Abstract
The United Kingdom ranks in the top three countries for part-time employment
amongst women aged between 24 to 35. Part-time work amounts to 36% of
female employment. (OECD 2001) The total numbers of people employed parttime
in the UK is approximately 7.3 million or nearly 25% of the working
population in total. The growth in part-time work has also shown a far greater
increase compared to the increase in the number of jobs as a whole. The rise has
been 68.5% for part-time compared to 8.3% for full-time jobs. This rise covers the
period 1984 to 2005. In addition there has also been a marked rise in the number
of people who have second jobs.
Alongside the growth in the number of part-time workers there has been a call for
greater flexibility at work. This has given rise to a number of options, including
term-time working, flexi-time, and staggered hours. Part-time working is always
included in lists of flexible options. There does not seem to be any acceptance of
the view that part-time is not flexible.
The call for greater flexibility in working patterns seems to be coming from two
perspectives. The first is a greater demand from employers for flexibility that will
enable them to meet customer needs and the second factor influencing flexibility is
the growth in work-life balance initiatives. These are partly explained by
government policy.
This paper will explore whether part-time working should be included in the list of
options that offer flexibility at work.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | 15th annual IERA conference |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2007 |
| Event | 15th annual IERA conference - Canterbury, UK Duration: 1 Jul 2007 → … |
Conference
| Conference | 15th annual IERA conference |
|---|---|
| Period | 1/07/07 → … |