Summary
- A part-time employee works fewer hours than a full-time employee, but still has full statutory employment rights.
- You must treat part-time employees no less favourably than full-time staff, with pay and benefits applied on a pro-rata basis.
- You cannot force an employee to move from full-time to part-time without agreement, as this may breach contract.
- This guide explains part-time employees for business owners in the UK, outlining rights and employer obligations, prepared by LegalVision, a commercial law firm that specialises in advising clients on employment law.
- It provides a practical explanation of fair treatment, contract changes and compliance when managing part-time staff.
Tips for Businesses
Treat part-time employees consistently with full-time staff and apply benefits proportionately. Agree any changes to hours in writing and consult before making decisions. Regularly review policies and working arrangements to ensure compliance and avoid claims of less favourable treatment.
A part-time employee is someone who works fewer hours than your full-time staff but still has the same statutory employment rights. For your business, this means you must provide equal treatment on a pro rata basis, as failing to do so can lead to discrimination claims, underpayment risks and tribunal disputes. You cannot unilaterally change an employee’s hours, and any transition must be agreed and properly documented to avoid breach of contract. This article explains what part-time employment is, the rights of part-time employees and what you must consider when managing or changing their working arrangements.
What is Part-Time Work?
When an employee works part-time, their working hours are fewer than a full-time employee. It is a form of flexible working. Part-time work can take different formats, for example:
- fewer days at work per week than a full-time employee;
- fewer hours at work per day than a full-time employee;
- working term-time only; or
- sharing a full-time job with another employee, which is job-sharing.
Part-time staff still have statutory employment rights, which are employee rights enshrined in employment law, such as the right to:
- claim unfair dismissal;
- have a minimum notice period; and
- receive a minimum wage.
Flexible Working Rights and Requests
Following the implementation of the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023, there have been important changes to flexible working rights in the UK.
Employees can make up to two flexible working requests within any 12-month period, and employers must respond within two months (reduced from three months). When an employee requests to move from full-time to part-time work, you must deal with their request in a reasonable manner and can only refuse their request after consulting the employee and upon reliance on specific business grounds, such as:
- the burden of additional costs;
- an inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff;
- an inability to recruit additional staff;
- a detrimental impact on quality;
- a detrimental impact on performance;
- a detrimental effect on the ability to meet customer demand;
- insufficient work available for the periods the employee proposes to work; and
- planned structural changes to the employer’s business.
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Moving Staff From Full-time to Part-time Work
When your employee transitions from full-time to part-time work, there is a change to their contractual employment terms. If you, as the employer, wish to make changes to an employee’s contractual terms, you will usually need to agree this with the employee. Otherwise, it could be a breach of contract.
When you move your employees from full-time to part-time work, you are:
- legally obliged to pay them equal pay for the equal work they carry out;
- legally obliged to give them the same benefits your full-time employees are entitled to, and on a pro-rata basis where necessary; and
- not obliged to allow them to change back to full-time work at a later date, but can do so if you both agree to this.
Employer Considerations
If your employee agrees to a change in their employment contract to move from full-time to part-time work, there are many practical points you will need to consider. The following are some examples of what you will need to think about.
What Will the New Work Pattern Be?
You and your employee should agree upon the new work pattern. When deciding on it, you will need to consider:
- their job role;
- the needs of your business;
- the weekly working hours and days are;
- the employee’s other commitments outside of work, which may affect the pattern they can work; and
- whether your employee’s days or hours per day are reduced.
Monitoring the New Arrangements
As your employee’s pattern of work has changed, you should try to monitor this change to ensure it is effective. First, you must ensure that your employee only works the hours you contracted them to work. Recording their hours allows you to monitor this.
As your employee moves to part-time work, you should be clear about what you expect of them, agree to it and keep reviewing it. You will need to ensure, for example:
- that the workplace is suitable for part-time hours and change this as necessary;
- amend formal objectives as required;
- ensure you remember to take into account the change of hours when reviewing your employee’s performance;
- that you are sensitive towards their work-life balance, as part-time employees can end up working during non-working hours; and
- that you support their well-being, encouraging them to take opportunities offered to all to support them.
Communication
Despite your employee working part-time hours and not being at work as often as their full-time counterparts, you still need to ensure that you communicate with them. You may want to ensure that you:
- hold team meetings on days when as many of your staff are working as possible;
- offer support and update employees who cannot attend team meetings; and
- consider an online space for staff to communicate, which could be informal.
Get new employees off to a great start with our New Employee Onboarding Checklists (includes on-site and remote).
Key Takeaways
As an employer, you may face times when you need your staff to change from full-time to part-time work, or they may request to do so. If you change your staff’s working hours, there are points you should be aware of when doing so and during the change process. For example, you cannot insist that your employees move from full-time to part-time work without their agreement. Also, where your employees agree to work part-time, you will need to consider their working pattern and its impact on their role, and monitor their working hours to ensure they are not working more than their contractual obligation and the business needs are met.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Part-time work is a form of flexible working where your staff work fewer hours than your full-time staff. The pattern of part-time work can vary, such as fewer hours per day or fewer days per week worked than full-time staff.
Yes, part-time employees have rights written in employment law, such as the right to claim unfair dismissal, have a minimum notice period and receive the same amount of maternity leave.
No, you cannot unilaterally change an employee’s working hours from full-time to part-time without their agreement. If you attempt to impose this change without agreement, this could constitute a breach of contract and lead to claims, including constructive dismissal.
Under the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023, you must respond to a statutory flexible working request within two months of receiving it. Your response should either approve the request, propose an alternative arrangement, or refuse the request based on one of the eight business grounds listed above.
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