Flexibility
An immensely complex and highly-debated topic. Sociologists and economists get
very emotional about this word. The term is used in a variety of overlapping senses, including:
- Labour market flexibility, where it is argued that regulation
and consequent rigidity of the job market act against growth and should
be minimised. However, this usually means cutting worker protection rights
and social benefits.
- The flexible firm: a model of organization developed by the
former Institute of Manpower Studies in the UK during the 1980s. Argues
for a workforce composed of 'core' and 'peripheral' workforces. Core workers
are permanent, have full range of benefits and job security. They take
care of the organization's key functions. Peripheral workers are split
into three categories:-
a) Regular employees engaged in relatively low-skill, routine
work (example: back office administration in banking). Fairly low pay and
insecure - the next wave of technology can eliminate the need for these
people.
b) Contingent employees working on high-skill tasks, perhaps on short-term
contracts or projects. High pay, no job security but this is compensated
for by the freedom to pick and choose projects.
c) Low-skill, low pay contract workers often provided by an agency for
cleaning, routine security, catering, etc.
Within the model there are some key explanatory concepts: numerical,
functional and pay flexibility and also 'distancing'.
The model has its critics and there is little evidence that organizations
have made much use of it as a strategic concept. However, individual components
such as sub-contracting are commonplace.
- Flexible specialization. An argument that 'fordism' or mass
production is declining in favour of smaller niche market manufacturing.
Consumers are more demanding, it seems, wanting more individual products.
Questionable.
The Insecure Workforce
For the past few decades, employment in Britain has been marked by a search for
greater flexibility in the availability and use of labour. In recent years, however,
there has been mounting concern at the effects of this trend and an appreciation that the
corollary of a flexible labour market may be an insecure workforce, vulnerable to exploitation.
...
The percentage of 'traditional' workers - working for an employer, having some paid leave
entitlement and not on a fixed-term contract - is down to just over half of all jobholders (55%).:
on the HRM Guide Australia site.
Absence rates fell from an average of eight days per employee
to 6.5 days during the last 18 months among almost 300 firms surveyed: on the HRMGuide.co.uk site.
An Industrial Society survey of 516 human resource specialists found that 91% of
respondents' organizations use some form of flexible working:
on the HRMGuide.co.uk site.
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