What is Employment Status? Meaning, Types and Importance (2024)

What is an Employment status?

An employment status refers to the rights and protections that employees are entitled to at work. The employment status determines the responsibilities that an employer owes to the employee. Whenever an employer hires new personnel, it is up to them to decide what type of employment status they are hiring under.

What are the types of Employment status?

There are three types of employment status:

1. Worker

The ‘worker’ is the most casual among the three types of employment status. A person can be described as a worker if:

  • They have an arrangement to perform their services
  • They have to show up for work even if they don’t want to
  • They cannot subcontract their work out to other people
  • They aren’t performing the work as a limited company

2. Employee

A person that falls under the “employee” employment status is one who works under a contract of employment. An employee is provided all the protections of a worker, but with additional employment rights and protections. A person is regarded as an employee if:

  • They have a contract of employment
  • They are generally required to work regularly unless they are on some type of leave
  • They receive paid holiday
  • They are subject to redundancy procedures
  • They are also required to work a minimum number of hours and can’t subcontract another to do their work for them.

3. Self-employed

A self-employed person runs their own business for themselves and are singularly responsible for its success. Unlike employees that enjoy employment rights, the self-employed are not protected by similar safeguards. A person is considered to be self-employed if:

  • They don’t get a holiday or sick pay when they are not working
  • They give out ‘quotes’ for their work
  • They submit invoices once their work is done
  • They have a contract with their client which will determine their obligations and the payment that they receive for that work.

What is Employment Status? Meaning, Types and Importance (1)

Is determining employment status important?

The employment status an employer chooses will determine their relationship with their employee. They must choose one that will best describe the manner in which they are going to work together.

Choosing the wrong type of employment status may lead to problems further in the future. For instance, if a small business offers more employment security than it can afford, the business may find itself with fewer hands at critical moments because employers won’t be able to rely on the team when they need them.

What employment status should you hire for your business?

Before an employer selects the right employment status for its new hire, they first need to determine the kind of work they need them to do. The different types of employment status provide different offerings to employers. And the different statuses also creates a varied dynamic between employer and employee.

  • The ‘worker’ employment status is a very flexible one. An employer cannot coerce the worker into accepting any they are offered, but neither are they obliged to offer the employment protections of a fully-regarded employee.
  • The ‘employee’ employment status offers more stability. The contract offers a security to the employer that they can rely on the employee in fulfilling their duties. But, they need to offer this in exchange for a more secure employment package for the employee.
  • The ‘self-employed’ employment status offers the employee the most freedom and flexibility, but they aren’t protected by any employment rights. They would be a great option for companies that require help on a single project.
What is Employment Status? Meaning, Types and Importance (2024)

FAQs

What is Employment Status? Meaning, Types and Importance? ›

What is an employment status? A person's employment status is what defines the rights and employment protections they are entitled to at work, and therefore dictates the responsibilities that an employer owes to that employee.

What is your employment status meaning? ›

Employment status defines a current or former employee's relationship with the organization they work for. An individual's employment status usually reveals important information about how the relationship functions, including how much time the individual works each week and whether the employer withholds income taxes.

What are the different types of employment status? ›

In California, an individual performing services may be a statutory employee, an employee under the ABC test, or an employee under the Borello test. The individual can also be an employee exempt from Unemployment Insurance or Disability Insurance coverage, or an independent contractor.

What does employment type mean? ›

What is an Employee Type? Employee type refers to the different kinds of employees that an organization might hire or contract for employment. There are several varieties of employees, including full-time, part-time, and temporary, with legal obligations and regulations that apply to each.

What does employee status mean? ›

Employment status is the kind of work that an employee and an employer agree to when a work contract is signed and agreed upon. It sets the basic parameters of what type of employee the employee is being hired to be. These statuses include labels like full-time, part-time, or seasonal worker.

What is the full employment status? ›

Full employment refers to a situation in which all available labour resources in an economy are being used, and there is no significant surplus of unemployed workers. In other words, everyone who wants to work has a job, and employers are unable to find additional workers to fill open positions.

What does job status mean? ›

A job status tells you where the job is in the hiring process—whether a hiring agency is accepting applications, reviewing applications, has completed the hiring process, or canceled the job.

What is your employment classification? ›

Employment classifications allow companies to compensate workers according to the duties, responsibilities and difficulty of their roles. It is also important for benefits and company policies.

Which type of employment is defined as employment? ›

work may apply to any purposeful activity whether remunerative or not. employment implies work for which one has been engaged and is being paid by an employer. occupation implies work in which one engages regularly especially as a result of training.

How do you classify job types? ›

How To Create Your Job Classification System
  1. Identify Organizational Goals and Values. Before you can classify jobs, you need to have clearly defined organizational goals and values. ...
  2. Establish Job Categories. ...
  3. Develop a List of Standards for Each Job Category. ...
  4. Rank Jobs Into a Hierarchy. ...
  5. Link Ranked Jobs to Pay Scale.

What is the employee status code? ›

Employment Status (06/ES)
  • Blank: Full-time Regular.
  • 1: Full-time Temporary.
  • 2: Part-time Temporary.
  • 3: Part-time Regular.
  • 4: Seasonal.
  • 5: Summer Intern.

What is the meaning of workplace status? ›

As such, we define workplace status as an employee's relative standing in an. organization, as characterized by the respect, prominence, and prestige he or she possesses in. the eyes of other organizational members.

What is an example of employment? ›

For example, employment can be: An hourly part-time job that is paid for a certain amount for each hour they worked. Full-time employment in which individuals receive a salary and benefits from an employer for performing the tasks or work assigned to then that is required by a particular position.

What is your employment mean? ›

em·​ploy·​ment. 1. : an activity or service performed for another especially for compensation or as an occupation. 2. : the act of employing : the state of being employed.

What is employment status code? ›

You use employment status codes to specify an employee's status within the company. You can change the default codes or set up new codes to meet the needs of your company.

What does the work number employment status mean? ›

The Work Number is an employment and income verification service used by The State of California. This service can be used by lenders, property managers, pre- employment screeners, social service agencies, and others who need to verify someone's employment status or income.

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