Agency workers are a fundamental part of modern work being characterised in the workplace by a triangular employment relationship between them, the employment agency and the third party employer. The thesis was concerned about the job satisfaction of agency workers on two counts. Firstly, what contributed towards the job satisfaction of this unique type of worker? Secondly, what differences in job satisfaction and related variables arise between agency workers and permanent workers? Preliminary research along with a literature review on job satisfaction and agency workers formulated two sets of hypotheses, those variables relating to agency worker job satisfaction (relational hypotheses), and differences between permanent workers and agency workers (differential hypotheses). Both sets of hypotheses were tested by a quantitative survey, which surveyed 96 agency workers for the relational hypotheses and 157 call centre workers for the differential hypotheses. For the differential hypotheses a control group was used to address the possible influence that the employment of agency workers may have on permanent workers that hitherto has not been controlled for in studies of a similar nature. Semi-structured interviews with workers and employers were used to enlarge the quantitative findings. Organisational commitment, permanent and agency worker relationship were found to be significantly related to job satisfaction in both a correlation and hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis. Involuntary work status had no correlation challenging previous research. Significant differences were seen between agency workers and permanent workers on a number of variables including skill variety, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and job security satisfaction. These results both supported and contradicted previous studies primarily as preceding research had not accounted for the possible influence that agency workers may have on the permanent workers under research.

This thesis is a socio-legal study of the employment conditions of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in the Saudi Arabian labour market in general and the construction sector in particular, with emphasis on low-skilled TFWs. This thesis adopts a socio-legal approach to the human rights situation of low-skilled TFWs working in the Saudi construction sector. By using migration theories, a human rights-based approach and Islamic perspectives on labour rights, the study questions the efficacy of Saudi domestic law in providing protection to low-skilled foreign workers in the construction sector. This is done by examining the current labour admission policies and the structure of the regulatory framework, including the ‘kafala’ system, recruitment procedures, employment law, working conditions, occupational safety and health hazards and access to the justice system. Grounded theory methodology is followed, with empirical data collection using semi-structured interviewing techniques in two major Saudi cities, Riyadh and Makkah. The data collected from the fieldwork provides the basis for understanding the current situation of low-skilled TFWs, by listening to their experiences. The thesis finds a link between the legal status of temporary foreign workers and the work visa system, which leads to a continuation of exploitation, mistreatment, discrimination, forced labour and the servitude of foreign labour in Saudi Arabia.

Par définition, les intérimaires ne sont liés que par des contrats temporaires et pourtant on constate que 165 000 personnes ont travaillé pendant plus de six mois en intérim chaque année entre 1998 et 2002. L’existence de ces intérimaires longue-durée est ici interrogée en partant de l’hypothèse que leur maintien dans cette forme d’emploi est lié à l’état de la norme salariale qui perd peu à peu sa place de principe organisateur de la société française. Plusieurs éléments permettent de comprendre ce maintien. Le premier est un rapport de confiance activement entretenu entre l’intérimaire et l’agence d’intérim. Deuxièmement, il est nécessaire pour les intérimaires longue-durée, de posséder des attaches familiales ou immobilières. Enfin, au sein des entreprises utilisatrices, les rapports entre intérimaires et embauchés sont facilités par l’affaiblissement du sentiment de sécurité lié au contrat à durée indéterminée.Les bonnes raisons du maintien en intérim sont donc liées à la crainte du chômage mais aussi à l’abandon du compromis entre sphères politiques et économiques de l’Etat assurantiel. La sécurité qu’apporte l’emploi stable est remise en cause alors qu’il est nécessaire pour obtenir les prêts qui mènent à la propriété immobilière. Or, cette dernière semble reprendre sa place de garant et permet à ceux qui y ont accès de sortir du continuum salarial sans subir de sanctions et de participer à son affaiblissement. / By definition, temporary workers are only bound by temporary contracts, yet we find that, between 1998 and 2002, 165 000 people have been employed as temporary workers each year for more than six months.In this research, we raise the question of the existence of these long term temporary workers through the presumption that their existence is linked to the state of the wage continuum that is gradually losing its place as the organizing principle of French society. Through a qualitative survey, we highlight the importance of several elements. First, trust is actively maintained between the temporary worker and the agency. Secondly, the long-term temporary workers rely on family or estate to secure their position. In addition to these prerequisites, we find that, when sent on a mission, temporary workers benefit from the weakening of the security feeling that permanent contracts used to provide.Good reasons behind long term-temporary work are related to the fear of unemployment and to the resignation of the trade-off between political and economic spheres that gave birth to the insurance-State. The security of steady employment is now being questioned while it is needed to obtain loans necessary to purchase home ownership. At the same time, the latter seems to take its place as guarantor and allows home owners to deviate from the continuum wage without repercussion while participating in its weakening.

Background: Usage of temporaries in contemporary business is increasing due to demand for agile and efficient way of doing business. This trend has been rising especially when turning into 21stcentury. Growing group of temporary workers in different industries being mobile and under different circumstances than regular full-time workers. One professional group working with clients in temporal terms is consultants hired as project managers to lead customer projects in project-based organizations. These project managers switch context between businesses and try to adapt as soon as possible to new environments. The paper uses concept of liminality as a metaphor to describe these passages between projects which starts identity work and sensemaking process in individual. Purpose of Thesis:  The purpose of this thesis was to study how project managers cope with liminality using sensemaking and identity work as a point of view. Methodology: This is a qualitative cross-sectional study conducted through semi-structured interviews in order to gather primary data for further analysis and findings. The empirical data was gathered from a Finnish professional service company and consisted ten interviews of consultant project managers. Findings: The study presents a four-field matrix forming project manager archetypes as embodiments of variation how consultant project managers deal with liminality. Although, the group of people in the sample can be perceived homogeneous, it turned out that it contained heterogeneous characteristics regarding the research scope. The main differences found are illustrated through technical or social approach toward work, and whether sensemaking processes occurred in individual or collective manner. Therefore, the study was able to create four different form of archetypes: the realist, the connector, the performer and the moderator.

The aim of this study was two-fold: firstly, it attempted to focus on the earnings of foreign-born STEM professionals in the U.S. workforce to examine whether this population was at an earning disadvantage compared to the U.S. citizens. Secondly, it aimed to investigate whether legal status acquisition (from temporary work visas to permanent residency) enhanced the earnings of foreign-born STEM professionals in the U.S. workforce. This study utilized a mixed-methods (QUAN/QUAL) research design. ANCOVA (Analysis of Covariance) was used to test the hypothesis in order to determine any statistically significant differences between the group means. Secondary data from the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) was utilized for this study. The results of the ANCOVA test showed that temporary worker visa holders were not at earning advantage/disadvantage compared to the U.S. citizens, and there was no statistical evidence that legal status acquisition enhanced the salaries of the foreign-born STEM professionals in the U.S. workforce. The interviews indicated that foreign-born STEM professionals (temporary worker visa holders, LPRs, and naturalized U.S. citizens) were not at earning disadvantage compared to their U.S.-born counterparts. Although the legal status change did not enhance the salaries of the skilled immigrants, it did improve job mobility and overall flexibility.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T10:32:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ERLANDIA SILVA PEREIRA.pdf: 655346 bytes, checksum: 99a8345adabe6feb852ce1de8ddc89f2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-11-11 / The investigative approach intends to examine the perception of quality of life of workers under temporary contract at the Zoonosis Control Center of the Municipality of Uberlândia - CCZ. The research question raised the question that the temporary contract job infers in the quality of life of the worker, reverberating in health, social relationships, work and daily life activity and that the social worker, from a critical role, safeguarding the limitations of the objective conditions of the work, with the collective could develop alternative coping demands brought from the professionals care. The investigation was structured through action research collecting qualitative data (testimonies) in the meetings for twelve times. We collect quantitative data on two occasions, before and after the meetings, using the OMS questionnaire, WHOQOL-bref-World Health Organization Quality of Life (simplified model) that aims to statistically measure the perceived quality of life. Later, we confront the data and we can see that the system of temporary contracts, one of the types of flexible working, among other strategies of productive restructure, undermines the quality of life of these workers. As regards the intervention of social work, we can observe that the collective work achieved satisfactory results promoting in the workers a significant improvement in the perception of the quality of life although it is clear to our study the weight of the social question in everyday life of these workers. / A abordagem investigativa pretende analisar a percepção da qualidade de vida dos trabalhadores sob regime de contrato temporário no Centro de Controle de Zoonoses do Município de Uberlândia CCZ. O questionamento que direcionou este estudo é relativo ao fato de que o trabalho por contrato temporário interfere negativamente na qualidade de vida do trabalhador, repercutindo em sua saúde, relações sociais, atividade laboral e vida cotidiana. Nesse sentido, a partir de uma atuação crítica e resguardadas as limitações próprias das condições objetivas de trabalho, o assistente social poderia desenvolver com o coletivo alternativas de enfrentamento das demandas trazidas nos atendimentos profissionais. A investigação foi estruturada por meio de pesquisa-ação, colhendo dados qualitativos (depoimentos) nas rodas de conversas durante doze encontros. Colhemos dados quantitativos em dois momentos: antes e após as rodas de conversa, utilizando o questionário da OMS, WHOQOL-bref (World Health Organization Quality of Life), em modelo simplificado, o qual tem por finalidade de medir estatisticamente a percepção da Qualidade de Vida. Posteriormente, confrontamos os dados e pudemos constatar que o regime de contrato temporário, uma das modalidades do trabalho flexível dentre outras estratégias da reestruturação produtiva, precariza a qualidade de vida destes trabalhadores. No que se refere à intervenção do Serviço Social, observamos que o trabalho com coletivos apresentou resultados satisfatórios no sentido de promover junto a estes trabalhadores uma sensível melhora da percepção sobre a qualidade de vida, embora seja claro ao nosso estudo o peso da questão social na vida cotidiana destes trabalhadores.

Temporary agencies are commonly used by Swedish companies today, and according to Coe, Johns and Ward (2009), this is because Sweden has a strict labor market regulation which makes companies afraid to employ workers on a permanent basis. By using temporary agencies, companies can come around the Employment Protection Act (EPA) which makes us question which parts of the EPA that companies consider as a problem and if the use of temporary agencies actually can reduce this problem for Swedish companies. Focus in this thesis is companies´ personnel costs, which means that the EPA and the use of temporary agencies are investigated with these costs in mind. Therefore, the purpose with this thesis is to investigate how the EPA affects Swedish companies’ personnel costs over the years 2007-2009, and examine if the use of temporary agencies can reduce these costs. A descriptive investigation is conducted in order to examine the purpose of this thesis. The study is accomplished through an Internet based questionnaire which is send to 68 randomly chosen companies all over Sweden, with 51-150 workers from no specific branch or geographical area. 32 companies participate in the study. From the descriptive investigation it is evident that the EPA has increased personnel costs for Swedish companies over the years 2007-2009. However, this happens indirectly through decreased flexibility making it difficult for companies to quickly adjust to changes in demand. Also, a majority of the companies are critical towards the EPA and show direct consequences’ of negative impacts experienced. Consequently, we suggest that the EPA is updated to fit the conditions of today´s labor market. Furthermore, temporary agencies reduce companies’ personnel costs by enabling them to hire workers and avoid costs as employment benefits and costs for absenteeism. However, the direct costs of temporary workers are higher than the direct cost for permanent workers. Therefore, we suggest that the use of temporary agencies should not be used instead of permanent employments but mainly in situations of escalating demand when greater flexibility is needed. Finally, the costs for permanent workers are reported in account category 7 “personnel costs, depreciation etcetera” and the costs for temporary workers are reported in account categories 5-6 “other external operating expenses” in the income statement. However, both these account categories are included in the same main category of costs. This means that the only difference in the income statement is due to the higher cost of temporary workers. Besides this, companies´ accounting is not affected.

<p>Temporary agencies are commonly used by Swedish companies today, and according to Coe, Johns and Ward (2009), this is because Sweden has a strict labor market regulation which makes companies afraid to employ workers on a permanent basis. By using temporary agencies, companies can come around the Employment Protection Act (EPA) which makes us question which parts of the EPA that companies consider as a problem and if the use of temporary agencies actually can reduce this problem for Swedish companies. Focus in this thesis is companies´ personnel costs, which means that the EPA and the use of temporary agencies are investigated with these costs in mind.</p><p><em>Therefore, the purpose with this thesis is to investigate how the EPA affects Swedish companies’ personnel costs over the years 2007-2009, and examine if the use of temporary agencies can reduce these costs.</em></p><p>A descriptive investigation is conducted in order to examine the purpose of this thesis. The study is accomplished through an Internet based questionnaire which is send to 68 randomly chosen companies all over Sweden, with 51-150 workers from no specific branch or geographical area. 32 companies participate in the study.<strong></strong></p><p>From the descriptive investigation it is evident that the EPA has increased personnel costs for Swedish companies over the years 2007-2009. However, this happens indirectly through decreased flexibility making it difficult for companies to quickly adjust to changes in demand. Also, a majority of the companies are critical towards the EPA and show direct consequences’ of negative impacts experienced. Consequently, we suggest that the EPA is updated to fit the conditions of today´s labor market. Furthermore, temporary agencies reduce companies’ personnel costs by enabling them to hire workers and avoid costs as employment benefits and costs for absenteeism. However, the direct costs of temporary workers are higher than the direct cost for permanent workers. Therefore, we suggest that the use of temporary agencies should not be used instead of permanent employments but mainly in situations of escalating demand when greater flexibility is needed. Finally, the costs for permanent workers are reported in account category 7 “personnel costs, depreciation etcetera” and the costs for temporary workers are reported in account categories 5-6 “other external operating expenses” in the income statement. However, both these account categories are included in the same main category of costs. This means that the only difference in the income statement is due to the higher cost of temporary workers. Besides this, companies´ accounting is not affected.</p>

Sammanfattning Titel: Att leda löshästar - en studie om hur resurskonsulter upplever ledarskapet i kundföretagen Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Sabina Molin och Kamilla Kristoffersson Handledare: Monika Wallmon och Lars Ekstrand Datum: 2015 – Januari Syfte: Syftet med detta arbete är att med hjälp av leader-member exchange theory undersöka utbytesrelationerna mellan resurskonsulter och deras närmaste ledare på kundföretaget samt vilka ledarbeteenden som används för att leda inhyrd arbetskraft och hur de påverkar relationerna. Metod: Denna uppsats har ett positivistiskt förhållningssätt och det används en hypotetiskdeduktiv metod som innebär att hypoteser deduceras från teori och sedan prövas mot empiri. En kvantitativ ansats används genom att samla in empiri genom webbenkäter som skickades ut till 148 respondenter. Resultat &amp; slutsats: Undersökningen visade att stödjande ledarskap och leda som förebild hade störst påverkan på utbytesrelationerna. De ledarbeteenden som användes i störst utsträckning var berättigande och erkännande. Utveckling och visionerande användes allra minst. De flesta utbytesrelationer var höga. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Flera förslag till fortsatt forskning presenteras men vi finner att undersöka både ledare, ordinarie och inhyrd personal för att jämföra hur ledarskapet se ut och få en bredare bild är främsta intresset. Uppsatsens bidrag: Denna uppsats har bidragit med en insyn i hur ledare leder inhyrd personal och hur detta ledarskap ser ut i form av ledarbeteenden och utbytesrelationer. Nyckelord: Ledarskap, inhyrd personal, utbytesrelation, leader-member exchange theory, ledarbeteende, transformativt och transaktionellt ledarskap.

This essay is written on behalf of the education administration office in Umeå municipality. Currently, those who work as short-term substitutes in the education administration, does not receive an introduction. The purpose of the study was therefore to present different introduction models and investigate the significance of an introduction for new employees and also to contribute with knowledge about how the introduction can be adjusted after short-term substitutes, in terms of content and structure. Furthermore, it was investigated how the background variables gender, age, highest completed education, university degree in a relevant area and the current work area (preschool/leisure, elementary school, high school) can affect the view on an introduction. The study carried out was based on a quantitative approach, with a questionnaire as a data collection method. The questionnaire has been sent to all shortterm substitutes within the education administration office, no further selection has been applied. The survey included five questions linked to the background variables and 14 statements, where the respondents were asked to decide to what extent they agree or disagree. The survey ended with an open question.The statements were about different parts that research has shown are important to include in an introduction. The results of the study showed that an introduction is important for short-term substitutes. On a majority of the statements made in connection with the introduction, the respondents agreed about the importance of the statement. What emerged from the results, however, was that the most central parts that an introduction should include in terms of content were: information about general policies, who to turn to about questions about the performance of the work and what expectations there are on the employee in relation to work tasks. / Detta examensarbete är skrivet på uppdrag av utbildningsförvaltningen Umeå kommun. I dagsläget får de som arbetar som korttidsvikarier vid utbildningsförvaltningen ingen introduktion. Syftet med studien var därför att redogöra för olika introduktionsmodeller och undersöka vilken betydelse en introduktion har för nyanställda samt bidra med kunskap om hur introduktionen kan anpassas efter korttidsvikarier, sett till innehåll och struktur. Vidare undersöktes hur bakgrundsvariablerna kön, ålder, högst avslutad utbildning, universitetsexamen i aktuellt område samt aktuellt arbetsområde (förskola/fritids, grundskola, gymnasium) kunde påverka synen på en introduktion. Studien som genomförts har grundats på en kvantitativ ansats, med enkät som datainsamlingsmetod. Enkäten har skickats ut till samtliga korttidsvikarier inom utbildningsförvaltningen, inget urval har tillämpats. Enkäten omfattade fem frågor kopplade till bakgrundsvariablerna samt 14 påståenden, där respondenterna fick ta ställning till i vilken omfattning de instämmer eller inte instämmer. Enkäten avslutades med en öppen fråga. Påståendena handlade om olika faktorer som forskning visat var viktigt att inkludera vid en introduktion. Resultatet av studien visade att en introduktion är viktig för korttidsvikarier. På en majoritet av påståendena som ställts kopplade till introduktion, instämde respondenterna till att det som angetts i påståendet var viktigt. Det som framgick i resultatet var dock att de mest centrala delarna som en introduktion borde inkludera innehållsmässigt var: information om generella policys, vem man ska vända sig till om frågor kring arbetets utförande samt vilka förväntningar som finns på den anställda i arbetet.