London Part Time Working Project
Damon Gibbons
For further details please contact: Damon Gibbons
Head of Policy & Partnership
Inclusion
3rd Floor, 89 Albert Embankment London
SE1 7TP
Tel: 0207 840 8323
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank those employers who gave their time to take part in interviews and the participants at the stakeholder seminar event held on 3rd July 2009. He is also especially grateful to Emma Stewart, Director of Partnerships at Women Like Us and Chair of the London Part-time Working Delivery Group, and to Sally Knock at the Child Poverty Unit, for their insight and guidance over the course of the project. The delivery of this project would also not have been possible without the support of several colleagues at Inclusion, especially Rosanna Singler, Laurie Bell, and Laura Smith. Likewise, the author is also particularly grateful to Andy Eymond at the Madano partnership, our media strategy partner for the delivery of this project, for his translation of the key findings from the field research phase of the project into a set of testable marketing messages.
While it is intended that the report accurately reflects the views of the participants in the research, the author remains entirely responsible for the content and for any errors and omissions.
Contents
1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 5
2. INTRODUCTION ... 11
3. EVIDENCE REVIEW ... 13
4. RESULTS FROM THE FIELD RESEARCH ... 21
5. DEVELOPING THE MARKETING MESSAGES ... 36
6. STAKEHOLDER VIEWS... 45
7. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 49
APPENDIX 1: TOPIC GUIDE USED IN FIELD RESEARCH ... 54
APPENDIX 2: ORGANISATIONS PARTICIPATING IN THE STAKEHOLDER SEMINAR ... 58
1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
1.1. London is home to extremely high levels and concentrations of child poverty. 14% of all poor children living in the UK are living in London (London Child Poverty Commission, 2009, p.5); four out of ten of London’s children are living in poverty; and families in London are more likely than elsewhere in the country to
be without a job, to have fewer choices about their housing and to face multiple disadvantages. London has far more children in the lowest 10% of the income distribution than is the case in the rest of the UK (London Child Poverty Commission, 2008, pp. 5-13).
1.2. A number of factors combine to account for this, but one of them is certainly the relatively low supply of part-time vacancies in the capital (HM Treasury, 2007). To help address this problem the London Child Poverty Delivery Group, which consists of Government departments and their delivery partners, has agreed to attempt to stimulate small to medium enterprises (‘SMEs’) in London to offer more part-time jobs through a range of communications activity.
1.3. To assist with this, the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (‘Inclusion’) was commissioned in May 2009 to establish the attitudes of SME’s in London to part-time working, and to determine the key messages that will be successful in expanding opportunities for parental employment in London.
1.4. The project included a review of existing evidence, qualitative research with 17 SMEs, and a seminar with key stakeholders.
Main Findings and Implications for Future Activity
1.5. Increasing the number of part-time employment opportunities available in London’s SME businesses will require a significant effort by Government and its partners. This effort needs to be made both in terms of marketing the business benefits of employing part-time workers, and in providing real support for SMEs to implement part-time working arrangements.
1.6. Whilst most of the SME businesses engaged in this research had used part-time workers at some point in the past, this was usually in response to meeting fluctuations in demand, where the part-time job role was often low skilled, or to meet the changed needs of existing staff who needed to reduce their hours (for example, following the birth of a child). Part-time working was not generally offered at recruitment stage for all job roles in the organisation, and was especially less likely to be offered at recruitment stage for higher quality job roles. 1.7. The presence, or not, of women in senior job roles may be a significant factor in determining the SMEs overall attitude to part-time working. We found that where women occupied senior roles the business was more likely to offer the opportunity for part-time working in all job adverts. This practice appeared to lead to a greater number of part-time workers in senior positions.
1.8. However, most of the SMEs in the study did not adopt this practice, primarily recruiting on a full-time basis and occasionally offering part-time hours when recruiting for lower quality jobs.
1.9. This was in spite of the fact that many SME employers recognised the potential business benefits of part-time working. In particular, many identified with prior findings that part-time employment could be used to:
Reduce the wage bill
Align staffing capacity with peak flows in demand
Attract employees with longer experience and/or specific skill sets Better reflect the profile of consumers within the business.
1.10. However, not all of these commercial benefits are being sought by SMEs at the same time, and balanced against them are significant concerns about how to manage an increased number of workers and how to maintain continuity in the way that business is delivered.
1.11. SME employers are also more likely than larger businesses to use informal recruitment methods, and this can restrict the pool of labour from which new employees are gained. We found that there was a generally low level of focus on job design and consideration of part-time/ full-time issues prior to starting the
recruitment process, and that there was a tendency for smaller SMEs to rely on the networks of existing (predominantly full-time) workers to find potential new recruits. Although many of the SMEs in the study stated that they would be willing to consider offering part-time hours if this was requested by a job applicant at interview, very few of them advertised this fact.
Marketing the benefits of part-time work
1.12. Because SMEs in London have varied experiences of employing part-time workers, and because their main commercial considerations vary significantly between businesses and over time, it is not possible to create a single message that will resonate with all SME employers at all times.
1.13. However, we found that it was possible to create a set of core messages that raised interest in part-time working and which could therefore form the basis of future communications activity on this issue.
1.14. Two of these messages focus on the qualities of part-time workers themselves. These messages are designed to encourage employers to think differently about part-time employees and to expand their recruitment pools to include part-time workers. The headline messages in this respect are:
Part time workers – save money, add value, and are highly committed
People wanting part-time work – have hidden depths, with strong experience and real talent
1.15. Two further headline messages speak directly about the business benefits of part-time working that resonated greatest with the SMEs in the project. These are:
Businesses using part-time workers – work efficiently, waste less time, and control costs effectively
More experience and higher skills for less money is better for business
1.16. In recognition of the fact that SMEs have different levels of interest in, and experience of, using part-time workers, it is necessary to present further
information beneath each of these headline messages in three different ‘tones of voice’. These are:
Educating and raising awareness –presenting facts and examples is important and gets attention. For example, SME’s in the study were interested in the amount of cost savings that could accrue from using part-time staff over two years, and in the potential increase in productivity in certain types of job that can be gained from part-time workers
Challenging people to think differently about part-time workers. For example, by presenting case studies of highly skilled, and senior, part-time workers
Convincing employers that part-time working is practical for their business is best done by other employers. Providing case studies or ambassadors from other businesses engaged in the same types of activity is more likely to get the message across and persuade SMEs to consider it for themselves.
1.17. We recommend that these messages and tones of voice should now be tested in a quantitative survey with a representative sample of London’s SMEs prior to the development of further marketing materials.
Delivering the messages
1.18. SMEs do not have a single preferred channel for the delivery of marketing messages. They obtain information from a wide variety of sources, including internet sites, trade associations, and intermediary organisations. All of these channels need to be used in any future communications activity and it will also be important to build on activity that is already taking place or is planned.
1.19. We found that talking to SMEs about the wider concept of flexible working does not trigger discussion of part-time employment issues. As a result, it is necessary to market messages around part-time employment as a distinct campaign from those taking place around flexible working more generally. This does not prevent part-time working issues from being raised in the communications activity that is already taking place or being planned around flexible working, but there will also need to be an additional effort to promote part-time work in its own right.
1.20. A wide range of public and private agencies could play a role in promoting part-time working. These include Jobcentre Plus, the London Chamber of Commerce, Business Link for London, the Federation of Small Businesses, business support services, private recruitment agencies, and welfare to work providers. Many of these are willing to help deliver the messages and are keen to obtain materials that would help them to do this.
1.21. The core messages could be embedded in many of these stakeholders’ own marketing materials and part-time working could take greater prominence in the discussions that they have with SMEs in London. However, to help them do this, a core script needs to be developed around the main messages. An on-line resource of materials to help SMEs implement part-time working also needs to be developed to which intermediary organisations can refer those SMEs in need of further information and support.
1.22. However, agencies working with SMEs on recruitment issues also noted that they faced some disincentives to promote part-time work. For example, welfare to work contracts emphasised full-time employment outcomes over part-time, and private recruitment agencies receive greater levels of commission by placing people into full-time work. Consideration therefore needs to be given to the way that welfare to work organisations and recruitment firms are performance managed and rewarded if these disincentives are to be removed.
1.23. We also identified that the public sector could do more to encourage SMEs to open up more employment opportunities to part-time working both by leading by example and publicising their use of part-time workers, and by using procurement processes to encourage SME employers to consider part-time working when recruiting for new staff engaged in the delivery of public contracts.
1.24. A high profile campaign around part-time working could therefore be developed which links public sector activity and which delivers the marketing messages through a wide range of stakeholder agencies, to promote part-time working within London’s SME sector.
Providing Support
1.25. However, we do not believe that marketing on its own will be sufficient to generate the increase in part-time employment opportunities that is needed in London. Whilst effective delivery of the core messages could increase the general interest in employing part-time workers, it is unlikely to be translated into action unless SMEs are confident that they will be able to recruit good quality part-time workers, and able to manage part-time staff effectively.
1.26. Many SMEs will need support to develop their job design skills; widen their recruitment pools to include people looking for part-time work; and provide their managers with the skills and confidence to employ part-time staff. At the present time, SMEs are not clear where they can access this support.
1.27. Business support agencies in London may therefore need to review their existing provision in order to gauge the amount of support on these specific issues that is currently available and to provide details of the access arrangements for this within the marketing materials and proposed on-line resources.
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1. There is an exceptionally low employment rate for mothers in London, which is almost entirely accounted for by low rates of part-time work. A number of factors combine to account for this, but one of them is certainly the low supply of part-time vacancies in the capital (HM Treasury, 2007). To help address this problem the London Child Poverty Delivery Group, which consists of Government departments and their delivery partners, has agreed to attempt to stimulate small to medium enterprises (‘SMEs’) in London to offer more part-time jobs through a range of communications activity.
2.2. To inform the development of this activity, the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (‘Inclusion’) was commissioned in May 2009 to establish the attitudes of SME’s in London to part-time working, and to determine the key messages that will be successful in expanding opportunities for parental employment in London. 2.3. The research questions to be answered by the study were:
How do SME employers recruit and how does this affect the availability of part-time employment?
What commercial considerations do employers have when deciding about whether or not to recruit on a part-time or full time basis, and what are the commercial pros and cons?
What attributes do SME employers look for in prospective employees and do these pose any barriers to the recruitment of part-time workers? What are the implications for messaging and how can SME employers be
encouraged to recruit more part-time workers? 2.4. The project was conducted in the following four phases:
A review of existing evidence
Qualitative field research with SMEs in London
The development of potential marketing messages and further testing Stakeholder input
2.5. This report proceeds by providing further details of the findings from each of these phases, and provides, in Chapter 7, a set of conclusions that we believe should now underpin any future work in this area.
3. EVIDENCE REVIEW
Introduction
3.1. This phase of the study was used to identify and review the findings from previously published reports concerning child poverty in London and in respect of part-time employment and flexible working practices and the attitudes of employers to these. Sources were obtained using an internet based search, including a search of academic databases, and by obtaining information on appropriate sources from members of the project steering group. A full bibliography is provided at the end of this report.
3.2. Although the sources revealed that considerable prior research has taken place into the issues of child poverty in London and into employer attitudes to flexible working arrangements, there was much less evidence available on the issue of part-time working itself.
3.3. Part-time employment is often referred to in studies of employer attitudes to the broader concept of flexible working1. However, as part-time working constitutes only one of several possible flexible working arrangements the strength of evidence concerning why employers do or do not offer employment on a part-time basis, was generally found to be weak.
3.4. As we report on page 37, one of the findings from the current study has been to identify that discussions of the broader concept of flexible working with employers rarely triggers discussion of part-time working. For employers, part-time workers are often seen as inflexible – with parents in particular often needing fixed hours in order to accommodate their caring commitments.
1Flexible working arrangements include (i) part-time working, (ii) job sharing, (iii) flexitime, (iv)
working a compressed working week, (v) working reduced hours for a limited period and (vi) working from home on a regular basis. The first five are defined as flexible working time
arrangements, as they relate to the times at which an employee works. The inclusion of working from home – relating to place of work rather than time of work – expands the definition to
3.5. Nevertheless, we were able to identify a series of key findings from the literature that were used to inform the development of the topic guide for use in the field research phase of the project. The key findings are set out in the remainder of this section, and the topic guide is provided as Appendix 1.
Findings from the Literature Review
Child poverty is high in London, due to low levels of parental employment…
3.6. London is home to extremely high levels, concentrations, and degrees of child poverty. 14% of all poor children living in the UK are living in London (London Child Poverty Commission, 2009, p.5); four out of ten of London’s children are living in poverty; and families in London are more likely than elsewhere in the country to be without a job, to have fewer choices about their housing and to face multiple disadvantages. London also has far more children in the lowest 10% of the income distribution than is the case in the rest of the UK (London Child Poverty Commission, 2008 pp. 5 -13).
3.7. A key part of the problem in London lies in the relatively low levels of parental employment in the capital compared to other parts of the UK. Parents living in London have far lower employment rates than those living in the rest of the UK, and differentials are most pronounced among mothers. Just over half of all London’s mothers (54%) are in employment relative to 70% in the rest of the UK. Employment rates are lower for both lone parents and mothers in couples, with problems for the latter group particularly pronounced in Inner London (Data Management and Analysis Group, GLA, 2008).
The low rate of maternal part-time employment is a particular issue in the capital….
3.8. Evidence shows that many parents, particularly mothers, prefer to work in part-time jobs, which enable them to balance work and family life (Bell, Finch, La Valle, Sainsbury, & Skinner, 2005; and Collard & Atkinson, forthcoming). There are fewer part-time jobs in London than elsewhere, and this difference cannot be accounted for by the sectors, occupations, or size of firms in London (Harker, 2007). The reasons seem to be problems in both supply and demand: employers have less reason to offer part-time jobs due to the wide pool of available workers,
and these jobs less accessible to London’s parents due to high costs of transport, longer commuting times, and difficulties finding suitable, flexible childcare. The exceptionally low employment rate for mothers in couples and lone mothers in London can almost entirely be accounted for by low rates of part-time work (HM Treasury, 2007).
Therefore efforts need to be made to increase the supply of part-time jobs… 3.9. Whilst addressing unemployment requires the supply of all types of part-time
work to be increased, it is particularly important to ensure that part-time workers are provided with opportunities to utilise their skills and to progress in work. Access to quality part-time work is also critical in order to prevent skilled part-time workers from squeezing out lower skilled workers from employment in lower quality jobs. The issue of quality of employment is particularly important for women returning to work on a part-time basis following the birth of a child:
“…women returners were likely to be over-qualified…in four occupational areas…‘administrative occupations’, ‘secretarial & related occupations’, ‘sales & customer service occupations’, and ‘elementary & service occupations’. These are precisely the places where women work when they are employed part-time.” (Tomlinson, Olsen, & Purdam, 2009, p. 357)
3.10. At the national level, the Women and Work Commission has identified a quality part-time post as a management position or one earning the full-time equivalent of over £20,000 per year. The Women and Work Commission has also noted that the lack of part-time opportunities at this level of pay effectively pushes mothers into low paid jobs that do not utilise their skills. There is a debate about the extent to which this is a forced or active choice by women who may want to focus more energy on their family life.
3.11. What is clear is that many women accept significant wage penalties – up to 31% for 3 children (Harkness & Waldfogel, 1999), and trade job seniority for flexible working arrangement that fit with their care responsibilities, predominantly because they cannot find jobs reflecting the level of skills and experience they
acquired before their career break (see for example Connolly & Gregory, 2008; TUC, 2008; Brewer & Paull, 2006).
3.12. In London the under-utilisation of women’s skills is particularly pronounced, with rates of worklessness for mothers holding qualifications at NVQ Level 3 and 4 or above approximately 7% higher than in other areas of the UK and with a lower employment rates in jobs of between 16 and 30 hours per week across all qualification groups2.
3.13. To address this, the London Child Poverty Commission has identified the need for:
“A cultural shift around flexibility in the workplace, backed up by measures to ensure that in-work training is equally accessible to those working shorter hours” (London Child Poverty Commission, 2009)
3.14. Flexible working arrangements can take a number of forms3, but part-time working, and more specifically ensuring that employers offer part-time hours when recruiting to jobs, has been identified as critical if the Commission is to be successful in increasing the number of opportunities for parents to enter employment.
SMEs are important…
3.15. The role of London’s SME sector is particularly important here. There are approximately 750,000 SME’s in the capital, together employing 47.6% of the entire workforce. Increasing the opportunities for parents to access good quality part-time work within SMEs in London could therefore play a significant role in reducing levels of child poverty.
2Inclusion own analysis
3
Flexible working arrangements include (i) part-time working, (ii) job sharing, (iii) flexitime, (iv) working a compressed working week, (v) working reduced hours for a limited period and (vi) working from home on a regular basis. The first five are defined as flexible working time
arrangements, as they relate to the times at which an employee works. The inclusion of working from home – relating to place of work rather than time of work – expands the definition to
3.16. The geographical distribution of SMEs across London may also be important. Many mothers want and need local jobs and the proportion of part-time jobs tends to rise as you move out of the centre of London, where the larger employers tend to be concentrated (Harker, 2007, p.4).
3.17. However, despite evidence that the introduction of flexible working arrangements can deliver business benefits including improved staff retention rates and increased productivity (Rosendaal, 2003), it is also apparent that SME employers face greater barriers to the implementation of flexible working practices than their larger counterparts and are less likely to have formal flexible working policies in place (MORI, 2008).
However, SME recruitment processes can exclude parents from opportunities… 3.18. SME employers are also more likely to make use of informal recruitment
processes, which can exclude some groups, including parents, from possible recruitment pools (Kitching, 2006). Understanding how SME employers recruit, and the key factors in their decisions over whether or not to offer jobs on a part-time basis, is therefore essential if effective messages are to be communicated to them in order to promote the expansion of quality part-time opportunities.
3.19. Kitching notes that SME’s are more likely to offer ‘tried and trusted’ methods of recruitment, typically personal recommendation and word of mouth in order to reduce ‘hiring uncertainty’ (i.e. the risk of recruiting someone unsuitable for the position) as this can result in considerable costs for small employers due to the lack of additional workers to cover vacancies (Kitching, 2006, p.5). However, he notes that word of mouth recruitment can result in employment offers being restricted to job seekers with similar characteristics to existing employees (Jenkins 1986, cited in Kitching 2006).
3.20. The skills and beliefs of smaller SME employers could also be important here. Focus groups run with owner managers for the Small Business Service in 2006, found that many companies were organized in such a way as to constitute two groups of staff - of ‘core’ and of ‘transient’ workers (Allinson, Braidford, Houston, & Stone, 2008) The core group were established employees that could ‘fit in’, either socially or with the idiosyncratic working practices of the small business,
while recruits in the latter group could not, and typically left within a short period of time. The focus groups therefore highlighted the importance of developing the management skills of owners in order to address problems of staff retention which presented a ‘critical bottleneck’ to growth (Mazzarol, 2003, cited in (Allinson, Braidford, Houston, & Stone, 2008, p.15).
3.21. In a survey of Scottish SME’s, the Employment Research Institute confirmed the prevalence of the use of closed recruitment methods, although it should be noted that this method of recruitment was found to be particularly common in relation to ‘shop floor’ positions. This research also confirmed concerns that although many SMEs provide some flexibility in their working arrangements, including part-time hours, these are generally only offered to existing employees to improve staff retention, for example following the birth of a child, rather than offered as part of a package to new recruits (McQuaid, Dutton, Bergmann, Richard, & Lindsay, 2008).
3.22. However, there is also evidence that larger SME companies do engage in sophisticated recruitment techniques, including making use of a wide range of advertising and using formal application and selection methods (Vinten, 1998), and some smaller SME’s may also use more open forms of recruitment, such as advertising in newspapers and through other media, when facing particular skills shortages, for example when needing to recruit people with higher level qualifications (Kitching, 2006, p.11).
There is a business case for part-time working…
3.23. Although not specifically focused on the SME sector, there is a wider literature which looks at the commercial considerations of employers when hiring part-time staff (see for example, Houseman, 2001; Comfort, Johnson, & Wallace, 2003). This highlights a potential ‘business case’ for recruiting part-time staff based on employer needs to:
Reduce the wage bill
Align staffing capacity with peak flows in demand
Attract employees with longer experience and/or specific skill sets Better reflect the profile of consumers within the business
3.24. Research has also shown that part-time working is likely to grow during periods of economic decline as demand for services and goods falls and employers reduce their levels of output and look to cut back on staffing costs. This affects both existing workers, who are likely to be offered reduced hours, and also recruitment for new and replacement staff. As such, employers following this approach are likely to consider part-time working for a wide range of employment positions, not simply those which are low paid and low skilled (Buddelmeyer, Mourre, & Ward, 2004).
3.25. Conversely, part-time employment can also be used to add capacity to businesses to ensure that they are able to deal with peaks in customer demand. This has particularly been the case in the retail and hospitality industries, but has generally been associated with lower paid work. (Buddelmeyer, Mourre, & Ward, 2004).
3.26. Skills shortages and/or other attributes of the employees which are being sought can also play a part in shaping employer recruitment decisions. Where there are severe skills shortages, and the input required from the employee is highly specialised, then recruitment pools are smaller and less local, requiring greater flexibility from employers in their recruitment method and job design. Employees are also in a stronger bargaining position, and more likely to be older and have other, including parental, responsibilities. (Vinten, 1998).
3.27. Finally, there is a considerable literature on the potential business case for diversity within organisations. The potential benefits include assisting employers to better understand their customers by identifying problems that they may have including cultural and religious issues but may equally well simply help customer facing services appear more friendly and welcoming.
People matter…
3.28. SMEs have been found to recruit on the basis of two sets of critieria – suitability (i.e. formal qualifications and skills) and acceptability, which covers a wide range of less specific attitudes to work including conscientiousness, reliability, and manageability (Jenkins, 1986 cited in Kitching, 2006).
3.29. In Kitching’s own survey of London SME’s conducted in 2006, the acceptability criteria used by SME’s was found to leave decisions open to a degree of stereotyping. In some cases, employers felt that lone parents were less likely to be reliable than other groups and that this posed additional risks to their business. Stereotyping may therefore be a factor in determining how employers recruit, and why they prefer to offer full time positions, in some instances.
3.30. Existing workplace cultures, particularly in relation to long hours and male environments are also important here (Grant, Yeandle, & Buckner, 2006). However, it may also be possible to challenge existing workplace cultures and steretyping through the use of advertising and publicity campaigns which stress the positive aspects of part-time employees, and this would likely need to focus on the under utilisation of mother’s skills in London and the benefits of bringing these into the workplace, combined with how they could help meet other commercial considerations as outlined in para 3.23, above.
3.31. The literature review also revealed that employers are often concerned that part-time workers (and particularly large numbers of them) will be more difficult to manage than full timers. Key issues include the ability to manage information and decision making processes in organisations where not everyone is available at the same time, and managing the training and development needs of part-time staff (Rosendaal, 2003). As a result, the issue of access to and the quality of business support and organisational development may be important here.
4. RESULTS FROM THE FIELD RESEARCH
Introduction
4.1. This section of the report sets out the findings from the field research phase of the project. A total of 17 employers participated in this phase. These were identified through the use of a commercial business directory and telephoned directly to seek their participation in the survey. In selecting companies to approach we attempted to obtain a balanced sample in relation to:
The number of employees
Whether or not the company currently employed part-time staff Type of business activity
Geographical location of the company within London
4.2. A financial incentive was also provided to employers taking part in the survey and care was taken to ensure that interviews were conducted only with those people within the company who had responsibility for recruitment decisions.
4.3. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted using a topic guide developed following the review of evidence as set out in section one of this report. A copy of the topic guide used is available at Appendix 1.
4.4. This section of the report proceeds by detailing the general characteristics of the business sample and by presenting the findings from the field research against the following key research questions:
How do SME employers recruit and how does this affect the availability of part-time employment?
What commercial considerations do employers have when deciding about whether or not to recruit on a part-time or full time basis, and what are the commercial pros and cons?
What attributes do SME employers look for in prospective employees and do these pose any barriers to the recruitment of part-time workers?
The Sample
Size of business4.5. Businesses included in the final sample varied considerably in size in terms of the number of employees. A total of 372 people were employed across the seventeen businesses – a mean of 21 employees per business. However, the sample did contain a significantly higher number of smaller businesses, and the median number of employees was just nine. The mean number of employees per business was therefore increased as a result of the inclusion of three larger businesses in the sample - with 37, 75, and 120 employees respectively. Chart 1, below, sets out the distribution.
Part time workers
4.6. Eleven of the seventeen respondent businesses currently employed part-time workers, and a further four businesses had done so in the past although they were not currently employing any part-time workers at the time of interview. A total of 55 part-time employees were working for the businesses in the sample and on average part-time employees made up 14.7% of all jobs. The proportion of part-time jobs in the sample was therefore lower than that for the UK as a whole (25.7%, Office of National Statistics, 2009), and the sample could therefore be viewed as a challenging one for the purposes of the overall project.
4.7. There was no direct relationship between the proportion of part-time workers in the business and its overall size. Chart 2, below plots the respondents according to their overall size with the first column representing the smallest business with no employees, and column 17 representing our largest respondent business with 120 employees. The chart then breaks down the total number of employees into full and part-time workers and reveals that our largest employers actually had very small proportions of part-time workers, whereas part-time workers accounted for 50% or more of the entire workforce in five of the smaller companies.
Part time working and recruitment
4.8. Eleven of the seventeen business in the survey reported that they had offered part-time working hours as part of the recruitment process at some point in the past. Of these, nine had made the possibility of part-time hours overt in their advertising, whilst a further two had not mentioned part-time working as a possibility in the advertisement but had done so at interview.
4.9. Six of the eleven businesses reported that they offered part-time hours during the recruitment process for all of the jobs that they advertised. As all job roles were
open to part-time recruitment there is likely to be a greater proportion of quality part-time jobs in these businesses.
4.10. The remaining five firms had offered part-time working hours in one or more of the jobs to which they had recruited in the past but would not necessarily do so for all positions. Although these businesses indicated that they would look at each job on its own merits there appeared to be a deliberate preference for full time workers when recruiting to more senior positions in at least one company, and a concentration of part-time minimum wage jobs in another.
Gender composition of senior roles and part-time working
4.11. The presence of women in senior roles appears to be positively correlated with the offer of part-time working hours at recruitment stage. Ten of the eleven companies that had offered part-time working hours during their recruitment exercises had women already working within senior positions in the business. 4.12. However, it is no guarantee. Of the six companies that did not offer part-time
hours when recruiting, three reported that they had women working in senior positions and three did not. Further research on a quantitative basis, and which obtains a greater degree of information concerning the specific job roles of women in senior positions, may be warranted in order to examine this dynamic in further detail.
Type of Business Activity
4.13. We were keen to ensure that we achieved a spread of businesses across the industrial sectors and largely managed to achieve this. The table below provides details of the work that our respondent businesses are involved in and also the proportion of their current workforce that is working on a part-time basis.
Table 1: Breakdown of participating SMEs by business type
Type of Business4 No of businesses in sample % of part-time workers
Retail 3 65
Design, graphics and media 3 39.5
Professional services (legal and accountancy)
3 3.5
Leisure 2 50
Manufacturing 2 0
Electronics & IT 2 1.5
Other services (healthcare, social care)
2 50
Total 17
4.14. The proportion of part-time workers in each business sector varied considerably – from 0% in the two manufacturing companies in the sample, and very low proportions in businesses engaged in the provision of electronics and IT (1.5%) and of professional services (legal services and accountancy) (3.5%), through to significant proportions of part-time employment in design, graphics and media (39.5%), leisure (50%), health and social care (50%), and retail (65%), businesses in the sample.
4.15. These proportions are broadly in line with official figures on the proportion of part-time workers in different standard industrial sectors, which show that manufacturing has a low proportion of part-time workers (between 2 and 11%), whilst part-time employment in the service sectors generally accounts for 30% and over of all employees (Office of National Statistics, 2007).
4.16. The proportions of part-time workers in these businesses also reflect the fact that most part-time work in the UK is found in the service sectors. Regardless of the sector in which they are employed, we know that women returning to part-time employment following the birth of a child are “highly concentrated in ‘administrative occupations’, ‘caring personal service occupations’, ‘elementary administration & service occupation’, and ‘sales & customer service occupations’. They are highly unlikely to work as ‘corporate managers’ and totally absent from
4 Note that we have departed from the use of Standard Industrial Classification as these are too
the ‘skilled construction & building trades’ occupation.” (Tomlinson, Olsen, & Purdam, 2009, p. 355)
Geographical Location
4.17. SME businesses were recruited to the project from across London. However, with such a small sample it was not possible to ensure that there was a perfectly even distribution, and a slightly higher number of businesses were recruited from South London (6) than from other areas (3 each from East, West, and North London, and 2 from Central London).
4.18. The qualitative nature of this research, based on in depth interviews with a small sample of SME’s from across London, prevents any conclusions from being drawn concerning the relationship between levels of part-time employment and the geographical location of businesses, although previous research suggests that geography is important and that this is higher outside central London (Harker, 2007).
How do SME employers recruit and how does this affect the
availability of part-time employment?
4.19. We found that a combination of the use of informal recruitment methods, limited consideration of job design prior to advertising, and the lack of advertising of possible part-time working, combines to significantly reduce the number of possible part-time working opportunities within SMEs.
Recruitment methods
4.20. Although the SMEs participating in the study used a variety of recruitment methods, they received very little support with recruitment and generally did not spend much time considering the design of jobs prior to starting the recruitment process.
4.21. Seven of the businesses participating in the interviews used very informal methods of recruitment, particularly word of mouth and employee introduction schemes to identify potential new recruits.
4.22. Although these methods were often augmented by the use of advertisements in local newspapers, in the specialist press, and via company websites, in most cases these adverts would not mention the possibility of doing the job on a part-time basis, even though many of the SMEs were willing to discuss this possibility at interview stage if the applicant raised this.
4.23. Four companies used specialist recruitment agencies to help them fill specific positions in the business, notably senior and professional positions, and also to provide emergency cover for staff illness. However, two of the respondent businesses noted that they tried to use agencies as ‘little as possible’ due to the relatively high costs involved.
4.24. Only two of the SMEs had used Jobcentre Plus, and only one had used DWP contracted provision through Work Directions. The experience here was mixed, with one business expressing the view that Jobcentre Plus did not provide enough candidates and that the quality was erratic, whilst another found the service via Jobcentre Plus and Work Directions to be ‘good at giving them the employees they need’.
Limited support and lack of a detailed job design process
4.25. The level of support and/ or training on recruitment issues received by SME employers was extremely limited. Only three companies had received any sort of formal training on recruitment issues. Of these, one had bought in some management training from a private training provider, and the other was undertaking a CIPD course. The third had accessed support via Business Link but they had found this to be expensive. The Director concerned had subsequently gone on to complete the CLORE cultural leadership programme. 4.26. In the majority of cases, there was a complete lack of awareness of the business
support available. Twelve of the seventeen businesses stated that they did not know of any support or where they could find out about it. Of the remainder, the main concerns related to the cost and quality of the services on offer.
“We’ve paid for advice in the past but it drained our resources and we weren’t happy with it” (Health and Social Care Company, South London)
4.27. The general lack of take up of business support was reflected in the low use of formal job descriptions and person specifications and a lack of detailed job design process in many of the companies concerned.
4.28. Although the majority identified the need to spend time on the design of the job advertisement, only four companies (the four largest businesses in the sample) had formal processes in place to identify job requirements and develop person specifications.
What commercial considerations do employers have when
deciding about whether or not to recruit on a part-time or full
time basis, and what are the commercial pros and cons?
4.29. Although not all of the businesses currently employed part-time workers, nearly two-thirds (11 businesses) of them either were doing so now, or had done so in the past. Only six of the employers interviewed had never used part-time workers.
Reasons for employing part-time workers
4.30. The commercial reasons given for using part-time staff broke down into four broad categories, as set out in the table, below.
Table 2: Main reasons for employing part-time staff
Main reasons for employing part-time staff Number of
businesses
The business experienced high fluctuations in demand for its services and needed to increase available hours for specific periods of the day or week, or in some cases contracted additional hours on a freelance basis
4
Existing full time staff had needed to reduce their hours, often because of the birth of a child, and the company was keen to keep them
3 Businesses were growing but were cautious about the future and so wanted to add capacity but limit staff costs
2 Offering part-time working hours, and other flexible working arrangements, was part of a deliberate strategy to attract good quality staff as the business could not compete for these on the basis of salary alone
4.31. It should be noted that a number of companies included reference to more than one of these factors in their responses, and that there is some overlap. For example, one company initially created part-time roles in response to the needs of existing staff but subsequently reviewed its employment practices to offer more flexible arrangements at recruitment stage as a deliberate strategy to attract higher skilled workers. As the demands on businesses change over time, so too do their views on the relative benefits and disadvantages of part-time workers, and there appears to be a high degree of ‘learning through experience’. This makes the reasons for employing or not employing part-time workers more dynamic than it first appears.
Fluctuations in demand
4.32. Two of the companies falling into this category were retail companies with high proportions of part-time staff, and in both cases the proportion of women in the workforce was extremely high (90% and above). In one of these businesses all of the employees are part-time (and all female), and the rationale for this was extremely straightforward:
‘…it helps us cope with peaks and troughs in demand…we can also offer extra hours to our staff when things are really busy. Many of them appreciate that and will take them up even though they may not be available to work that many hours all of the time…’ (Retail Company, South London)
4.33. However, in the other business falling into this category there was a deliberate policy in place to maintain the proportion of part-time workers at approximately 50% of the workforce and part-time work was generally preferred for less senior staff.
‘Too many part-time staff would be difficult to manage…too much administrative stuff…full-time members of staff generally run the show and part-time will fill in according to this plan’ (Retail Company, North London)
4.34. The use of part-time working as a means of managing fluctuations in demand was also particularly noticeable in the graphic, design and media businesses in the survey. However, the position was more complex here as these companies also used a pool of freelance designers which were called upon when demand was particularly high. In effect, work was allocated to those people within the company and across the pool of freelancers on the basis of whoever was available to meet the required deadlines for the work.
4.35. There may also be a trade-off in some of the creative industries between flexibility in working arrangements and employment security. Businesses may offer work on a freelance basis in the first instance in order to check the quality of work prior to offering a formal part-time employment contract:
“All three part-time positions began as freelance roles and they were
promoted (our emphasis) to part-time positions…” (Media Company, South London)
4.36. This business had also taken some steps to address the administrative difficulties associated with the employment of larger numbers of part-time and freelance staff by insisting that all staff attend the office on Mondays in order to plan out and allocate work for the week.
Acceding to requests for part-time work from existing staff
4.37. Three businesses in the sample had created part-time posts in response to requests from existing full-time staff to reduce their hours, often following the birth of a child. Amongst all of these companies the over-riding motivation was to keep skilled and reliable workers who had proved their worth to the business.
“The two part-time staff roles came about as result of two existing employees coming back from maternity leave. We didn't want to lose them so part-time roles were created to meet the new circumstances.” (Wine Merchants, Central London)
4.38. For two of these companies the experience of managing these ‘evolved’ part-time positions appeared to have been positive and had led them to change their
recruitment, and other employment, practices to offer part-time hours and other flexible working arrangements when advertising or interviewing for new positions.
“The business isn’t big enough to have a discrete HR function. So it's a needs must approach, but we do now offer flexible working arrangements at recruitment stage. Our job ads state "Part time or flexible arrangements considered". We want to recruit the best candidates not the ones who have a way of working that most fits our preconception.” (Wine Merchants, Central London)
4.39. However, for one company there was no evidence of a change in culture within the workplace. In this case, only one part-time position had been created and it does not appear to have been in a senior position:
“We would only offer flexible working to people who already work here. Our arrangements are very informal and often people work late and then come in late. We were flexible for (the member of staff) when she had family commitments, but we wouldn’t offer it at recruitment stage because it doesn’t suit the nature of the business.” (Accountants, Central London)
Growing Businesses
4.40. Two businesses indicated that their main reason for employing part-time workers was because they were growing and were unable to offer a lot of full time positions. However, they were also both committed to offering part-time work even when the company was in a stronger position:
“The business is growing so it’s all we can offer it at the moment… but we will continue to offer it when we need full-time as well. Our admin staff are full time which suits their needs.” (Leisure Company, North London)
4.41. The culture of both of these businesses was clearly in favour of part-time working as a result of the direct experiences of existing senior employees.
“The senior executive who founded the company is a mother herself...She is more concerned about getting the right staff and understands this means she needs to be flexible for parents who have childcare needs” (Health and Social Care Company, South London)
A strategy to attract quality workers and compete
4.42. Two businesses positively identified the offering of flexible working arrangements, including part-time hours, as a means to attract experienced and qualified staff into quality job roles, and had made part-time working and flexible arrangements a central part of their offer when recruiting. For example, a law firm in South London commented:
“We need to keep our position in the market by retaining and attracting good individuals. Offering and gaining reputation as a flexible employer was a conscious decision to retain and attract staff, particularly for the legal team. Flexibility and work-life balance are a key part of the brand: we are a legal aid company and cannot offer the same pay rates as in the City so we need to offer a better work-life balance…Flexible Working arrangements are available to all current staff, particularly if higher paid or long term; and are used to attract particularly talented people into the organisation”
Reasons for not employing part-time workers
4.43. Employers that had never used part-time workers had negative perceptions that part-time working would disrupt well established working patterns and practices within the company. These businesses emphasised:
The impact of recruiting additional part-time staff on existing workers who would rather be offered over-time in times of high demand, and
The potential for ‘continuity’ of work to be affected, with more than one person involved in the creation of the final product, and concerns about ‘handover’ points in the production process
4.44. The concern about a lack of continuity was also expressed by some companies that had used part-time workers in the past, particularly where individual
members of staff were responsible for providing all of the stages of a service to a customer. For example, a music studio reported that it would not be possible for a producer to hand over work to another because they all had very distinctive styles and approaches, and a legal services company indicated that part-time staff would not be sufficiently flexible to meet customer demands.
4.45. There was also a general concern, raised by both those companies that did use part-time staff and also those that did not, that employing part-time workers imposed an additional administrative burden on management. For example, greater numbers of staff meant greater difficulty in terms of managing rotas, holiday arrangements, and undertaking supervision and performance management.
Conclusion
4.46. Whilst the SMEs in the study identified some clear commercial benefits to employing part-time staff, these were not all realisable at the same time and the primary concerns of the business vary over time.
4.47. In addition, balanced against the benefits were a series of concerns relating to the practical implementation and management of part-time working. These concerns appear to be constant and the perception of the scale of implementation problems also seems to dissuade many employers from taking the step of offering part-time hours for many of their jobs.
4.48. In some of the SMEs in the study there was a sense that part-time workers may have a useful role in adding in capacity at times of high demand but that the core functions of the organisation needed to be undertaken by full-time employees. However, this could be challenged over time, particularly where former full time female employees returned to work after the birth of a child but maintained senior positions in the organisation.
What attributes do SME employers look for in prospective
employees and do these pose any barriers to the
recruitment of part-time workers?
4.49. We found that employers tended to look for personal qualities rather than specific skills when recruiting. In the majority of cases, employers considered that the qualities they were looking for would not be affected by a job applicant’s decision to look for full or part-time employment. However, in some cases we found evidence of both positive and negative stereotyping of parents, who are more likely to be looking for part-time employment, which may affect the decision of individual employers to offer jobs on a part-time basis.
4.50. The specific personal qualities identified by employers are reported in the table below.
Table 3: Personal Qualities Sought by Employers from Job Applicants
Personal Qualities Sought by Employers Number of times mentioned
Communication skills/ interpersonal skills 10 Reliable/ conscientious/ committed/ loyal 4
Honest 2
Flexible 2
Has initiative/ is pro-active 2
Organised and efficient 2
Creative 2
Punctual 2
Work well in a team 1
Calm under pressure 1
Attention to detail 1
Has common sense 1
4.51. When asked whether or not parents would be more or less likely to have these key qualities the majority of employers felt that being a parent made no real difference either way, and that it was a question of individual character.
4.52. However some employers did identify specific positives that they associated with parenthood. For example, some felt that having parental responsibilities would make people better workers, as they would have a better ‘attitude’, ‘interact better’, and be better ‘organised and focused’ and used to ‘multi-tasking’.
4.53. But there were also some negative associations, with parents described as ‘not as flexible’ due to their childcare responsibilities.
4.54. When asked about the general business case for diversity in the workplace, the overwhelming response was positive, with over three quarters of respondents recognising that this brought about a range of business benefits including:
Ensuring the company better reflects and understands its customers Bringing in a range of experience and viewpoints and making the
workplace more challenging and creative
Even up the gender balance in the workplace and makes for a better working environment
4.55. As a result, it is unlikely that stereotyping plays a significant role in limiting the number of part-time employment opportunities on offer, although promoting the attributes of part-time workers against the qualities being sought by SME employers could be used in a positive way to raise interest in offering part-time working opportunities.
5. DEVELOPING THE MARKETING MESSAGES
Introduction
5.1. The findings from the Field Research phase were summarised and used to provide a brief for the development of marketing messages for our specialist media strategy partners in the delivery of this project - the Madano Partnership. 5.2. This section of the report sets out the processes used by Madano to develop the
initial marketing messages, which were then subsequently tested in one to one interviews with five SME employers. Four of these employers had previously taken part in the field research phase, and one of the employers was completely fresh to the project.
5.3. Feedback from these interviews was then passed back to Madano who subsequently created a final set of recommended messages from the project. 5.4. This section therefore sets out further details of
Implications of the field research findings for the development of marketing messages
The initial set of marketing messages tested with SME employers Feedback from the SME interviews
The final set of marketing messages.
Implications of the findings for the development of marketing
messages
5.5. The findings from the Field Research phase of the project had a number of implications for the design of marketing messages that could be used to encourage SME’s to open up part-time working opportunities. These can be summarised as follows:
Messages need to emphasise the benefits of lower cost, higher experience and skills, and of diverse workforces
However, it is also necessary to allay fears of greater burdens for small businesses
Messages need to focus on both the positive characteristics of part-time workers, and benefits for business
As the drivers for business decisions are dynamic, no single message will resonate with all SMEs
The tone of any marketing needs to reflect that employers will have different levels of understanding/ and or experience of using part-time workers
5.6. This last point is particularly important. Not all employers will be at the same stage on the journey to embracing part-time employment. Some will need to have their awareness raised about the potential benefits, whilst others will want more concrete information concerning the ways and means of implementing part-time working within their businesses. Those that have made the in principle decision to implement part-time working may also require support with the recruitment process. At different stages of the journey the barriers faced by employers will be different. Similarly the messaging must be capable of moving employers along the journey, or accelerating their speed of travel.
The language of flexibility is not helpful…
5.7. A further key observation from the process of undertaking the field research was that the concept of flexible working presented difficulties when talking to employers as this did not usually trigger discussion of part-time work but led instead to discussion of the other types of flexible working arrangements. 5.8. The use of the word ‘flexible’ actually created a significant barrier to discussion of
part-time employment. If it triggered discussion of part-time working at all it did so only where the employer associated this with changing job roles and/or working hours in order to facilitate the return to work of existing employees on a part-time basis following the birth of a child. Employers generally held part-time workers (and more specifically parents who work part-time) to be inflexible – needing to work fixed hours based around childcare commitments – which caused problems with the management or continuity of work in the organisation.
5.9. It would, however, be incorrect to assume that only negative implications were identified from this. For example, there was a recognition in the field research phase that part-time workers often maximised their work time and were highly productive, and that different types of management techniques or improvements in internal communications processes could allow them to work effectively (see schematic below).
Tone of voice
5.10. Due to the different starting points of employers, and the fact that businesses operate in dynamic environments where the key commercial priorities change over time, it is not possible to find a single ‘tone of voice’ in marketing messages that is capable of resonating with all SMEs. Some employers will respond to facts and figures, others to incentives, others by laying down a challenge, and others by education.
5.11. The approach to develop messaging was therefore rooted in achieving a number of clear objectives;
To create overarching propositions that could work at all stages of the employer journey.
To avoid polarising and confusing language To explore tone of voice.
5.12. A matrix of potential core messages and tones of voice was therefore created which was then used to guide the development of a set of simple statements and additional information that could be further tested with employers (see below).
The initial marketing messages and test materials
5.13. A set of simple statements and test materials were developed as a result which focused on:
Saving Money
Growing the breadth of skills Making things easier
Creating a more committed workforce Adding value
Solving capacity problems Widening recruitment pools
More people and experience for less money.
5.14. In each of these areas, slides were developed which provided a headline statement and additional comments designed to reflect different tones of voice.
For example, we presented some ‘killer facts’5 concerning the productivity gains that could be obtained from using part-time workers in order to test whether or not this approach could raise the level of interest in part-time workers.
Views of SMEs on the initial messages
5.15. The table below sets out the main points of feedback received from employers on the initial slides.
Table 4: Feedback from SMEs on the initial marketing messages
Saves you money There was no disagreement with the main message. However, the message didn’t surprise and was limited in its impact. SMEs reported that they were interested in controlling costs, especially in the current economic climate, and that they could be interested in the introduction of part-time working as a means to reduce costs rather than lose staff completely.
Employers felt that the message could be made stronger by combining it with messages around productivity gains – for example by linking it with messages concerning the higher skills levels of part-time workers. Grows the breadth of
skills Again, there was general agreement with the main message here, but the greatest appeal lay in the link with productivity and also with the concept of efficiency.
There was no great reaction to the message about obtaining the ‘right skills at the right time’ but considerably more interest in ‘I can have scale without people sitting around not busy’ although this latter point was often put in the positive as ‘getting the most out of people.’
5 The facts that were used concerning productivity gains were based on research which found
that part-time workers in ‘well structured, knowledge extensive, positions which do not require intensive communication with clients or other stakeholders over longer periods’ are likely to be more productive than full time workers (Rosendaal, 2003). For the purpose of developing the messages we provided some examples of the types of jobs that this could apply to, specifically part-time workers undertaking book-keeping and financial management roles.
There was a very high level of interest in the imaginary examples of increased productivity and a desire to see examples of how part-time working had impacted on other (similar) businesses to themselves had general appeal.
Makes things easier
There was widespread disagreement with this message, and all respondents thought that employing part-time workers would ‘make life more difficult’, primarily in terms of the management and administration of more workers.
Two of the employers noted that it would be better to give examples of why employing part-time workers had brought benefits or was easier to manage than first thought.
Creates a more
committed workforce There was some support for this message with most of the employers commenting that they thought parents would be ‘more grounded and more reliable’ and that part-time workers were committed to getting their work done efficiently in the hours available to them. Two employers also thought that employing part-timers led to a stronger bond and joint commitment between employer and employee. However, this appears to be a reference to employers using part-time work to accommodate the new caring commitments of existing time workers rather than offering part-time opportunities to new recruits.
Adding Value The message that was tested here was ‘Part time heroes, adding value, always committed’ and whilst the overall message was received positively the ‘always committed’ aspect of it was weaker. The general support for the message arose because of the a
