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Using Spanish establishment-level data on temporary and permanent job and worker flows, we examine firms’ relative usage of fixed-term contracts in response to changes in their prior net employment expectations for the short-run and the long-run – viewed as proxies of how a wide variety of future shocks are ultimately perceived by establishments. The employment response of establishments to changing net employment expectations for the short-run is, primarily, suggestive of their reliance on fixed-term contracts as a buffer to cushion short-run changes in demand as well as to shield permanent workers from downward workforce adjustments. In contrast, their response to changes in net employment expectations for the long-run mostly hints on the use of fixed-term contracts as a screening device. Therefore, policies providing financial incentives to convert fixed-term into permanent contracts – thus targeting firms’ using fixed-term contracts as a screening device, are likely to only have limited effectiveness.

Discusses the long existing and confusing problems of establishing the relationship of who is, and who if not, a dependent worker. Reflects developments which have occurred in British law as it affects the employment field, plus an evaluation and analysis of some of the different types of employment relationships which have evolved by examining, where possible, the status of each of these relationships. Concludes that the typical worker nowadays finds himself in a vulnerable position both economically and psychologically owing to the insecurity which exists.

The purpose of this monograph is to examine the various ways in which the contract of employment may be terminated at common law other than by the common law of wrongful dismissal or statutory unfair dismissal and redundancy. Wrongful dismissal has already been discussed in another monograph and unfair dismissal and redundancy will feature in a subsequent one.

The purpose of this paper is to provide tests to apply and establish what factors are relevant in determining whether or not an employee had a reasonable expectation of renewal of a fixed‐term contract as envisaged in section 186(1)(b) of the 1995 LRA.

The paper draws from case studies to examine whether these actionable conducts can be defined in a precise way.

The common law scenario, has been materially altered by the provisions of section 186(1)(b) of the 1995 LRA that the employers' non‐renewal of the contract or offer to renew the contract whilst the employee reasonably expected the employer to renew the contract therefore it constitutes a dismissal.

The common law interpreted that where a fixed‐term contract expires, where an express term in the contract stipulates that there is no expectation to renew the contract in the mind of the employee concerned that the contract will be renewed again; the employer will have no contractual remedy available to him. This paper calls upon common law to use and pro‐actively manage labour law responsibilities and further refine the existing dismissal tools.

This paper contributes the rethinking of labour rights is necessary because the social, economic and political environments in which they were first conceived have been fundamentally affected by modern globalization and the expansion of the network society.

The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of executive severance contract maturity policies on the likelihood of forced turnover and the length of tenure for CEOs who are forced from their positions.

The paper utilizes logistic and accelerated failure time models to test the hypothesis that severance contracts decrease information asymmetries resulting in an increased likelihood of forced turnover and a shortened tenure for those CEOs who are forced out.

The results provide evidence that fixed‐term severance contracts increase the likelihood of forced tenure and decrease the length of tenure for CEOs who experience a forced turnover during the period, while time‐independent contracts do not.

The limitation is the possibility that an omitted variable jointly determines the likelihood of the presence of a severance contract and the effect on forced turnover. Future research should investigate other possibilities beyond the CEO coming from outside of the firm.

The findings confirm that the maturity policies of severance contracts affect forced turnover. The results suggest that there may be a benefit in designing severance contracts to expire to encourage more efficient turnover of underperforming CEOs.

This paper contributes to the empirical corporate finance and accounting literature by differentiating between forced and unforced turnover when analyzing the effects of severance contracts and demonstrating that the time dimension of severance contracts may provide the desired result of encouraging the identification of CEO‐firm mismatches.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the wage gap between temporary and permanent workers across the whole wage distribution, not just at the mean, and the evolution before and after the Great Recession on this gap in Spain.

An extended Mincer-type wage equation is estimated using ordinary least square regression and unconditional quantile regression. Then, the decomposition of the wage gap between workers with fixed-term and permanent contracts for each quantile is made using the Fortin, Lemieux and Firpo decomposition.

The results show that two workers, with identical characteristics, earn different salaries if they have a different type of contract. However, the wage gap is not constant across the wage distribution. The penalty for temporary workers is wider for higher wages. Moreover, the main part of the gap is due to observed characteristics, but other factors (unobserved characteristics and discrimination) become more relevant in the upper part of the wage distribution.

The study expands upon available studies for Spain in two points. First, it is the first paper to the knowledge that analyse both the wage gap between temporary and permanent workers across the wage distribution and its decomposition. Second, the paper explores what happened before and after the Great Recession. In the years that the paper analyses there is also a labour market reform.

The purpose of this paper is to compare how the dimension of attitudes toward future that consists in perception of dynamic future may be affected by desirable goals (desired job flexibility) and probable events (probable job flexibility) in a group of permanent vs temporary employees. Moreover the aim is to explore the gender differences in respect to variables studied.

The data were collected using self-report questionnaires on a sample of 710 employees, of which 63 percent women, 57.2 percent permanent employees, and 42.8 percent fixed-term employees.

The results showed that probable job flexibility mediated the relationship between desired job flexibility and the perception of a dynamic professional future. In addition, the type of contract moderated the interaction effect of job mastery on the relationship between desired and probable flexibility. Job mastery, however, has a direct effect on probable flexibility only on women in fixed-term employment.

The study presented some limitations: the data derived from the self-report questionnaires, respondents participated on a voluntary basis, and the research design was cross-sectional.

The results of this study could be used to influence guidance practitioners’ decisions on the role of antecedents of future orientation (desired flexibility, probable flexibility, and job mastery) in designing programs and interventions for career management that also take gender into account.

Overall, these results provided some insight into the relationship between specific guidance actions and goal-oriented career planning.

The purpose of this paper is to compare newcomers’ perceptions on how employers structure the socialization process in the core and peripheral workforce and to explore the proactivity of these new hires in form of information seeking behavior.

The data of this study were collected from a German sample with 359 contingent and permanent new hires in skilled jobs.

The employment type was linked to both socialization tactics firms provided during organizational entry as well as information seeking of permanent and contingent newcomers. In addition, organizational tenure was positively linked with information seeking of both newly hired temporary agency workers and newcomers holding fixed-term contracts.

Since most of the participants worked for different employers, differences in socialization might also be caused by different organizational cultures. Future studies should compare the socialization of new permanent and new temporary workers on an inter-organizational and intra-organizational level.

For skilled jobs firms should offer long-term assignments for temporary agency workers, as they are associated with higher proactivity. Further, firms should intensify the socialization of newcomers holding longer-term work contracts, as these employees may tend to show lower proactivity.

A structured organizational entry of skilled temporary agency workers may represent a stepping stone for permanent employment due to improved work attitudes and behaviors.

This is the first study that examines employment characteristics as potential determinants of organizational socialization tactics. In addition, the study uses a German sample and therefore, follows recent calls for more research on organizational socialization in non-Anglo-Saxon work contexts.

Drawing on literature that examines trade union representation of “non‐standard” workers, this paper aims to analyse the attempts of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) to integrate the interests of contract research staff (CRS) employed on fixed‐term contracts between 1974 and 2002. The paper examines the union campaign under five areas identified in the literature as important to the development of representation of non‐standard workers: trade union orientation to non‐standard workers; recruitment; participation; collective bargaining; extending representation beyond collective bargaining.

The main sources of data are drawn from analyses of union documentation, including internal memoranda and reports dating back to 1974, which chart the antecedents and progress of the AUT campaign against casualisation. This is supported by participant and non‐participant observation of 14 union meetings and events coupled with data from 20 semi‐structured interviews with a range of national officers and local activists conducted between 1999 and 2002.

The data support previous research that has identified changing union orientations to non‐standard workers. In the AUT, recruitment of CRS was propelled by instrumental needs to build and extend a declining membership base, but active participation of members employed on fixed‐term contracts has influenced union democracy and the collective bargaining agenda. However, the results, in terms of concrete gains in job security for CRS, have been limited.

The paper examines a case study of one union in particular circumstances. Although the findings add to the general knowledge of union representation on non‐standard workers, the outcomes are specific to the case study union. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the effectiveness of the AUT campaign against casualisation whilst highlighting the implications for the development of conceptual and theoretical frameworks on the representation of “non‐standard” workers.

The paper provides unique and detailed historical data on one trade union's attempts to integrate the interests of academics employed on fixed‐term contracts into union structures originally designed to service one of the most secure sectors of the British workforce.