The need to improve the formation of the modern academic employment contract

Faculty policy and procedure manuals are an integral part of academic employment contracts. Yet their importance is underestimated by instructors and educational institutions alike. They are usually referred to in crisis situations only, when the relationship between an educator and a school has begun to deteriorate. It is at this point that faculty allege a violation of their rights and turn to written documentation to support their contention. Colleges and universities, who as the drafters of these documents are thoroughly familiar with their contents, are forced to respond by using the handbooks as shields against legal claims. An academic's failure to review faculty manuals at the outset of employment experience leaves himself uninformed as to his rights as an employee and vulnerable to attacks regarding his responsibilities as a professional.     

University research scientists as knowledge workers: contract status and employment opportunities

University research scientists epitomise knowledge workers who are positioned to avail of the employment conditions associated with ‘boundaryless careers’. Yet while employment flexibility has been hailed as a positive feature of knowledge work, relatively little is known about the forms such flexibility may take or its impact. This article considers the factors shaping the employment conditions of 40 research scientists working in five university research centres in Ireland. The findings suggest that, for knowledge workers such as research scientists, contract employment can deny them access to many of the employment conditions and opportunities that govern their long-term success as researchers.     

Layoff victim's employment relationship with a new employer in Korea: effects of unmet tenure expectations on trust and psychological contract

Existing studies of psychological contract have largely focused on the effects of contract breach on employees' attitudes and the contract itself involving the same employer. Given that both workforce mobility and downsizing activities are increasing, it is important to understand how individuals' past employment experiences shape their relationships with their employers. The present study focuses on the effect of prior layoffs on relationships with new employers. We posit that furloughed workers experience layoff as a breach of the psychological contract of job security they have entered into with their employer. Longitudinal data collected from individuals who were re-employed following a layoff revealed that unmet tenure expectations in an employment relationship result in reduced trust in a new employer, which in turn negatively impacts the quality of psychological contracts with the new employer. The results also show that the relationship between unmet tenure expectations and trust was moderated by individual attributions regarding the cause of the layoff. The present findings suggest that the negative impact of contract breach experienced with one organization may carry over to subsequent organizational contexts.     

Company employment policies and new technology

Here the author presents case studies from a range of industries which illustrate the connection between new technology, and company personnel and manpower policies. Findings suggest that the form and direction of new technology is more likely to be affected by the company's employment policy rather than the reverse.     

调整劳动合同期限规则建立稳定就业灵活用工机制

劳动合同期限规则(以下简称“合同期限规则”)是指国家对劳动合同期限的种类、相互关系和实施所作的法律规定,是劳动法律的重要内容之一。1994年7月我国颁布的《劳动法》规定了合同期限规则,它的实施对推动我国用工制度改革、建立劳动合同制度发挥了重要作用。随着市场经济的迅速发展,我国经济正在融入全球经济一体化,现行合同期限规则显现出一定的局限性。完善合同期限规则,适应我国     

2003中国现实就业新难题

■今后相当长时期内,高失业率将与长失业期并存,就业弱势群体将持续扩大,我国将进入严酷的高失业和就业结构大调整时期,世界上没有任何一个国家面临像中国这样的就业挑战。■我国就业机制的各环节目前已显得十分脆弱,特别由于城乡医疗保障和劳动力市场的非统一性所带来的后果,在SARS这个显微镜下被迅速放大。因此,把SARS危机当成推进城乡劳动力市场一体化、加快城乡一体化进而实现全面城市化的契机就显得十分必要。     

A new contract for welfare: partnership in pensions

The government's Green Paper proposes reducing state pension costs whilst encouraging private sector provision. The success of the proposed ‘stakeholder pension schemes’ depends on regulation. However, regulation can penalise those it is intended to protect. This is a sensitive issue, since stakeholder pension schemes are expected to attract financially vulnerable, lower paid, employees. Whilst the flat rate accrual of the state second pension confers some benefit, certain groups are put in a difficult position by the retention of means-tested benefits.     

The use of flexible employment arrangements: some new evidence from Greek firms

The present study attempts an examination of the extent to which Greek firms use flexible employment arrangements, the kind of jobs in which they are used and the factors affecting their use. It concentrates on three types of flexible work: temporary workers, independent contractors and subcontractors. Drawing upon data from a sample of seventy-five companies, it identifies factors affecting: a) firm's decision to use flexible forms of work or not and b) the percentage of flexible workers used.

The main findings indicate that different types of flexible worker are used by the same firm for the accomplishment of different kinds of job and are affected by different factors. Training costs and monitoring problems appear to be the most influential factors explaining the use of temporary workers, while low frequency of specialized tasks is the main factor affecting the use of independent contractors and often the recourse to subcontractors. Results from the Greek national context would add to existing evidence on this important issue.     

The social contract of work: Moving beyond the psychological contract

This paper develops the critique of psychologisation by going narrow and deep into the analysis of the concept of the psychological contract. In its early incarnation, the psychological contract literature explored key elements at the heart of the employment relationship. However, in the current mainstream psychological contract literature, there are four key problems. The paper shows that these problems match on to the wider problems associated with pyschologisation. The concept of the social contract of work is put forward as a way to return productively to the original focus of the field. The social contract of work is defined as workers' implicit, collective, and socially embedded understanding of the effort bargain at work.     

An analysis of employment relationships in Asia using psychological contract theory: A review and research agenda

Psychological contract theory is increasingly gaining traction as a means of examining the linkages (black box) between Human Resource Management (HRM) and performance. This paper systematically reviews the existing psychological contract research conducted in Asia over the period from 1998-2019. It takes an important step towards building an understanding of psychological contract theory in Asia while also making a critical contribution to the broad domains of HRM and employment relationship. In our review of 96 articles, we consider the two dominant themes that capture the psychological contract evaluation and content in Asia and highlight the theoretical, methodological and contextual gaps in the literature. We also offer specific guidance in the form of potential future research directions and conclude by discussing theoretical and practical implications of the analysis.     

Human resource management's role in clarifying the new psychological contract

This article discusses the importance of understanding and managing the changing employee–employer relationship (psychological contract). It offers a brief discussion on changing employee–employer expectations and provides a definition and discussion on the importance of the psychological contract in managing employee–employer relationships. Several employee–employer interactions in which human resource management (HRM) personnel can help clarify and reshape the psychological contract are presented.     

中低层灵活就业群体就业意愿与就业环境的整合研究——以对3120名中低层灵活就业人员的调查为例

灵活就业是我国需要大力发展的一种就业形式,它对于缓解就业压力具有重要的作用,对于中低层就业群体来说更有着重要的意义.目前灵活就业在数量上得到了一定的发展,但是否能得到内在的可持续性发展还是一个值得关注的问题.本文从中低层灵活就业群体就业意愿和就业环境主客观两方面进行评述,并从两者的整合来探讨灵活就业如何得以持续的发展.     

The sequencing of union contract negotiations

In this paper we explore the determination of the sequencing of wage bargains in an institutional structure consisting of a single firm employing two unions, under two alternative assumptions about the nature of feasible contracts. If contingent contracts are prohibitively costly, we find that the unions prefer to lead in the negotiations process if the labor inputs are substitutes and follow if they are complements, while the firm is indifferent. If contingent contracts are permitted, both unions prefer to lead, while the firm prefers to negotiate first with the weaker union.     

The impact of obesity on employment

Using data from two rounds of the Health Survey for England I investigate the impact of obesity on employment. I use three approaches: a univariate probit model; propensity score matching; and IV regression using a recursive bivariate probit model. Conditional on a comprehensive set of covariates, the findings show that obesity has a statistically significant and negative effect on employment in both males and females. In males the endogeneity of obesity does not significantly affect the estimates, and the magnitude of effect is similar across the three methods. In females, failure to account for endogeneity leads to underestimation of the negative impact of obesity on employment.     

The nature of the new employment relationship: A content analysis of the practitioner and academic literatures

At a general level, there appears to be almost universal agreement that the nature of the employment relationship is undergoing fundamental changes that have potentially enormous implications for how companies attract, motivate, and retain talent. This article is intended to assist HRM professionals in understanding, evaluating, and responding to those changes. The results of a study that evaluates current thinking regarding the nature of the new employment relationship by systematically analyzing the content of relevant articles are reported. Implications of the results for the management of employee relationships are discussed, and specific recommendations are provided. © 2000 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.     

The German federal employment program for regions with special employment problems: An evaluation

A special labor-market program to support regions with high unemployment was introduced in the Federal Republic of Germany in the summer of 1979. The program is evaluated through analyses of the determinants of the take-up rate and estimates of the impact on the unemployment rate using Box-Jenkins analysis. Evaluation of the program indicates some success with respect to training and public works creation, but also some serious shortcomings in design and implementation.