Last week’s BLS report has focused attention on the boom in temporary and part-time employees.
Of the jobs “created” since March, about 1 million of them are part-timers.
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Why part-timers?
Two basic reasons:
(1) companies are trying to stay flexible in the face of uncertain demand, and …
(2) companies are bracing for the certain impact of regulation … especially ObamaCare.
More specifically, according to the Orlando Sentinel …
In an experiment apparently aimed at keeping down the cost of health-care reform, Orlando-based Darden Restaurants has stopped offering full-time schedules to many hourly workers in at least a few Olive Gardens, Red Lobsters and LongHorn Steakhouses.
In a statement, Darden said staffing changes are “just one of the many things we are evaluating to help us address the cost implications health care reform will have on our business.”
Analysts say many other companies, including the White Castle hamburger chain, are considering employing fewer full-timers because of key features of the Affordable Care Act scheduled to go into effect in 2014.
Under that law, large companies must provide affordable health insurance to employees working an average of at least 30 hours per week.
If they do not, the companies can face fines of up to $3,000 for each employee.
Under the system Darden is testing, employees are to be scheduled for no more than 28 hours each week.
They can run over that if things get busy, but Darden acknowledged they are not supposed to exceed 30 hours.
“I think a lot of those employers, especially restaurants, are just going to ensure nobody gets scheduled more than 30 hours a week,” said Matthew Snook, partner with human-resources consulting company Mercer.
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I guess the part-timer boom is an unintended consequence … but it sure should have been an anticipated consequence, for sure.
Maybe, if you’ve never worked in a business, you don’t know how businesses behave.
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