Global diversity in employment relationships: a typology of flexible employment

Abstract

<p>Since the 1980s, flexibility in the workplace became a key goal for many companies, particularly in North America, Europe and Australia. Flexibility in using human resources is an issue of interest for companies that want to establish a presence in the global markets. Multinational corporations, as already active players in the global market, are no different than the domestic organizations in their eagerness to improve their positions in the marketplace; and thus, to use a variety of flexibility strategies.</p> <p>Companies have been using different forms of inter-related and sometimes overlapping flexibility strategies: pay flexibility, job (functional or task flexibility), numerical (or external) flexibility, and working-time flexibility. In this paper we are focusing on numerical flexibility, which can be defined as the use of employees, other than permanent full-time employees, to easily adjust to the changes in global demand for the company's products or services. The academic literature uses a variety of terminologies synonymously for strategies that provide numerical flexibility. Non-standard, peripheral, atypical, marginal, contingent or secondary are the most common terms. The literature suggests that any employment other than permanent full-time (with an indefinite contract limit) falls under the numerical flexibility category. This category broadly refers to: 1) Part-time employees working on a regular (permanent) or casual basis, 2) temporary employees hired depending on the need and may work part-time or full-time hours, 3) contract workers hired to perform specific tasks for a set duration of time, 4) job-sharing where two permanent part-time employees share one full-time job, 5) home-based or teleworkers who work at home on a continuous but piecework basis, and 6) subcontracting where work is performed for the organization by employees of another organization. In the following paragraph we discuss a typology of flexible employment in corporations.</p> <p>In all organizations employment relationships can be distinguished in two ways: 1) by <strong>the customary work schedule</strong>, and 2) by <strong>the continuity of the employment relationship</strong>. Under the customary work schedule, the employee can work<strong> full-time</strong> or<strong> part-time</strong>. Some companies further divide their part-time employees according to whether they work a relatively fixed schedule of hours. Those with relatively fixed scheduled hours are often called <strong>permanent part­ time</strong>, while those who work only when they are needed by the organization are often called <strong>casual</strong> or <strong>occasional part-time</strong>. Under the continuity of the employment relationship, employees can be separated into two groups as <strong>permanent employees</strong>, where employment relationship is continuous and the worker has an indefinite-term employment contract, and as <strong>other employees</strong>, where employees are hired for a limited length of time with a definite-term contract. We believe such a typology is necessary to understand the diversity in employment relationships.</p>