According to Bastelaer (1997), there is no clear definition of a part time job. This is because definitions of part time job are based on either threshold hours or the assessment on the nature of the job, or a combination of the two. Further, threshold number of hours have not been specific, some consider the threshold number of hours to be thirty and others consider the threshold number of hours to be thirty five (Bastelaer 23).
On the other hand, part time work may be defined according to industrial instrument. In this case, part time work is defined as that work that requires an employee to work at specified hours, which may appear as a regular pattern. In line with this, the work becomes predictable, and one can tell when one is required to be working and when he or she not required working (Doyle 6).
According to Allport, attitude can be defined as ‘a mental or neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence on the individual’s response to all objects and situations to which is related’ (Allport 82). Ones attitude plays a vital role in determining his or her personality. Attitude refers to person’s emotions and behavior (Jeffrey 32). One's behavior and emotions can be affected by the influence of the parents during childhood period or social interactions with the environment.
Environment here may mean social interactions with other individuals or physical objects. Through this, a person may either positive or negative attitude towards a situation. For instance, one may have either negative attitude towards work or positive attitude towards work. For someone to have negative or positive attitude towards work, he or she has to interact with the environs of that work. People develop either positive or negative attitude towards work at an acutely tender age, and this occurs when they are still in school.
In many institutions of higher learning, especially in developed countries, there are a large number of students who engage in a certain type of work. This shows that young population is engaged in working at an unusually early age which may affect their attitude towards the work that they do.
As a result, their attitude may be influenced negatively or positively towards the work that they undertake. This may affect students experience and may even affect the performance in school either negatively or positively.
Students have a number of reasons as to why they engage in part time employment. In this world, any person who wants to be independent has to look for an occupation. The same case applies to students who may try to be independent at that age. Some of the students may feel that it is their obligation to fund for their bills and pay their school fees. This prompts students to move out of their school environs in order to get a job that may cater for their needs. A study conducted by Lyn Robinson (1999) on ‘effects of part time work on school students’, indicated that students did not work simply because of money, but they wanted to be independent and they believed that the experience that they will get from the part time work, will be of significance when looking for employment.
The study showed that students from poor families especially those that were receiving ‘means-test Austudy allowance’, engaged in part time employment solely in order for them have their basic needs and pay their school fees (Robinson 5). When the students are financially independent, they are likely to be happy because they have money that caters for their social life.
Information from relevant authorities indicates that a higher number of students are involved in part time employment when they are in session. For instance, the United States Youth Development study showed that 8% of the students in the session were not involved in part time employment (Mortiner 8). From this study, it shows that 92% of the students engaged in part time employment. This shows that there is a feeling among youths that drives them in working while they are studying. The main reason is to have money because what they will have been given by their parents is not enough for them. As a result, they look for other means of getting money. The additional money caters mostly for their social life and payments of school fees if their parents or guardians are not able to pay for them.
According to a study conducted in Japan, it was seen that 90% of the University students have an experience of part time work. They engaged in part time work so that they can be exposed in the fields that they intend to work in after they graduate (Tomiki 38). The youths felt that when they engage in part time work they will be at a better position in developing their careers hence increasing their employability.
Apart from financial gains, students involved in part time employment think that they will be more responsible in managing their time and money. The job enables them to determine their priorities well and this makes them have a sense of responsibility. In addition, students who engage in part time work are able to explore their career, and as a result, their skills are developed. They get an understanding of the work environment, and they are able to tackle the challenges that may be encountered while at work. Students who involved themselves in part time jobs had skills required in tackling those challenges compared to those that did not have part time jobs.
Tomiki (2012) affirms that students who engage themselves in part-time employment for the reason of either raising an additional income to meet their basic needs or developing their careers are likely to have a positive attitude at their workplaces. According to Tomiki (2012), the latter are keen on job security, and are therefore likely to embrace the values of the organizations foe which they work. For the former, Tomiki (2012) asserts that they are interested in developing their career paths and thus assume more responsibilities at their workplaces with a view to developing employable traits in respective professions.
A number of youths focus on the positives impacts of engaging in part time jobs ultimately forgetting the negative impacts that may arise from engaging themselves in part time employment. Many youths have found themselves failing to attend to their academic work due to diverted attention. They take most of a lot of time thinking about their part time work and less time is allocated for academics. This eventually leads to poor performance in schools and they fail to achieve their academic objectives. Consequently, it may result to poor relation between parents and their children. Parents may think that their children do not understand the importance of education and their resources are being wasted.
Students who fail to achieve their academic objective may opt to drop out of schools and continue with their part time employment. This may lead to an immense loss both to the student and parents. The student may fail to satisfy his or her employer in the long run hence becoming redundant to the organization. This is detrimental because the future of a student may be doomed.
A variety of studies have shown that part time employment for students, negatively impact to their studies. Working part time undoubtedly reduces the time for studies. It was noticed that balancing time for studies and time for part time job proved to be difficult to some of the students. They develop stress gradually due to pressure coming from both sides and this led to some of them having a detrimental effect on their mental health as well as physical health (Barron 43).
Psychological disturbance arises when the student fails to accomplish the expectations of the employer and the expectation of the parents back at home. This disturbance develops gradually and eventually results into stress, which if not managed early it may lead to depression. Physical health effects emanates from psychological disturbance. When one is disturbed psychologically he or she is likely to loss of appetite hence one can be weak. Similarly, stress can result to one being violent for no good reason. This may result to fighting hence resulting to injuries.
A study conducted in US and Australia shown that twenty percent of young people aged between fifteen to nineteen years were not attending full time studies. In fact, thirty three percent were involved in part time employment. It was revealed that eighty six percent of the thirty three percent were likely to drop from their studies. This was for students who worked for more than five hours per week (Patton 10).
Most of the organizations offering part time employment do not allow students to manage the affairs of the organization at a high level. The students are given clerical work, they attend customers in hotels, they work as receptionist and in case of production industries they are assigned manual work. In addition, student workers are not involved in decision making hence one cannot have the skills of coming up with rational decisions (David 67).
Recently, studies have shown that the number of students seeking part time employment had increased drastically from 45% in 1990 to 67% in 2011(Richardson 8). The increase was as a result of companies and institutions preferring part time employment rather than full time employment. Companies and institutions have realized that part time employment is cost effective since workers under part time employment are paid according to the number of hours and not piece rate basis. On the other hand, students have realized that there is high demand for their services.
They take it as an opportunity to raise money for paying fees and their social needs. This can be termed as exploitation of employees because companies and institutional do not pay part time employees according to their output, but the number of hours taken during the work. Employers should take into consideration that students working as part time employees, are part of the company’s workforce. Full time employees have their rights and privileges. Therefore, part time employees have the same rights and privileges (Byrka 11).
The hard economic times, students have opted to look for alternatives of getting something on top of what they get from other sources. This has been witnessed in developed countries as well as developing countries. International students face a lot of challenges when trying to adapt to their new environment. As a result, they find themselves in working places as part time employees. Their main aim is not to get money but, to interact with the local people and learn their culture (Magali 52). According to Arnaud, students from foreign countries who engage in part time work, learn remarkably fast foreign languages as compared to those that do not involve themselves in part time work.
Part time employment among the students both vocational and full time students can be regarded as beneficial to some extent, because it has a positive impact. It has been shown that, positive impacts have contributed a lot to the lives of the students both in school and after school. Many students are able to raise school fees; they are able to cater for their social needs, they gain experience as they undertake their duties and they acquire knowledge in different fields.
Experience in any field is realized when one is exposed in a practical world, part time jobs offer this opportunity to the students at a tender age. In line with this, students are exposed to various fields ranging from manufacturing to management. Working on part-time basis enlightens students on the right careers to choose, which means they can start pursuing selected careers at a tender age. This will not only minimize students choosing wrong careers, but also it will help the institutions at large, to offer the right courses and training to the students (Robert 32).
Apart from making the right choice of career, students can either develop a positive attitude or negative attitude towards certain careers. This is because the environment in which they will be working may influence their emotions towards certain careers. As stated earlier emotions determine the attitude of an individual and if emotions are influenced negatively, then the student will eventually develop a negative attitude towards the assigned work (Anna 95).
In some countries, school students below eighteen years are not supposed to be employed by an individual or any organization. If an individual employs such a person, he/ she can be charged in a court of law as any other person who violates the law. It is against the laws of that country to employ adolescents. In such a situation, students who have problems raising funds for their up keep may face a difficult time trying to tackle issues in their lives. On the other hand, studies have shown that employing adolescents, whether on full-time or part-time basis, may result to negative impacts to their lives. When adolescents get money, they may not be able to manage their finances well. Some may engage in drug abuse such as drinking and smoking, hence leading to a ruined future life (Peter 8). A person who has engaged in abusing drugs at an extremely tender age may develop strong urge to maintain this habit, which may lead to one being dependent on drugs for the rest of their lives.
In conclusion, part time employments should be viewed in all dimensions and not putting more weight on one side than the other. Both negative and positive impacts of engaging in part time jobs should be taken into consideration before one is involved in part time employment. Although, there are various reasons why seek part-time employment, the main reason why students engage in part-time jobs while in campus is mainly to raise additional income, either to pay for their tuition fees or to cater for their upkeep while studying.
With regard to work attitude, part-time employment certainly helps students improve their attitude towards work. This is because most of these students are often keen on impressing their boss with a view to keeping their job, which guarantees a steady source of income. Some are eager to develop their careers hence are naturally willing to take up responsibilities in their workplaces in order to develop desirable traits such as leadership and team working abilities..
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