7 Ways To Make Part-Time Workers Embrace Your Brand Culture

Businesses have made a lot of progress in making the workplace equitable and inclusive for employees. They’ve expanded access to remote work, flexible schedules, mental healthcare, childcare assistance, transportations subsidies, and the like, making it easier for all kinds of people to work. 

By and large, these new and expanded benefits are for those who work full-time, often in salaried, white collar jobs. Temp workers and part-time workers, contractors, freelancers, and hourly wage workers aren’t as often afforded these perks.

Inclusion should include all. Whether they intend to or not, employers often divide full-time and part-time (or at least non-full-time) workers in ways that promote inequity and inhibit the productivity-producing camaraderie a workplace needs.

We get it. Sometimes businesses employ contract, temp, and freelance workers because they don’t need or can’t afford full-time staff—benefits are not cheap—and small businesses may find it particularly hard to provide the same perks across the board. But there are ways businesses can mitigate the divide.

7 Ways to Include Non-Full Time Employees

1. Include all workers in team events

When you have employee events, like team lunches, happy hours, and volunteer events, invite your non-full-time workers and include them in the camaraderie. 

2. Pay them fairly

Cheap labor is usually exploited labor, so as you think about how you will pay non-full-time workers, compensate them with a competitive rate. If you’re not sure what a competitive rate is, consult a relevant union or freelancer’s association or simply pay them a living wage ($15 is a living wage nowhere). If the worker lives in a different city than where the company is located, pay whichever living wage is higher. 

4. Provide access to free and low-cost benefits

Free benefits might be remote work, flexible work hours, a mentor within the company, or even access to group benefits like mental healthcare.

Many benefits vendors don’t charge per user. For example, an online therapy service may charge employers a set fee based on the size of the business, and adding five new freelance workers won’t increase your costs. Online training tools like LinkedIn Learning can also be made available for free or minimal cost.

Employers can also offer: paid sick leave or PTO, transportation assistance, gym memberships, free lunches—you get it. 

5. Don’t expect freelancers and contractors to operate the same way your full-time workers do

Freelancers and contractors often work with more than one client at a time, so unless you’re providing them full-time hours with benefits, don’t expect them to treat you like their only customer. 

For example:

• Don’t expect freelancers to answer emails outside of normal business hours, and respect the hours they work.

• Don’t demand last-minute projects or fixes unless they’ve agreed in advance to accommodate quick-turns.

• Streamline communication so non-full-timers don’t have to go sifting through email, Slack, Jira, Asana, etc., just to get what they need. Communicate in a way that works best for them.

6. Consider non-full-time talent for permanent positions

When a new position opens, where do you look? Are you looking for an outside hire before you look at your internal workers? Consider that some non-full-time employees may be looking to transition to full-time work. Give them the right of first refusal for positions they’re qualified for. 

7. Make the non-full-time experience clear in your employer branding

When building your careers page, consider the employee experience of those who don’t work full-time. When you list employee benefits, do you mark what’s available to part-timers? Do you make a point to note that all employees—regardless of status—will benefit from inclusion efforts? When you post about employee experience on your social channels, are you also reflecting the employee experience of contractors?

Simple acknowledgement will go a long way.

Questions for self-reflection

As you make changes to include non-full-time staff, consider these questions. 

• Why am I seeking non-full-time staff? Is it to get cheap labor or because I truly can’t support a full-time employee right now?

• What benefits and perks can I offer to non-full-time workers? Can I add them to my Talkspace account or give them a flexible schedule?

• If you work with temp or contractor agencies, what are their business practices like? Do they pay living wages and offer benefits? 

• What are the demographics of my full-time workforce vs. those of my non-full-time workforce?

• How do you determine pay for non-full-time workers? Do you pay competitive rates, or are you just after the lowest price? If you can’t offer market rates, what perks can you offer to help make up the difference?

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza writes about workplace culture, DEI, and hiring. Her work has appeared in Fast Company, From Day One, and InHerSight, among others.

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