‘You are less credible in life, less reliable… people don’t want to give you a chance’ - a qualitative study on the experience of inferiority among non-standard workers in Belgium

Abstract

ABSTRACT Workers in non-standard employment arrangements are often perceived as belonging to the periphery of the labour market. Consequently, many suffer from feelings of inferiority. This study explores how inferiority is expressed and experienced in the work life of non-standard workers and beyond. Interviews with 38 non-standard workers from Belgium were analysed thematically. Inferiority expresses itself through a series of metaphors: a jack of all trades, disposable product, and outsider. In addition, not having financial independence feeds into feelings of inferiority. Moreover, the labour market and social security regulations have created disparities between standard and non-standard workers that have accordingly fed experiences of inferiority as well. Finally, inferiority is perpetuated beyond the work context, for example, in the form of discrimination on the housing market and in the general image of non-standard employment as inferior by many people in society. This study highlights that governments and employers need to increase their efforts to equalise the rights and treatment between non-standard and standard workers. This could decrease non-standard workers’ feelings of inferiority and consequently improve their overall well-being.