Moving an Employee From Full-time to Part-time in the UK?

Most employers will have staff working for them as full-time employees and part-time employees. Different roles may require different hours or patterns of work. Additionally, your employees may request different ways of working. However, there may be times you wish your employees to change from full-time working to part-time working. As an employer, you must be aware of specific legal considerations when transitioning full-time employees to part-time. You should treat part-time staff no less favourably than full-time staff. This article will explain what you, as an employer, need to know about moving an employee from full-time to part-time work in the UK. It will explain what part-time work is and points to consider throughout moving an employee from full-time to part-time work.

What is Part-time Work?

When an employee works part-time, their working hours are less than a full-time employee’s. 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 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.

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. You must agree to any change to contractual employment terms with your employees; otherwise, it is unlawful. Changing your employees’ contractual terms without notice or their agreement may result in a breach of contract. 

If the change from full-time to part-time work is the employer’s wish rather than the employee’s, the employee may not initially agree. If this is the case, you should conduct a meaningful consultation with your employee. This means that you should listen to their views and consider them, which might cause you to change your mind. Your request for a change to their hours from full-time to part-time should be a good business reason meaning the change is required to meet the needs of your business.

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. You may require this as part of your working practices and already have software. First, however, 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 their well-being is good, encouraging them to take opportunities offered to all to support their well-being.

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.

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. 

If you need help understanding how to move an employee from full-time to part-time work in the UK, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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