He was sixtysomething and newly retired, with time on his hands and an urge to support an expensive golf habit.
So Louis Giosa of Naperville joined the ranks of thousands in Du Page County who participate in the mutually agreeable arrangement of part-time employment.
Giosa`s compatriots include fellow retirees, homemakers and students, whose part-time employment translates into a mutually beneficial arrangement with a myriad of area corporations.
According to Metro Chicago Information Center, a non-profit survey research organization, a study conducted in Du Page County between October and December of 1990 indicated that 23 percent of the respondents were employed in a part-time capacity.
”Too much time and not enough money” for his leisure activities are what pulled Giosa into part-time employment after retiring from his full-time job as a tax collector for the state of Illinois.
”I`m an active guy and missed that contact with people, too,” Giosa said. ”Now I work 16 hours a week in customer relations and I like helping people. Initially I was overwhelmed by the computer, but now, after nine months, I`m comfortable.”
Giosa`s job still leaves him time to exercise three times a week and do his daily wind sprints. It also ”gives me extra spending money and keeps my brain from atrophy,” he said.
Like Giosa, more than 95 percent of his fellow associates at Sears Teleconsumer Resource Center in Downers Grove are part time. And a large number of these are students from nearby DeVry Institute of Technology.
”Our students want to work in jobs that are directly related to the classes they are taking at DeVry,” said Laura Klink, student services adviser at the Lombard campus. ”We look for part-time employment in the community that will benefit both the students and the corporations,” Klink said.
”I`ve had lots of positive feedback from employers such as Motorola, Prudential and United Parcel. Our students learn to organize their time in the workplace. That gives them the discipline to carry out their studies,” she said.
Because DeVry operates year-round, employers know those students will be available even in the summer, Klink said.
More than 90 percent of DeVry students are employed in part-time positions within Du Page County, Klink said, attributing the high percentage to several factors, including budget cuts to financial aid programs and the recession.
”Our students are very lucky. Here in Du Page County we have a thriving need for employment,” Klink said.
Because of factors such as early retirement plans, corporate downsizing, the influx of homemakers into the work force and the growing number of students who are interested in skilled, education-related employment, large and small corporations have adjusted their sights to include this vast resource in filling their needs without depleting their financial resources.
In Du Page County, where the population has increased by more than 100,000 in the past decade and the number of companies employing more than 100 stands at nearly 700, according to the U. S. Bureau of the Census, the supply and demand for part-time employment meets at a comfortable juncture.
The help wanted ads in community newspapers throughout the county provide a barometer of available professional employment for prospective part-timers. The majority of these jobs fall into four general categories: public contact
(sales, market research, human resources, public relations, customer service), financial (banking, insurance, accounting, credit, payroll), medical (health care, nursing, dental, pharmaceutical) and specialty skills
(programming, word processing, drafting, graphic arts, writing, paralegal).
”In 1987 we increased our staff by 50 percent in a six-month period. The major reason we could succeed was good, part-time help,” said Mike Hellyer, human resources manager for Holiday Inn Reservations, Oakbrook Terrace.
”We have been in Du Page County for 17 years. In `88-89, half of our people were part time. Currently, 38 percent of our employees work from 20 to 30 hours weekly,” Hellyer said, adding that some part-timers have been with the company for more than 15 years.
The labor pool Hellyer draws from includes people in their early 20s who are looking for a start in the travel industry.
”We also see a number of people who are already employed full time but need a second income to help when buying a house, for example,” he said.
Hellyer`s part-timers are of particular help during the ”crunch periods,” he said. ”We are open 18 hours a day, and our part-timers help us immensely in the critical times,” he said.
The reservation sales agents at Holiday Inn enjoy a pay scale that Hellyer said is competitive in the industry as well as the same benefits as full-time employees. The real plus, he said, is the half-off accommodations at Holiday Inns nationwide.
”We find that one-third is a good blend of part-time employees. They work well with our full-timers, stepping in to cover for them when needed,”
Hellyer said.
At Naperville`s Wal-Mart, manager Scott Moeslein said, ”A lot of vice presidents started as part-time stock men.”
And with Naperville being one of the fastest-growing communities in the Chicago area, the supply of potential vice presidents is bountiful. Thirty percent of Moeslein`s employees are part time. These employees can participate in an attractive stock purchase plan and, after one year, in Wal-Mart`s profit sharing.
Moeslein acknowledged a high rate of turnover; housewives and retirees stay on board the longest, he said.
”Most part-time associates want to be part time. It suits their lifestyles,” he said.
”I always plan to work part time,” said Judy Kammes of Villa Park, who works three days a week for Oak Brook-based Gevis and Associates, an employment recruiting agency. ”My family comes first. I want to please them and myself at the same time. ”Twenty-five percent of my co-workers are part time.”
With the intention of returning to work part time after being a full-time mom for more than 10 years, Kammes took a word processing class at College of Du Page in Glen Ellyn.
”At first I was overwhelmed and somewhat apprehensive by the high-tech skills I was learning,” she said. But she quickly overcame self-doubts and took the plunge.
”My part-time job offers tremendous variety-every week I have a new assignment. I`ve had six months of on-the-job training and I`m constantly learning. My boss has offered me the chance to participate in profit sharing, and I love the paid holidays,” she said
Kammes said she also likes the idea of being close to home in case of an emergency, and with part-time work ”I have time to finish chores at home and still have weekends for leisure with my husband and children.”
Thousands of part-time employees also find work on a temporary basis.
Tony Zahn, vice president and regional manager for Kelly Temporary Services in Oak Brook, said, ”Seventy-five percent of our clients require temporaries with office automation skills. We do lots of training,
particularly in word processing,” he said.
With four offices in Du Page County, Kelly trainers, two of whom are also part time, must keep up-to-date on a constant flow of new software packages.
In 1990, Kelly offered two $1,000 scholarships to student recruits as an incentive. Zahn said the company hopes to continue offering the incentive.
”The supply of part-time temporaries dwindles in August,” Zahn said,
”when moms are getting the kids ready and students are going back to school. But things pick up and our third and fourth quarters are the best.”
For the employers who reach out to part-time help, they can count on the maturity and experience of retirees and homemakers as well as the aggressive, technological know-how of college students to keep up with industry demands while controlling costs.
For the part-time employee, the payoff is in flexible hours, up-to-date training and freedom from the grind of a 40-plus-hour-a-week job.
