Changes In Employment Practices Research Articles

Employment in the 21st Century: Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Changes

In the 21st century, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous transformations were already underway in the field of employment. However, this unprecedented global health crisis has had a profound influence on employment worldwide, yielding both positive and negative outcomes across various labor aspects. Consequently, while certain effects are anticipated to be temporary, others are likely to instigate enduring changes in employment practices.

Restoring the dignity of indigenous people: Perspectives on tourism employment

The importance of dignity in tourism employment and the positive impact of Indigenous tourism activities are increasingly acknowledged. Nevertheless, the dignity and well-being of Indigenous people in urban tourism workplaces have received limited attention. Drawing on Indigenous Mexicans as a case study, we use cross-disciplinary concepts of dignity and humanistic management to address this gap by developing recommendations for restoring dignity to Indigenous groups through tourism employment in urban destinations. We explore how tourism employment has resulted in violations of the dignity of Indigenous peoples and illustrate how changes in employment practices across economic, sociocultural, and psychological dimensions can contribute to dignity restoration. By doing so, we advance a conceptual understanding of dignity and guide its practical implementation in tourism employment and management, and policy. Finally, we argue that dignity-restoring practices may also result in improved company performance and reputation as well as contribute to the sustainable development goals.

A shared risk: volunteer shortages in Australia’s rural bushfire brigades

ABSTRACT In the latter part of 2019 and into 2020, Australia experienced an unprecedented bushfire season, with major bushfires burning more than 18 million hectares. The scale of the fires served to highlight Australia’s heavy reliance on rural volunteer firefighters, bringing into sharp focus the long-term issues that many volunteer bushfire brigades have faced with recruitment and retention. Against the backdrop of long-term government dis-investment into the provision of essential services in rural communities, and with rural volunteer participation at saturation, a deeper understanding of the factors that influence involvement in volunteer bushfire brigades is vital. This review paper examined the factors that have contributed to rural volunteer shortages, particularly in the Australian context. The research revealed that increased time and financial demands on volunteers hampered attraction and retention efforts. The time and financial costs for individuals to volunteer had risen as a result of increased centralised regulation of volunteer provided services. Given the reliance of Australia’s broader population, environment and economy on the work of volunteer firefighters, there is a critical need for new empirical research to investigate how organisational cultures, changes in attitudes to different forms of volunteering and changes in employment practices will impact rural volunteer bushfire services.

Hope found in lives lost: karoshi and the pursuit of worker rights in Japan

Japanese social order emphasizes a superior’s responsibility for their subordinates’ well-being. This traditional “right to benevolence” is a wellspring of hope for workers. This paper describes how, in the wake of changes in employment practices since the mid-1970s, citizens’ groups and labor lawyers creatively combined advances in medicine and legal knowledge with this right to benevolence in lawsuits seeking compensation for injuries caused by overwork. The social movement against karōshi (death due to overwork) that arose from these suits first sought workers’ compensation system reforms. Later, they won legislative remedies. Rulings in Japanese courts, including the Supreme Court, affirmed employers’ legal responsibility for worker well-being to include care for accumulated fatigue and mental health. Buoyed by these successes, activists and victims’ families hopes of preventing karoshi reached new heights with the June 2014 passage of the Karoshi Prevention Countermeasures Promotion Law (Karōshi tō bōshi taisaku suishin-hō). Karoshi compensation victories, administrative rule changes, and legislative reforms raised public awareness of overwork and exploitative management practices. Nevertheless, we must conclude that, although karoshi legislation gives hope for a legal regime of employee care rights, the current law is weak and remediation only addresses the worst cases. Moreover, participation in the legislative process risks limiting the movement’s future influence.

Adulthood as Action

Before the 1990s, Japanese routes to adulthood appeared to be well structured and strongly linked to the school-to-work transition and other status transitions, such as marriage, parenthood and home ownership. However, with significant changes in employment practices, a weakening of school-to-work transitions, and the rapid increase of the irregular labour market to 38.2 % in 2012, there exists a greater acknowledgement of a diversity of routes into the world of employment and adulthood. Freeters, part-time workers aged between 15–34 who are neither students, nor housewives, have been at the epicentre of these discussions. By drawing on participant observation and interviews conducted since 2007, this paper explores male freeters’ understandings of adulthood through their views on employment, responsibility, meaning and action. It argues that male freeters’ focus on adulthood as constituted through action rather than as the successful result of status transitions is reconfiguring ideas of adulthood in contemporary Japan.

Stepping up to strike: a union mobilization case study of Polish migrant workers in the Netherlands

This article examines a union mobilization of Polish temporary agency workers in the Netherlands. The case study contributes to the migrant organizing literature a micro-level account of the dynamics of mobilization from the viewpoint of the migrants and organizers involved. The findings emphasize the importance of key actors in building solidarities within and between different groups of workers in fragmented workplaces, with implications for unions seeking new ways to respond to changing employment practices. This study highlights some of the possibilities and limitations of organizing among contractually fragmented workforces.

A New Social Risk? Social-Scientific Knowledge and Work-Life Balance in Twentieth-Century Finland

Work-life balance, or the reconciliation of work and family, has been discussed recently as a “new social risk” in comparative research on the welfare state. According to this discussion, the social security systems of traditional welfare states were built after World War II in order to protect (male) breadwinners against the “old social risks” such as the loss of income due to old age, sickness, accident, or unemployment. Scholars have argued, however, that these postwar policies have been inadequate for dealing with the new types of risks that resulted from complex changes in employment practices and family life. This article reflects critically upon the conceptualization of work-life balance as a new social risk by focusing on one of the Nordic countries, which have come to be known for their policies that combine (female) parenthood and paid work. In particular, it analyzes the problematization and governance of work-family reconciliation in twentieth-century Finland. Overall, the article argues that social scientific knowledge played a key role in the ways in which work-life balance was rendered intelligible and manageable as a social policy issue.

The Employment Relationship and Inequality: How and Why Changes in Employment Practices are Reshaping Rewards in Organizations

The Employment Relationship and Inequality: How and Why Changes in Employment Practices are Reshaping Rewards in Organizations

The Employment Relationship and Inequality: How and Why Changes in Employment Practices are Reshaping Rewards in Organizations

We review the literature on recent changes to US employment relationships, focusing on the causes of those changes and their consequences for inequality. The US employment model has moved from a closed, internal system to one more open to external markets and institutional pressures. We describe the growth of short-term employment relationships, contingent work, outsourcing, and performance pay as well as the success of social identity movements in shaping employment benefits. In doing so, we address the role of organizations as sites of conflict within and between stakeholder groups, examining how struggles among stakeholders have contributed to reorganizing employment relationships. We also examine how these changes have affected inequality by (i) influencing the distribution of rewards within organizations (via changes in the determination of pay and benefits and in the allocation of workers to jobs) and (ii) altering, on a macro level, how rewards are distributed among different stakeholders. In closi...

Permanent Temporariness? Changes in Social Contracts in Knowledge Work

Many sociologists have argued that work no longer plays the central role in contemporary life experience because we have entered an age of insecurity in relation to employment, and knowledge workers are often pictured as egoistical portfolio workers who are only interested in their careers and no longer loyal to their employers. Cappelli (1999) on the other hand argues that more insecure employment relations is a result of employers’ strategy to buy workers rather than offering them long-term relations. Using case studies from seven different knowledge work contexts in Norway, this article argues that more temporary employment relations is not the result of career-seeking portfolio workers, but of changes in employment practices of their employers. These are not primarily changes in the formal employment contracts from permanent to temporary employment, but in the social contracts as they are practiced by the employers and experienced by the knowledge workers in the different contexts of knowledge work. The reason for more temporary relations was not because work does not matter for knowledge workers. On the contrary, we found that they accepted insecure conditions because work mattered and because they were eager to take on new tasks, learn the trade in new fields, and show that they were able to do the job. When they left their employer, it was because they were not able to do a good job in their positions or because they were increasingly directly exposed to an insecure market that signaled that they were not profitable (enough) for their employer. Although changes in employment practices by the employers toward more short-term relations are not caused by disloyal portfolio workers, these practices may produce the problem of disloyal workers who have to secure their employment in the labor market.

Worker Satisfaction Following Employment Restructuring: Effects of Nonstandard Workers and Downsizing on Job Satisfaction in Taiwan

Since the 1980s, many employment relationships in Taiwan have evolved from regular and long-term to contingent and short-term, with widespread downsizing adding a considerable amount of instability. Since these changes are part of a global trend, there is a growing literature concerning their influences on worker attitudes and work life quality. Here we analyze the impacts of changing employment practices on the quality of work life among Taiwanese workers, specifically analyzing the effects of nonstandard work arrangements and downsizing on job satisfaction. Data are from the 2005 Taiwan Social Change Survey, First Wave of the Fifth Phase: Work and Life Module. Our two main findings are (a) degree of use of nonstandard workers exerts a range of negative impacts on job satisfaction among regular workers, and (b) degree of downsizing exerts similar negative effects. We also discuss the moderating impacts of using nonstandard workers as part of a downsizing strategy.

The Restructuring of Labour in the Automobile Industry in South Korea

Based on a case study of the South Korean automobile industry, this article explores the qualitative shift in employment practices implied by the expansion of contract labour from peripheral services to the main production activities of firms. This new phenomenon involves the greater integration of labour contracting into the production process, together with changes in employment practices and the rights of workers, which poses a challenge to our conventional understanding of labour contracting. The findings of the present study address the importance of investigating the issue of employment relationships and analysing the roles played by workplace actors in order to better understand the process of change in labour contracting and the consequences of increased numbers of non-standard workers in the workplace. By revealing both the cooperation and the conflicting interests between workplace actors, the study highlights the sources of tension and contradiction associated with changes in labour contracting arrangements and the subsequent restructuring of the workplace.

Promoting increased diversity in the oil and gas industry workforce

Changes in employment practices in the Australian upstream oil and gas industry are undoubtedly creating a more diverse workplace. Further anticipated skill shortages have caused a shift from dependency on traditional skilled labour supply sources to an increase in under-represented groups, including women and Indigenous Australians. This presentation is focussed on the current situation in relation to recruitment, training and employment within the industry. It outlines the imperatives that are driving the move to consider pro-actively engaging under-represented groups in the oil and gas workforce of the future. The presentation includes: a review of the regional demographics that make a compelling business case for a move towards a more diversified workforce in the industry; coverage of two recent case studies involving companies that have made the decision to move away from conventional recruiting and employment practices; the business benefits that have accrued to these companies as a result of this re-configured workforce development planning model; a focus on the specific strategies employed to engage applicants from the under-represented groups to ensure a successful orientation, induction, recruitment and retention into the industry; and, an outline of the importance of implementing a formal, highly structured and monitored mentoring arrangement to complement this innovative approach.

'Light Touch' Labour Regulation By State Governments in Australia: A Preliminary Assessment

Increasing attention (particularly in Europe and the United States) has been paid to the use by states of ‘soft’ or ‘light touch’ approaches to regulating labour standards. Such regulatory approaches are yet to receive extensive consideration as forms of state labour regulation in Australian labour law scholarship. This paper presents preliminary findings from a study of light touch labour regulation by State Governments in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. It seeks to contribute to an understanding of how the state seeks to effect normative changes in employment practices and industrial relations in Australia other than through legislation.

Changing Work Organization in Small Manufacturers: Challenges for Economic Development

This review article examines the growing literature on the changing employment practices of small and medium-sized manufacturers. Specifically, the authors examine the literature in three areas: (a) hiring practices, (b) employment security and retention, and (c) career ladders. Observers disagree about the extent to which restructuring has taken place in smaller firms, the nature of workplace change, and the impact of this change on employees and firms. The policy arena is just as contentious; a host of different strategies have been proposed to provide employment opportunities in manufacturing, particularly for low-income populations. By synthesizing the research to date and evaluating the key debates in this area, this literature review will assist economic development researchers and practitioners in making the leap to workforce issues.

From Industrial Relations to Investor Relations? Persistence and Change in Japanese Corporate Governance, Employment Practices and Industrial Relations

The international drift towards corporate governance reform changed into a higher gear in the latter half of the 1990s. As the process of corporate governance reform unfolded, it brought into sharp relief contrasts between three different models of corporate governance: the classical model, the enlightened shareholder value model and the pluralist model.The corporate governance reforms envisaged by the Keizai Doy0kai and Nikkeiren employers' associations can be classified under the pluralist model. However, the findings of an extensive questionnaire survey conducted on executive managers of large firms suggest that the enlightened shareholder value model seems to be supported by one out of every three executive managers in Japan. Spurred by reforms of the Commercial Code and other laws relating to corporate governance, major firms are increasingly looking to establish a system of consolidated management encompassing the entire corporate group, with emphasis on maximizing capital efficiency.Taking place in parallel with this development are changes in employment practices. Although long-term stable employment practices are not likely to be changed drastically in the foreseeable future, it is highly likely that the seniority system will be further eroded, wage differentials will widen, terms of employment and working conditions will become individual-specific, and remuneration systems will be diversified. However, labour unions are failing to find ways of coping with these prospects, and are continuing to lose influence.

Winning the Lottery? Beginning teachers on temporary engagement

In Queensland, Australia, a beginning or probationary teacher can be appointed as either a permanent employee, or on a temporary engagement, or on 'contract'. Temporary engagements for beginning teachers represent an example of the trend towards the increasing casualisation of the teaching profession. There is a paucity of research on this topic. This paper reports on the results of a questionnaire administered to primary and secondary beginning teachers whose first appointment in 1997 was a temporary engagement. It reports on their feelings, opinions and perceptions towards such temporary engagements. The key finding was that the majority of beginning teachers on temporary engagement desired to be permanent employees, the main reason cited being that of job security. The majority of the participants found it extremely difficult to cope with the uncertainty surrounding the practice of temporary engagements. Identified also were a number of confusing perceptions perpetuated by a lack of understanding about obtaining a permanent position with Education Queensland. The findings suggest that lack of job security does need to be acknowledged as a critical factor for the beginning teacher, that the conflict between the need for job security and the changes in employment practices must be addressed, and that, under school-based management, the principal needs to take professional responsibility for the special needs of this beginning teacher group.

Changing Employment Practices in the New Zealand Telecommunications Sector: Workforce Reorganisation and Restructuring at Telecom New Zealand

In line with the large-scale reforms instituted by the New Zealand government in the 1980s, the New Zealand post office was broken up and a state owned enterprise (SO£), the Telecom Corporation of New Zealand (TCNZ), was formed in 1987. In 1990 TCNZ was fully privatised with the major shareholders, Bell Atlantic and Ameritech, being US owned companies. There followed a decade of organisational and structural change. Between 1990 and 2000 the fulltime workforce at TCNZ was reduced from 16 000 to less than 6000 fulltime workers as the firm evolved into a new leaner model (TCNZ annual reports). Such workforce reductions were largely achieved through outsourcing and the introduction of new technologies. But the scale of downsizing at TCNZ raises questions about the possible loss of core knowledge and the long-term sustainability of these strategies. Transaction costs associated with 'relationship management' -such as, the coordination and monitoring of outsourced work - may also reduce their effectiveness. This paper draws on transaction costs economics (TCE) and downsizing theories to help explain why firms may choose to either outsource their transactions to the marketplace or perform them in-house. It further examines what the implications of TCE may be for employment relations (ER). This paper suggests that a number of additional factors outside of the traditional TCE analysis also contributed to the restructuring and ER strategies at TCNZ. These included, short-term profit considerations, the size of the New Zealand telecommunications market, TCNZ's continued dominance of its domestic market and the desire to form strategic alliances. Therefore, these additional factors may need to be integrated into the TCE framework if it is to provide a possible model that will assist in analysing the changing workforce structure at TCNZ since deregulation.

Converging divergences: worldwide changes in employment systems

Exploring recent changes in employment practices in seven industrialized countries (Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States) and in two essential industries (automobile and telecommunications), Harry C. Katz and Owen Darbishire find that traditional national systems of employment are being challenged by four cross-national patterns. The patterns, which are becoming ever more prevalent, can be categorized as low-wage, human resource management, Japanese-oriented, and joint team-based strategies. The authors go on to show that these changing employment patterns are closely related to the decline of unions and growing income inequality. Drawing upon plant-level evidence on emerging employment practices, they provide a comprehensive analysis of changes in employment systems and labor-management relations. They conclude that while the variation in employment patterns is increasing within countries, evidence suggests that there is much commonality across countries in the nature of that variation and also similarity in the processes through which variation is appearing. Hence the term converging divergences.

New management techniques and restructuring for accountability in Australian police organisations

This paper examines the implementation of new management techniques in Australian police services since the late 1980s, within an international context of demands for greater public sector efficiencies and accountability. Through an examination of police organisations in Queensland and New South Wales, the paper demonstrates that the impetus for organisational change, particularly in the context of employment practices has largely been driven by revelations of entrenched corruption and police misconduct. As a result, organisational goals of accountability and cultural change have been the critical influences on the restructuring agenda. The paper argues that management strategies should be suited to the specific organisational settings within which they are being applied. It suggests that the process of restructuring and the emphasis on changing employment practices have led to greater potential for conflict between management and police officers.