The good temps whom perms welcome: making sense of what truly matters

Employment of temporary workers has been affected by new legislation in 2002 and the stabilisation of the economy in the early 21st century. These factors are hypothesised to reduce the overall level of temporary employment in the UK economy. To confirm this hypothesis, data from 28 Labour Force Survey (LFS) studies carried out between the periods of December 1997 and November 2004 were analysed alongside turnover data for the Employment Agency Industry. The results revealed a reduction of over a quarter of a million temporary workers in the UK Economy over 6 years. Qualitative interviews with ten large temporary worker employers confirmed that legislation and employers' preference for permanent workers reduced the demand for temporary workers. Nonetheless, regional differences were apparent with some regions such as Northern Ireland and Wales increasing their employment of temporary workers.

This study used the Korean industry-level data for the period of 2007–2014 to decompose the effects of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on overall domestic employment into the forms of OFDI, workers’ skill level and employment status. The main finding is that OFDI has no effect on the overall employment of permanent workers, while it is positively associated with the overall employment of temporary workers. These results possibly indicate that the MNEs initiating FDI, at least in Korea, prefer employing temporary workers rather than permanent workers when the success of their FDI is not clearly visible. Given the high degree of labor market rigidity in Korea, these results seem legitimate and self-explaining. Although there is little evidence that OFDI has an impact on overall domestic employment, especially for permanent workers, there does exist heterogeneous effects of OFDI on employment depending on the types of FDI, workers’ skill level and employment status.

During the 1980s, a significant increase occurred in the employment of temporary workers — employees hired for a specific task and for a limited duration — because of changing economic conditions that raised both the demand for and supply of temporary workers. Using time-series data, we investigate the factors that influenced temporary employment growth by analyzing the expansion in the temporary help supply (THS) industry. On the demand side, increasing aggregate output and heightened foreign competition were the most important factors that encouraged firms to hire temporary workers. On the supply side, increasing participation of certain demographic groups, notably married women, shifted the supply curve of temporary workers outward.

In this paper, we examine the impact of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on the overall employment, using Korean industry-level data for the period 2007-2014. We further decompose the effects of OFDI into types of foreign investment and workers’ skill levels, separately for each employment status (permanent and temporary), so that we capture whether the MNEs initiating foreign investment prefer to employ temporary instead of permanent workers. Our main findings show that there is little evidence of the impact of OFDI on the overall industry employment of permanent workers, while OFDI is positively associated with the overall employment of temporary workers. Besides, OFDI leads to an increase in the number of jobs created for mediumskilled workers regardless of employment status, whereas there is a negative relationship between OFDI and the temporary employment of low-skilled workers. To be more specific, efficiency-seeking and export-platform-seeking types of OFDI is associated with an increase in the employment of mediumskilled workers.

The aim of the work is to present the history of creation, development and systematic increase of its popularity. In addition, an attempt was made to determine whether the temporary work institution fulfills a positive role in the economic reality. After that, the essence and efforts of the legislator were presented to provide temporary employees with the same terms of employment as in the case of a “typical” employment relationship. This paper also presents the results of the latest research related to each of the three entities appearing in temporary work. On this basis, the advantages, disadvantages, potential chances and threats for this form of employment are listed. In the further part of the work, each entity was characterized, referring to the specific legal structure of temporary work. What’s more, who is the actual employer of the temporary worker and the consequences that this entails. In addition, the legal ties connecting subjects have been described, their rights, obligations and their distribution to individual participants of this employment relationship have been analyzed. The broad analysis referred to the changes that resulted from the amendment of the act on the employment of temporary workers, which took place on June 1, 2017.

REGULATIONS FOR EQUAL TREATMENT AND PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION IN TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENTSummaryThe article discusses the legislation on equal treatment and non-discrimination in temporary employment in the light of the requirements of the Directive of the European Parliament and the European Council 2008/104/EC of 19 November 2008 on temporary agency work. The author recalls the legislative process related to the adoption of the Directive, in particular the legal discrepancies between the social partners and between EU countries, and analyses the content of the Directive. He then presents the provisions of the Polish labour law on equal treatment and non-discrimination. The main part of the article is devoted to a discussion of the adaptation of the legal norms on equal treatment and non-discrimination in the Act of 9 July 2003 on the employment of temporary workers and other legal acts regulating this matter to the recommendations set out in this Directive. The author analyses the current level of compliance of the Polish legislation with the requirements of the EU Directive, presents controversies in the literature, and makes recommendations de lege ferenda.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the level of convergence in employment practices among firms in the post‐communist countries and capitalist countries in South Eastern Europe. Firms from a total of ten countries were included in the post‐communist block and firms from Greece and Turkey were included in the capitalist block. The main purpose was to verify whether employment practices in firms in the post‐communist countries now resemble that of firms in the capitalist countries after almost a decade of transition.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzed the employment practices in terms of the skill ration, employment of temporary workers and the education level of employees of about 8,000 firms in the region.FindingsIn terms of skill ratio and the education level significant levels of divergence was found between firms in post‐communist countries and capitalist countries. However, in terms of employing temporary workers significant levels of convergence was detected.Research implications/limitationsThe research shows that there is some convergence in the employment practices of post‐communist countries and capitalist countries. This shows that several post‐communist countries in South East Europe have completed the transition from a communist society to a capitalist society.Originality/valueThe study is one of the first, which compares the employment practices of post‐communist and capitalist countries in the region. By showing some levels of convergence, the study argues that the transition period in the post‐communist economies is finally ending and thus firms in post‐communist countries finally resemble those in capitalist countries at least in employment practices.

Flexibility and in particular volume flexibility is an important topic for industrial manufacturing companies. In this context, the harmonization of the available and required capacity is a central task, especially with increasing fluctuations in customer demand. In classical approaches, this is considered only by the use of additional capacities and there are only a few approaches that combine aspects of personnel planning with production planning. Therefore, this article presents a linear optimization model for master production scheduling that includes aspects of personnel requirements planning. It is used to investigate different strategies for the use of overtime and temporary workers in order to achieve different levels of volume flexibility. With regard to the monetary and social impacts, the results indicate that overtime has a stronger influence to achieve volume flexibility than the use of temporary workers. However, both are affected by substantial deficits in human working conditions. But the results also imply a promising potential for improving the social aspects without a significant increase in costs.

The article discusses the mutual relations between various forms of external employment that currently exist on the Polish labor market. The first is „temporary” employment based on the Act of 9 July 2003 on the employment of temporary workers. Since this employment results directly from the regulations, its application does not raise any doubts. A different situation occurs in the case of using two forms of outsourcing, the so‑called process and employee outsourcing. They are not directly regulated in law. The authors, discussing the principles of their application, believe that properly applied procedural outsourcing can be considered a legal form of work. On the other hand, employee outsourcing, as a form in practice identical to the provision of work through a temporary employment agency, is a violation of the law. This is also related to the legal risks indicated in the article, therefore, according to the authors, this last form of employment should not be used.

Production planning is a necessary process that directly affects the efficiency of production systems in most industries. The complexity of the current production planning problem depends on increased options in production, uncertainties in demand and production resources. In this study, a stochastic multi-objective mixed-integer optimization model is developed to ensure production efficiency in uncertainty conditions and satisfy the requirements of sustainable development. The efficiency of the production system is ensured through objective functions that optimize backorder quantity, machine uptime and customer satisfaction. The other three objective functions of the proposed model are related to optimization of profits, emissions, and employment changing. The objective functions respectively represent the three elements of sustainable development: economy, environment, and sociality. The proposed model also assures the production manager’s discretion over whether or not to adopt production options such as backorder, overtime, and employment of temporary workers. At the same time, the resource limits of the above options can also be adjusted according to the situation of each production facility via the model’s parameters. The solutions that compromise the above objective functions are determined with the Chebyshev goal programming approach together with the weights of the goals. The model is applied to the multinational production system of a Southeast Asian supplier in the textile industry. The goal programming solution of the model shows an improvement in many aspects compared to this supplier’s manufacturing practices under the same production conditions. Last but not least, the study develops different scenarios based on different random distributions of uncertainty demand and different weights between the objective functions. The analysis and evaluation of these scenarios provide a reference basis for managers to adjust the production system in different situations. Analysis of uncertain demand with more complex random distributions as well as making predictions about the effectiveness of scenarios through the advantages of machine learning can be considered in future studies.

In India, the past few decades witnessed a growing process of “informalization of work within the formal sector”. The most alarming aspect of this trend is the process of informalization within the public/government sector, where the governments (both at the centre and states) are found to increase the share of unprotected workers in the total workforce. Excessive use of employees under project mode, employment of temporary workers on continuous basis, outsourcing of non-core operations to service providers and engagement of workers through placement agencies/intermediaries are common practices followed by state-run institutions. With all these transitions, the role of governments as promoters of decent and protected jobs in the organized sector is gradually waning, as the state also participates actively in the rat race for cost-cutting measures like any other employer. This scenario, juxtaposed with the other ongoing changes in the state’s role (e.g. the thrust on “reforming” labour laws for enhancing labour flexibilities, reduced social sector spending and so on), suggests that there has been a double laxity on the part of state, both as employer and as the ultimate regulator and promoter of decent employment. Based on secondary data and available empirical evidence, the present chapter elaborates these concerns of informalization of employment in the public sector.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address a gap in the recent literature on employment of temporary workers by exploring the impact of temporary workers on the perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of permanent staff with particular reference to their implications for patient safety and service quality in hospital accident and emergency departments. The analysis is set in the context of the job demands-resources theory.Design/methodology/approachThe research was undertaken using a case study approach with semi-structured interviews in two London hospitals. Participants included staff from the HR director level, clinical managers and permanent staff who all had an influence in the hiring and management of temporary staff in some way. Transcripts were analysed thematically using an adopted framework approach.FindingsThe results indicate that the effect of temporary staff on permanent staff depended on the quality of the “resource”. There was a “hierarchy of preference” for temporary staff based on their familiarity with the context. Those unfamiliar with the department served as a distraction to permanent staff due to the need to “manage” them in various ways. While this was rarely perceived to affect patient safety, it could have an impact on service quality by causing delays and interruptions. In line with previous research, the use of temporary staff also affected perceptions of fairness and the commitment of some permanent staff.Practical implicationsA model developing an approach for improved practice when managing temporary staff was developed to minimise the risks to patient safety and service quality, and improve permanent staff morale.Social implicationsThe review highlights the difficulties that a limited amount of temporary staff integration can have on permanent staff and patient care, indicating that consideration must be placed on how temporary staff are inducted and clarifying expectations of roles for both temporary and permanent staff.Originality/valueThis paper studies the under-researched impact of temporary staff, and, distinctively, staff employed on a single shift, on the behaviour and attitudes of permanent staff. It highlights the need to consider carefully the qualitative nature of “resources” in the job demands-resources theory.

In their essay, Priebe and Hägerbäumer (2023) propose that due to recent changes in many workplaces around the globe, such as the sharp increase in remote work (especially work from home) 1 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of sickness presenteeism (SP) needs to be "reloaded" (i.e., adapted).Specifically, Priebe and Hägerbäumer (2023) suggest that aspects of SP to be reconsidered are (1) what it means to be "present" when work can be performed anywhere (i.e., the presence problem), (2) what it means to be "working" when remote workers have considerable discretion over the duration, kind, and amount of work they perform (i.e., the threshold problem), and ( 3) what the shifting of "work activities into the home environment" (Priebe & Hägerbäumer, 2023) implies for the prevalence of SP.We agree with Priebe and Hägerbäumer ( 2023) that SP research should stay abreast of changes in the workplace, including the recent unprecedented increase in remote work.However, we submit that this is already the case.The remainder of our commentary on Priebe and Hägerbäumer's (2023) propositions proceeds in four steps.First, we demonstrate that SP research is already addressing the presence/shifting problem, both conceptually and empirically.Second, we argue that the ostensible threshold problem is a conflation of potential reasons for engaging in SP and its downstream outcomes, and that the solution is to keep them separate conceptually while investigating them jointly.Third, we argue that increased attention to remote work should not divert SP research from jobs for which working from home is not an option.Fourth and finally, we briefly discuss some opportunities for future research resulting from our lines of argument.1 Throughout our commentary, we will assume "home" as the location of "remote work" (unless noted otherwise) and, therefore, use the terms "remote work" and "work from home" interchangeably.The home has been established as the primary remote location of workers (see the meta-analysis by Gajendran & Harrison, 2007). 2The definition by Ruhle et al. ( 2020) uses the term "presenteeism".We consistently use "sickness presenteeism" for the sake of precision, and because recent research has expanded to other forms of presenteeism (Ruhle & Breitsohl, 2022).

PurposeTemporary agency work (TAW) has increased enormously in recent decades. Most temporary agency workers are pushed involuntarily into this work arrangement and prefer permanent work arrangements. Therefore, the motive to find a permanent job through TAW is predominant for the majority of temporary agency workers. However, little is known about what helps in obtaining a permanent job in a client organization. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of social skills by simultaneously considering the human capital aspects and motivational background of the individuals for transition success.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a questionnaire study of 151 temporary agency workers with two measurement points. The questionnaires were first administered at the very beginning of their work as a temp and again five months later.FindingsThe findings show that the social skills of temporary agency workers in contrast to various aspects of human capital and motives for temping had a significant impact on becoming a permanent worker in a client organization.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalizability of the finding that social skills help temporary agency workers to find a permanent job in a client organization may be restricted due to the particularities of the work setting in the clerical sector. The incidences as well as the determinants of transition success may depend on the industry sector because of the respective assignment characteristics as well as the clients’ reasons of using temporary agency workers. Future research should investigate more thoroughly the role of assignment characteristics for the experiences of the workers.Practical implicationsSocial skills seem to play a crucial role for transition success in TAW. Qualification measures should therefore include the training of interpersonal behavior. It would be desirable when the involved organizations would assume responsibility in this respect. Furthermore, policy makers should provide adequate training formats since they promote TAW as a stepping stone opportunity for unemployed people.Originality/valueThis paper suggests that career mobility in the context of flexible work arrangements may be driven by more informal processes of social integration into the existing permanent team. While TAW is seen as a temporary solution in Germany, this study focuses on the individual determinants of transition success of temporary agency workers that is still rare in studies on the topic.

The past three and half decades have witnessed profound and global changes in the organisation of work. The ‘standard’ employment model of the post-1945 period ‐ whereby most workers (though not most women workers) within Europe, North America and Australasia held ongoing jobs ‐ went into decline. In its place emerged what is often labelled the ‘new world of work’. We will not use this term because some of the work arrangements seen to be new actually represent the re-emergence of far older types of work organisation. 1 That matter aside, the changes that this term sought to describe were marked by the growth of more temporary work arrangements (fixed-term contracts, direct-hire temporary work, temporary agency work, on-call and casual work), self-employment and work remote from formal workplaces (including various forms of remote and home-based work, such as homecare). Further, even workers retaining notionally permanent jobs increasingly experienced insecurity as the result of repeated rounds of downsizing/restructuring and outsourcing/offshoring of activities by large private and public sector employers (in the public sector, these changes were also often associated with privatisation). In short, the growth of ‘flexible’ work arrangements marked by more irregular working hours and limited tenure has essentially made the jobs of a growing body of workers precarious. In tandem with this trend has been the growth of informal or undeclared work arrangements, often using migrant/undocumented workers, in Europe, North America and elsewhere. Since the 1990s, a rapidly growing body of international research has indicated that job insecurity and precarious work arrangements are associated with significant adverse effects on health and safety outcomes, as measured by the incidence of injury, catastrophic events (such as the AZF factory fire in Toulouse in 2001), exposure to hazardous substances, occupational violence, psychological distress, work‐life imbalance and non-compliance with workplace safety rules and regulations. 2‐9