5 Part-Time Jobs with Health Insurance & Benefits in 2024

Part-time jobs don’t always equate to zero benefits. There are plenty of part-time jobs out there that offer surprisingly good health insurance and benefit plans. You just have to know where to look. Why is it to your benefit to know which part-time jobs have benefits? Life happens. Jobs get downsized, life gets busy with kids or health issues, you may choose to retire early but don’t want to foot the bill for health care, or you may decide to go back to school.




Sometimes, as my wife has done, it makes sense to actually choose part time vs. full time.

Industries that Offer Good Part-Time Benefits

To make some broad generalizations, the following industries tend to offer pretty good part-time benefit programs:

  • health care
  • unionized blue collar
  • army/military
  • state/federal/municipal governments
  • retail (non food-service)

I’m going to highlight a few national employers to consider. Note that not all health insurance or retirement plans are created equal. Just because you may be eligible for health insurance, does not mean you will have a free ride. All of these employers will have slightly different plans that will require varying premium coverage by you. It pays to research extensively beforehand.

That being said, some of the benefits offered by these employers are quite generous and fairly surprising.

If all else fails, part-time workers who do not receive health benefits are eligible for insurance through the health insurance exchanges – and could be eligible for subsidies. The Affordable Care Act is a big victory for part-timers.

Starbucks

Starbucks benefits usually get mentioned in any part-time benefit discussion. And for good reason. Benefits include:




  • Medical, dental, and vision plan for you and your dependents, including domestic partners.
  • Health care and dependent care reimbursement accounts.
  • A 401K match (100% match on first 5% of eligible pay).
  • Life Insurance: automatic + voluntary supplemental life insurance
  • Vacation, holiday (7 days), and sick time.
  • Parental leave.
  • Up to $10,000 for adoptions.
  • Short and long-term disability.
  • A pound of coffee or tea per week.
  • Discounted stock (5% discount).
  • Free college tuition through Arizona State University towards a Bachelor’s degree!

According to Starbucks, you establish initial benefits eligibility the first day of the second month after receiving at least 240 total hours over three full, consecutive months (averaging about 20 hours per week).

Kudos to Starbucks for offering such a great benefits package for part-timers. They’ll need to keep improving those benefits with all of the Starbuck employees that have voted to unionize.

Trader Joe’s

Part-time “Crew Members” are eligible for medical, dental and vision coverage at a cost as low as $25 per month, and a 10% annual salary contribution to a 401K retirement plan after meeting the eligibility requirements. Members accrue 5-to-10 paid time off days per year. Most Crew Members qualify after a couple of months, according to Trader Joe’s career page.

part time health insurance benefits




However, one should be aware that ‘part-time’ can be up to 40 hours per week. I still haven’t seen a sad Trader Joe employee.

Trader Joe’s employees are also paid very well. According to employee surveys at Indeed, crew member wages at Trader Joe’s average $17.70/hour, but can go up to $26/hour.

Employees also get a 401K, up to a 20% Trader Joe’s store discount, and other nice perks.

REI

Want to spend a lot of time hiking and biking and less working? With REI, you can. Employees averaging 20 hours or more per week are eligible for the REI Flex Plan. REI pays for the majority of employees’ medical plan cost and the full cost for basic life and disability coverage. Employees can choose from several medical plans for themselves and their dependents, as well as life insurance and disability plans.

REI benefits also include:

  • 50% off gear (a big one for me).
  • Vacation, PTO, and 8 paid holidays.
  • Family and medical leave.
  • $3,000 adoption assistance.
  • Up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year.
  • 4 week paid sabbatical at 15 years.
  • A retirement contribution of 5% of earnings and up to an additional 10% depending upon company profitability. Employees are not required to contribute their own pay in order to receive the REI contribution.
  • tuition reimbursement.

Hmm… note to self: live near an REI in retirement.

Fedex/DHL/UPS

The shipping carriers don’t readily supply full details of their benefits on their website or the qualifications to receive them, but their reputation is well earned.

Fedex, DHL, and UPS each offer medical, dental, vision, and a 401K.

UPS, in particular, also offers vacation, stock purchase incentives, and a defined benefit pension.

The great part? They offer this to all employees, not just full-timers.

Note with FedEx that their ground shippers are considered independent contractors and don’t receive company benefits.

Lowe’s

Lowe’s benefits are the same for part-timers as they are full full-timers and you are eligible immediately. Those benefits include:

  • limited health insurance, vision, and dental
  • life and disability insurance
  • flexible spending and health savings accounts
  • paid time off, vacation, and sick time
  • 6 paid holidays
  • discounted employee stock purchase plan (15% off)
  • 10% discount on merchandise
  • 401K match up to 6% (100% on first 3%, 50% on next 2%, 25% on next 1%)

You can get some great benefits all while beefing up on useful Bob Vila superpowers. Win-win.

Just be sure to wear some really good shoes, you’ll be standing on concrete all day long.

Part-Time Jobs with Benefits Discussion:

  • What other part-time jobs have great health insurance and other benefits? Share the details!
  • Have you stayed on part-time with one of these employers because the benefits were so great?

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