There and Back Again – The Performance Evaluation Effects of Going to and Returning from Part-Time Status

Using data from a Big 4 professional services firm, I examine the performance evaluation score penalties associated with part-time working arrangements. First, I establish that performance evaluation scores (1) suffer for employees working part-time, and (2) rebound when part-timers return to full-time status. Prior research suggests that some of this penalty is attributable to supervisors’ heuristics creating a bias against part-timers, who supervisors often assume are less committed employees. I find that these performance evaluation score penalties are minimized and rebounds are maximized when supervisors have better information about part-time workers’ quality (i.e., when part-timers work on smaller teams or have long tenures in their role), perhaps because in these settings supervisors are less likely to rely on negatively biased heuristics relating to part-time workers. I also establish the importance of performance evaluation scores to part-timers, as relative to full-timers, part-timers’ bonuses perhaps rely more on performance evaluation scores (in line with an availability bias). Together, these findings shed light on strategies that can ease work-life conflicts for employees, as well as help employers better deploy human resources and evaluate employee performance.