Jerzy Wratny - News Forms of Employment: Current Problems and Future Challenges

Die Zunahme sozialer Unsicherheit und kultureller Verunsicherung in postfordistischen Gesellschaften erzeugt einen Status Quo, in dem Prozesse der Prekarisierung und der sozialen Entkopplung (Robert Castel) verstrkt das Zentrum der Gesellschaft durchziehen. Der Verlust sozialer Garantien fhrt dabei zur Aushhlung sozialstaatlicher Errungenschaften. Dadurch werden die Lebenskontexte und das Alltagsleben der Menschen stark verndert.

Das sozialwissenschaftliche Netzwerk S.U.P.I. beschftigt sich auf europischer Ebene seit Jahren mit den gegenwrtigen Formen von sozialer Unsicherheit, Prekaritt und Ungleichheit. Die Reihe, herausgegeben von Mitgliedern des Netzwerks, prsentiert transdisziplinre Forschungen zu den sozialen und kulturellen Transformationen in den sozialstaatlich geprgten Demokratien. Sie versteht sich als Forum fr die Diskussion in nationalen, europischen und auch globalen Kontexten. Ebenen einer kritischen Analyse aus multidisziplinren und feldorientierten Perspektiven werden dabei initiiert, aufgenommen und untersttzt. berschreitung und ffnung dienen programmatisch als Wegmarken fr theoretisch-analytische Beitrge und empirisch-angewandte Forschung.

The increase of social insecurity in post-Fordist societies effect fundamental societal changes. As a consequence Precarity and Disaffiliation (Robert Castel) affecting increasingly the center of society. The loss of social guarantees leads to an erosion of the welfare state. As a result, living situations and everyday life are deeply changed.

The S.U.P.I.-Project (Social Uncertainty, Precarity, Inequality) is an European Research Group established by European and international scholars and experts. The network has been concerned with present forms of social insecurity, precariousness and inequality at European level for years. Edited by members of the network, the book series presents transdisciplinary research on aspects of social and cultural transformations in the democracies which are characterized by the welfare state. The book series opens a discursive space for discussions in national, European and global contexts. The contributions of the book series provide critical analyses from multidisciplinaryperspectives, theoretical-analytical reflections and empirical-applied research.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15037

Editorial contact: Cori Antonia Mackrodt

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Under the influence of processes occurring in the contemporary world, such as globalization, the increase of competitiveness and the development of information and communication technologies (ICT), flexibility has become a desirable quality. In the field of employment, the pressure to become more flexible concerns to a varying extent both employers and employees, that makes them face new challenges. For employers, remaining flexible is necessary to acquire and maintain the competitive edge in view of unexpected changes in the demand on the labour market. For employees this includes ability and willingness to respond to changing occupational and personal circumstances and expectations. This is connected with the necessity to acquire new skills and abilities in order to adapt to new working practices as a condition of maintaining employment

The pressure of flexibility significantly shaped employment and industrial relations across Europe. It leads to the development of atypical (non-standard or new) forms of employment, whose number has been gradually growing since the 1980s. Atypical forms of employment, based on an employment contract or on other forms of contract, are more or less differ from the typical model of employment based on an employment contract for an indefinite period of time, involving work performed at the employers facilities in a specific, regular time framework.it is emphasized that indefinite-term employment contract is a general form of establishing employment relationship and it contributes to improving the life quality of the interested employees and increasing the effectiveness.

Traditionally, atypical forms of employment include, part-time work, fixed-term work, temporary agency work, telework, civil-law contracts. Since 2000 it can be observed a continuous creation of a new forms of atypical employment,

Atypical forms of employment are a global phenomenum. The use of atypical forms of employment may lead to increased efficiency, competitiveness and innovativeness of enterprises, and as a result, of the whole economyBecause of their significant social and economic effects new forms of employment are a real challenge for labour and social security law. The ongoing discussion about new, atypical forms of employment concentrates around the following questions: how to reach a balance between flexible but inclusive labour market; how to provide people in this forms of employment with decent working conditions; how to include new, atypical forms of employment under national laws; how to avoid the abuse of new, atypical forms of employment.