Strategies and tactics for local market making in the Temporary Staffing Industry

Abstract

This paper examines the increasing complexity of interactions between temporary staffing agencies and their client firms within the local labour market of Birmingham, UK.Temporary Staffing Agencies have been identified as active and influential agents in local, national and international labour markets. Their influence on local labour market functioning, national labour regulation and international regulatory frameworks is growing. Existing literature demonstrates the power of large multinational temporary staffing agencies in both established and emerging temporary staffing markets. Such analyses also contend that multinational agencies operate in very different ways to smaller independent 'back-street' temporary staffing agencies, with different types of clients and at different ends of the market. However, the research conducted in Birmingham, UK suggests that the reality is more complex. It is argued that there can be more subtle and intricate nuances of relevance to the temporary staffing industry in respect of the relationships that exist between large and small temporary staffing agencies, as well as between such agencies and their clients. We highlight how smaller agencies in Birmingham are utilising a variety of strategies and tactics to creatively 'bolt-on' to more formalised national agreements established by multinational agencies with their clients. Moreover, smaller agencies -in some instances -are able to exploit their knowledge of local labour markets to subvert, sabotage and / or infiltrate the activities of multinational agencies in increasingly astute ways. In turn, this generates a series of questions for understanding the nature of 'market making' associated with the temporary staffing industry more broadly.Keywords: Temporary Staffing Industry; local labour markets, subversion; sabotage 2 IntroductionThis paper provides a number of new insights into the way in which the temporary staffing industry operates and the role and function of temporary staffing agencies in 'market-making' activities. In particular, through analysing the temporary staffing industry at a local level, rather than at a national or international level, the research -conducted in Birmingham, UKhighlights a number of previously undocumented ways in which temporary staffing agencies may operate in the local labour market. Temporary staffing agencies (also known as temporary help firms or temporary work agencies) act as intermediaries between workers and employers. They facilitate the outsourcing of jobs to 'temps' (workers) on open-ended contracts, thus providing an alternative to direct employment. They are commonly used by employers to make quick alterations to employee numbers in response to fluctuations in demand, to cover short term absenteeism, when (non-firm-specific) expert skills are required, for seasonal agricultural work or unsociable shifts patterns, for example.Temporary staffing agencies are increasingly integral to how public and private organisations recruit new employees, who gets employed and how...

Regulatory avoidance in the temporary work agency industry: Evidence from Australia

“…Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), 2006; IIIWA, 2012). Similar concerns have been raised in other countries, including the US and UK (McDowell et al, 2008;Peck and Theodore, 2002), and the need for further research examining the activities of TWAs has been highlighted (Enright and Pemberton, 2016), particularly within the 'mosaic of distinctive national formations' (Coe et al, 2009: 80). The national context and its regulatory environment is thought to be especially important because 'the actual use of LMIs (labour market intermediaries, namely TWAs) often reflects their regulatory capability to shift risk and lower wages, rather than the heralded role of matching skilled and mobile workers with flexible and highly paid contract work' (Strauss and Fudge, 2013: 6).…”

“…These findings demonstrate that TWAs are subverting and eroding the collective bargaining process in order to lower the bargaining floor and coerce workers into accepting lower wages and conditions, exposing workers to 'significant vulnerability' (EERC, 2017: 42). The use of 'subversive tactics', as flagged in the UK (Enright and Pemberton, 2016), is enabling TWAs to actively dismantle established bargaining structures and normalise the exploitation of workers in order to create a competitive advantage.…”

“…TWAs have become active and influential labour markets intermediaries as their growth and significance have expanded (Enright and Pemberton, 2016). The TWA industry employs over 10.4 million workers worldwide and it generates revenue of around €247 billion annually (International Confederation of Private Employment Services (CIETT), 2012).…”

Constrained agencies: The emergence of Singapore's distinctive temporary staffing industry

“…Third, rather than establishing formalised contractual relationships like their transnational counterparts, the business strategy of domestic agencies is typically characterised by a stable and loyal client base through the development of long‐term, ‘informal relationships’ with clients which predominantly comprise local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (Enright and Pemberton, ). This is underpinned by close cultural proximity between the parties.…”

“…of long-term, 'informal relationships' with clients which predominantly comprise local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (Enright and Pemberton, 2016). This is underpinned by close cultural proximity between the parties.…”