Dive Brief:
- A survey by Deputy, a cloud-based mobile workforce management platform, found the top challenges for U.S. businesses employing hourly workers were employee retention (24%), managing profit margins (30%) and customer service (23%), Business Wire reports.
- The survey also revealed that 56% of businesses don't fully understand the shifts in labor and healthcare laws, although respondents said the least important challenge for their businesses was keeping up with changing laws (5%), says Business Wire. In other survey results, only 56% of respondents feel confident about attracting the best talent and 44% expect business growth of more than 25% by the end of the year.
- Survey respondents cited a growing hourly workplace of largely young workers as another major challenge.
Dive Insight:
Part-time employees, along with independent contractors, freelancers and temporary workers known as the gig economy, are making up a growing share of the workforce. As a result, many employers are conflicted about how to classify workers in compliance with labor laws. There were some noteworthy contradictions in Deputy's survey results tied to a lack of understanding about employment laws and healthcare and a surprisingly low priority level for filling that knowledge gap.
Employers might think keeping up on shifts in employment and healthcare mandates isn't important, but they risk facing government penalties or workers' lawsuits for not complying.
Turnover is historically high among hourly part-time workers, especially in the healthcare, food services, hospitality, retail and entertainment industries. Employers must continue to find ways to engage part-time workers while remaining profitable through technology-based training, benefit incentives, talent pipelines and development.