Managing temporary workers by defining temporary work agency service quality

2010 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung-Tzer Liu ◽  
Cindy Wu ◽  
Chun-Wei Hu
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
Agency Service

scholarly journals The impact of temporary staff on permanent staff in accident and emergency departments

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zofia Bajorek ◽  
David Guest
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Emergency Departments ◽  
Job Demands ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accident And Emergency ◽  
Permanent Staff ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address a gap in the recent literature on employment of temporary workers by exploring the impact of temporary workers on the perceptions, attitudes and behaviour of permanent staff with particular reference to their implications for patient safety and service quality in hospital accident and emergency departments. The analysis is set in the context of the job demands-resources theory. Design/methodology/approach The research was undertaken using a case study approach with semi-structured interviews in two London hospitals. Participants included staff from the HR director level, clinical managers and permanent staff who all had an influence in the hiring and management of temporary staff in some way. Transcripts were analysed thematically using an adopted framework approach. Findings The results indicate that the effect of temporary staff on permanent staff depended on the quality of the “resource”. There was a “hierarchy of preference” for temporary staff based on their familiarity with the context. Those unfamiliar with the department served as a distraction to permanent staff due to the need to “manage” them in various ways. While this was rarely perceived to affect patient safety, it could have an impact on service quality by causing delays and interruptions. In line with previous research, the use of temporary staff also affected perceptions of fairness and the commitment of some permanent staff. Practical implications A model developing an approach for improved practice when managing temporary staff was developed to minimise the risks to patient safety and service quality, and improve permanent staff morale. Social implications The review highlights the difficulties that a limited amount of temporary staff integration can have on permanent staff and patient care, indicating that consideration must be placed on how temporary staff are inducted and clarifying expectations of roles for both temporary and permanent staff. Originality/value This paper studies the under-researched impact of temporary staff, and, distinctively, staff employed on a single shift, on the behaviour and attitudes of permanent staff. It highlights the need to consider carefully the qualitative nature of “resources” in the job demands-resources theory.

scholarly journals Belgian temporary workers at end of working life: an intersectional lifecourse analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 2267-2289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Burnay
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Cultural Models ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Temporary Employment ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Time ◽  
Dual Perspective

AbstractThe sector of temporary employment agencies in Belgium has been growing for more than 20 years. If temporary work is seen primarily as a path into the workforce for young people, it also concerns seniors, in increasing proportions. The problematic of end-of-career temporary work was analysed from a dual perspective, considering the embedding of temporalities in advanced modernity and more broadly the ‘lifecourse’ paradigm. A typology was created based on qualitative analysis of 36 semi-structured interviews of temporary workers ⩾45 years old. Results demonstrate how the experiences of temporary workers nearing retirement depend on professional, familial and social paths, and also reveal the presence of different cultural models: What is the importance of work in construction of an identity? What standards and values are applied? How is social time prioritised according to these norms? These analyses incorporate an intersectional framework in which gender and social inequalities structure the lives of workers approaching the end of their careers.

Reciprocity of Temporary and Permanent Workers: an Exploratory Study in an Industrial Company

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 1163-1176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Lopes ◽  
Maria José Chambel
Keyword(s):  
Performance Appraisal ◽  
Psychological Contract ◽  
Affective Commitment ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
Psychological Contract Fulfillment ◽  
Permanent Workers ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Industrial Company

The increasing use of temporary work prompts the need to understand to what degree workers with this type of contract differ from permanent workers as to the relationship they establish with the organization they work for. This study used a sample of temporary workers (N = 78) and permanent workers (N = 196) within the same company of electronics in Portugal. The results show that, regardless of the type of contract, the perception of human resource practices was related to the perception of psychological contract fulfillment by the company. Additionally and according to the norm of reciprocity, we verified that when workers thought the company was fulfilling its obligations they responded favorably showing more affective commitment towards the company. However, we found differences between these two groups of workers: for the permanent performance appraisal, training and rewards were human resources practices that were significantly related to psychological contract fulfillment, while for the temporary ones there weren't any specific practices that had a significant relationship with that variable. The practical implications of these findings for the management of temporary workers are discussed.

Wage effects of labour market entry via temporary work agency employment

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 937-953
Author(s):  
Tanja Buch ◽  
Annekatrin Niebuhr
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Market Entry ◽  
Wage Gap ◽  
Control Function ◽  
Specific Situation ◽  
Young Workers ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labour Market Entry

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether labour market entry via temporary work has any (persistent) effects on labour market outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Using unique data on several cohorts of graduates from the German apprenticeship system, the authors interpret labour market entry via temporary work agency (TWA) work as a treatment and apply propensity score matching and the control function approach to investigate corresponding effects. Findings The results indicate a pronounced wage gap but no significant wage disadvantage in the medium term for graduates who switch to regular employment. Nevertheless, approximately 30 per cent of the graduates do not manage to leave the temporary help sector and, as a result, suffer persistent wage penalties. Originality/value The numerous studies that investigate the consequences of TWA work on individual labour market performance have not considered the specific situation of young workers after graduation. The rapidly increasing percentage of TWA jobs and the above average share of young workers among temporary workers call for corresponding evidence.

Temporary Workers and Collective-Action Preferences in China

2020 ◽  
pp. 2050003
Author(s):  
EUN KYONG CHOI
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
Chinese Workers ◽  
Cost And Benefit Analysis ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Permanent Workers

Developed countries are becoming concerned with an increase in temporary workers, as it has undermined both their job security and the effects of collective action. China has experienced a surge of temporary work during the last three decades. Employing a cost and benefit analysis, this study identifies labor shortages and the weakness of job protection against arbitrary dismissal, both preconditions that have affected the collective-action preferences of temporary and permanent workers in China since 2010. Although the former has lowered the cost of collective action for temporary workers in China, the latter has increased the opportunity cost for permanent workers. Analyzing the Chinese General Social Survey in 2013, this study finds that temporary workers are twice as likely as permanent workers to actively join in collective action, suggesting that the prevalence of precarious work in China does not necessarily disempower Chinese workers.

Why choose a temporary employment?

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1146-1163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Muzzolon ◽  
Andrea Spoto ◽  
Giulio Vidotto
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Temporary Employment ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Contract Choice ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Integrated Regulation ◽  
Temporary Agency Workers

Purpose – The literature on volition indicates that the only dichotomous measure that differentiates voluntary from involuntary temporary workers is unable to fully explain temporary workers’ attitudes. There are more detailed explanations of why workers choose temporary work. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a scale of reasons for choosing temporary employment. Design/methodology/approach – The study is divided into two parts. In the first part, 32 items were selected based on the literature. They were administered to a sample of 337 Italian temporary agency workers. Then, an exploratory factor analysis was used. In the second part of the study, previous findings were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) considering a sample of 325 Italian temporary agency workers. Findings – A two-factor solution (i.e. integrated regulation and identified regulation) emerged from the CFA. The authors present the scale with means and standard deviations for the measurement of the constructs. The integrated regulation subscale appears sensitive enough to differentiate the contract preference. Research limitations/implications – The two samples were from a single temporary work agency, thus they did not represent the entire heterogeneous population of temporary workers. Originality/value – This study proposes a first attempt to construct a questionnaire about the reasons for choosing temporary employment in Italy that raises questions about how institutional factors within various labor markets influence issues of volition and employment contract choice.

scholarly journals Migrant Poetry – Anthropological Analysis on the Collection of Poems by Drago Trumbetaš

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Banić Grubišić
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Guest Workers ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
Almost All

The subject of this paper is a thematic analysis of a bilingual collection of poems by Drago Trumbetaš entitled “Poems of guest-workers“ (“Gastarbeiter-Gedichte“). The poems in this collection were written during his stay in FR Germany from 1969 to 1980. Drago Trumbetaš (1937–2018) was a versatile Croatian self-taught artist and a member of the first wave of Yugoslav economic migrants who went to “temporary“ work in the developed countries of Western Europe in the 1960s. During his stay in FR Germany, Trumbetaš worked various low paid physical jobs and his artistic expression was strongly imbued with personal migrant experiences. Almost all artistic work of Trumbetaš (series of drawings, novels, plays and poetry) is devoted to depicting the life of Yugoslav gastarbeiters. After determining the prevailing topics on the collection of poems, an analysis of their meaning will be undertaken through the anthropological, sociological and historical literature on the phenomenon of “temporary workers abroad“. Poetry of Trumbetaš has been interpreted in the broader context of the “migrant poetry” development in FR Germany since the 1970s. Particular attention will be paid to analyzing the ways of poetic self-representation of migrant workers, the ways of articulating identity through poetry in a new and different cultural and social environment respectively. The problem of using literary texts written in the first person, which are therefore shaped by the subjective aspirations of individual authors, as relevant sources in ethnological and anthropological studies of migration is problematized in this paper.

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

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-73
Author(s):  
Maria-Cristina Ichim (Balaneasa)
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
Labor Flexibility ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
Important Player ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Temporary Work Agencies

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.

scholarly journals Tijdelijke banen en welzijn

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter van der Meer ◽  
Rudi Wielers
Keyword(s):  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Research Goal ◽  
Permanent Workers

Temporary jobs and well-being Temporary jobs and well-being Government policies in European countries have the objective of creating a flexible labour market to combat or prevent unemployment. Temporary work, however, affects well-being negatively. Our research goal is to determine how the well-being of temporary workers compares to that of unemployed workers. We compare the loss of well-being in temporary jobs to that of unemployment, and explore the causes of the differences between temporary and permanent workers. We find a significant negative effect of temporary jobs on well-being, but this effect is relatively small in comparison to the six times larger negative effect of unemployment. The negative effect of temporary jobs is caused by both the worse quality of the jobs and by job insecurity. The negative effects, however, do not reinforce but reduce each other. The bad quality of the jobs appears to be less of a problem for well-being because the job is temporary. The conclusion is that the negative effects of temporary jobs on well-being are small in comparison to those of unemployment. It is, nevertheless, noted that job insecurity leads to considerable losses of well-being.

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