Emerging nonstandard employment relations and implications for human resource management functions in Nigeria

Abstract

The issue of nonstandard employment relations has become very common in most work organizations as a result of globalization and volatile labour market situation in Nigeria. However, the implications of the prevalence of this phenomenon on core human resource management (HRM) functions in organizations are rarely investigated by the industrial sociologists. Conceptualizing nonstandard work within the context of casual, contract and outsourced work, the paper argues that this form of employment relations has been exacerbated by the growing incidence of youth unemployment in Nigeria. Anchoring the theoretical framework of nonstandard employment relations on neo-liberalism, the paper further contended that most organizations are using this mode of employment to reduce labour cost so as to increase profit in line with the rule of free market economy. The paper maintains that with this mode of employment relations, the traditional core functions of HRM such as employment activities, training and development, performance appraisal, wages and salary administration, and motivation may have been relegated to the background. Consequently, organizations may no longer produce a cohort of stable, motivated, productive, committed and efficient workforce. In conclusion, the paper submits that an attempt by organizations to reduce labour cost by engaging nonstandard workers will result in even higher cost on the long run; largely due to unstable, unproductive and non-committed workforce. Hence, all stakeholders must be united in combating this prevalent mode of employment relations. Key words: Nonstandard work, casual and contract workers, human resource management, neo-liberalism, employment relations.