Oct 22, 2008 7:14 pm US/Eastern
More Companies Offering Part Time Work
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
With so many layoffs these days, full time work can be hard to find, but now more and more companies are offering part-time positions, and they're not just for entry level or minimum wage.
Jessica Smith bowed out of her corporate career to spend more time with her 3-year-old son. So when she set out to find a part time job, she demanded the best of both worlds.
"I have eight years professional experience in business development, marketing, and recruitment," Smith said. "I was looking for something flexible and family-friendly and it's important that I retain a professional title."
Now she works up to 25 hours a week on marketing campaigns for a new shopping website. While you may not think of a corner office gig as part time, a growing number of agencies actually specialize in that type of professional work, including 10 til 2, which currently has over 14,000 jobs.
The average placement is 16 hours per week.
"We're finding part-time works almost across all industries from a small home-based business to a large corporation," said Jill Ater from 10 til 2.
For everything from law offices to construction, insurance to accounting companies, part-time is not just retail and fast food anymore.
"In a tough economy, some companies are more open to hiring part-timers because they don't want to hire that full-time person but they have that work in front of them that needs to be done," said employment expert John Challenger from Gray and Christmas.
Challenger says the trend goes beyond parents looking for time with their kids. "Part time work allows people to explore new fields, to basically not be tied down to one single place."
That's the appeal for attorney A.T. Kippes, who initially scaled back to be with her ailing father.
"People are realizing now that they want to have a life outside of work and not just work 60 hours a week," she said.
Realize when you give up hours, you may give up other benefits too. Only 32% of part-time workers in the private sector have access to retirement benefits. The number drops to 24% for health benefits.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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