Abstract
Employers are instrumental in the growth of non-standard employment, which exposes predominantly younger workers to higher levels of insecurity. Using an interdisciplinary theoretical lens, this article identifies which considerations, both positive and negative, underlie employers’ decision making with regard to the use of flexible contracts for younger workers and discusses how employers perceive future implications of an increasingly flexible labour market. Findings are based on interviews with 26 managers, HR professionals and directors working in different sectors of industry in the Netherlands: local government, education, health care, retail, corporate services and transport and logistics. While acknowledging benefits to the use of flexible contracts, interviewed employers also reported downsides to this practice. Using flexible contracts complicates retention of young talent, deters investment in training, negatively affects social morale on the work floor and puts pressure on younger workers. Interviewees did not deem employers primarily responsible for monitoring societal consequences of an increasingly flexible labour market and often did not see the bigger picture of how increased flexibility could have negative societal consequences. The findings suggest that corrective actions will not come from the side of employers.
Highlights
Over the past decades, many European countries have witnessed a decline in ‘standard’ employment and a rapid rise in employment relationships that entail a lower degree of commitment from both employers and employees (OECD, 2019b; Spreitzer et al, 2017)
Younger workers are overrepresented among those working in non-standard arrangements based on ‘flexible’ contracts (ILO, 2016) and as a consequence an increasingly large share of young adults in the labour market are exposed to higher individual risks of various types (Autor and Houseman, 2010; Giesecke, 2009; Mooi-Reci and Dekker, 2015; Yates and Clark, 2021)
This study aims to fill this void by providing novel insights into how employers perceive the use of flexible contracts for younger workers within their organisations, as well as how employers assess the economic and social consequences of continued use of non-standard employment
Summary
Many European countries have witnessed a decline in ‘standard’ employment and a rapid rise in employment relationships that entail a lower degree of commitment from both employers and employees (OECD, 2019b; Spreitzer et al, 2017). The OECD has warned that many workers in all forms of non-standard employment struggle to gain access to social protection, have few alternative employment options and low bargaining power (OECD, 2019b). Do these disadvantages at the start of working life decrease economic security (Kalleberg, 2018), they may have long-lasting effects on workers’ long-term employability, their well-being and even on their ability to start a family (Laß, 2020; van Wijk et al, 2021) while increasing inequality over the life course (DiPrete and Eirich, 2006). We do so by drawing upon in-depth interviews with employers across different sectors
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