Under health care reform, employees may choose part-time work
With the changes brought on by the Affordable Care Act, there is a lot of concern that business owners may simply cut their employees hours to avoid paying for health care, and the majority of new positions will be part-time. Under the reform, businesses employing 50 or more full-time-equivalent workers will need to provide health care to employees working more than 30 hours a week, starting Jan. 1, 2014.
The number of part-time employees has been increasing relatively steadily since 2000, well before President Obama introduced health care reform, according to a chart from Bezinga. While the number of workers employed full-time plummeted in 2010 with the recession, it is still trending upwards. Some businesses may cut hours as a result of the act, but the effects may not be as far-reaching as detractors of the bill had predicted.
According to Business Insider, more workers could choose part-time work for themselves, rather than having their hours cut by supervisors. Because of the overall reduced costs of medical coverage, the options in the health care marketplace could potentially be more affordable for certain workers than benefits obtained through the workplace. For employees who sought full-time work mostly for the benefit of health care, part-time work might look like the better option now.
Businesses potentially affected by changes from health care reform should nevertheless stay on top of tracking employee time if they need to avoid paying for health care. Time and attendance software is an essential tool for carefully logging the hours of workers. Even if employees maintain unusual schedules, they could still be considered full-time equivalent and thus contribute to the 50-employee minimum that would required businesses to provide benefits.
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