scholarly journals Temporary Employment, Permanent Stigma? Perceptions of Temporary Agency Workers Across Low- and High-Skilled Jobs

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 6-33
Author(s):  
Pia Cardone ◽  
Markus Tümpel ◽  
Christian M. Huber
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Temporary Employment ◽  
Complex Model ◽  
Skill Levels ◽  
Temporary Agency Work ◽  
Social Prestige ◽  
Poor Treatment ◽  
Incomplete Picture ◽  
Temporary Agency Workers

Research on temporary agency work emphasizes that temporary agency workers (TAWs), particularly those in low-skilled jobs associated with precariousness and low social prestige, are likely to be exposed to poor treatment, as well as stigmatization. On the contrary, stigmatization of TAWs in high-skilled jobs has not been treated in much detail in previous studies. Literature provides an incomplete picture of stigmatization within the broader field of temporary employment regarding the focus on low-skilled jobs. Hence, the present qualitative study is based on data from interviews of a heterogeneous sample of TAWs employed in low- and high-skilled jobs in Germany. By using and modifying Boyce and colleagues’ (2007) model of stigmatization, the study shows that stigmatizing treatment towards TAWs occurs across all skill levels, although the intensity and form of those experiences, as well as coping strategies, differ. Thereby, this study contributes to a more differentiated and skill level-specific understanding of how TAWs perceive and cope with stigmatization linked to their employment status. It also provides an important opportunity to advance Boyce and colleagues’ (2007) complex model of TAW stigmatization with empirical underpinnings.

scholarly journals When temporary agency work is not so temporary

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria José Chambel ◽  
Filipa Sobral
Keyword(s):  
Employment Status ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Determination Theory ◽  
Temporary Employment ◽  
Length Of Service ◽  
Temporary Agency Work ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Mixed Arguments ◽  
Temporary Agency Workers

Theory and empirical research have provided mixed arguments and evidence for the effects of temporary agency work on workers’ well-being. One unresolved issue is how length of service in agency work affects workers’ well-being and behaviour. This study, based on Self-Determination Theory, explored this question by comparing the motives for temporary agency employment and the well-being of workers who have had this employment status for different periods of time. From a sample of 3300 Portuguese temporary agency workers, the study compared three groups who had been engaged in temporary agency work for (1) up to 6 months, (2) between 7 and 12 months and (3) between 13 and 24 months. Regression analyses, controlling for background variables and job insecurity perception, showed that longer periods of temporary agency working were associated with lower autonomous and voluntary motives for temporary employment, workplace well-being and well-being outside work. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Patients’ perspectives of tuberculosis treatment challenges and barriers to treatment adherence in Ukraine: a qualitative study

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. e032027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omowunmi Aibana ◽  
Emily Dauria ◽  
Tetiana Kiriazova ◽  
Olena Makarenko ◽  
Mariya Bachmaha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Treatment Adherence ◽  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Tb Treatment ◽  
Poor Treatment ◽  
Study Population ◽  
Additional Costs ◽  
Treatment Facilities ◽  
Previously Treated

ObjectivesTo understand the challenges faced by patients with tuberculosis (TB) and factors that influence TB treatment adherence in Ukraine.DesignQualitative study.SettingTB treatment facilities in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine.ParticipantsSixty adults who had undergone treatment for drug-sensitive TB between June 2012 and August 2015.MethodsWe conducted semistructured, in-depth, individual interviews among a purposively selected clinical sample of patients previously treated for drug-sensitive TB. Interview content encompassed WHO’s framework for barriers to adherence to long-term therapies and included questions about patient preferences and motivators concerning treatment adherence. We examined treatment experience across strata defined by previously identified risk correlates of non-adherence.ResultsAmong 60 participants, 19 (32.8%) were HIV positive, 12 (20.3%) had substance use disorder and 9 (15.0%) had not completed TB treatment. Respondents discussed the psychological distress associated with hospital-based TB care, as well as perceived unsupportive, antagonistic interactions with TB providers as major challenges to treatment adherence. An additional barrier to successful treatment completion included the financial toll of lost income during TB treatment, which was exacerbated by the additional costs of ancillary medications and transportation to ambulatory TB clinics. The high pill burden of TB treatment also undermined adherence. These challenges were endorsed among participants with and without major risk factors for non-adherence.ConclusionsOur findings highlight important barriers to TB treatment adherence in this study population and suggest specific interventions that may be beneficial in mitigating high rates of poor treatment outcomes for TB in Ukraine.

Employee voice and silence in temporary agency work

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 287-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irma Rybnikova
Keyword(s):  
Employee Voice ◽  
Temporary Employees ◽  
Temporary Agency Work ◽  
Employee Silence ◽  
Voice And Silence ◽  
Employment Mode ◽  
Work Arrangement ◽  
Empirical Material ◽  
And Task ◽  
Temporary Agency Workers

Despite the increasing relevance of temporary agency work, studies dealing with this type of work arrangement in reference to employees’ voice and silence have remained rare so far. Literature mainly deals with voice mechanisms and processes with reference to traditional (permanent) workplaces. The present study tackles peculiarities of employee voice in the context of temporary agency work. The empirical material, based on 19 interviews with German temporary agency workers and agency managers, reveals that temporary agency work abounds in mechanisms inducing employee silence, but also contains instances supporting voice. Several structural and social conditions surrounding this employment mode turn out to be decisively important for processes of silence and voice, like the duration of assignments, working and task arrangements, power status of temporary employees, fear and support of agency.

scholarly journals How Precarious Employment Affects Health and Safety at Work: The Case of Temporary Agency Workers

2011 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsa Underhill ◽  
Michael Quinlan
Keyword(s):  
Health And Safety ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Temporary Employment ◽  
Severe Injuries ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Precarious Employment ◽  
Risk Of Injury ◽  
Data Limitations ◽  
Regulatory Failure ◽  
Temporary Agency Workers

Precarious employment has been associated with adverse occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes across a range of studies. Temporary agency workers are particularly vulnerable, with studies showing they experience a higher incidence of workplace injury, and a greater likelihood of more severe injuries than all other employment types. Explanations for agency workers’ higher risk of injury have, to date, been impeded by data limitations associated with researching temporary employment. This article seeks to begin filling this gap through analyzing the experience of agency workers based upon two data sources. The first is a unique qualitative and quantitative data set developed from investigated temporary agency and directly hired workers’ compensation files; the second is focus groups of agency workers conducted in the State of Victoria, Australia. Quinlan and Bohle’s (2004) Pressures, Disorganization and Regulatory Failure (PDR) model, developed to explain the greater OHS vulnerability of precarious workers, provides the framework for analyzing the data. After explaining the key concepts in the PDR Model, the article analyses the data to test for evidence of economic pressures, disorganization at the workplace, and regulatory failure impacting upon temporary agency workers’ health and safety. The analysis supports the relevance of the PDR model, and provides an understanding of additional and unique risk factors which contribute to agency workers’ higher risk of injury. Temporary agency workers experience economic pressures in common with other types of precarious workers. However, these appear more acute amongst agency workers. They also confront disorganization risks, extending to mismatched placements; lack of familiarity with host workplaces; and more complex fractured communication. These contribute to workplace risks and create barriers to improving their experience. Many of these outcomes are a result of, or contribute to regulatory failure. The analysis finds strong support for the explanatory value of the PDR model as a tool for understanding how precariousness contributes to temporary agency workers’ adverse health and safety outcomes. It also suggests the complexities of the triangular employment relationship create additional economic insecurities and disorganization problems beyond those experienced by other types of workers, which the regulatory environment has yet to address.

scholarly journals Temporary Agency Work as a Means of Achieving Flexicurity?

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Håkansson ◽  
Tommy Isidorsson ◽  
Hannes Kantelius
Keyword(s):  
Working Life ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Temporary Agency Work ◽  
Perception Of Security ◽  
Temporary Agency Workers

After decades of debate about flexibility, flexicurity has become a new buzzword in working life. Flexicurity refers to both the employer’s demand for flexibility and the employee’s demand for security. Thus, the idea is to solve the flexibility–security trade-off. There is also a discussion that mentions temporary agency work as one way of creating a flexicurity system. The flexibility potential is not called into question—numerical flexibility is a quite common motive for using temporary agency workers. However, the security dimension has to be scrutinized. The aim of this article is to analyze the temporary work agency industry’s potential for providing the security dimensions of the flexicurity model in a Swedish context. The study is based on a survey of whitecollar temporary agency workers in Sweden (n = 533). Overall, the vast majority do not perceive security. Our most important result is that both the work agency and the user firm have a dual impact on the agency workers’ perception of security.

scholarly journals REGULACJE DOTYCZĄCE RÓWNEGO TRAKTOWANIA I ZAKAZU DYSKRYMINACJI W ZATRUDNIENIU TYMCZASOWYM

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Robert Wilczyński
Keyword(s):  
Temporary Employment ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Eu Directive ◽  
Temporary Agency Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Eu

REGULATIONS FOR EQUAL TREATMENT AND PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION IN TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENTSummaryThe article discusses the legislation on equal treatment and non-discrimination in temporary employment in the light of the requirements of the Directive of the European Parliament and the European Council 2008/104/EC of 19 November 2008 on temporary agency work. The author recalls the legislative process related to the adoption of the Directive, in particular the legal discrepancies between the social partners and between EU countries, and analyses the content of the Directive. He then presents the provisions of the Polish labour law on equal treatment and non-discrimination. The main part of the article is devoted to a discussion of the adaptation of the legal norms on equal treatment and non-discrimination in the Act of 9 July 2003 on the employment of temporary workers and other legal acts regulating this matter to the recommendations set out in this Directive. The author analyses the current level of compliance of the Polish legislation with the requirements of the EU Directive, presents controversies in the literature, and makes recommendations de lege ferenda.

Clarity needed in training the ‘temps’

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-21
Keyword(s):  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Temporary Work ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Temporary Agency Work ◽  
Work Tasks ◽  
Employment Characteristics ◽  
Dual Employment ◽  
Physically Demanding Work ◽  
Temporary Agency Workers

Purpose Research shows that the risk of work-related disorders is higher among temporary agency workers than among other employees. The purpose of this paper is to describe the working conditions of temporary agency workers and explains which factors contribute towards work-related disorders for this group. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on a survey responded to by 482 agency workers in Sweden. The dependent variable is the prevalence of work-related disorders. Independent variables include personal characteristics, job characteristics, employment characteristics and temporary agency work characteristics. Findings The study indicates several risk factors: holding a position as a blue-collar worker; being assigned to more physically demanding work tasks and having fewer opportunities to learn new things than client organization employees; lacking training for work tasks; and lacking clarity regarding which work tasks to do during an assignment. Originality/value The theoretical implications of this study are related to the dual employment–management relationship in temporary agency work where the temporary work agency and client organization follow different logics. The logic in the employment relationship is to contract temporary agency workers out to client organizations; thus, there is no time for formal training. The logic in the management relationship lies in making temporary agency workers profitable as soon as possible, encouraging shortcuts in training and instruction; thus, temporary agency workers risk being left with a lack of clarity regarding what to do and how to do it.

Roots of Activism: A Qualitative Study of BSW Students

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine Byers ◽  
Glenn Stone
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Skill Levels ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Interview Format ◽  
Politically Active

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study of socially/politically active BSW students and recent BSW graduates. The purpose of this study was to explore how undergraduate social work students came to assume their activist roles. The study included intensive interviews with 11 participants through the use of a semi-structured interview format. Although the routes to activism were varied, one finding that emerged from the interviews was that most of the participants had begun their “activist” orientations at relatively early ages; many beginning in middle school. Participants' definitions of the activities encompassed by “activism” and their motivations for continued activism are elucidated. A discussion is also presented regarding ways in which social work educators can increase social/political activism interest and skill levels in undergraduate students.

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.

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