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42 The casual management of casual work: Casual workers’ perceptions of HRM practices in the highly casualised firm Diannah Lowry Nottingham Trent University [email protected] Correspondence to: Dr Diannah Lowry, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK, fax: + 44 (0) 115 948 6512; e-mail: [email protected] The increasing use of flexible labour forms such as casual employment has come under scrutiny in recent times. Investigations into casualisation have typically stemmed from either a labour-market economics perspective or a managerial focus. In contrast, this paper attempts to capture the experience of casual employment from the casual workers’ perspective. The decline of the institutional regulation of workers points to a need for the enterprise to assume a more active role in the provision of support and opportunities for casual workers. Ignoring casual workers needs may impact negatively on their quality of work life as well as their quality of service provision. The research findings indicate that there is a need to reconceptualise HRM practices in the highly casualised firm. The implications for HR practice, particularly those associated with ethics and the issue of service provision in the casualised firm, are discussed in light of the results. Keywords: casualisation, casual workers, service provision, ethics and equity in HRM practices Australia has witnessed substantial changes in employment arrangements and patterns over the past 20 years. Theorists argue (for example Burgess 1996; Campbell 1996; Campbell and Burgess 1997; Romeyn 1992) that the major change has been in the growth of casual employment,’ a form of ’ employment that is ’deprived of most standard benefits, rights and forms of protection and that is marked by substantial levels of precariousness’ (Campbell and Burgess 1997, 5). The growth of casual employment is occurring against the backdrop of a dramatic decline in full-time employ- ment, described by the Metal Trades Industry Association (MTIA) as a ’massacre in full-time jobholding’ (1997, 3). 1 Casual work is not an easy term to define, since there are different legal definitions according to industry as well as different international distinctions. In the broadest sense, however, casual work is characterised by the fact that employers offer no job security, and casual workers are only likely to be scheduled to work according to demand. For example Brooks (1990, 16) has defined casual employment as ’non continuing employment on an "as and when required" basis’.

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The casual management of casual work: Casual workers’perceptions of HRM practices in the highly casualised firm

Diannah LowryNottingham Trent University

[email protected] to: Dr Diannah Lowry, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham TrentUniversity, Nottingham, UK, fax: + 44 (0) 115 948 6512; e-mail: [email protected]

The increasing use of flexible labour forms such as casual employment has comeunder scrutiny in recent times. Investigations into casualisation have typicallystemmed from either a labour-market economics perspective or a managerialfocus. In contrast, this paper attempts to capture the experience of casualemployment from the casual workers’ perspective. The decline of the institutionalregulation of workers points to a need for the enterprise to assume a more activerole in the provision of support and opportunities for casual workers. Ignoringcasual workers needs may impact negatively on their quality of work life as wellas their quality of service provision. The research findings indicate that there is aneed to reconceptualise HRM practices in the highly casualised firm. Theimplications for HR practice, particularly those associated with ethics and theissue of service provision in the casualised firm, are discussed in light of the results.

Keywords: casualisation, casual workers, service provision, ethics and equity in HRM practices

Australia has witnessed substantial changes in employment arrangementsand patterns over the past 20 years. Theorists argue (for example Burgess1996; Campbell 1996; Campbell and Burgess 1997; Romeyn 1992) that themajor change has been in the growth of casual employment,’ a form of’ employment that is ’deprived of most standard benefits, rights and forms ofprotection and that is marked by substantial levels of precariousness’(Campbell and Burgess 1997, 5). The growth of casual employment isoccurring against the backdrop of a dramatic decline in full-time employ-ment, described by the Metal Trades Industry Association (MTIA) as a’massacre in full-time jobholding’ (1997, 3).

1 Casual work is not an easy term to define, since there are different legal definitionsaccording to industry as well as different international distinctions. In the broadest sense,however, casual work is characterised by the fact that employers offer no job security, andcasual workers are only likely to be scheduled to work according to demand. For exampleBrooks (1990, 16) has defined casual employment as ’non continuing employment on an "asand when required" basis’.

43

Previous research on the issue of casual employment has come from thedisciplines of industrial relations and labour-market economics, and hasemphasised the institutional and regulatory framework of the phenomenon.In contrast, the research outlined in this paper attempts to understand theextent of the disadvantage from the casual employees’ perspective. The funda-mental premise is that in the absence of a focus on casual employment from thepoint of view of the casual employee, we have little knowledge of the impactsof casual employment. Casual workers, to date, have received little attentionin terms of their preference for work arrangements, and their perceptionsregarding the adequacy of their work systems has gone largely ignored.Without a clear focus on the perceptions, experiences and desires of casualemployees, such experiences and concerns risk being excluded from view. Inshort, the ever-growing numbers of casual employees risk becoming ’invisible’in the employment landscape.

Campbell (1996) comments that while a supply-side perspective is

implausible as an explanation for the growth of casual employment, considera-tion of employee needs and preferences must be incorporated into the ’biggerpicture’ of casual employment as a phenomenon. Following Blyton and Morris(1992, 128) who proposed that that the analysis of flexible labour forms ignoredworkers’ interests and was too managerially focused, Walsh and Deery (1997)have argued that a supply-side perspective of casual employment is sorelylacking. Similarly, Clark, Mabey and Skinner (1998) observe that the views of’insiders’ or those on the receiving end of human resource practices have beenlargely neglected in the literature. More recently, Guest (1999) has presented acogent plea for a general examination of workers’ verdict of human resourcemanagement (HRM) practices, in order (among other things) that radicalcritiques of HRM can be evaluated. Against the backdrop of such issues, thecentral guiding question behind this research was: ’how do casual workers inAustralia perceive the adequacy of their casual work arrangements?

An important reason for an exploration into the experience of casual workrelates to management’s tendency to equate the casual nature of jobs withassumed characteristics of the workers who fill those jobs. For example, a studyconducted by Burchell and Rubery (1990) revealed that secondary segments(casual workers) are treated as if they need to be forced to work while theprimary segment is considered by management to be self-motivated. Theyfound that secondary workers were less likely to be given discretion in deter-mining their work effort, less likely to have their performance appraised, lesslikely to be on a merit-related pay scheme, and far more likely to have to ’clockon’ as part of their job.

Hunter et al. (1993), in a study of nearly 900 organisations, found thatemployers typically viewed casual workers as being less committed and lessreliable than full-time employees. Similarly, Walsh (1990, 525) in an analysis oflabour utilisation in the service sector found that, despite explicit recognition oftheir reliability and contrary to available data on labour stability, casual workers

44

were consistently viewed as less committed to their employing organisation.Such assumptions about the involvement and commitment of casual

workers, resulting in an ’undervaluing’ of casual workers’, serves to perpetuatethe nature and character of secondary jobs. In other words, such jobs offer littlediscretion in how work is performed, and have few opportunities for trainingand advancement, because it is assumed that the workers in secondary jobshave low commitment to the firm, and have low expectations of what the firmwill offer them. The casualisation of work thus implies that management canobviate the need for certain HRM activities by assuming low levels of commit-ment. In essence, employers’ assumption of low commitment of casual workersconstitutes a type of ’self-fulfilling prophecy’. This research attempts to tacklesuch assumptions, by empirically exploring the perceptions of casual employeestowards the HRM practices in their organisations.

There is an urgent need to analyse the gamut of issues associated withcasual employment as an increasing number of organisations pursue the ’holygrail’ of flexibility and adopt casualisation strategies, amid decreasing institu-tional regulation of flexible work forms. As Campbell (1996, 78) comments:

Research into employee needs and preferences could help to resolve theappeal of casual status. Unfortunately, such research is extremelyundeveloped in Australia ... at the worst, some surveys approach the topic

. by asking employees inept questions such as: ’are you satisfied with yourcurrent working arrangements?’ ... There is an urgent need for moresensitive research in Australia in this area. (emphasis added)

Casual work and HR practices in Australia

Official statistics compiled over the last two decades reveal that the number ofcasual employees in Australia has more than doubled, and over one-quarterof employees are now employed on a casual basis only. This phenomenon isdescribed by Dawkins and Simpson (1993, 30) as ’arguably... the most dramaticdevelopment in the labour market in recent times’ (emphasis added).

An investigation of casual employment is required not just because thenumber of casual employees has more than doubled over the past ten years.What renders casual employment so distinctive and of such concern inAustralia is that these workers belong to a group who are deprived of standardemployment benefits and employment protections merely ’by virtue of theirsubsumption under a &dquo;casual&dquo; employment contract’ (Campbell and Burgess1997, 18). Casual employees experience certain disadvantages at the levels ofboth the institution and the firm. At an institutional level, casual employeesdo not share the same degree of protection as permanent employees. At theorganisational level, they do not have access to human resource practices thatcould facilitate the types of opportunities available to permanent employees.

45

The AWIRS data (Morehead et al. 1995) presented in table 1 reveals differ-ences in the provision of training, voice, and job design and job variety forcasual and non-casual workers.

From table 1, it appears that casual employees have less access to variousHRM practices such as training and reward systems that would facilitatecareer and promotional progression. Training and development activities arenot typically associated with industry sectors that employ a high number ofcasual workers (Boreham, Lafferty, Roan and Whitehouse 1996). Thisassertion is supported by aggregate data that reveal that training expenditureis lower in sectors with high levels of casualisation (ABS 1994, 21). Romeyn(1992) has asserted that casual employees are likely to receive less in-house andexternal training than permanent employees. Similarly, Boreham et al. (1996)contend that industries with high levels of casualisation have potentiallyinequitable training systems in terms of formal training and delivery. Borehamet al. (1996) found that the distribution of training was uneven within thesample of workplaces examined. Training was more likely to be administeredto managers than other workers, and casual and part-time staff received lesstraining than permanent staff. Boreham et al. correctly conclude that policydirections need to account more for the structural impediments to training incasualised industries, and that workplace level research into the quality oftraining provision in such industries is warranted.

The lack of protection of casual workers in the industrial arena, and lackof access to HR systems at the level of the firm are likely to have detrimentallong-term effects at individual, organisational and societal levels. A summaryof the disadvantages is provided in table 2.

Table 1 HRM activity and casual workers

Source: from Morehead et al. (1995)

46

Table 2 Summary of disadvantages associated with casual employment

Source: adapted from Romeyn (1992), Burgess (1996), Campbell (1996), Campbell and Burgess (1997)

Of course, it can be argued that certain employee groups benefit from theavailability of flexible labour forms such as casual work. Indeed, the issue ofemployee preferences is an important factor in determining how workersexperience flexible work arrangements. If these arrangements reflect employeepreferences (as well as those of employers), they can be ’welcomed’; if this is notthe case, there is cause for concern (Robinson 1999, 84). For example, whetherflexible employment is voluntarily or involuntarily entered into will impact onthe employment experience. Büchtemann and Quack’s (1989) idea that flexibleemployment can constitute either ’a bridge or a trap’ is illustrative here. Forsome workers, flexible employment is a means of gaining work experience andperhaps attaining skills. For this group, flexible work is likely to be enteredinto voluntarily, and may be a ’bridge’ to more permanent employment. Forothers, particularly workers who enter into such arrangements involuntarily,flexible work arrangements may be the only alternative to unemployment.Evidence (see for example Robinson 1999) indicates that flexible jobs are signi-ficantly overrepresented in the vacancies available to the unemployed.

47

Methodology

The sample

This research explores the impact of casual work arrangements on casualemployees within the registered club industry in NSW. The recreationindustry in NSW, in which the club sector is a member, has one of the highestproportions of casual workers in the state. The club industry currently employsmore than 63 000 people throughout the state, of which it is estimated thatover 55% (over 34 650) are casual employees (RCA Annual Report 1996; RCA& LMHWU 1996). The club sector provides more jobs in NSW thanAustralia’s second largest company, Elders IXL, does across the nation, and isthe fourth largest tax contributor to the NSW Treasury (RCA Annual Report1995). Given these statistics, the club industry is a significant factor in theeconomic structure of NSW, and an important industry in which to study theimpact of casual work arrangements.

It should be noted that within the registered club sector, HRM strategyand practice is neither sophisticated nor ’advanced’ in terms of recognising theneeds of workers. In this regard, the sector bears some resemblance to Lucas’(1996) depiction of the hotel industry in Britain. While there is some evidenceto suggest that the hotel industry in Britain may be slowly changing ’for thebetter’ (see for example Hoque 1999), the situation in the club sector inAustralia has not shown any similar development. With its high rate ofdismissals, high level of turnover, high control focused HRM practices (forexample, policing the ’clocking on to work’ process) and negative set ofassumptions about casual workers, the club industry in Australia exhibitsmarked ’Bleak House’ characteristics (Guest and Hoque 1994).

The sample of clubs accessed was derived using systematic randomsampling methods. While the sampling frame was limited to a particularindustry sector, the characteristics of the sample (see below) demonstratedcertain features, indicating that it was representative of the wider casual labourforce. The total sample size was 454 casual workers from 22 clubs. Nearly two-thirds of the sample was female casual workers, and most participants were intheir early thirties. The vast majority of respondents were in the lowest clas-sification levels in their workplaces, despite their existing medium-range skilllevels. The majority of respondents indicated that they were available for work‘anytime’;2 however, the majority of casual workers interviewed and surveyedworked less than 35 hours per week.

2 Each club has an availability system, whereby casual employees must nominate their degreeof availability. All of the clubs in this sample had similar ’availability categories’, and all clubshad an availability category titled ’anytime’.

48

Data collection

The empirical study was conducted using a specific and structured model ofinter-method triangulation called ’generative research methodology’. This typeof model involves a logical and chronological ordering of qualitative and quan-titative methods (Simon, Sohal and Brown 1996). Essentially, there are threemain phases within the generative research model. Phase 1 involves the gener-ation of important concepts through qualitative methods such as contentanalysis, observation and depth interviews. These informal techniques are animportant means by which to determine crucial concepts from the target popu-lation. Phase 2 involves an elaboration of the themes detected in Phase 1,through open-ended standardised interviews. In Phase 3, data are gatheredusing appropriate measurement instruments, such as questionnaires or stan-dardised interview schedules. Simon, Sohal and Brown (1996, 35) assert thatthe merit of the generative methodology lies in its ability to produce ’people’sresearch’ and quality data. They argue that since each and every questioninserted has been generated from the target population and cross-checked byreviewing the literature, it may be argued that the questionnaire, as ameasuring instrument in this case, is ’inherently valid’.

In keeping with the generative research model outlined above, there werethree main stages of data collection and analysis in the current study: 1) non-standardised, non-schedule interviews; 2) open-ended standardised interviews,and 3) the administration of a questionnaire. The profile of casual workersreported here is a composite of the data gathered in each of these stages.

The study explored the perceptions, attitudes and preferences of workers inrelation to their casual work arrangements. They were asked general questionsabout their experience as a casual employee (for example, ’why did you becomea casual employee?’ and ’what do you like about being a casual worker?’), aswell as more focused questions related to their perception of specific areas ofHRM practice in their organisation (for example, ’have you received anytraining?’ and ’how satisfied are you with the way your work is scheduled?’).

Findings

The findings indicated that casual workers generally viewed the HR practicesin their organisation as being either substandard or inaccessible. Areas ofdiscontent are reported below, after an initial discussion of the findings relatedto motivations for entering the casual workforce.

Motivations for working as a employee

In terms of preferences, nearly two-thirds of the sample was involuntarilycasually employed. Half of this group expressed a desire for full-time

49

permanent work, while the other half preferred a change to permanent(secure) part-time work.

Overall, two broad groups of casual employees with different reasons forentering casual work arrangements were identified. One group of employeesfound such work arrangements useful in terms of fitting in with familycommitments or life circumstances.

This group of workers was generally positive in their perceptions of casualwork arrangements within the sector. The other group of employees foundcasual work to be problematic. This group was unable to find work elsewhere,desired a more permanent job in the club sector, or was discontent with variousaspects of casual work arrangements. Most of the negative perceptionsemanated from this latter group of workers.

Work scheduling

A theme that consistently surfaced throughout the investigation for bothvoluntary and involuntary casual workers was the problematic nature of workscheduling. The allocation of rosters and shifts appears to be an area of consid-erable conflict, and highlights some of the issues associated with the differen-tial treatment of permanent and casual workers. As one respondentcommented: ’It’s difficult for casuals to get shifts with good penalty rates ... onpublic holidays and Sundays, priority is always given to full-time staff.’

Two-thirds of respondents indicated that there should be greater consul-tation with staff about rosters, and that work scheduling could be moreflexible. Substantive comments from the questionnaire reveal that flexibilityis currently seen to be employer flexibility at the exclusion of employee flexi-bility :

In regards to asking for a night off for example, it can often be extremelydifficult to achieve. As a casual I thought we had more of a right to ask fora day off. The employers need to be more flexible!

When a casual staff member asked for two weeks off she was told that it

was unacceptable and that casual staff should always be available. This staffmember was then threatened with termination of her employment.

The club assumes that casual employees should be available wheneverrequired. If, for personal reasons you cannot work when they call you in,the club holds this against you. It seems that the club should come first atall times and your private needs second.

The strongest issue to surface regarding work scheduling concerned theissue of distribution. Nearly three-quarters of casual employees indicated that

50

there should be fairer distribution of shifts. The following response neatlyconveys the general flavour of the sample: ’The rostering system in this clubis appalling. The same people [casuals] tend to get all the bad shifts.’

In addition to the above findings, a one-way ANOVA detected a signifi-cant relationship (F = 8.57; d.f. = 3, 295; p < 0.001) between voluntary andinvoluntary casual employment and ’satisfaction with work scheduling’.Bonferroni tests of multiple comparisons revealed that those casual employeeswho were unable to locate a permanent job and were thus involuntarilyengaged in casual work were significantly less satisfied than voluntarily casu-alised workers with their rosters and shift allocations.

Training

Casual workers generally held a fairly poor perception of training activitywithin the clubs - training either simply was not provided, or was consideredto be inadequate. While just over three-quarters of the sample had receivedsome training, the quality of this training is questionable. The most dominantform of training was informal ’on-the-job’ training followed by a mix ofvarious combinations of ’on-the-job’ and formal techniques. It would appearthat ’on-the-job’ training was the most pervasive form of training for casualemployees in the club industry. As others have noted, this form of training hasits advantages; however, it is problematic in terms of evaluation and ad hoctechniques (Camp, Blanchard and Huszco 1986). Employees who had receivedsome form of formal training (provided either by the club or a club-sponsoredexternal provider) were trained mainly in operational areas related to currenttasks. Only 2% of the sample had received any training in supervision.

Just over one-third indicated that there was no training available in theirclub, while 27% responded that they were not aware of any training activityin their club. Of the casual employees who had received training, 21 %commented that the training was inadequate, and over half of the sampleindicated that no assessment of training had taken place.

The absence of a training and development ’culture’ within the club envi-ronment was an issue that surfaced throughout the substantive comments onquestionnaires:

I don’t feel the club gives you any encouragement to improve yourself.Most employees are pigeon-holed and left doing a specific job over a longperiod of time. I did the same job for four years until I went to a TABagency and gained work experience in my own time. The club then gaveme two training shifts to prove I could do the work ...

One casual employee who had previously worked as a permanent employeein a club human resources department, commented that: ’When requesting

51

training, comments like &dquo;no, don’t waste money on them, they are just acasual&dquo;, are common’.

Promotion

Despite the fact that over half of the casual workers in the study agreed thatpromotion opportunities were available, less than a third of workers wereprogressing in their careers (see table 3). One explanation for this could be thatemployees are not willing to engage in, or commit to, their organisation.Interview data and substantive comments on questionnaires revealed that someemployees felt no desire to work in an industry which they perceived ’did noteven try to do the right thing by them’ (as one employee expressed). Just overtwo-thirds of the casual employees surveyed indicated that they were qualifiedin other areas, the implication being that they did not see their job at their clubas a career choice. Over a third of respondents indicated that there was toomuch nepotism in promotion practices, and indicated that they were not givena chance to prove themselves. The following comments are representative ofthe sample:

In regards to gaining promotion, it always tends to be who you know andnot what you know in this industry ...

After a certain period of working for the same club a casual employeeshould be given opportunities for advancement the same as permanents ...

Casuals are not taken as seriously as the permanent employees, and areusually overlooked in terms of promotional opportunities, even when theyperform as well, sometimes better, than the permanent employees ... It is acase of who you know and the colour of your nose when it comes toadvancement in this club. How good you are at your job is not taken intoconsideration ... there is just not enough chance for me to move into

different areas to further my skills ...~~ -.-------

Table 3 Casual workers and promotion activity

52

A one-way ANOVA detected a significant relationship (F = 3.02; d.f. =3, 287; p = 0.030) between voluntary and involuntary casual employment and’satisfaction with promotion opportunities’. Bonferroni tests of multiplecomparisons revealed that casual employees who were unable to locate apermanent job and were thus involuntarily engaged in casual work had signi-ficantly lower levels of satisfaction with promotion opportunities.

Performance evaluation

In addition to poor promotional prospects, performance evaluation, including’feedback’, was an area that received substantial criticism. Nearly three-quarters of the sample responded that they were dissatisfied or strongly dissat-isfied with the level of provision of feedback on performance. Relatedly, overhalf of casual employees in the sample indicated that they were dissatisfied orstrongly dissatisfied with the amount of recognition for good work. Thefollowing comments are illustrative:

Management should give more encouragement and support to staff - theyexpect too much ...

On occasions it would be more rewarding if greater appreciation of reliablestaff was shown by management.

My manager has always tried to be fair, but I’d really like to know that myhard work and loyalty to the club as a casual worker is recognised ... very

rarely is there any feedback ...

Staff morale of casuals is low here due to lack of recognition ... it seems

like casuals are just there to pull in the money. If management could runthe club with robots they would ...

The lack of feedback and recognition in some cases led to intense frustrationand a negative impact on performance and service provision. As one casualworker confessed: ’The lack of recognition and consideration causes staff to’get back’ at management by &dquo;taking it out&dquo; on the clientele in the area of

service ...

Pay and penalty rates

Casual employees were asked a series of questions related to satisfaction withwages. While the majority indicated general wage satisfaction, a numberexpressed the view that if it were not for the payment of penalty rates, they

53

would not be satisfied with their wages. Similarly, the vast majority of respon-dents (94%) said that they were satisfied with their wages depending on thenumber of hours that they worked. In this sense, work scheduling congruenceand wage insecurity is inextricably bound with wage satisfaction. Thefollowing comments were typical of the perceptions of casual workers in thesample:

The wages are good if you are rostered on for enough hours. Thefluctuation of wages is a real problem. You can earn heaps one week andnext to nothing the next ...

As a casual employee it is hard to plan and keep up with bills and expenses.One week you could work 30 hours and the next week you could do 14hours ...

During quiet time I may only work 20 hours, which is difficult with amortgage, body corporate and other bills ...

Over one-quarter of the sample (26%) agreed or strongly agreed with thestatement ’I am not happy with my wages considering the unsocial hours thatI work’, suggesting that existing penalty rate payments do not compensate allworkers for working unsocial hours. Taken together with the fact that 88% ofrespondents indicated that they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement’I am satisfied with my wages as long as penalty rates remain’, it appears thatpenalty rates are a significant component of casual employees’ wage satisfac-tion. The following comment typifies the perceptions of the sample: ’If penaltyrates were abolished I would refuse to work on weekends and seriouslyconsider changing jobs.’

Social factors ’

The US literature on contingent employment (see for example Feldman,Doerpinghaus and Turnley 1994; Rotchford and Roberts 1993) suggests thatcasual employees find a good portion of their job-related satisfaction in socialdimensions of the workplace. It has been argued that this is because it is oneof the few avenues of opportunity for contingent employees, given that theyhave little opportunity in the way of careers, promotion, and training.

While most of the casual workers surveyed generally held favourableviews of the ’social nature’ of their job (this is not surprising since the clubenvironment is inherently a social environment), respondents were dividedregarding social integration of permanent and casual employees. Over aquarter of respondents indicated that permanent staff tended to grouptogether, while 30% responded that casual employees grouped together.

54

Comments on questionnaires suggest that in some clubs, the clustering ofcasual or permanent employees can be problematic: ’As a casual you are seenas less of an asset to the club, and I have regularly heard permanent staffbelittle and winge about the performance of casual staff.’

Equity

The problem of social integration highlighted above underlies general equityproblems between permanent and casual employees and access to HRMsystems. For example, over half of all casual employees surveyed indicated thatthey were dissatisfied with management’s equal treatment of staff. As onecasual worker commented:

Previously I worked as both a part-time and permanent employee withinthis club ... it has been a hard transition and I do feel that I am now a

’second class citizen’ ... I don’t think that managers are aware of their bias

against casual staff, they see them simply as extra bodies to fill in the gapsof their full-time staff roster.

Employment status equity in promotion was not well viewed, with 68%of casual employees agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement’permanent employees have greater access to promotion than casual

employees’. Casual employees were also asked a series of questions related toemployment status equity in rostering arrangements. Over half of the sampledisagreed with the statement ’permanent and casual employees have equalaccess to family friendly rostering’. This theme surfaced consistently incomments provided on questionnaires:

With rosters there is too much emphasis placed on who the managerlikes ... we have just gone 24 hour trading and the casuals were all giventhe midnight till 8am shifts. I feel that this was not fairly distributedbetween casual and permanent staff.

Additionally, employment status appears to determine the level of accessto specific HRM practices which emphasise fairness and justice, such asgrievance procedures, disciplinary procedures, promotion opportunities and’higher duties’ wages. A number of respondents commented in the followingways:

Casuals are more likely to be taken off the roster rather than getdisciplinary procedures used as with full-time staff. This leads to insecurityand low morale ...

55

In this club no matter what your ability, it’s not what you know, but whoyou know. And there are rules for casual staff and rules for permanents ...

There should be more means of advancement for a casual or payment forthe varied work you do. I am a ’casual kitchen hand’ rostered on as the

’Cook’, but I am not paid a Cook’s rate of pay ...

Gender equity was also investigated in the study. The followingcomments indicate that gender equity in the casualised firm is problematic:

For people who are male and under 30 there are lots of opportunities inthis club. If you are female and older, they want to put you in kitchens outof sight, and have the young ones deal with the public. female casualemployee, 45 years old)

In this club it is difficult to seek a promotion unless you are male. I havemore qualifications than any of the managers and am treated poorly as Iam female ... (tertiary qualified female casual employee)

This environment is extremely sexist, and I find the sexual politicsappalling ... I am really frustrated with it - I’m treated like an idiot when Ihave good tertiary qualifications.

In summary, this study has established that casual workers are not ahomogenous group, and that they do experience varying levels of concern withthe HRM practices to which they are exposed. A notable finding was thatcasual workers perceived differential treatment between permanent and casualemployees. Indeed, the vast majority of casual employees interviewedperceived their work arrangements as substandard. HRM practices associatedwith work scheduling, pay, training and development, promotion, and generalequity all proved problematic.

Implications for HR practice

HR practices have traditionally been designed for permanent workers in arelatively stable internal ’core’ labour market. Given the shrinking of this coregroup of workers and the accompanying growth of casual work, there is a needto reformulate many of our conceptions of HR activity.

With the decline of the availability of full-time employment, casual workis the only option open to many people previously in full-time employment.This growing group of workers (constituting much of the group of ’involun-tarily casualised’ employees) conceivably have a set of expectations abouttheir organisation and associated HR practices that is based on their previous

56

experience as members of an internal labour market. Such workers areunlikely to view HR practices in the highly casualised firm favourably.

The views of casual workers accessed in this study clearly indicate a needfor HR practices to address the specific characteristics and needs of a casualworkforce. This can be argued from two quite different vantage points. First,given the potentially marginalising effect of casual employment as it currentlyexists, ethical dimensions of HR practices associated with casual employeesneed to be examined. Second, the impact of HR practices on service deliveryin the casualised firm emerged as an area that requires further exploration.Each of these broad issues is discussed in more detail below.

Ethical implications

This study revealed a number of ethical concerns related to casual workersand justice and rights issues.’

Equity .

The main justice issue revealed relates to the lack of equity. This was espe-cially pronounced in promotion, training and work scheduling. The casualworkers surveyed in this study viewed fair promotion opportunities as elusive,indicating that equity concerns relating to recognition and advancement werenot on the HRM agenda. Similarly, work scheduling was another forum fordiscrimination between casual workers and permanent staff. For casual

workers, work scheduling and the availability of work hours are likely to bedirectly related to employees’ remuneration, thus justice issues are important.Employees are denied equality in ’liberty and opportunity, income and wealth,and the bases of self-respect’, all essential elements of a just society, accordingto Rawls (1971, 55). As Rawls has noted, the standards of justice which havebeen overlooked here ought not be subordinated to utilitarian concerns, evenif the club managers were to argue that most stakeholders would benefit fromthe work arrangements described here.

Work scheduling

Many of the findings reveal a denial of the intrinsic worth of the casualemployees as individuals; they are simply treated as a means to organisationalends. Within the club sector, casual employees are typically required to be

3 For a more detailed discussion of the ethical implications of casual work, see Wilcox andLowry (2000).

57

available ’anytime’, and this expected flexibility extends beyond their rosteredwork schedule. Winstanley, Woodall and Heery (1996, 7) see this as alternativemeans by which ’privacy’ can be invaded through employment practices; inthis case it is the right to a private life and wider participation in the socialsphere that is infringed. Employees have a ’right to work’; however, theyequally have a ’right to a life outside of work’, or in other words, they have aright to personal time. In this sense, employees also have a ’right not to work’.This study revealed that some casual workers were threatened and bullied intoworking at late notice outside their prescheduled working hours (usuallybecause management ’underestimated’ staffing requirements). These

employees felt that their organisations were invading their personal lives, andhence that they were being treated as something less than human - in the eyesof one employee, like ’robots’.

. Reward: The issue of penalty rates .

,

In determining casual employees’ satisfaction with wages, this study alsoexplored attitudes to various facets of wage payment gnd work scheduling. Aseries of significant findings demonstrate that the vast majority of casualemployees perceive the payment of penalty rates both as a motivating influencefor entering casual employment and as a significant source of positive appraisalof their work arrangements, once employed. Over one-third of employees inthis study indicated that they would not work on weekends if penalty rateswere abolished and a higher hourly weekly rate was paid, while almost one-third were unsure on the issue. In total, nearly two-thirds felt that casualworkers deserve extra payment for working on weekends, and just over a halfof casual employees surveyed felt that without penalty payments, there was noincentive for working on weekends.

This study has provided empirical evidence that casual employeesperceive penalty rates as a means of compensation for working unsocialhours. The results here thus support the findings of Deery and Mahony(1994) and Sonder and Underhill (1994), who found that employees viewedpenalty payments as compensation for social disruptions and as a financialincentive to work outside of normal hours. The somewhat obvious implica-tion here is that with the removal of penalty rates, at least on weekends, thesupply of labour may not be so readily or consistently available. Given thenature of the club industry and the hospitality industry generally, whereweekend custom and trading is a significant component of all trading, thischange in labour supply is potentially problematic. The attitudes towardpenalty rates held by casual employees send out clear signals to employergroups who have recently advocated the removal of such compensatorymechanisms. Aside from ethical issues associated with reward and fair pay,it may also be the case that an abolition of penalty rates will be attended by

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higher levels of turnover, lower levels of commitment and job satisfaction,and a poorer quality of customer service. The issue of customer service isdiscussed in more detail below. ,

Performance management

The lack of feedback and recognition available to the casual workers in thisstudy also has ethical implications. Once again, it reflects the absence of focuson ’the casual worker as an individual’, and reveals a view of the worker solelyas a means to organisational ends. This poses the challenge of how to designan appropriate performance management system for contingent workers. Itcould be argued that systems that emphasise development and feedback, ratherthan control, are required in the context of the casualised firm. Winstanley(2000), for example, posits that there is a general need for performanceappraisal systems to be more considerate of individual and humanisticconcerns. Given the disadvantages associated with casual employment and thenature of the controls associated with it (lack of employment and wagesecurity, lack of control over personal time, strict time-keeping systems, etc.),it would be counterproductive to impose control-based, highly formal appraisalactivity. Instead, some means of more informal, developmental feedback andrecognition of performance is required.

Training

The apparent lack of training available to casual workers serves to exacerbatethe equity issues between casual and permanent employees revealed in thisstudy. Training provision is seen as one way in which mobility and employ-ability barriers may be overcome; however, for most casual employees littleformal training was provided. This exacerbated the trapped and ’captive’nature of casual employment and left ’disposable’ employees with few options.

Health and safety

In addition to the impacts noted above, there are ethical considerations asso-ciated with the health and safety implications of casual work. For example,the lack of training raises concerns that casual employees may not have theskills and knowledge needed for safe work practices. Moreover, Dekker andSchaufeli (1995) have demonstrated empirically that employment insecurity(such as that associated with casual work) has potentially detrimental effects onthe health of workers. The stress involved with these work arrangements wasnoted by a number of the employees surveyed in this study.

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The impact of HR practices on service delivery in the casualised firm

Even if one rejects the ethics-based critique of current HRM practices associ-ated with casual employment, a case for better HRM of casual workers can bemade on rational economic grounds. The involuntarily casualised employees(the majority of the sample) surveyed in this study were significantly lesssatisfied with opportunities for promotion, work scheduling, training, andwages. With permanent jobs declining in numbers and casual employmentincreasing as a proportion of all jobs, this finding has important ramifications.Unless HRM practices are redesigned or reconceptualised to incorporate andreflect a changed labour market environment, there will be an increasingnumber of dissatisfied, involuntarily casualised employees. The findings hereindicated that some employees were so dissatisfied with the lack of feedbackand recognition that they made a conscious decision not to provide qualityservice. In this case, the withholding of feedback and recognition represents aviolation of the implicit psychological contract, resulting in a neglect of ’in-role job duties and responsibilities’ (Turnley and Feldman 2000, 27). This is apotentially serious problem given the dramatic growth of the service sector,where ’quality service’ provision is the expected employee duty and an antici-pated organisational objective. How reasonable is it to expect significantlydissatisfied and disillusioned casual workers to provide a high standard ofservice? A case could thus be made for more sophisticated HRM practices(involving performance management systems which emphasise feedback,recognition and intrinsic reward) in casualised firms in the service sector, anassertion supported by recent research. For example, Zerbe, Dobni and Harel(1998) found that perceptions of HRM directly affected the ’service culture’and thus indirectly affected self-reported service behaviour. Similarly,Schneider, White and Paul (1998) found a causal relationship between HRMpractices (such as provision of training, participation, and supportive super-vision) and service climate. As Worsfold (1999) correctly identifies, there is avery real need for a future research agenda that seeks to examine the linkbetween HRM and service quality. Such research would have important impli-cations for the management of casual workers in the service sector.

Conclusion

To date, the casualisation of work has largely implied that management couldobviate the need for certain employment systems by assuming low levels ofinvolvement among casual employees. This paper has attempted to tackle thisassumption by exploring casual employees’ perceptions of various HRMpractices in the workplace. The casual workers surveyed in this study werefound, overall, to have negative perceptions of HRM practices in their organ-isations. HRM practices considered particularly problematic for casual

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employees included promotion opportunity, access to adequate training, socialintegration, recognition and feedback from management and work schedulingcongruence (fit between the organisation’s demands and personal preferences).They are all are areas which demand more ’activism’ on behalf of the HRMfunction. Conceivably, such activism is likely to be resisted by managersemploying casual workers, since the development of sophisticated HR tech-niques is perceived to incur additional costs and resources. However, the short-term cost advantages of eschewing sound HRM practice (based on provisionof opportunity and equity) are likely to be a heavy price to pay for the long-term disruption to service quality and more importantly, the quality of thework and non-work lives of casual workers.

Diannah Lowry (PhD, Monash) is a senior lecturer in HRM at Nottingham Business School in the United

Kingdom. She is currently engaged in research which examines improved HRM practices for casualised

workers, the ethical implications of flexible work forms, and the impact of managerial presenteeism.

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