This study investigates the relationship between mature female job-seekers and private employment agencies in the Auckland region. Twelve women who were made redundant after age 40 were interviewed about their experiences of using agencies to find clerical work. Five agency staff were also interviewed to discover their views on placing such women in work. Although the two groups occupy contrasting positions within the employment relationship, several complementary themes emerged from the two sets of interviews. Both groups described gendered ageism as a key issue for older women seeking office work and identified a range of strategies employers use to avoid employing them in permanent positions. In contrast to most previous research, which emphasizes perceived skills deficits, both groups saw problems of appearance and 'team fit' as more formidable barriers to re-employment. The findings are discussed in relation to the expanding role of employment agencies and policy approaches to combating gendered ageism in employment.

This research investigated the triangular employment relationship between organizations, temporary staffing agencies, and clerical temporary workers using the conceptual framework of the psychological contract. The rapid growth in triadic employment relationships is well documented; however, there is limited research into the interlocking psychological contracts between the three parties. This research advances our understanding of the mechanisms underlying triangular psychological contracts by drawing attention to the ways in which people’s beliefs concerning their own obligations toward others may be incommensurate with their expectations of other parties. Findings are based on semistructured interviews with 10 client organization representatives, 10 staffing agency consultants, and 20 female clerical temporaries working in Auckland, New Zealand. The interviews revealed that the three sets of participants held mutually incompatible expectations, which were shaped by their differing positions and power bases within the temporary labor market. Each group expected, or wanted, the other parties to behave toward them as if a relational psychological contract existed but perceived their obligations toward others in more transactional terms. In consequence, the expectations, goals, and actions of the three sets of participants often conflicted, creating a range of adverse outcomes, which were unintended by, and problematic for, each group within the triangular employment relationship.

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