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Full-time employees usually work an average of 38 hours each week. They're usually employed on a permanent basis or on a fixed term contract.
Full-time employee entitlements
A full-time employee is entitled to paid leave including annual leave and sick and carer’s leave. They're usually entitled to written notice when their employment ends, or payment instead of notice.
The actual hours of work for a full-time employee in a particular job or industry are agreed between the employer and the employee, or they could be set by an award or registered agreement.
Fixed term contract employees
Fixed term contract employees are employed for a specific period of time or task. For example a 6 month contract where employment ends after 6 months.
Fixed term employees are different to permanent employees who are employed on an ongoing basis until the employer or employee ends the employment relationship.
Fixed term contract employees are usually full-time or part-time employees.
Full-time or part-time fixed term employees are generally entitled to the same wages, penalties and leave as permanent employees. An award or registered agreement may provide extra terms and conditions for a fixed term employee.
Changing from full-time to part-time or casual employment
When the employer and the employee agree to change
An employee and an employer may agree to end an employee’s full-time position and change to part-time or casual employment.
When changing from full-time or part-time to casual the usual rules for ending employment apply, including:
- giving or paying the employee the required notice
- paying out leave and any other entitlements owed.
When the employee doesn’t agree to change
An employer may be able to change an employee’s full-time employment to part-time or casual employment without agreement from the employee.
Important factors to consider are:
- Does the employment contract, registered agreement or award let the employer change the employee’s work hours without the employee agreeing?
- Does the change make a new employment contract or change an existing contract?
- What entitlements, such as annual leave or redundancy, need to be paid out?
- How much notice does the employer need to give the employee?
We’re unable to provide advice about employment contracts, including changes to an employee’s hours. You will need to seek legal advice to find out more about your situation.
An employer can’t change or end an employee’s employment:
- for a discriminatory reason
- because the employee has exercised a workplace right
- for another reason protected by law.
Read about Protections at work to find more.
Tools and resources
Related information
Problems can happen in any workplace. If you have a workplace problem, we have tools and information to help you resolve it.
Check out our Fixing a workplace problem section for practical information about:
- working out if there is a problem
- speaking with your employer or employee about fixing the problem
- getting help from us if you can't fix the problem.
noun
British people who do important work in a private or secret way
noun
a woman who is more interested in her career than in being married and having children. People who use this word often think this is a bad thing.
noun
British a worker in charge of a group of other workers, but below a foreman in status
noun
British someone in business who provides goods or services that are of very bad quality
noun
Americaninformal someone who does another person’s job temporarily
noun
someone who earns money by working
noun
someone who is paid regularly to work for a person or an organization
noun
someone who does another person’s work while they are away
noun
mainly American someone who does different jobs in a company as needed
noun
someone who is not permanently employed by a particular company, but sells their services to more than one company
noun
British the people in a company that deal with members of the public
noun
someone who works or studies full-time
noun
someone who goes to a foreign country to work for a period of time
noun
someone who does physical work
noun
British a person who does paid work at home. People who work from home using a computer and phone can be called telecommuters.
noun
formal someone who has an official position
noun
a student, or someone who has recently obtained a degree, who works in a job in order to get experience, often for low or no pay
noun
someone who can do many types of work
noun
informal someone whose work involves the use of a particular object or machine
noun
old-fashioned a worker who has learned a skill and works for a business that belongs to someone else
noun
someone whose job is not very important, especially a young person in their first job
noun
someone who works for an organization who is valuable to it because of the knowledge and ideas that they have
phrase
the right person to do something
noun
a junior worker who works with someone who is more experienced
noun
often humorous someone whose job involves working with numbers. This word often shows that you think this type of work is boring.
noun
someone with an important position in an organization
noun
a person who lives a long way from where they work
noun
a situation in which there are more workers than are needed to do a job or operate a business.
noun
someone who has skills and experience in a number of different areas
noun
informal someone who works in sport, music, or art as a profession, rather than doing it for enjoyment. Pro is a short way of saying professional
noun
mainly Americaninformal someone who makes a lot of money for a business
noun
British someone, especially a woman, who starts working again after a long period of time when they have not worked
noun
informal a man in Japan who works in an office and is paid a salary
noun
someone who is intelligent and confident enough to do a job without regular help and advice from other people
noun
someone who is paid for playing sports, a musical instrument etc but who does not do it as their usual job
noun
American a member of the staff of an organization, for example a newspaper
noun
informal someone who works in an office and wears a suit, especially a senior manager who you dislike because they think only about the financial aspects of a business
noun
informal someone who works well with other people as part of a group
noun
someone who works from home on a computer and sends work to their office over telephone lines by modem or fax
noun
someone who works at home on a computer and communicates with their office or customers by phone or electronically
noun
someone who is training for a particular profession or job
noun
someone who is not paid for the work that they do
noun
someone who receives money for work that they do
noun
informal someone who depends on the money that they earn in their job in order to pay for the things that they need
noun
Indian English someone who is responsible for a particular activity or who does a particular job