopooneo 7y ago
      Sorry. Didn't mean to be coy. But, to make the math easier, imagine a full timer 25 days of vacation per year = five weeks. Great. Now let's say that person goes down to 80% time, working four days a week. Now they only earn 25 days * 80% = 20 days of vacation per year. But this person only works four days a week. So to spend a full week away only requires using up four vacation days. (20 days of vacation) / (4 days/week) = five weeks. Great.
      - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
        Ah, thanks. This only works if you work fewer days per week as opposed to fewer hours per day.
        interactivecode 7y ago
        don't know about you but my vacation days are calculated per hour. hence people sometimes take half a day off
stepbeek 7y ago
Our benefits are all things that wouldn't make sense to take away from a part-time employee to be honest. We don't offer private health care currently, and every other benefit is a pretty direct link to how productive that employee is - technical books, better work environment etc. For instance, we do a "wonder week" once a quarter to work on side projects/learning etc. To me, not letting a part-time employee do this would be to treat it as a kind of bonus, when instead we view it as an opportunity to explore ideas and skill up.

Not familiar with UK employment practices, but: do the businesses pay any benefits to part-time employees?

by kova12 7y ago

Not familiar with UK employment practices, but: do the businesses pay any benefits to part-time employees?

Benefits are a much smaller part of the package. Health coverage, for example, is nationally provided. For most of my employers, the main benefits would be vacation (which would be pro-rata), pension (ditto), and sick leave (effectively ditto, as it pays out based on actual salary). There are some much smaller fringe benefits (gym discounts, say) which would be given regardless of hours worked, but I'm not sure that would make a material difference. For high-end jobs you might get private health coverage (or, under earlier tax regimes, a company car). I'm not sure how they are normally handled.

sopooneo 7y ago
One interesting thing about pro-rata vacation for anyone thinking about going to part time: you still get exactly the same number of weeks off regardless. The trick to that I will leave as an exercise to the reader. It's something I was thrilled to discover by accident.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  > The trick to that I will leave as an exercise to the reader. Huh? Sorry, I'm not following.
  - sopooneo 7y ago
    Sorry. Didn't mean to be coy. But, to make the math easier, imagine a full timer 25 days of vacation per year = five weeks. Great. Now let's say that person goes down to 80% time, working four days a week. Now they only earn 25 days * 80% = 20 days of vacation per year. But this person only works four days a week. So to spend a full week away only requires using up four vacation days. (20 days of vacation) / (4 days/week) = five weeks. Great.
    - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
      Ah, thanks. This only works if you work fewer days per week as opposed to fewer hours per day.
      - interactivecode 7y ago
        don't know about you but my vacation days are calculated per hour. hence people sometimes take half a day off

stepbeek 7y ago

Our benefits are all things that wouldn't make sense to take away from a part-time employee to be honest. We don't offer private health care currently, and every other benefit is a pretty direct link to how productive that employee is - technical books, better work environment etc. For instance, we do a "wonder week" once a quarter to work on side projects/learning etc. To me, not letting a part-time employee do this would be to treat it as a kind of bonus, when instead we view it as an opportunity to explore ideas and skill up.