Issues Related to Part-Time Employees: A Case of the Hotel Industry

Key Drivers of Part-time Employees’ Behavior

To achieve its desired performance levels, a company must opt for employment practices appropriate for its strategy. This implies that a firm strategy must be the primary driver of its employment model (Cheng-Hua et al., 2009). Contingency theory advances that the linkage between applying specific employment modes and organizational performance is contingent on the organization’s overall strategy, suggesting that the success of business strategy implementation becomes highly dependable on employee behavior (Cheng-Hua et al., 2009). Although Podsakoff et al. (2000) argued that conscientious employees display a high level of output on a consistent pattern, the behavioral examination infers an organization’s strategy needs to incorporate behavioral requirements for success, as well as the application of human resources (HR) practices aimed at rewarding and controlling employee behavior. Stamper and Van Dyne (2003) identified significant effects on employee behavior resulting from employment status (full-time or part-time) besides organizational culture. Moreover, Van Dyne and Ang (1998) have assessed behaviors of part-time employees as contingent on their commitment—for instance, part-time employees would display appropriate and desired behaviors when committed to an organization—but this does not necessarily apply to full-time employees whose behavior does not depend on their attitudes. Nevertheless, organizations need to implement HR practices that contribute to eliciting employees’ behaviors that are consistent with the overall strategy (Cheng-Hua et al., 2009).

Although differences exist between full-time and part-time workers, there also exist differences among part-time employees (see Table 1). Exchange theories can be used to explain relationships between part-time employees and their supervisors. Unlike their full-time counterparts who view the relationship from a social perspective—employers display concern for employee’s well-being and development to maintain a long-term relationship—part-time employees have an economic perception, in which they view employers as merely offering economic rewards in exchange for their work (Tsui et al., 1997; Van Dyne & Ang, 1998). It is often assessed that employees perceiving their relationship as an economic necessity are bound to meet the minimum requirement and not go the extra mile, such as providing suggestions for improvement or helping coworkers (Stamper & Van Dyne, 2001; Yen & Niehoff, 2004). This follows that part-time employees may be less motivated as they perceive their relationship with employers as the fruit of an economic exchange rather than a social exchange (Stamper & Van Dyne, 2001).

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Table 1.

Types of Part-Time Employees.

Type of part-time employee	Description
Primary	May have spouse, childcare, or other life important roles
Single supplementers	Unmarried adults that are not in school and do not have another job
Married supplementers	Married adults that are not in school and do not have another job
High school students	Mostly 14 to 18 years old and having limited family responsibilities
College students	Mostly 18 to 25 years old but 32% over this range, and having limited family responsibilities
Part-time moonlighters	Having other part-time jobs
Full-time moonlighters	Having a full-time job in addition to the part-time job
Adapted from Martin and Sinclair (2007)

Consequently, part-time employees perceiving more than a relational contract (Moorman & Harland, 2002) and feeling that employers value their contributions (Cho & Johanson, 2008) may develop a more substantial commitment to a firm. For Johanson and Cho (2007), job commitment may be influenced by employer/supervisor support and is associated with decreased turnover intention. Other scholars also found that perceived levels of support from organizations and supervisors were a strong predictor of part-time employees’ commitment to organizations in the hospitality industry (Johanson & Cho, 2007; Saks, 2019). Similarly, supervisors’ managerial coaching skills directly affect employee’s learning and organizational commitment (Park et al., 2020).

Part-time workers are of great importance in hospitality businesses to achieve competitive advantage due to their flexibility as a labor source that proves beneficial, especially when the demand fluctuates (C. Enz & Inman, 1992). They contribute to the provision of quality customer service and allow for savings in terms of labor costs (Stamper & Van Dyne, 2003). However, in practice, the part-time workforce is subject to lower wages than full-time employees and less—if existing—benefits (Inman & Enz, 1995). DiPietro and McLeod (2011) argued this could be considered to account for their low levels of commitment. Employers may view part-time employees as substandard to the full-time ones, displaying higher levels of absenteeism, low quality of work (Inman & Enz, 1995). Johanson and Cho (2009) had contrasting findings in their study, supporting high levels of organizational commitment and engagement toward quality work from part-time employees.

Engagement, Commitment, and Motivation

Employee engagement denotes a state in which employees harness themselves to work roles, and involves persistence, strong involvement, and immersion at work (Kahn, 1990; Zhang, 2018). According to Lowe (2012), engaged employees are usually willing to do more than required at work and contribute highly to achieving organizational goals. Therefore, besides being emotionally connected to their workplaces, engaged employees are also cognitively alert and attentive (Ferrer, 2005). Organizational commitment can be described as the positive psychological identification of an employee toward an organization and its goals (Blau & Boal, 1987; Mowday et al., 1982). Motivation can be perceived as a condition encouraging someone to undertake an action or activity, and happens consciously (Nursaid et al., 2020).

Hospitality organizations should work at enhancing employee well-being, which is linked with the quality of service, customer satisfaction, and loyalty (Madera et al., 2017). A good working environment and a good workplace culture can potentially lead to greater levels of job satisfaction, employee engagement, commitment, motivation, and lower levels of turnover (Warrick, 2017). C. A. Enz (2001) explained that motivation of the part-time workforce is a critical issue within hospitality organizations in the U.S. (Jaworski et al., 2018). Lundberg et al. (2009) explained that work motivation stems from employees’ needs, which are influenced by self-fulfillment. Employers’ ability to understand employees’ needs and act upon them can prove beneficial in motivating the workforce (Nursaid et al., 2020). Motivated employees contribute at empowering teams and performance in teamwork activities, which contribute at increasing productivity and organizational efficiency (Khuong & Linh, 2020). Together, engagement, commitment, and motivation find themselves affected by the culture in place within an organization. Warrick (2015) defines culture as the predominant beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviors, and practices characterizing a particular group of people.

Additionally, culture is an essential component to the success of an organization (Warrick, 2015). The term organizational culture—and by extension, workplace culture—is used to refer to the nature of the environment in which employees interact, which influences their actions (Warrick et al., 2016). Lee (2020) assessed that employees could feel motivated by a well-functioning organizational culture, which positively influences their performance. Previous research has shown that organizational culture impacts many aspects of the workplace, including performance, morale, job satisfaction, employee engagement and loyalty, employee attitudes and motivation, turnover, commitment to the organization, and efforts to attract and retain talented employees (e.g., Denison, 1990; Fisher Jr., 2000; Marcoulides & Heck, 1993; Rollins & Roberts, 1998).

One way to increase commitment in employees can be achieved through solicitation for their feedback and involvement in the day-to-day decision-making process (Beck and Wilson, 1995). Connolly and McGing (2007) identified teamwork, team-based decision-making, training and development initiatives, performance management, supportive organizational culture, and harmonious corporate culture as HPWPs contributing to enhancing the human capital and competitive edge of hospitality firms. A valuable technique that is also used to enhance employee’s commitment level is employee empowerment, which provides sufficient discretion and autonomy for employees to produce the expected level of expected guest service in hospitality (Wolfe, 1995). In fact, employees’ motivation can be increased through responsibility and advancement and factors involving achievement, recognition, and the possibility for growth (Atan et al., 2021; Herzberg, 2008). In the same vein, Holston-Okae et al. (2018) noted that employees’ motivation is increased in settings where they can achieve and have responsibilities.

Furthermore, part-time employees’ job satisfaction in the hospitality industry can be enhanced through recognition and flexible rewards, including bonuses based on performance (Cheng-Hua et al., 2009). Remuneration and reward are associated with improvement in employee commitment (Davies et al., 2001) and intention to stay (Cho et al., 2006). Hence, pay for performance and job recognition on the one hand (Jaworski et al., 2018) and proper packages benefits on the other hand (Namasivayam et al., 2007) are also positively related to job commitment for part-time employees (Jaworski et al., 2018).

High-Performance Work Practices

Investing in people’s development as a competitive asset is commonly viewed as one of the most important roles of human resource management (Connolly & McGing, 2007). HPWPs can be defined as ideas, programs, practices, or systems related to HR Management, which constitutes a novelty for the firm adopting them (Wolfe, 1995). HPWP is related to staffing, training, rewards, benefits, compensations, supportive feedback, open flow of information, recognition, career advancement, and professional development opportunities (Cajander & Reiman, 2019). They also include task autonomy through empowerment, high employee selectivity, gain-sharing programs, and overall contributors to firms’ social capital, which in turn impact employee performance (Cheng-Hua et al., 2009; Jogaratnam, 2017; Murphy et al., 2018).

Cheng-Hua et al. (2009) explain that in hospitality, HPWPs differ in their applications according to the employment status, leading to various outcomes in terms of organizational performance. Their study revealed that hotels would prefer to make use of commitment-based practices for full-time employees and control-based systems for part-time employees, leading to a binary HR system with a commitment-oriented system and a control-oriented system. For Arthur (1994), control-based systems are designed to impact a minimum of the labor process, with little training and low interdependence. Workers are sometimes viewed as replaceable commodities. In contrast, commitment-based systems encourage employees to identify with organizational goals and motivate them to achieve them (Whitener, 2001). De facto, such systems eventually translate into HR practices, including intensive training and development, socialization, and relatively high compensation (Cheng-Hua et al., 2009).

Johanson and Cho (2009) supported part-time workers in hospitality organizations should have the same treatment as full-time with regards to training, benefits, and recognition. However, it has been widely assessed that, in practice, training opportunities are different among full-time and part-time employees (Monk & Ryding, 2007; Sobaih et al., 2008; Jaworski et al., 2018). In terms of pay or benefits, the situation is similar (Inman & Enz, 1995). As a result, part-time employees may engage in fewer citizenship behaviors than their full-time counterparts (Stamper & Van Dyne, 2003). Also, lack of training may account for a considerable amount of the perceived low levels of productivity of part-time employees (Jaworski et al., 2018).

In theory, successful implementation of HPWPs requires equal treatment between full-time and part-time workers, but in practice, this is not always the case. Moreover, the implementation of HPWPs may not be time-efficient enough to have an impact on part-time workers (Cajander & Reiman, 2019). It is clear that having different types of employees would require having different HPWPs for improved organizational performance (Cheng-Hua et al., 2009). Besides, HR practices are not set to affect when applied in single, but when applied as a bundle, can greatly contribute to employee involvement and participation (Marchington & Wilkinson, 2005). Thus, various training could be applied to part-time employees, with individual performances compensating for the training expenses (Cheng-Hua et al., 2009). In hospitality, training is linked to benefits including high levels of job commitment (Davies et al., 2001; Kinicki et al., 1992), employee engagement (Presbitero, 2017), greater job satisfaction (Haynes & Fryer, 2000), consistency in job performance, higher guest satisfaction, and reduction in business costs (Roehl & Swerdlow, 1999). However, in practice, employers still seem to be abstaining from providing proper training to the part-time workforce. Indeed, Sobaih (2011) identifies certain obstacles inherent to both employees and employers: lack of training time, working of irregular shifts, low enthusiasm, high turnover, and lack of resources, knowledge, and suitable training program of part-time employees. However, the capability of providing adequate and effective training has a positive relationship with organizational commitment (Chew & Chan, 2008; Choi & Dickson, 2010). Jaworski et al. (2018) discovered that one-to-one training methods, such as on-the-job training and job shadowing, were positively related to training satisfaction. However, training programs need to be ongoing and comprehensive to better align with organizational goals. As such, follow-up training sessions would be required to ensure the effectiveness of training initiatives (Green, 2011). Finally, reward management, which is the formulation and implementation of strategies and policies that aim to reward people fairly, equitably, and consistently in accordance with their value to the organization, has the potential to motivate employees and enhance their engagement and commitment toward the organization (Armstrong & Murlis, 2007).

Background

Grandeur Imperial is a five-star all-inclusive resort located in the Miami area, Florida. It possesses 1,207 rooms, an indoor pool, a cinema, a banquet, a ballroom, a spa and wellness center, a nightclub, a shop, and a hairstylist. The hotel also has seven swimming pools and two restaurant-bars in outdoors, and a mini amusement park for children. The staff is consisted of 750 employees, with a contingent force of 225 part-time employees. Grandeur Imperial is part of a family-owned hotel chain Grandeur Hotels Group with four other hotels located in Miami (Grandeur Palace, Grandeur Botanic, Grandeur Diva, and Grandeur Concorde). The majority of guests in Grandeur Imperial come from European countries, including Germany, France, Great Britain, Poland, the Netherlands, and Scandinavian countries. Most of the guests coming from these locations are seniors, thus requiring more care from employees during their vacation. Hotels from Grandeur Hotels Group have gradually gained popularity among the traveling population of the countries mentioned above, forcing the hotel to rely on contingent personnel in its different employee interaction departments, including F&B, housekeeping, front office, and guest relations.

The guest relations officers are in charge of ensuring that guests are satisfied with the service and having a good holiday. After sending welcome messages to incoming guests with special offers based on their number of visitors, the team would disperse and go around the swimming pools during the daytime, asking guests whether they have complaints or suggestions regarding the service. At noon, before the morning shift was done, officers would report the complaints and suggestions and the actions they took during the day in the course of interaction with guests. The officers work also consisted of making restaurant reservations and reporting through phone calls within the hotel the related service issues that guests could encounter (e.g., reporting to housekeeping that room 3,212 requires clean up to be done with nonallergenic products or requesting a wakeup call from the front desk at a specific time). Nine officers were required for the morning shift (8:00 am–4:00 pm), while only three officers were needed for the night shift (4:00 pm–12 am). In the night shift, the guest relations department continued on its mission of making sure that guests’ holidays are being spent without issues, answering to their potential requests and demands. In a nutshell, guest relations officers at Grandeur Imperial contribute not only to ensuring service quality but also at service recovery, making the link between guests and different hotel departments, and compensating at reducing language barriers that could exist. Together the foreign languages spoken by the team were French, German, Dutch, and Polish. The morning and night shifts are organized based on a rotation of employees among shifts based on their conveniences, and the part-time employees worked for 6 hr a day, 5 days a week. As of March 1, 2019, the Grandeur Imperial guest relations team was composed of 10 officers, among which 7 were full-time and 3 part-time. The department’s manager Andrew Lee was supposed to retire by April of the same year, and the hotel would need a new manager. At this specific time, the hotel could not find the perfect match for the position at the internal level. After announcing the position vacation on various platforms, the hotel received a pool of candidates, most of whom were interviewed in the second half of February. The profile retained was Ronald Fillmore, a young male of 33 years old who has been working in the hotel industry for 13 years.

Part-time Employment at Grandeur Hotel

All part-time workers in the case of Grandeur Imperial are voluntary part-time. The two new part-time employees to join the guest relations team were hospitality management graduates. They were recruited with the pre-condition that they can speak and understand the German language. For both of them, it was their first time working for such a large-scale hotel. One of the part-time officers was a single parent, and two employees were also working as part-time employees in different establishments. The two recruits were trained by Annika, one of the Guest Relations officers who has been working in the organization for about 6 years now. Annika started by showing the different facilities in the hotel all by providing information, then taught them how to make reservations for customers with the a-la-carte kiosk and explained about the different software used by the hotel. They were also trained on how to approach guests and ask about the state of their vacations. They were trained for 1 week. During their training period, the new part-time employees displayed engagement, motivation, and involvement in their jobs. However, only 1 month after their appointment and 2 weeks after Ronald’s one, those considerably dropped and were noticed by Ronald, who had been observing these new recruits from their beginnings.

Ronald was able to detect some issues related to the performance of the part-time workforce of his team already during his training period. He attributes this issue first to the fact that these part-time employees are not receiving proper training. Their training took 1 week, and that stopped there. The full-time employees sometimes participated in seminars or events outside the organization to develop personally, while part-time employees were not provided such opportunities. The distinction between full-time and part-time employees was also evident in Grandeur Imperial in almost all departments where part-time employees were found. Although both were performing the same tasks, Ronald noticed that full-time employees felt they have a certain degree of authority over the part-time employees, giving them orders at the time and practicing a sort of discrimination toward those employees. Part-time employees believed that their work status was low compared to their full-time counterparts. Often when they receive feedback, it is for blame and rarely for supportive purposes. They have low satisfaction and low motivation. They feel their contribution to the team is not valued and appreciated, and Ronald believes this may affect their engagement at work. The situation of part-time employees in Grandeur Imperial was terrible and exacerbated by the culture of differentiation between work statuses that was persistent at the hotel. On the one hand, part-time employees were not allowed to have benefits and bonuses. On the other hand, they were feeling substandard to the rest of the workforce, which can account for their lack of collaborative skills in teamwork. Ronald also discovers that not only are they not engaged at work, but they also lack commitment toward the organization. They do the bare minimum at work and believe they do not receive enough supervisor support. Besides, they are not much allowed to take the initiative and are recommended to expect instructions before acting.

Grandeur Imperial started relying more and more on a peripheral workforce when patterns of sustained peak seasons throughout the year were visible. Since peak seasons were quite periodical, the hotel management thought they could make savings by avoiding excess workforce during dip periods. Although this situation had been stable for more than 10 years now, the condition of this peripherical workforce did not change. From the hotel’s perspective, there was no incentive to convert part-time employees into full-time. The management had eventually accommodated this status quo. Nothing was done to remediate issues relative to the part-time workforce, especially since the highest turnover rates are from this part of the workforce. But for Ronald, things had to change. The hotel offered some basic benefits package, including health care insurance, a 401(k) plan, vacation days, and sick days. However, only full-time workers are eligible for these benefits, but not part-time employees. However, practices in other similar hotels were different than in Grandeur Imperial. About 85% of the hotels in the area offer time-off benefits to part-time employees, 35% offered health insurance, and 10% a retirement saving plan.

The Next Step

Ronald wants Grandeur Imperial to be competitive with other hotels in the area in terms of employment and quality of service. It made great sense for him that if the hotel were to continue hiring both full-time and part-time workers, benefits should also be provided to part-time workers. Previous managers have not addressed the issue of part-time employees in Grandeur Imperial properly. However, a range of options is available for Ronald, who wants to improve the situation of part-time employees. But with the current turnover rate, he knows that the measures he wants to implement may not be time-efficient. He wants to implement flexible rewards, such as bonuses that would be paid according to the performance. This would require finding a way to assess results for the part-time employees (compared to full-time employees who are also assessed through the lens of their behavior). He also wants to nurture an open flow of communication and information within his team to develop a culture of mutual support among the members of his team. According to Johanson and Cho (2007), employees perceiving organizational and supervisor support as exceeding their expectations tend to be more committed and engaged toward their organization. To carry out this goal, Ronald plans to solicit feedback from part-time employees to include them in day-to-day decision-making. Ronald is also aware that he cannot have the hotel offer benefits to part-time workers. Still, he wants to compensate for this lack by providing opportunities in terms of development and career. Ronald also wants to implement ongoing training, which will be once each month. Each potential solution presents advantages and disadvantages that need to be considered by Ronald before making a decision.