Management and Organization of Temporary Agency Work

Client organizations and the management of professional agency work: The case of English health and social care

“…The second factor relates to competing demands (Ward et al, ) (box e). Important here are tensions between the need to ensure agency worker commitment and contribution to performance (Koene et al, ) and pressures to minimize costs (Knox, ). In our own cases, these tensions were especially strong partly because the use of agency working in core roles was largely unplanned (and unwanted).…”

“…While it may be acknowledged as a challenge, it frequently falls outside the “traditional inside view of the HR department” (Mitlacher, , p. 455). It has been argued the HR function should adopt a more strategic and inclusive approach toward managing the agency workforce (Koene et al, ). In demonstrating the importance of agency worker performance to patient care outcomes in the health trusts and safeguarding outcomes in social care, our study supports this view.…”

“…Similarly, in social care, managers noted how induction could be erratic and shorter than that provided to permanent staff (SC(C)-5) and how the training offered was often limited in nature (SC(A)-6). As such, the HR interventions we observed fell short of the kind of strategic approach to agency working envisaged by some observers (Koene et al, 2014). Reflecting this, these HR initiatives had also been largely developed bottom-up at the local level by individual line managers.…”

“…In short, the message is that client organizations need to consider developing a “special attention” approach (Koene & van Riemsdijk, ) for the management of agency workers. As noted, this is especially when these workers are used to fill core roles, where “synergistic interaction between itinerant professionals and organizations is essential for organizational development and competitiveness” (Koene et al, , p. 4).…”

From ‘Entering into a Firm’ to ‘Entering into a Profession’: An Anthropological Approach to Changing Personhood in Japan

“…We are witnessing a global 'temp revolution' and 'blended workforces', which brings an increasing number of workers to and from the workplace with greater frequency (Fu 2015;Koene et al 2014). Although focusing on Japan, this article has wider implications for discursive personhood or identity research in the areas of employment relations and organizational behaviour.…”