Temporary Contract Workers Research Articles

Workers with few hours – who secures their social rights? – The role of social dialogue and collective bargaining

This special issue looks at the contributions of social dialogue and collective bargaining to creating, maintaining or reducing the risks associated with employment contracts of few hours, such as marginal part-time work, temporary agency work and zero-hour contracts. It additionally considers changes in welfare institutions with regard to the protection of these groups of workers. In this paper, we introduce the arguments on why and how working in marginal part-time jobs involves vulnerability, and on the differential roles collective bargaining and social protection may have on these jobs, depending in particular on which status (employees, workers or self-employed) they are associated to.

Petites mains féminines, vulnérabilité professionnelle et pratiques conjointes de compensation financières dans l’administration publique universitaire au Cameroun

This article aims to conduct an ethnographic study on small female hands in the administration of the University of Yaoundé II in order to see to what extent the use of the concept of financial resilience makes sense. As a result, located in positions of administrative inferiority, small female hands, temporary administrative contract workers or with default status, seem more exposed to the pressures resulting from the various socio-political, health, economic and management hazards that may be faced the university institution. By taking into account the Covid-19 crisis as a temporal reference point, this study highlights the different financial strategies and practices mobilized by these agents to circumvent and confront the difficulties to which their socio-professional condition predisposes them. As such, it must be considered that these income compensation practices reflect the capacity of this category to adapt to the degrading developments which determine their precarious working conditions. They provide good information about their realities as resilience entrepreneurs. We can therefore link the financial resilience of small hands to legitimate socio-professional conditioning. One that promotes, as a position of action, the compensation of their income through the diversification of income-generating activities and the establishment of mutual aid and solidarity systems within the institution.

Employee perceptions of disruption knowledge: the influence on career attitudes and behaviors

PurposeThe world of work is changing rapidly as a result of technology, with more workers being impacted by automation, the gig economy and temporary work contracts. This study focusses on how employees perceive their disruption knowledge and how this perception impacts their career planning, career satisfaction and training behaviors.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use data from 1,516 employees across a broad range of industries and professions from the United States (n = 505), New Zealand (n = 505) and Australia (n = 506).FindingsThe authors find that an employee's knowledge and research into automation positively influence how employees plan their careers, their career satisfaction and their training behaviors. While career planning is positively related to career satisfaction and training behavior, career satisfaction is negatively related to training behaviors. The authors test mediation effects and find consistently significant indirect effects, and these findings are all largely replicated across the three countries.Originality/valueThis study highlights the importance of understanding the processes that employees go through when thinking about disruption knowledge, their careers and the impact on their training behaviors.

Exploring the employment determinants of job insecurity in the French working population: Evidence from national survey data.

Studies are lacking on the employment determinants of job insecurity, that may be helpful to determine highly exposed groups and to assess the feasibility of constructing job-exposure matrices (JEMs) for this occupational exposure. The objectives were to explore the employment determinants of job insecurity in a nationally representative sample of the French working population. The study was based on the cross-sectional data of the 2013 national French working conditions survey including a sample of 28,293 employees, 12,283 men and 16,010 women. Job insecurity was assessed using one single item related to the fear of job loss in the next 12 months. Gender, age, and educational level were studied as well as the following employment variables: temporary/permanent work contract, full/part time work, job seniority, occupation, economic activity of the company, public/private sector, and company size. The associations with job insecurity were studied using bivariate and multivariate analyses. One quarter of the study sample was exposed to job insecurity, without any difference between genders. Lower age and lower educational levels were associated with job insecurity. Employees who had a temporary work contract, lower job seniority, who were working in low-skilled occupational groups, in manufacturing (for both genders) and construction (among men), and in the private sector had a higher prevalence of exposure to job insecurity. The two major employment variables associated with job insecurity were temporary work contract (prevalence ratios>2) and private sector (prevalence ratios>1.4) for the whole sample and for both men and women. Our findings suggested that intervention/prevention measures could be oriented towards specific highly exposed groups of the working population, especially those exposed to temporary work contract and/or working in the private sector. Our study also underlined that constructing JEMs for job insecurity may be possible and could be a useful tool for large-scale occupational health studies.

Depressive disorders of working Poles during the COVID-19 pandemic (2019-2022)

The problem of the intensification of mental disorders, including depressive disorders, is well documented in the world, but in Poland data on this subject are still insufficient. It can be assumed that the worldwide increase in mental health problems resulting from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the winter of 2019 could also change the current statistics with regard to depressive disorders occurring in Poland. Longitudinal studies diagnosing depressive disorders were carried out on a representative group of 1112 Poles working in various occupations, employed on the basis of various types of employment contracts in the period January-February 2021, and a year later. During the first measurement of depressive disorders, the respondents were also asked to retrospectively assess the severity of these disorders in the early autumn of 2019, i.e., 6 months before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Depression was diagnosed using the Patient Health Questionnaire PHQ-9 (PHQ-9). The results of the research presented in the article indicate a significant increase in the level of depression among working Poles in the period 2019-2022, as well as an exacerbation of the severity of its symptoms, probably resulting from the outbreak of the pandemic. However, in the years 2021-2022, a growing level of depression was observed only among working women, less educated people, people engaged in physical and mental work, as well as people with less stable employment (temporary work contracts, specific-task contracts and fixed-term contracts). Due to the high individual, organizational and social costs that generate depressive disorders, there is an urgent need to develop a comprehensive depression prevention strategy, including programs to prevent these disorders in the workplace. This need applies in particular to working women, people with lower social capital and those with less stable type of employment. Med Pr. 2023;74(1):41-51.

Temporary work contracts and female labor market outcomes

How does initial placement in a temporary work contract affect workers’ subsequent labor market outcomes? We study a unique set of natural experiments: In the mid-1990s, the Japanese airline industry implemented a new hiring policy using temporary employment contracts. The policy was later reversed in the mid-2010s. Examining the universe of employment records from one of Japan’s major airlines as well as government surveys to compare outcomes for cohorts of flight attendants hired just before to those hired just after these changes in industry policy, we find that workers starting on temporary contracts were less likely to remain with the firm over time and are less likely to have children within 10 years after starting the job. These findings do not appear to be the result of selection on observables.

The Effects of Partial Employment Protection Reforms: Evidence from Italy

Abstract We combine matched employer–employee data with firms’ financial records to study a 2001 Italian reform that lifted constraints on the employment of temporary contract workers while maintaining rigid employment protection regulations for employees hired under permanent contracts. Exploiting the staggered implementation of the reform across different collective bargaining agreements, we find that this policy change led to an increase in the share of temporary contracts but failed to raise employment. The reform had both winners and losers. Firms are the main winners as the reform was successful in decreasing labor costs, leading to higher profits. By contrast, young workers are the main losers since their earnings were substantially depressed following the policy change. Rent-sharing estimates show that temporary workers receive only two-thirds of the rents shared by firms with permanent workers, helping explain most of the labor costs and earnings reductions caused by the reform.

Fleeting joy, divergent expectations and reconfigured intimacies: The visits home of Filipino migrant care workers in Singapore

AbstractFor Filipino migrant care workers in Singapore, visits home are highly anticipated and longed for, but only as long as they remain brief. Drawing on long‐term ethnographic research, this paper examines such visits as emotionally complex events that bring intense joy as migrants reunite with dispersed family members, but also reveal divergent expectations and feelings of loss and betrayal. These experiences are especially felt among migrant women given the gendered constructions of their migration journeys that demand strenuous relational work on their visits and far beyond. Visits home, nevertheless, are important moments through which migrant care workers re‐orient their priorities and aspirations as migrants and as women over time, often leading to prolongations of their ‘temporary’ absences. The paper further examines how migrant care workers, many of whom are on temporary work contracts in Singapore, fear and anticipate the moment when short visits ultimately become permanent returns.

Occupational stress and associated factors among general practitioners in China: a national cross-sectional study

BackgroundOccupational stress among general practitioners (GPs) is a public health concern. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and factors associated with occupational stress among GPs in China.MethodsA cross-sectional design was used. Data were collected from 3,236 GPs in eastern, central, and western China (response rate, 99.75%) between October 2017 and February 2018 using a structured self-administered questionnaire. An ordinal logistic regression model was used to identify the factors associated with occupational stress among GPs.ResultsAmong these respondents, 313 (9.67%), 1,028 (31.77%), and 1,895 (58.56%) of GPs had a low, medium, and high level of occupational stress, respectively. GPs from central China, with temporary work contracts, without management responsibility, receiving a moderate level of income, and with moderate occupational development opportunities had a lower level of occupational stress. GPs with greater than 40 working hours per week and those who worked overtime occasionally or frequently had a higher level of occupational stress.ConclusionsThe prevalence of occupational stress among GPs is high in China. Substantial regional variation in determinants of occupational stress among GPs was observed. These findings should inform the design of policies to reduce the occupational stress of GPs.

Prospects of Integrating Gig Economy in the Saudi Arabian Health-care System from the Perspectives of Health-care Decision-makers and Practitioners.

BackgroundGig economy is an approach in the labor market which is characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work in contrast to permanent jobs. The gig workers are independent workers or temporary contract workers who enter into formal/informal agreements with on-demand companies to provide their services. Rather than employing full-time/permanent employees companies may utilize gig workers as per the demand and work burden, which can minimize the costs incurred in managing permanent employees. However, there is a lack of research on using gig economy in health care, its prospects and the issues involved.PurposeThe purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate various prospects in integrating gig economy with the Saudi health-care system.MethodsAn online survey questionnaire instrument including 22 prospects under three categories including organizational competitiveness, resource management, and sustainable development was used for collecting data from 712 health-care decision-makers and practitioners in Saudi Arabia. Findings were analyzed using the statistical means and standard deviations for each item in the questionnaire for analyzing the role of each factor in depth, and t-tests were used for comparing the responses between the groups.ResultsT-tests revealed no significant differences among the experts and health-care workers in relation to organizational competitiveness and resource management; however, significant differences in opinions were identified in relation to sustainable development. Individual factors including motivation for Saudization program (mean=4.5, SD=1.15) and creating employment opportunities in rural areas (mean=4.5, SD=1.08), growth in economy (mean=4.4, SD=1.43), increased opportunities for women and disabled (mean=4.4, SD=1.28), and growth in employment (mean=4.3, SD=1.68) were the major prospects identified in relation to the use of gig economy in the Saudi Arabian health-care system.ConclusionGig economy may offer a wide range of benefits in health care, especially sustainable development, effective resource management, and organizational competitiveness.

Adjustment Factors on the Work Performance of Bangladeshi Temporary Contract Workers in Malaysia

This is an empirical study on Bangladeshi workers’ socio-cultural adjustment to Malaysian environment in Kuala Lumpur. It explores and assesses three-dimensional adjustments—social, work and non-work environment—of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia. The focus is on socio-cultural adjustment to the general or non-work environment, adjustment to work and adjustment to interactions with co-workers and the locals. The first stage of the study is based on the interview with 25 Bangladeshi temporary migrant workers to collect relevant information about their level of adjustment. The difficulty in getting the list of migrant worker did not allow the researchers to select samples randomly. On the second stage, 100 respondents were selected from the area according to purposive and snowball sampling procedure. The data were analysed using SPSS version 18.0 software. Cronbach alpha was computed to ascertain the reliability and validity of the instrument. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The study revealed that Bangladeshi workers’ adjustment on non-work or general adjustment and interaction adjustment are quite high, but their adjustment is less on work adjustment dimension. Furthermore, workers’ degree of comfort (adjustment) with non-work condition was related to their performance of work, but their degree of comfort (adjustment) with work adjustment and interaction adjustment is not related to their work performance. The study suggested that adequate measures should be taken to provide pre-departure training on job and host county’s culture to the expected migrant workers. The government of the native country should also monitor the activities of recruiting agencies.

Selection and survival in the field of cultural production: a longitudinal study of the Australian census

ABSTRACT Research on work in the Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) often combines macro-level accounts of political economy with small-scale studies, often qualitative, of work in specific organisations and/or sectors. While rich in both the theory and qualitative detail of creative labour, and especially useful for the study of precarious and informal work, such studies cannot capture population movements within cultural employment over time, nor the factors associated with continuing employment. The Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset (ACLD) provides a unique opportunity to track a national sample of workers in a broad range of cultural occupations across two waves of the Australian census, 2006 and 2016. This provides an opportunity to consider the factors associated with both selection into, and continuity within, cultural production employment. The study of factors associated with primary employment in cultural occupations is significant, as such positions are a relatively privileged resource within a broader field characterised by temporary and informal work arrangements, including casual, contract and unpaid work, that are not captured in the Census. The question of who holds these positions is a question of social distribution. We examine the key factors such as gender, age, qualifications, geography and household dynamics, to compare their relative importance in determining the employment and continuity of work in the field of cultural production.

The Association between Staff Retention and English Care Home Quality

ABSTRACT This paper examines the association between workforce retention and related staffing measures and the quality of English care homes using a national database of social care providers’ staffing. The analysis finds significant correlations between quality and the levels of staffing vacancies and retention of both residential and nursing homes, but no association was found between quality and the use of temporary contract workers nor the resident to staff ratio. Only for staff vacancy rates was there a significant difference in the size of these relationships between types of home. The findings suggest that quality could change for the average care home with a relatively small alteration in staffing circumstance. Long-term care is a labor-intensive industry and many countries face relatively high levels of staff turnover and job vacancy rates. These findings are therefore of interest for policy internationally and for England in particular, where the development of social care recruitment and retention strategies are ongoing.

Agency work in intensive care : Impact of temporary contract work on patient care in intermediate care and intensive care units

HintergrundLeiharbeiter werden, meist im Sinne einer Arbeitnehmerüberlassung, zur pflegerischen Versorgung von Intensivpatienten eingesetzt. Ob bzw. wie sich Leiharbeit in der Pflege auf die Patientenversorgung auswirkt, wurde bislang kaum untersucht.ZielZweck dieser systematischen Übersichtsarbeit ist es, die verfügbaren Forschungsergebnisse über den Einsatz von Leiharbeitern in der pflegerischen Versorgung auf Intensiv- und Überwachungsstationen zu beschreiben und die potenziellen Auswirkungen auf das Patientenoutcome zusammenzufassen.MethodeEs wurde in sieben Datenbanken mit booleschen Operatoren systematisch nach englisch- und deutschsprachigen Studien recherchiert und in Anlehnung an das PRISMA-Schema ausgewertet. Referenzen der Studien wurden ebenfalls in die Suche inkludiert und die Qualität aller eingeschlossenen Studien nach Hawker-Kriterien bewertet.ErgebnisVon insgesamt N = 630 gesichteten Datensätzen konnten jeweils eine qualitative und zwei quantitative Studien identifiziert und in die Auswertung einbezogen werden. Die Ergebnisse der qualitativen Studien gaben nicht signifikant an, dass Leiharbeiter zu einem schlechteren Patientenoutcome beitragen können. Die Ergebnisse der quantitativen Studien zeigten, dass die Wahrscheinlichkeit für das Auftreten von katheterassoziierten Infektionen mit dem Einsatz von Leiharbeitern steigen kann, aber eher von der Stationsgröße anhängig ist: Je zusätzlichem Bett steigt die Wahrscheinlichkeit für eine VAP um 14,8 % (95 %-CI = 1,032–1,277, p = 0,011). Allerdings konnten Tendenzen für einen Rückgang der Sepsisrate, sobald weniger Leiharbeiter (Stunden/Patient) auf der Intensivstation eingesetzt wurden, nicht bestätigt werden.SchlussfolgerungIn den wenigen auswertbaren Studien wurden keine Hinweise dafür gefunden, dass der Einsatz von Leiharbeitern auf Intensiv- (ITS) und Überwachungsstationen (IMC) einen signifikanten Einfluss auf das Patientenoutcome hat. Es wurden allerdings Hinweise gefunden, dass individuelle Qualifikationen und die Arbeitsbedingungen einen Einfluss auf das Outcome haben. Weitere Studien sollten betrachten, welches Verhältnis von Festangestellten zu Leiharbeitern als unkritisch anzusehen ist, welche Qualifikationen temporäre Mitarbeiter vorweisen sollten und inwieweit diese überprüft werden können.Zusatzmaterial onlineDie Online-Version dieses Beitrags (10.1007/s00063-020-00753-5) enthält die vollständige Suchstrategie je Datenbank. Beitrag und Zusatzmaterial stehen Ihnen auf www.springermedizin.de zur Verfügung. Bitte geben Sie dort den Beitragstitel in die Suche ein, das Zusatzmaterial finden Sie beim Beitrag unter „Ergänzende Inhalte“.

Retirees and motivation to work by the type of employment contract: impact of the Czech reform

PurposeIn this paper, the authors analyse a 2010 legal reform in the Czech Republic, which allowed retirees to simultaneously receive regular pension benefits and to work on a permanent contract for a period longer than one year. Previously, concurrence of employment and receipt of retirement benefits were only allowed in conjunction with a temporary work contract with a maximum duration of one year.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ the difference-in-differences method. The authors include only males in the analysis because it is not possible to identify the legal retirement age for women from available data. Men in the workforce 1–3 years prior to the statutory retirement age are in a control group, while men 1–3 years older are in a treatment group.FindingsThe authors show that the reform significantly increased the share of permanent contracts held by retirees (by 22.5–27.6 percentage points), though we do not find any aggregate short-term change in employment of retirees. Heterogeneity analysis shows a significant increase in the employment of retirees with only elementary school education (by 17.9 percentage points) and a significant decrease in the number of hours worked by retirees (by 2.5 h weekly for low-educated workers).Practical implicationsThe policy conclusion is that the regulation of employment contract does not affect aggregate employment, but may improve employment of low skilled workers.Originality/valueTo the authors’ best knowledge, there are no studies directly analysing motivation of retirees by types of employment contracts. The authors, thus, add to the literature that studies dealing with the general fixed-term versus permanent contracts (Engellandt and Riphahn, 2003) and motivation to work.

Engendering media work: Institutionalizing the norms of entrepreneurial subjectivity

The article analyses how contemporary processes of media production involving temporary work contracts for journalists, long working hours, the demand for unconditional commitment to work and so on push women into unequal position compared to male employees. Attention is paid to ‘engendered’ work in ‘greedy’ media organizations characterized by precarization of work and the related devaluation of journalism as a profession. Rather than detecting the extent of power and position of women in the media, we adopt the materialist analysis of mechanisms that mask gender inequality and contribute to ‘capitalizing’ on gender for the imperative of media productivity. The study was conducted in Slovenia, in Eastern European, post-socialist context, and comprised 33 individual interviews with media managers and workers at three television stations (public TV SLO, and commercial POP TV and Planet TV). In the analysis, we focus on how journalists, by internalizing the disciplining norms of ‘entrepreneurial subjectivity’, become the motivating force behind precarization of work. Although these processes are often perceived as gender neutral even among female journalists, we argue that they are masculinized and have different effects on men and women, among other things due to the individualization of women’s reproductive roles.

Northern Mariana Islands

Northern Mariana Islands Zaldy Dandan (bio) The period in review covers one of the most traumatic events in recent Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) history—and we are not referring to the November 2018 election results, which, for some, were just as distressing. Four months before the general elections, CNMI politicians in power—the "ins"—and those who were not—the "outs"—had, more or less, completed a realign ment that would have startled if not dismayed those who still believed that politics should be about "ideals" and "principles." US Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, a longtime CNMI Democrat who was elected as the islands' first delegate to the US House of Representatives in 2008, was seeking a sixth term. Kilili, as he is known in the CNMI, was aligned with the US Democrats in the US Congress, but he was also a political ally of the late CNMI Republican Governor Eloy S Inos (mv, 31 July 2014). In the 2018 elections, however, Inos's successor, Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres, supported the candidacy of a fellow young Republican, CNMI Representative Angel A Demapan (mv, 5 Oct 2017). On 2 July 2018, Kilili endorsed the gubernatorial candidacy of one of his 2010 election opponents, former Governor Juan Nekai Babauta, a longtime Republican who had decided, after four consecutive election losses (mv, 13 April 2018), to seek office again. This time, Babauta was running as an independent, and his running mate was former Education Commissioner Rita A Sablan, who earlier considered running for governor herself as a Democrat (mv, 13 April 2018). In 2016, Sablan, who supported the losing gubernatorial candidate in 2014, announced her retirement as education commissioner and was succeeded by someone more politically aligned with the governor (mv, 17 Nov 2016). On 4 July 2018, as if foreshadowing the twin disasters that would soon befall the CNMI's three major islands, Tropical Depression 10w moved [End Page 225] slowly through the Marianas, prompting the government to postpone the Liberation Day/Fourth of July parade indefinitely (mv, 1 Aug 2018). The Torres-Palacios campaign team replied by denouncing Babauta's "well-established strategy to perpetuate falsehoods, mislead voters, and cover up years of his mismanagement of government resources and trust" (mv, 5 July 2018). The CNMI Democratic Party, which used to be the islands' other major political group, announced on 10 July 2018 that it was endorsing the Babauta-Sablan ticket and other independent candidates. The last time the local Democrats won a gubernatorial election was in 1993, and the last time a local Democrat won an elective office was in 2007 (mv, 1 Feb 2019). One of the islands' high-profile good-government advocates, Tina Sablan, said she and the other independent candidates were "running to take back the government and make it work for all and not for the selected few." First elected to the House of Representatives in 2007, Sablan ran for one of Saipan's two Senate seats in 2009, placing fifth in an eight-person race topped by Torres (mv, 1 Feb 2019). On 26 July 2018, the governor announced that President Donald Trump had signed into law the Northern Mariana Islands US Workforce Act to extend the temporary foreign contract workers (cw) program for another ten years after December 2019 and to increase the cw cap from 4,999 to 13,000. "Appropriate access to a labor workforce is necessary to ensure robust and healthy economic growth in the Northern Mariana Islands," then-US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said (mv, 26 July 2018). On 26 July 2018, former Lieutenant Governor Diego T Benavente endorsed the Republican ticket of Governor Torres and his running mate, Senate President Arnold I Palacios. The administration had "accomplished a lot and… made tough but the right decisions for the entire Commonwealth," said Benavente, who in the 2001 and 2005 elections was the running mate of Torres's opponent, former Governor Babauta (mv, 27 July 2018). According to Babauta, who first ran for office in 1985 when Torres was six years old, the people wanted change, and they also wanted to "partake in this supposedly booming economy" (mv, 1 Aug 2018). The Torres-Palacios campaign team replied by...

A national survey of turnover intention among general practitioners in China.

Studies on turnover intention among Chinese general practitioners (GPs) at the national level are limited. This study aimed to assess intention to leave and its associated factors among a nationally representative sample of GPs. The participants were selected using a multistage stratified random sampling method. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 3236 GPs in China between October 2017 and February 2018. A multiple linear stepwise regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with turnover intention. Over 70.0% GPs had a moderate or high turnover intention. GPs who were male, were younger, had a higher education level, had a lower professional title, had a lower income level, and had a temporal work contract had higher turnover intention. In addition, GPs who worked night shifts, had low job satisfaction, and had few opportunities for professional development reported higher turnover intention. Substantial gender and regional differences in predictors of turnover intention among GPs were observed. The study showed that turnover intention in Chinese GPs is high, and the factors influencing turnover intention were low professional title and income level, high education level, having a temporary work contract, working night shifts, and limited opportunities for professional development.

Social Support, Quality of Services, and Job Satisfaction: Empirical Evidence from Palestinian Social Workers.

This study examines the predictors of job satisfaction among public sector social workers in occupied Palestinian territories. Using a quantitative design, data were collected in summer of 2016 through a paper-based, self-administered questionnaire (N = 237). Using hierarchical multiple regression, the three models explained 15 percent to 32 percent of the variance in job satisfaction. In the final model, coefficient indicated that monthly income, contract work status, service orientation, and supervisory support are related to job satisfaction. Respondents with more children and lower salaries showed lower levels of job satisfaction. Respondents who are working as temporary contract workers, who have positive attitudes toward the social work profession, and who have positive attitudes toward supervisory support are more likely to be satisfied with their job. Implications for administrative practice and policy are presented.

The relationship between freelance workforce intensity, business performance and job creation

Despite the growing recognition that freelancers or temporary contract workers are increasingly being used by organisations to enable them to become more dynamic and innovative, there is a lack of research exploring the extent and manner in which freelancers create value-added and affect net job change for employees. Most analyses view freelancers as substitutes for employees who compete for the same work and so add little or no value-added over that already provided by employees. More recent perspectives portray freelancers as non-competing complementary providers of differentiated labour who help create jobs for employees by enabling businesses to become more agile and entrepreneurial. We explore this empirical agenda and find that freelancers are associated with sales growth in businesses and net job creation for core employees. In the process, we also discover that in order to establish these effects, firms must achieve a critical mass of freelancers in their workforce of a scale around 11% before a positive association emerges. This finding has central relevance for managers seeking to use freelance workforce intensity to enhance business performance. Moreover, while it has some intuitive appeal, this discovery requires further research to fully understand its cause and the process generating this outcome.