Community and National Provisions for Temporary Work Agencies. Trends in the Evolution of Temporary Work Agencies and Temporary Workers

The temporary work agent is an important player in the EU labor market from the perspective of labor flexibility. The evolution of the national legal framework on the regulation of the establishment and operation of the temporary work agent in accordance with the European provisions - Directive 2008/104 / EC - is an important issue to consider in this article because the national legal frameworks had to be adapted after 2008 in accordance with the Community law, in order to ensure the protection of temporary workers. Last but not least, the trends on the European labor market are also interesting from the point of view of the employment degree based on the services of temporary work agents. This paper aims to analyze the evolution of the Romanian legal provisions regarding temporary work agencies since the entry into force of the 2003 Labor Code to present day, emphasizing on the debate regarding the licensing, registration and the withdrawal of license procedure for a temporary work agent in our country. At the end of the article, we will present the number of temporary work agencies licensed in Romania, but also the percentage of employees recruited through temporary work agents in EU countries during the period 2011-2020, in order to highlight the degree of use of this type of workforce.

El papel de las ETTs en la reducción del riesgo moral asociado al seguro por accidentes de trabajo: El caso de España

The presence of temporary work agencies (TWAs) in Spain is relatively recent in comparison with other countries where there is a longer tradition. Nevertheless, despite their short historical existence, their role in the labour market has outstandingly changed. In this paper, we intend to consider the effort of the workers who are hired through TWAs by means of the analysis of a number of accident reports, usually known as hard to diagnose accidents. There are evidences that the workers that are hired through a TWA show lower levels of moral hazard than the ones with a permanent contract and with a direct temporary one. These last results can indicate that TWAs play an important role in promoting the effort of the workers, which can not only be attributed to the fact that they manage temporary contracts.

What about learning?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss conditions for workplace learning (WPL) in relation to temporary agency staffing (TAS), focusing on temporary and regular nurses’ experiences of social relations. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered using qualitative semi-structured interviews with five agency nurses and five regular nurses. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings Similarities and differences regarding conditions for WPL among “temps” and “regulars” emerged, pointing towards both challenges and opportunities for WPL on various levels. Moreover, although challenges stood out, the context of professional work provides certain opportunities for WPL through, for example, knowledge sharing among nurses. Research limitations/implications Results are valid for the interviewees’ experiences of WPL conditions. However, the findings may also have currency in other but similar workplaces and employment circumstances. Practical implications Client organisations and temporary work agencies could benefit from developing management and HR strategies aimed at strengthening the opportunities for WPL, related to professional work, to ensure that these opportunities are leveraged fully. Originality/value This study adopts a WPL perspective on TAS in the context of professional work, which is still rare.

Health Institutions, Temporary Work Agencies, and the Mobility Power of Nurses

The objective of this article is to explore how the mobility power of nurses (the ability to move between employers or leave the labor market) contributes to changing relations between health institutions and temporary work agencies in the Norwegian welfare state. Based on case study as the research strategy, the article contributes to the political economy of labor relations approach and the debate over the role ofTWAs and temporary nursing in the health sector.The mobility power of Swedish nurses who shift from agency nursing to direct temporary nursing in health insti- tutions (bank nursing) partly explains the constrained growth of agency nursing in the Norwegianhospital sector. However, contracting flows of Swedish nurses to Norway since 2015 challengeinternal labor hire and could make health institutions more agency-dependent in future.The dataemployed are semi-structured interviews, official statistics, reports, and news clippings.

How do labor market intermediaries help young Eastern Europeans find work?

This chapter examines the entry routes of young migrants from Eastern Europe into the Austrian labor market, focusing on the role of labor market intermediaries (LMIs) such as public employment services, online job portals, and temporary work agencies. It takes account of the perspectives of both employers and young migrants. The findings suggest that online job portals are the most prevalent type of LMI. Relatedly, informational services are more relevant than matchmaking and administrative services. The relevance of LMI types and services varies across sectors, indicating that LMIs to varying degrees fulfill specific functions in these sectors, such as reduction of transaction costs, risk management, and network building. The more nuanced understanding of entry routes provided by this chapter will help in the development of theoretical models explaining youth migration and design policy measures aimed at improving the labor market opportunities of young migrants from Eastern Europe.

The Harms of Work

This book provides a qualitative account of working conditions within the contemporary service economy. As the largest employer in the modern labour market, investigating its realities demonstrates a number of problematic issues. The quest for profitability, efficiency and customer satisfaction drive a number of practices that can be interpreted from a social harm perspective. The use of zero-hours contracts, temporary work agencies, just-in-time management, lean working, and emotional labour, underpinned by targets and performance management reflect the imperatives of capital and the requirement for profitability. In relation to the employees who work in such precarious forms of employment, a number of harms appear. The ‘Victorian’ working conditions noted at individual operators such as Sports Direct are not anomalies but instead represent the normal functioning of the sector. In considering work from a social harm perspective, the book offers a unique contribution to the sociology of work and criminological or social harm studies. The social harm consideration of systemic violence is extended by an ultra-realist perspective that accounts for the symbolic violence of ideology and the problematic subjectivities willing to inflict harm on others. In its conclusions, the book asks for a consideration of the role of ideology and political economy in debates which seek to fix the harms of work.

Temporary work agencies: Triangular disorganization or multilevel regulation?

In this article, we compare the evolution of industrial relations and collective wage regulation arrangements in the temporary agency industries of Sweden, Germany, Norway and the UK. Within a framework of institutionalization and institutional change, we examine how the strategic choices made by key actors, principally employers, confronted by market deregulation, EU enlargement and EU-level regulation, have affected the form and strength of collective regulation. We draw conclusions on the extent to which existing national institutional structures have been transferred to the industry, transformed or subjected to incremental change.

Changing workplace geographies: Restructuring warehouse employment in the Oslo region

The article examines changing employment relations in Norwegian warehouses, and conceptualises the increasing use of temporary agency workers as a redrawing of workplace geographies. The empirical basis for the analysis is four qualitative warehouse workplace studies, including focus group and interview data. The theoretical framework of the article combines an adapted version of the territory-place-scale-network (TPSN) framework developed by Bob Jessop, Neil Brenner and Martin Jones with the concepts of labour control and labour agency. The analysis shows how a networked recruitment system based on Swedish labour migrants, mediated via temporary work agencies, encourage workers to work their way through levels of employment insecurity in order to secure permanent employment. The article argues that the blurring and redrawing of legal boundaries through labour hire can be understood as a territorial strategy of control that affects the workplace as a scale of justice for trade unions. Moreover, the analysis shows how managerial control is conditioned by workers’ individual, habitual and collective agency.

Regulatory avoidance in the temporary work agency industry: Evidence from Australia

Within the context of the Australian Senate’s Inquiry into corporate avoidance of the Fair Work Act 2009, this research examines regulatory avoidance in the temporary work agency industry. The findings highlight that regulatory avoidance in Australian temporary work agencies has intensified and expanded, normalising exploitation and further exacerbating precarious work and its detrimental outcomes. The study contributes to debates regarding regulation of temporary work agencies and illustrates the importance of examining how regulatory avoidance is constructed and played out in national contexts.