Casual or temporary workers make up an increasing proportion of the New Zealand labour force but relatively little is known about the negative impacts of casual employment on the lives of those workers. John Archer breaks new ground with his recent research into workplace factors that influence employees’ perceptions of the precariousness of casual work.
John Archer, a tutor in SIT's School of Business, recently completed his Master of Management Degree at Massey University. His thesis, New Zealand Prime-age (25-55 years) Worker Perceptions of Casual Employment, explores the precarious experience of the casual worker. He researched workplace variables impacting on casual workers’ perceptions of their employment experiences. His work draws on in-depth research interviews with 14 casual workers between the ages of 25 and 55 years with at least two years of casual work experience. His participants were chosen from a range of New Zealand industries experiencing significant levels of casualisation.
Within the international research literature, casual work – also often called temporary work – fits into the general category of ‘non-standard employment’, a broad term that covers work that is not full-time or tenured employment. It includes work arrangements such as: contracting, part-time, temporary, fixed term, seasonal and casual. ‘The rate of non-standard employment in most Western countries has been steadily increasing since the 1990s,’ John explains. While the flexibility of nonstandard employment suits the lifestyles of some people, many others would prefer full-time work but find themselves trapped in these non-standard arrangements. ‘These are the kinds of workers I was interested in learning more about,’ he says. He uses the term ‘precarious work’ to describe casual employment where people work in low quality, insecure work that has negative consequences for workers. Precarious workers are likely to face lower rates of pay in comparison to permanent employees, work unconventional hours with a wide variability in the hours worked, receive little notice of when they have to work, and often have poor knowledge of employment rights. If a worker perceives that their job is precarious then this is likely to result in higher levels of stress and have negative impacts on psychological well-being and the casual workers’ personal lives.
The research focus was on identifying the workplace variables that influence casual workers’ perceptions about of the precariousness of their work. He explored the experiences of individual workers as a way of understanding their own perceptions of their work situations. He interviewed casual employees working in the labouring, call centre, care-giving and hospitality areas. ‘These are industries that have traditionally identified as being more likely to have precarious work,’ John states. He also interviewed people working in the field of education, an industry where casualisation is increasing among workers who until recently would have been permanent employees.
John’s research breaks new ground in New Zealand, where little is known about the level and consequences of casual employment. As he explains, ‘there was not much prior research in this field in New Zealand, and there is not really even a clear and generally accepted definition of what casual work is.’ In stark contrast to many other countries there are no regular official statistics on the rates of casual work in New Zealand, and increases in non-standard work have attracted little attention here. His research is also unique in its focus on a particular segment of the casual workforce: the growing pool of prime-aged (25 to 55 years) workers in casual and potentially precarious employment who live off their casual income. This cohort of casual workers makes up a vulnerable and growing sector of the national workforce.
A key issue for John’s research was the lack of a clear definition of ‘casual work’. The main employment legislation in New Zealand, the Employment Relations Act 2000, does not define different types of employees. The key characteristic of casual employment, however, is a lack of any commitment to ongoing employment from the employing organisation. It is generally accepted that the percentage of the working population employed in temporary or casual jobs has increased significantly since the 1990s and continues to increase. This is particularly the case following the global financial crisis. In places where employment growth has resumed it has largely been in the area of temporary or precarious work.
Another research challenge was the inconsistency of and difficulty in comparing existing international literature with the under-studied New Zealand context. In Australia and New Zealand, casual employment is identified to be the dominant form of precarious employment because labour laws don’t legislate against or limit this form of employment contract. In many other industrialised countries, particularly in Europe, there are legislative controls and protections for temporary or casual work. Even comparisons between Australia and New Zealand are difficult because significant national differences exist. Many casuals in Australia are union members, for example, and are covered by awards which regulate the employment conditions for casual employees and are paid a 20% loading to cover lack of sick days, holidays and the general inconvenience of being a casual worker. In contrast casuals in New Zealand are mainly non-unionised and tend to be paid lower rates of pay than their full-time colleagues. This made it clear to John that New Zealand’s unique social and political environment means that the full impacts of significant workplace developments like increasing levels of casual work cannot be generalised from the findings of overseas research.
While the uncertainty of the tenure and hours of their casual work was a concern for all research participants, John found that much of the interview dialogue related to feelings about management practices. ‘The way these casual workers were managed at work was a real concern to them,’ he says. ‘Management styles obviously have enormous impacts on the lives of these workers.’ Participants reported that as a casual worker it is vital that the supervisor likes you and many of these casuals worked very hard to stay in the ‘good books’ of the supervisor. They understood that one wrong move with a supervisor or an influential permanent worker could spell the end of that job or the loss of preferential treatment.
Another major concern for many of participants was the effect of short-term rostering of working hours on the lives of these workers. Some workers, in particular those in the labouring and hospitality industries, could be called up only minutes before they were required to work, which made planning activities outside of work virtually impossible. Many workers also felt that they could not turn work down or they risked being relegated to the bottom of the list for call-ups in the future. Along with ongoing job insecurity comes financial insecurity. The participants were reliant on their casual jobs to be able to pay the bills, so they had to worry about whether they would get enough work each week to be able to meet their financial obligations. As they were in such a volatile work situation, many of those interviewed would take on a number of different casual jobs at any one time in order to try to ensure a consistent liveable income. John notes that all of the participants in the research were looking for more stable work – either part-time or full-time jobs – but they had found it very difficult to move out of the casual workforce into permanent positions. ‘I heard the comment that being too good and too useful as a casual worker can mean that there is no incentive for the employer to make that person permanent,’ John says. ‘One person I interviewed described it as like being permanently on probation. Feeling trapped contributed to strong feelings of precariousness.'
As John points out, not all participants felt uniformly negative about their work experience all the time. ‘Some had a more positive attitude towards their casual work, and I think that this showed itself particularly where people were finding some satisfaction in the job they were doing.’ This tended to make things like low pay and uncertain work hours less significant for them, and thus their employment situation felt less precarious. ‘The negatives were still there but they were able to be positive in their casual work despite the down-sides.’ Once again, the quality of their relationships with management was important even for those workers who enjoyed their jobs. Workers who had a good relationship with their supervisors felt more positive about their work experience.
John’s research has revealed a number of areas for further investigation. The key issue is in the area of appropriate practices for the management of casual workers. John also recommends research into the perceptions of the supervisors of casual workers. When analysed alongside research on worker perceptions this information could support recommendations for the management of casual employees. ‘Given the importance of management practices on the lives of casual workers, this is definitely an important area of focus,’ he states.
John is planning to explore the perceptions of the supervisors of casual workers next to see how they view their casual workers and identify if they realise the huge effects they can have on the lives of their employees. ‘There has been very little research on this topic to date so I hope my work will provide a fuller picture of the use of casual workers in our organisations,’ he says.
- Archer, J. (2012). New Zealand Prime-age (25-55 years) Worker Perceptions of Casual Employment. (Unpublished master's dissertation). Massey University, New Zealand.