You might have better luck with part-timers

Part-time employees in non-managerial roles are more satisfied with their employers when compared to full-time staff.

In the second edition of David Sirota and Douglas Klein’s book, The Enthusiastic Employee, 78% of part-timers were found to be happier with their bosses, compared to 74% of full-timers.

“This finding may be surprising to some people because one would expect full-timers to be more engaged than those doing part-time work. Our measure of employee satisfaction is roughly equivalent to engagement in their jobs,” the book said.

The authors also found 80% of part-time employees were happy with the amount of work expected of them, higher than 69% of full-timers. Additionally, their research also found, unsurprisingly, part-timers were more satisfied with their work-life balance (81% versus 73%) and fairness in pay (61% versus 52%).

However, the disparity gap was narrower when it came to the employee job satisfaction. An equal amount of full-timers and part-timers (81%) said they were motivated to go beyond what is expected of them on the job, while 78% of part-timers and 77% of full-timers were satisfied with their jobs, and 83% of part-timers and 82% of full-timers were proud of their employers.

“How employees are treated matters much more than whether they are full- or part-time workers,” the authors wrote.

“Well-treated employees, regardless of their employment status, are motivated workers. They become demotivated only when they see their part-time status to be the result of a management action that is needless and unfair.”