--- Samuel Goldwyn

With the holiday season upon us, many businesses will have hired and be relying on temporary or part-time workers.  These employees will be selling in stores, cashiering in supermarkets, serving in restaurants, operating in call centers, stocking shelves, and simply filling in wherever needed.  Regardless of their positions, these part-time workers will be interacting with your customers-the very same customers you have worked hard to nurture and satisfy all year and hoping to bring back during the all-important holiday season.  But, training time for these part-timers is generally minimal and attention paid to them is even less.  Therein begs a critical question for every manager, business owner, or executive to ask:  Does your customer know the difference between a part-time employee and a full-time, "regular" employee?  The simple answer-NO! 

It's not just during the holidays that this question needs to be addressed.  More and more businesses are relying on part-time employees to reduce benefit costs, address flexibility of scheduling, and take advantage of experienced workers who can contribute greatly, but for a variety of reasons, choose not to work full-time. 

Over a seven-year period The Kabachnick Group researched the whole issue of employing part-time employees and found that the largest problem faced by this increasingly important group of workers is the attitudes of their bosses, managers, and co-workers who are full-time employees.  Far too often part-time worker's contributions to the workplace are regarded as "insignificant."  In fact, the opposite is actually true.  The research further revealed that part-timers' performance and productivity scores are approximately 30 percent higher than that of full-time employees.  Additionally, part-timers show a high energy level, have less tendency to get bored, and are less likely to get caught up in workplace politics.  They simply have less time to develop these undesirable habits. 

Full-Time Appreciation for Part-Time Work

To more effectively benefit from your highly productive part-timers and prevent disengagement you must first view these valuable employees as genuine contributors to the organization.  Here are 10 Timely Tips to more effectively manage, engage, and improve the quality of work from your part-time employees: 

1.  Acknowledge their temporary status. 

It's no secret that many part-timers will only be with you temporarily.  So, bring this out in the open.  Explain that while they may be with you for only a brief time, you will provide them with learning opportunities to help them achieve their future goals and that all you ask in return is that they will be responsible, attentive and give you their best.  As a reward, you'll provide a glowing recommendation. 

2.  Show respect for your part-timers. 

Just because these employees work part-time doesn't mean they should be relegated to positions that are perceived as unimportant. Nor should they be delegated tasks that nobody else wants.  Many part-timers build solid relationships with customers and customers respond by asking for that individual when they return to do business with you again. 

3.  Provide guidance and education.

Do not exclude part-timers from training sessions and meetings.  Many will voluntarily listen to educational tapes and study training manuals so they can become better at their jobs.  Encourage them to participate in meetings and to offer ideas and recommendations.  Give them the opportunity. 

4.  Partner a full-timer with a part-timer.

Ask a full-timer to communicate news, important information, policy changes, meeting notes, or any valuable general correspondence to their part-timer colleague.  Recognize or reward the full-timer for this responsibility. 

5.  Touch base regularly with your part-timers. 

Build a relationship with your part-timers.  Connect with them at least twice a week.  Ask how they are doing and offer feedback.  The time you spend with your part-timers will be noticed by full-timers and will send the important message that you consider part-timers to be important employees-valuable workers that are equally worthy of your time. 

6.  Recognize and value seniors who work part-time.

Many older employees bring vast experience with them; many were managers or leaders in their pre-retirement days.  Acknowledge their value by asking them to become mentors.  Ask for their input or advice.  Make them feel important.  Everyone will benefit.

7.  Review your company policies.

Re-acquaint yourself with policy regarding part-timer's pay, benefits, schedules and other areas where you may be hanging on to "sacred cows."  Look at part-timers from a fresh viewpoint-mainly from a generational viewpoint.  Don't merely focus on hiring young workers-high school and college students.  Also consider the aging baby boomers and the 60 plus population-the experienced "not-retirement-ready" workers.  Flexibility and a sense of accomplishment are extremely important to this group and that can benefit you. 

8.  Gems for the future.

Many companies discover great talent in part-time workers.  By paying attention and getting to know these "strangers," astute managers discover engaged workers who are important contributors and, in many instances, end up replacing disengaged full-time employees. 

9.  "I'm new, but very eager to help you."   

Consider this phrase, or any version of it, in a form of a button or pin that tells your customers the status of the new, part-time employee. Customers often go out of their way to help "new" workers by being more patient, more tolerant, and more helpful. 

10.  Recognize work well done.

Praise, praise, praise.  But, be specific about the praise.  Motivation is nothing more than doing your part to let the person feel that they are contributing-making a difference.  A simple comment, like:  "The way you handled that customer's complaint was the best I've seen-even from our full-time employees," conveys their importance and value. 

The bottom line:  Respect part-timers for their contributions and they, in turn, will respect your customers and your customers will never know whether they're being served by full-timers or part-timers-just loyal, caring employees.

Any way you slice it, companies that fail to adequately invest in their part-time employees suffer from short-term thinking and sacrifice long-term gains.  I have personally tracked data on this issue in the retail industry for the past several years and here are some facts:  

• The majority of retailers generate 30 to 40 percent of their annual revenues during their 4^th quarter holiday season. 
• Throughout the entire sales year, the full-time staffing is 40 percent while part-timers represent 60 percent of the staffing. 
• In the 4^th quarter alone, that ratio changes dramatically, with full-time employees representing 25 percent of the staffing as compared to part-timers who cover 75 percent of the work.
• Those statistics bear out the fact that during the retailer's busiest time of the year, the majority of the retailers' customers are being served by part-time employees. 
• Fulltime employees hired during the year receive an average of 10 hours of training while part-timers get an average of 3.5 hours of training. 
• Add to this the fact that for the most part, the only interaction part-time employees have with their bosses is related to "schedules," rather than anything more meaningful. 
• Following the holiday season, most retailers retain only 10 percent of their seasonal hires. 

So, why is it so important to point out all of this?  Because successful retailers-those who rank high as best companies to work for and those whose bottom lines reflect the importance of being trained to handle customer's needs-invest in all of their employees-including part-time, seasonal employees. 

Companies who were chosen for the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For in America invest approximately 50 to 70 percent more time in training all of their employees than those who didn't make the list.  The Container Store, for example, which has made this prestigious list for eight years in a row, averages more than 200 hours of training per employee, per year-and it doesn't matter if that employee is a full-time or part-time employee; the training is the same.  Another recent example is Best Buy which spent more than 24 hours to train all employees, preparing them for this recent "Black Friday" in order to ensure that associates were well prepared to handle the crowds without diminishing excellent customer service.  The company's financial results speak for themselves.

Last month we asked you to respond to our question:  What is ONE thing you will do to make sure that everyone in your company will "love their job?"  We received many great responses, and to select one winner was hard.  But, we did.  So, here's our winner:  Cathy Peterson, HR Specialist, Edwards Vacuum, Inc., Chanhassen, Minnesota.  Cathy received an autographed copy of my best-selling book, "I Quit, But Forgot to Tell You."  Here's what she wrote:

"I truly believe that as HR professionals we need to be the guiding light-the shining star.  We need to lead by example.  If we do not LOVE our job, how do we expect others to love theirs?  We need to show it-we need to act it-we need to talk it!" 

Congratulations, Cathy!  Good advice for any profession. 

Problem:  I run a large department in a major organization.  About eight months ago I hired a part-time worker-we'll call her Denise-who has been doing a great job.  I expect that in the future I'll be hiring more part-timers.  Denise arrives early, is willing to stay later when necessary, is excellent with customers, and is always willing to learn another part of the business.  Because of her devotion and passion she has apparently "turned off" our seasoned full-timers and I have learned that they are sabotaging some of her efforts and excluding her from department get-togethers, using the excuse that "only full-timers are invited."   In the meantime, this engaged part-timer has told me she may be interested in a full-time position.  I don't want to lose Denise-frankly she is doing a better job in less time than some of the "regulars."  How do I handle this situation without creating a greater rift of issue?      

Solution:  Shame on you.... for having to wait to get an engaged part-time employee to make you discover the low level of engagement of your "regulars" and their obvious lack of passion for their company, for you, for their customers, and for their jobs.  Why would they be acting this way if Denise's standards of involvement were similar to theirs?  In that case, there would be no problem-right? 

Unfortunately, this scenario happens more often than we care to acknowledge.  Rather than "stir the pot" and address lower than expected productivity issues, or address a political environment that causes those who began their jobs engaged, to disengage, many managers simply choose to ignore the issues.  This is not a good choice. 

What I recommend you do is to hold a meeting to discuss STANDARDS-what are the rules you operate from?  How do you handle phone calls?  How quickly do you respond to requests?  What are the words used when addressing customer issues?  Do you keep your promises?  I would also put on the table the issue of part-time workers and the fact that you may be hiring more in the future.  Then, state clearly that you expect part-timers to be included and treated no differently than full-time employees.  (Please refer to the lead article on part-timer issues). 

Strong standards establish expectations.  Expectations understood clear up communications.  Effective communications creates buy-in among employees and heightens self-esteem.  Employees with high self-esteem participate.  So, the key to long-term productivity is-in a word-PARTICIPATION-participation by all.

November 7 found me in Key Largo, Florida, as the featured speaker for the Roto-Rooter organization.  The location was spectacular-the Ocean Reef Resort.  The audience consisted of business owners of entities that spanned from one million and up.  The foremost question on everyone's mind was-retention.  Following three hours together, the participants left with answers and a strong resolve to change the way they interview, hire, on-board new employees, and provide feedback.  They also learned that creating a personal accountability list (P.A.L.) for every employee-in addition to responsibilities-is a critical piece to employee retention-a topic I will address more in a future People Prophet issue.  It was a powerful venue and here's what their senior vice president had to say: 

"Dear Terri:  I wanted to thank you for the great job you did in presenting at both of our Roto-Rooter meetings.  Many of our contractors commented you were 'the best speaker ever!'  Quite an honor and compliment.  I can tell you speak from the heart, with passion, and you are truly ENGAGED.

Mark Conners, Senior VP Contractor Operations, Roto-Rooter

By the way....if you are looking for a meeting venue or just want to get away for a bit---check out the Ocean Reef.  It is surrounded by water on all sides, the restaurants are beyond delicious, and the service is superb.  Add to that, golf, tennis, and a serene spa-you get the picture!  And, if you decide to eat at their Island Grill, have their Whole Pompano-a trip! 

Happy Holidays!