Emerging Forms of Precariousness Related to Autonomy at Work: Toward an Empirical Typology

Abstract

Societal, technological, and economical changes in the last decades have led to the development of new work arrangements located in a ≪ gray zone ≫ between standard employment and classical self-employment (Cappelli and Keller, 2013a;ILO, 2016;Katz and Krueger, 2016). Official labor market statistics must be adapted to provide researchers and policymakers with relevant data on this population (Gazier et al., 2016; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, 2017;ILO, 2018). Cappelli and Keller (2013b) point out that new work arrangements are characterized by changes in the management of the work relationships (with a growing intervention of labor market intermediaries) and in the way the work is supervised (from work processes to outcomes). The concept of autonomy thus becomes a central feature of new work arrangements leading to specific configurations of risks and opportunities for individual workers concerned. Autonomy can be divided in three main dimensions: work status, work content, and working conditions (Pichault and McKeown, 2019). International surveys such as the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) provide valuable data covering these dimensions of autonomy. Our paper is focused on a specific category of workers experiencing the ambiguities of autonomy at work: Independent Professionals (Ipros). Ipros provide various forms of intellectual work in the service sector through self-employment and are often regarded as a highly autonomous workforce (Leighton and Brown, 2014;McKeown, 2015) while they can also be subject to precarious situations regarding their economic dependency or freedom of choice (de Peuter, 2011;Standing, 2011;Bergvall-Kåreborn and Howcroft, 2013). The objectives of this paper are, first, to build a set of indicators likely to measure the various dimensions of autonomy, and, second, to provide an empirical typology of new work arrangements by using cluster analysis methods. Through the application of this analytical framework on the EWCS 2015 data, we observe various situations in terms of risk and opportunities related to autonomy, shedding light on unexpected precarious situations where Ipros face the risks of autonomy without getting the associated benefits. Our results provide a nuanced typology of empirical situations, overcoming such a dichotomic vision of non-standard work arrangements.

Grey workers in the European Union: precariousness among economically dependent solo self-employed

“…Based on the most problematized disempowering and vulnerable working conditions among dependent (solo) self-employed (Mühlberger, 2007; Murgia and Pulignano, 2021; Horodnic and Williams, 2019; Florin and Pichault, 2020; Millán et al. , 2020), WP was operationalized through five questionnaire items (all five-point Likert scales, 1-Strongly agree – 5 Strongly disagree): “You can take a break when you wish?”, “You are able to apply your own ideas in your work?”, “You can influence decisions that are important for your work?”, “Considering all my efforts and achievements in my job, I feel I get paid appropriately?”, and “If I had a long-term sickness, I would be financially secure?”.…”

“…330, 339) [5]. Finally, Florin and Pichault (2020) explored autonomy at work among EU28-based independent professionals (IPros), i.e. solo self-employed who provide “intellectual” work in, e.g.…”

“…6. Each of the nine dimensions was measured by 1–3 items. The dimension scores were calculated using the mean-item score method (Florin and Pichault, 2020). …”

“…Based on the most problematized disempowering and vulnerable working conditions among dependent (solo) self-employed (M€ uhlberger, 2007;Murgia and Pulignano, 2021;Horodnic and Williams, 2019;Florin and Pichault, 2020;Mill an et al, 2020), WP was operationalized through five questionnaire items (all five-point Likert scales, 1-Strongly agree -5 Strongly disagree): "You can take a break when you wish? ", "You are able to apply your own ideas in your work?…”

“…Second, far-reaching empirical findings in the field are overall scarce, oftentimes industry-specific (Th€ ornquist, 2015;Cruz et al, 2017;Moore and Newsome, 2018), and mainly refer to the dark grey sub-group of dependent solo self-employed, whose autonomy is reduced beyond mere economic dependency [1] (Williams and Horodnic, 2018;Carrasco and Hernanz, 2021). Additionally, while notable achievements in exploring the (sub)group's prevalence and its basic characteristics were reached at the country and EU level (M€ uhlberger and Pasqua, 2009;Williams and Horodnic, 2018;Murgia and Pulignano, 2021), comprehensive quantitative studies on more complex characteristics such as job prospects and work autonomy employed simplified approaches in IJSSP 43,7/8 estimating the model parameters and/or in measuring the constructs (Horodnic and Williams, 2019;Florin and Pichault, 2020). WP as such, to the best of our knowledge, has not yet been thoroughly analyzed in the considered population.…”