With the upcoming changes to health-care benefits mandated by the Affordable Care Act, finding part-time jobs with benefits might seem like an impossible undertaking.
After all, many big-name businesses such as Papa John’s have indicated that owners and franchisees will have no economic choice but to reduce employee hours to below the 30-hour per week threshold for offering health insurance mandated by the ACA.
Still, the following 20 employers offer part-time jobs with benefits to employees, leaving you free to live your life, rather than worrying about health care costs.
20 Part-Time Jobs with Benefits
1. Aerotek–This national temp agency offers generous medical benefits to its contracted workers who put in at least 20 hours per week. Medical benefits include dental and vision coverage, and spouses and dependent children are also eligible for the insurance. For a part-timer who needs health coverage for other family members, this would be an excellent employer to join. Check out Aerotek’s benefits page.
2. Costco—Coming to work at one of the Costco Warehouse stores can be a great move, benefits-wise. Part-time employees who average 20 hours per week are eligible for the health benefit plan, as well as a basic dental care plan after 180 days of employment. In addition, most Costco stores have both pharmacies and vision centers, which means employees can use their vision care and drug benefits right at work—and copays on generic drugs can be as low as $5. See Costco’s benefits page for more information.
3. 5/3 Bank—The banking giant offers fairly generous benefits to part-time employees who put in more than 20 hours per week. These benefits include health, dental, vision, and life insurance, all available to employees after an initial 30-day waiting period. In addition, part-timers are also eligible for “Benefit Choice Dollars”—an additional cash compensation equal to 4% of benefits salary that can be used to offset the cost of elected benefits. Read more about Fifth Third’s benefits.
4. Home Depot—Part-time employees working at this home improvement retailer are eligible for medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as short-term disability and life insurance. Learn more about Home Depot’s benefits.
5. JCPenney–This department store considers anyone who works less than 35 hours a week to be part-time.
(Please note: According to the rules of the Affordable Care Act, employees working over 30 hours/week are considered full time and therefore eligible for health insurance. As of 2014, JC Penney will no longer be able to consider these employees part-time).
These workers are eligible for medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance. See the JCPenney careers page.
6. JP Morgan Chase–This enormous multinational bank is remarkably generous with its part-time employees, starting with the easy-to-meet eligibility requirements: part-time employees for JP Morgan Chase only need to work between 20 and 40 hours per week in order to qualify for benefits, and those benefits are available starting 90 days after the date of hire. The benefits include medical, dental, and vision, use of flexible spending accounts, disability and life insurance, and a 401(k). In addition, after one year of service, all employees may take part in the JP Morgan Chase retirement plan, becoming 100% vested after three years of service. This is truly a bank that wants to take care of its employees. See Chase careers.
7. Kaplan–This educational company was once only known for test preparation, but it offers many different career opportunities for a part-timer–from teaching and tutoring to customer service and marketing, from publishing and academic administration to technology and management. While Kaplan’s part-timers are not offered the same benefits as its full-time employees, you are still eligible for a limited medical and dental plan, as well as paid time off, commuter benefits and access to a flexible spending account. Check out Kaplan benefits and perks.
8. Lands’ End–This socially responsible retailer provides part-time employees with dental, vision, and life insurance, as well as retirement plans. Though it does not offer medical insurance to part-timers, those who work at the Wisconsin headquarters have access to the medical clinic on site. Also, a generous discount at both Lands’ End and Sears is a major perk for employees. See Lands’ End job benefits page.
9. Lowes–The home improvement giant gives its part-time employees access to health, vision, dental, disability and life insurance plans. The health plan is a limited care plan, so it may not cover all the medical needs you may have. However, Lowes also provides vacation accrual for part-timers, as well as 401(k). See Lowes career site.
10. Nike—Part-time employees working for Nike are eligible for medical, dental, and vision insurance after one year of employment. However, the part-timers have to pay the full price of the benefit, rather than having Nike subsidize their insurance. This means that part-time employees get to take advantage of the lower rate available to an employer, but they will still be paying for the coverage themselves. However, Nike does offer 401k, stock purchase plans, and flexible spending accounts to part-timers. Check out Nike’s benefits summary.
11. Nordstrom–The department store that has made its name by going above-and-beyond for its customers also takes care of its employees. The company offers medical/dental/vision coverage for any employee who works at least 129 hours per month-which works out to about 33 hours per week.
(Note, this is above the hour threshold for the ACA, which means those employees will be eligible anyway as of 2014).
In addition, Nordstrom workers are eligible for a 20%-33% discount, depending upon your role in the company and where you are shopping with that discount. View the Nordstom benefits page.
12. REI–A truly worker-friendly company, the outdoor gear retailer provides benefits for employees who work less than 20 hours a week. These benefits include a part-time health plan, as well as dental, life and disability plans, in addition to incentive pay and a retirement and profit sharing plan. Being a weekend warrior at this store can really pay off. See REI jobs.
13. Staples—The office supply store really does try to make things easy, even for its part-time employees. After 90 days of service, all part-time associates are eligible for a limited medical coverage. According to the Staples benefits page, the employee contribution is a very reasonable $20.96 per paycheck.
14. Starbucks–Becoming a part-time barista at one of the over 16,000 Starbucks locations in the world will not only score you a free pound of coffee per week, but it will also provide you with medical, dental, life and disability insurance. Employees only need to work 240 hours quarterly (just about 20 hours per week) to be eligible. See more about Starbucks benefits.
15. Target–If a red tee shirt is in your part-time future, you will also benefit from a health and dental plan from this chain. An added bonus: your employee discount is good toward your out-of-pocket cost for prescriptions if you fill them in the store. Finally, the company provides a life resources hotline for all employees with access to confidential counseling and support. See Target’s corporate careers site.
16. Trader Joe’s–This quirky grocery chain offers medical, dental and vision to part-time employees, as well as paid time off and retirement. One caveat: according to the Trader Joe’s website, part-time is “up to 40 hours per week.”
(This definition of part time will, of course, have to change once the ACA’s rules are fully in effect as of 2014.)
For more information about jobs with Trader Joe’s, see their careers page.
17. U-Haul–The moving and storage company offers several benefits to part-timers, including a limited-care medical plan, dental insurance, travel insurance, U-Haul discounts, and a 401(k). In addition, the fine print states that (discretionary) Thanksgiving turkeys may be available to employees-although it does not specify if that particular perk is available to part-timers. See U-Haul’s benefits page.
18. UPS–In many ways, the United Parcel Service is the ultimate part-time opportunity. Not only does the company regularly hire for seasonal and part-time work, it also offers full benefits to those employees, which in addition to medical and dental coverage also includes tuition assistance. This could be an ideal job for a college student. See the UPS benefits page.
19. Wegmans–This grocery chain is only located in the northeast, but it is a great place to work part-time. The medical insurance for part-time employees includes a prescription plan, and as an employee you are eligible for discounts at health clubs, as well. Holiday pay and 401(k) round out a nice benefits package for part-time employees. See Wegmans job site.
20. Whole Foods Market–The go-to supermarket for natural and organic foods is regularly listed among the 100 best companies to work for, and the benefits package is part of this ranking. Whole Foods offers all employees medical, dental and vision coverage after 400 hours of service-about five months of work at 20 hours per week. In addition, that 400-hour threshold also makes you eligible for life and disability insurance, as well as access to a flexible spending account. One caveat, however: apparently the deductible for the health insurance offered through Whole Foods is over $1500. See Whole Foods’ benefits page.
Do you work a part-time job just to get the benefits? Know of any other part-time jobs with benefits to add to the list?
We sourced this content using AOL’s article, “Companies That Give Benefits to Part-Timers.” Additionally, for the 2012 and 2013 iterations, we also used this post from Free Money Wisdom to find additional employers, as well as this post from Money Crashers and this one from ABC.
In some cases (i.e. Nordstrom) we were in touch with their PR departments to get the specific information that was not listed online. Also, we got the information about Whole Foods’ deductible at from this employee review at Glass Door.
Finally, we never heard back from these PR departments: FedEx, WalMart, Safeway, and Macy’s. The information we were able to find on those three employers was not clear enough for us to feel comfortable including them without getting the skinny from the company itself.
About Emily Guy Birken
Hi, I'm Philip Taylor. I'm a husband, father, blogger, and entrepreneur. I love learning to do more with my money and sharing it all here with you. Join in on the conversation and start improving your financial life today. 