Flexibility, labour retention and productivity in the EU

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between internal flexibility, the employment of fixed-term contract workers and productivity in 27 European Union countries. Drawing on European Company Survey data, the paper assesses whether establishments that employ on a fixed-term basis experience higher productivity than their competitors and stronger labour productivity improvements over time. These issues are of importance, given the recent weakness of productivity growth in many EU member countries, the steps that governments have taken to relax rules relating to the employment of fixed-term workers, and the emphasis placed on contractual flexibility within the European Commission's flexicurity agenda. The paper finds that establishments that do not use fixed-term contracts enjoy productivity advantages over those that do. Establishments that employ on a fixed-term basis but retain workers once their fixedterm contract has expired perform better than those that do not retain workers. The findings also show that establishments that pursue internal flexibility report both higher productivity than competitors and productivity increases over time. In addition, they are more likely to retain workers who have reached the end of a fixed-term contract.

Crowding‐out or crowding‐in? Direct voice, performance‐related pay, and organizational innovation in European firms

“…The survey yielded data for 27,019 companies on various themes, such as direct/indirect employee participation, innovation, skills and training, social dialogue, variable pay, management practices, and work organization. To encourage a high rate of participation in the survey respondents were contacted by telephone at least 10 times before they were dropped resulting in a response rate of 38% (Eurofound, ; for a description of the dataset see also Oertel, Thommes, & Walgenbach , ; Allen, Liu, Maria, & Saqib , ; Wang & Heyes, in press). The data were codified and adjusted for missing values by the authors and resulted in a usable sample of 22,578 observations.…”

Demarcation of the core and periphery dichotomy: evidence from Turkey's shipyards for a paradoxical precarity model

“…It would make sense for the companies to give up the deployment of precarious workers in order to oust core employees (Wang and Heyes, ). However, the shipyards investigated mostly remain involuted in traditional family management.…”

“…Nevertheless, this does not mean that core employees are necessarily happy with the ‘new deal’ as witnessed by sporadic political backlashes in the shape of hidden as well as open resistance such as absenteeism and slowing down the work (Yucesan‐Ozdemir, ). So much so that one feels the need to question the economic rationale of paradoxical precarity for businesses due to potential productivity losses and the deterioration of work discipline, not least because of the difficulties with controlling highly skilled employees (Wang and Heyes, ). Even so, paradoxical precarity may well be reproduced by the opportunist companies and industries, especially when they have little or no competitive edge rather than pushing down the cost of labour as an immediate survival strategy (Battisti and Vallanti, ).…”

De opmars van flexibele arbeid

“…Verschillende onderzoeken suggereren dat het inderdaad van belang is om rekening te houden met het soort flexwerk. Recent onderzoek onder Europese bedrijven laat bijvoorbeeld zien dat er vooral sprake is van een negatieve relatie tussen de inzet van flexwerkers en de productiviteit van bedrijven die tijdelijke werknemers na afloop van hun contract termijn meestal geen contractverlening geven (Wang & Heyes, 2017). Onderzoek dat rekening houdt met de samenstelling van de het personeelsbestand laat zien dat er met name sprake is van een negatieve relatie tussen flexwerk en het bedrijfssucces in bedrijven waar een hoog kennisniveau van belang is (Lisi & Malo, 2017;Roca-Puig, Beltrán-Martín, Bou-Llusar, & Escrig-Tena, 2008).…”