Managing temporary workers: work identity, diversity and operational HR choices

Abstract

Strategic HRM theory argues that organisations should distinguish different types of employees according to their value and availability. We argue that this has resulted in an underestimation of the importance of specific HRM practices in relation to temporary employees. Building on theoretical work that discusses the employment relationship for temporary employees, the process of identification with the organisation and different ways of managing diversity, we distinguish three approaches to the operational management of temporary employees. We explore two cases that reflect opposite ends of the scale. They illustrate the value of the theoretical framework and substantiate the claim that, even after the strategic choice for a lean, distanced and uninvolved temporary ‘employment mode’ is made, different operational HRM practices lead to differences in performance.

Editorial

“…Another aspect related to the last point which is mentioned by Koene and van Riemsdijk (2005) but not in the same context is whether the work is done on the premises or off site. Some of the problems that might arise from a poor psychological relationship include high turnover, high sick leave and unreliability.…”

“…The nature of employment for temporary workers provides challenges through managing a differentiated workforce, the transactional nature of the relationship, work identity and operational management (Koene and van Riemsdijk, 2005). The nature of employment between the professional core of an organization and the peripheral workers has been based on the value of firm specific skills.…”

“…The psychological relationship is seen by Koene and van Riemsdijk (2005) to be related to the duration of the relationship, specificity of this duration, whether the outcomes are substitutable or unique, whether the employee works for two employers at the same time and whether the workers had a choice in the selection and design of the task. Another aspect related to the last point which is mentioned by Koene and van Riemsdijk (2005) but not in the same context is whether the work is done on the premises or off site.…”

“…Important themes appear to be the temporary organizational arrangement of projects (Turner et al, 2008, Huemann et al, 2004, Huemann et al, 2007, Bredin, 2008b) and the management of temporary workers (Koene and van Riemsdijk, 2005, Cacioppe, 1999, Jarvinen and Poikela, 2006. The people capability issues for temporary organizational structures such as projects include:  The culture of the organization such as empowerment of employees, teamwork and organizational change (Gareis, 2005) including the reward and incentive structure to support the organizational culture.…”

“… The view of the firm in terms of its knowledge assets and organisational capabilities (Pitelis and Teece, 2009 by Koene and van Riemsdijk (2005) that reviews the temporary employment relationship.…”