The Insecure Workforce

Citation

Newsome, K. (2001), "The Insecure Workforce", Employee Relations, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 207-214. https://doi.org/10.1108/er.2001.23.2.207.2

This book is concerned with exploring the consequences of the movement towards greater insecurity within the workplace. In essence it aims to explore the extent to which workplace insecurity, risk and instability are becoming defining features of working life. Moreover, as a welcome development the debates contained within this account are predicated upon a wider concern to move our understanding of workplace insecurity beyond the increasingly well rehearsed debates on the search for workplace flexibility. As such the rationale of this edited text is to move research attention away from an exploration of employer sponsored flexibility agendas per se to an alternative approach to workplace insecurity, which provides a “greater engagement with the interests of the employees”. Hence the discussions contained within this account embrace a wider discussion of the implications of workplace insecurity, which necessarily explores resulting changes in the nature, the form and the meaning of work. Consequently what is distinctive, and indeed very appealing, about this book is that within an arena of de‐regulation and an absence of statutory regulation, it attempts to place the “experiences of employees centre stage”.

To explore this overall aim and thus, “intervene authoritatively in debates on insecurity” this text draws on a set of conference papers emanating from a conference of the same title. It draws together a number of key scholars within the area; hence this collection of papers operates within a number of academic backgrounds and research traditions. The structure of the book is such that the opening chapter provides a very competent and comprehensive overview of what it refers to as the “insecurity thesis”. This thesis is presented as a series of propositions, which are regarded as the key issues emerging from the current interest in workplace insecurity. Indeed these propositions are concerned with exploring not only the emergence of workplace insecurity, but also analysing the contingent factors which facilitate and legitimise its progression and development. Correspondingly attention is also focussed on the extent to which increases in the levels of workplace insecurity stimulate fresh demand for greater employee protection through trade unions and/or statutory regulation. This opening chapter anchors the overall dynamics of the book and provides the context and the framework for the remaining chapters.

Indeed the next two chapters, clearly operating from very different academic positions, examine changes in the structure of jobs and explore the extent to which we are witnessing an “objective” rise in insecurity. Both of these chapters utilise quantitative data in an attempt to establish the extent to which we are witnessing the emergence of insecurity. The differing conclusions emerging from these two chapters are perhaps testimony to the complexity of debate within this area and the numbers of competing data sources that can be utilised to support a particular argument. (Though, it has to be said the chapter by Robinson is plagued by some rather curious statements, and the combined intellects of three of my academic colleagues found it difficult to understand the contours of the arguments in places.) Moving on, the middle section of the book focuses on the impact of workplace insecurity in more specific contexts. Consequently, there are chapters within this section exploring the impact of insecurity within particular arenas as well as exploring its implications for particular actors within the workplace. The closing chapters extend the coverage of the book further by exploring the impact of insecurity beyond the workplace.

In overall terms the strength of this book is the aforementioned concern to move the debate on insecurity beyond an exploration of employer’s agenda of flexibility to a wider arena of how employees experience insecurity. Indeed a collection of papers that examines the emergence of insecurity, and explores how insecurity can be measured and defined, as well as how it impacts upon the workplace, is valuable for both academics and practitioners. Indeed, as you would expect in a book of this nature, some of the chapters are more successful than others. The chapters on redundancy and insecurity, gendered employment security as well as insecurity in the public services all provide valuable and insightful contributions to the debates. Moreover, the chapter by Heery and Abbott on trade unions and the insecure workforce is particularly helpful and necessarily raises the questions as to how employee interests should be defined and represented within the arena of increasing workplace insecurity. The suggestion here is that unions will increasingly have to develop strategies to represent “diversity” amongst the workforce if they are to adequately protect the interests of all of their members.

Another valuable feature of this account is the variety of approaches and arguments contained within it. Drawing from a wide number of authors who operate from differing academic traditions and positions, the tensions and contradictions operating within the emergence of workplace insecurity can be identified and explored. Indeed, a recurring theme emerging within the text appears to be that a distinction needs to be made between “objective” measurements of insecurity in terms of where it appears to be most prevalent, and how insecurity is “subjectively” experienced by workers. For example, the chapter discussing insecurity within the public sector highlights growing insecurity in terms of an objective measurement yet highlights an apparent resilience amongst workers of a perception of employment security. It is perhaps unfortunate that given the number of tensions, distinctions and contradictions identified within many of the chapters that they are not more fully explored and unpacked in a concluding chapter (of the calibre as the first chapter) which attempts to bring together some of the key arguments.

My only major concern with the book is that in overarching terms the methodological approach appears to be dominated by quantitative analysis and reviews of large survey sets. On one level, reviews of large data sets do provide evidence to support competing arguments about the prevalence of insecurity. However in a text that makes claim to put the “experiences of employees centre stage” it is a little disappointing that more qualitative data have not been utilised. Indeed, a more qualitative approach in places would actually give the experiences of workers facing, and coping with, insecure work a much clearer voice. Notwithstanding this concern, this is a valuable and engaging book that necessarily and successfully highlights the tensions and contradictions surrounding the “insecurity thesis”. As such I would suggest that this book must be viewed as the key contributor to the debates on workplace insecurity and is a must for teachers, researchers and policy makers alike.