Different Types in Single Table vs Separate Table for Each Type

[Margarita]

Hello,
I am working in Access 2003. I am creating a budget database that will be used for reporting purposes. There are three types of employees in the company: regular full time, temporary, and contracted workers. Some of the fields which I need to capture for each type of employee will be the same, while some fields will be non-null for only one type of employee. My question is pretty general. I am interested to know which is the most efficient way of setting up: one single Employee table with a field for EmployeeType, or three separate tables for each employee type?

Would having separate tables 'cost' me more in terms of query runs when I start doing reports on this data and having to join tables all the time? Or would it cost me more in terms of memory space to store a bunch of Null fields for employee types for which a particular field is irrelevant? In the long run, what is the most efficient way?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

 

[pbaldy]

I would go with one table with a field for the type. The other is a normalization problem that I don't think would be worth it. You can get around the null field issue by putting those fields in a related table. Employees of the appropriate type would have a record in that table, others would not. I might not bother, depending on the circumstances. Memory/storage isn't the issue it once was.

 

[Margarita]

Thank you Paul. I decided to go about just as you suggested.

 

[pbaldy]

Happy to help.