MISSING PERSONS NO LONGER - MANAGING PART-TIME WORKERS IN THE 90S

Years ago, managers, might have been able to consider part-time workers as ''peripheral persons'' and treat them with a benign neglect. After all, part-timers had little impact on organizational success. No longer. The size of the part-time workforce has increased dramatically, and many service organizations now place part-timers in critical customer-contact and line functions. At the same time, the composition of the part-time labor force has shifted considerably, making conventional benefits programs and supervisory practices obsolete. Despite these changes, organizational researchers have paid scant attention to the part-time contingent. To correct this deficiency, the authors conducted one of the largest investigations of part-time worker attitudes ever staged. In this article, they draw on questionnaire returns and interview data from more than 700 part-time employees to highlight worker attitudes related to six salient factors: pay administration, fringe benefits administration, work design, relationships with co-workers and customers, supervisory styles, and scheduling flexibility. For each factor, a new diversity within the part-time ranks challenges supervisors to reconsider how these employees should be motivated and rewarded.