# Part-time worker hard to find **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 29, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018 "2013-04-29T16:25:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/21 "2013-05-02T00:23:23Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > There are some businesses out there who practice “open scheduling”, meaning that you’re scheduled for when the business needs you, not the other way around. If you can’t abide by that, they’re all too willing to show you the door, and it doesn’t matter if you’re the minimum wage PT person, a FT person, or management. I worked for one of those companies once, a 24/7 call center that scheduled according to “the needs of the business.” It was terrible, and I only took it because I had been out of the workforce for a while and needed a job. I was looking for another job the entire time I was there. I agree with **Deegeea** –if you know what hours are required, post them upfront. People who can’t work afternoons will know not to bother. If it’s the kind of job a student could do, it’ll likely be easier to fill an afternoon slot. Mothers of school-age children will want school hours and need to leave in the early afternoon. People who have open schedules will likely rather work full-time. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/22 "2013-05-02T00:43:49Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > There are some businesses out there who practice “open scheduling”, meaning that you’re scheduled for when the business needs you, not the other way around. If you can’t abide by that, they’re all too willing to show you the door, and it doesn’t matter if you’re the minimum wage PT person, a FT person, or management. Ok, maybe I’m misunderstanding, but _most_ part-time jobs schedule employees for when the business needs them. Retail, restaurants,call centers, even the part-time receptionist at the doctor’s office works when the doctor needs a receptionist. If they happen to have multiple openings with different hours, you might get a choice, but if you want to work 10-3 and they need part-timers from 6-10 and 4-8, you’re out of luck. I’m not sure how “open scheduling” is different. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/23 "2013-05-02T01:14:11Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Ok, maybe I’m misunderstanding, but _most_ part-time jobs schedule employees for when the business needs them. Retail, restaurants,call centers, even the part-time receptionist at the doctor’s office works when the doctor needs a receptionist. If they happen to have multiple openings with different hours, you might get a choice, but if you want to work 10-3 and they need part-timers from 6-10 and 4-8, you’re out of luck. I’m not sure how “open scheduling” is different. I’m guessing that “open scheduling” means you have to be available around the clock with no regular shift. But I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/24 "2013-05-02T01:40:25Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > With so many people out of work, it’s strange that people are unwilling to accept a job. You aren’t the only company this is happening at. My office and another one I deal with are both having the exact same problem. So many people are holding out for a “perfect” job that perfectly good jobs aren’t being filled. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/25 "2013-05-02T02:22:37Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I’m guessing that “open scheduling” means you have to be available around the clock with no regular shift. But I could be wrong. That’s what it meant in my case. Shifts were scheduled by seniority and only two weeks in advance. Imagine trying to schedule something as simple and necessary as a dentist appointment when you had no idea what days or hours you would have off. No one would trade days off with the lowbies because it meant working the shitty hours like split shifts and late evenings. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/26 "2013-05-02T02:39:26Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > My boss, our customer service person, and I went to lunch Friday. CSR is overworked. She can really use some part-time help. In the past, we’ve hired temps; but the new president doesn’t want to spend the money on temps. Apparently, the CSR has interviewed some people to help her out. They all wanted ‘custom schedules’. i.e., schedules that were good for them, but not in line with the needs of the company. One guy asked for a salary of $75,000/year. CSR was like, ‘Yeah, you’re going to make more than I do. I guess you want to spend more time collecting unemployment benefits.’ (She didn’t actually say it to him.) > > With so many people out of work, it’s strange that people are unwilling to accept a job. > > (Our department could use another person too; but our building didn’t sell, so I don’t see that happening.) The desire for “custom schedules” is bound to happen with part-time work. Naturally, anyone looking for part time work is doing so for a reason. They have to work around something. Anyone who would take any hours you offered, no matter how inconvenient, is probably really seeking full time work. And they they have to worry that the part time work might make it tougher to look for a job or something. Or to be available and on call for temp work. In fact, a part-time job would probably rule out temp work. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/27 "2013-05-02T02:44:47Z")
There was some news item about 5-6 years ago where a man who owned a manufacturing company was complaining he could not find qualified workers, and no one wanted to work etc., what has this country come to etc. etc. Only at the end of the article was the note that he was offering $12- $13 an hour for _trained machinists_. He was dumbfounded that a trained machinist did not want to work for this princely wage. In the end almost all “people just don’t want to work” arguments are actually “I don’t want to pay a market wage for the type for the work I demand” statements. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/28 "2013-05-02T03:03:08Z")
> [@astro](#): > > There was some news item about 5-6 years ago where a man who owned a manufacturing company was complaining he could not find qualified workers, and no one wanted to work etc., what has this country come to etc. etc. Only at the end of the article was the note that he was offering $12- $13 an hour for _trained machinists_. He was dumbfounded that a trained machinist did not want to work for this princely wage. > > In the end almost all “people just don’t want to work” arguments are actually “I don’t want to pay a market wage for the type for the work I demand” statements. Just curious: How much do trained machinists make? I saw a story a while back about a call center in an area with very high unemployment, and they had to relocate because they couldn’t get people to work there. My guess is that it was a terrible place to work, and everyone in town knew it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/29 "2013-05-02T03:08:26Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Just curious: How much do trained machinists make? > > I saw a story a while back about a call center in an area with very high unemployment, and they had to relocate because they couldn’t get people to work there. My guess is that it was a terrible place to work, and everyone in town knew it. [Per this](http://voices.yahoo.com/cnc-machinist-salary-training-job-requirements-7986422.html) Experienced machinists start at around 30K and got up to 50K+. $12-$13 per hour is what a machinist in the first year of training might make. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/30 "2013-05-02T04:09:10Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I’m guessing that “open scheduling” means you have to be available around the clock with no regular shift. But I could be wrong. That’s exactly what it means. Your schedule changes weekly. If you regularly need a particular day (or days) off, they’re not guaranteed. Some managers will finagle things so you can get them off, but in exchange you may be taken off the schedule on the days you can work. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/31 "2013-05-02T13:00:55Z")
> [@astro](#): > > In the end almost all “people just don’t want to work” arguments are actually “I don’t want to pay a market wage for the type for the work I demand” statements. The problem with ‘open schedule’ is you can’t have any sort of life outside work because you pretty much can’t plan anything ahead of time because management is rarely willing to work with people. On one of my other message boards dealing with customer service it is amazing the number of people who have managers who refuse to work with employees when it comes to a special need vacation or absence like a funeral. One of the other issues is part time work when it is getting up into the 30+ hour range is effectively screwing people of benefits. Hopefully the US will get its head out of its ass on universal medical benefits soon. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/32 "2013-05-02T13:25:43Z")
> [@astro](#): > > There was some news item about 5-6 years ago where a man who owned a manufacturing company was complaining he could not find qualified workers, and no one wanted to work etc., what has this country come to etc. etc. Only at the end of the article was the note that he was offering $12- $13 an hour for _trained machinists_. He was dumbfounded that a trained machinist did not want to work for this princely wage. > > In the end almost all “people just don’t want to work” arguments are actually “I don’t want to pay a market wage for the type for the work I demand” statements. I don’t know enough about the circumstances in this thread, but I do remember another thread here a year or so ago where someone was looking for experienced software engineers in California for $70K or something and was appalled when people thought the pay should be higher. Or maybe it was a better wage, but the point was it was well within or below the scale of acceptable wages and they were trying to pass it off as God’s gift to the working man, and also trying to pretend that market forces do not apply to the laboring masses. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/33 "2013-05-02T13:31:49Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > Aren’t you in Seattle,\*\* Johnny L.A.\*\*? What’s the job and hours? I talked to my boss yesterday. She is not the one looking for help. Basically, the job is pulling credit reports. It’s an entry-level position. AIUI, a member calls in and asks for a report, or sends an electronic request. The CSR pulls the report and emails it to them. Or, a member calls in with a question, and the CSR looks up the information and answers it. I was under the impression that the job is part-time, but my boss was unclear on that. (As I said, she’s not the person responsible for that position.) She said they needed someone ‘to be available eight-to-five’, and it sounded like a full-time position. I’ll have to ask the person responsible to get the straight dope. I don’t know how much the position pays. I would guess they’d offer what a temp agency pays, or $12 - $15 per hour. I’ll have to find that out. And of course, the president will have to approve hiring a new person. Our last president held the position for 45 years, and the new guy has been here less than a year. Different style. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/34 "2013-05-02T13:33:07Z")
Normally I would suggest you just take a drive down to the local Home Depot or U-Haul and pick up a few day laborers, but that probably wouldn’t work for CSRs. Unless you need Spanish-speaking CSRs. And you’d probably have to go pick them up every day. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/35 "2013-05-02T14:49:13Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I don’t know how much the position pays. I would guess they’d offer what a temp agency pays, or $12 - $15 per hour. Probably a bit less, if you are providing any kind of benefits. Company cost of taxes and benefits make up significant percent of total cost of an employee. Obviously, the employee only sees some of that. That’s why paying $20 hour to a temp agency can be cheaper than paying $12 hour to an employee (YMMV). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/36 "2013-05-02T15:02:22Z")
**Icarus** : Now that you mention it, ISTR hearing many years ago that the cost of the things you mention basically doubles the hourly rate an employer pays an employee. The figure of $25/hour has been the only one I’ve heard in connection with the temp agency we’ve dealt with before. It may indeed be cheaper to go that route, than to hire a person directly. It would also make it easier to ‘let go’ someone who is ‘not a good fit’. In my six years with this non-profit company, I can remember several temp workers who left on their own accord to pursue other opportunities, and only a couple whose contracts were not renewed – and at least three who were hired full-time from temp. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/37 "2013-05-02T15:02:31Z")
> [@astro](#): > > In the end almost all “people just don’t want to work” arguments are actually “I don’t want to pay a market wage for the type for the work I demand” statements. We are offering $15 hr for receptionist and clerical, paid lunch hour, all the tea you can drink, 2 weeks vacation and major holidays. It may not be the sweetest deal on earth, but for someone with no college degree, $600.00 a week to make a good first impression, answer phones, make copies, scan documents and send out FedEx packages is not my idea of Hell on Earth. Next one starts next week. I’m sure we will need another one soon. My friend’s assistant, same thing. Has to book his appointments geographically, 45 minutes apart. That is all they have to do. Every paid appointment he has by 2:00 pm has to be set up in geographic order in 45 minute increments for the next day. I’ve done it for him a couple of times when he was in a pinch. It’s not difficult. You need to be able to read a map, use Google and dial a phone. I’m not sure exactly what he pays, but it is in the $12 to $15 an hr range. Average length of employment working for him is two months. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/38 "2013-05-02T17:32:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Part-time worker hard to find Have you looked in the break room? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/39 "2013-05-02T17:33:06Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Have you looked in the break room? I’m too busy to take breaks! I never leave my desk! ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018/40 "2013-05-02T18:39:38Z")
> [@LurkerInNJ](#): > > We are offering $15 hr for receptionist . Next one starts next week. I’m sure we will need another one soon. > > My friend’s assistant, same thing. Average length of employment working for him is two months. Have you asked those receptionists _why_ they are quitting? And if a formal exit interview doesn’t give you an answer, have you tried asking the other workers ? Office gossip may provide better information–people talk more freely with coworkers than with the boss. Something sounds weird to me. If an employer repeatedly fails to retain employees, maybe the problem isn’t the employee. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-time-worker-hard-to-find/657018.md?page=3)