”Ny på jobbet varje dag” En studie om behovsanställdas hantering av problem i arbetet och relation till fast anställda

Abstract

During the past 30 years the proportion of temporary employed has increased in Sweden. This has to do with corporate strivings to have a more numerically flexible labour force. Earlier research shows that it generates negative effects on temporary employees’ work environment and general health. On-call employees are affected the most. The aim of this article is to describe and analyse the social relationship between on-call employees and the permanently employed, how the relationship affects on-call employees’ ability to encounter problems at their workplace, and which strategies are being used to handle the situation.

The article uses both an extensive and intensive methodology. The extensive part consists of a statistical analysis of survey data. It turns out that youth, females and manual workers run the greatest risk of being on-call employees. Against this background eight in-depth interviews were conducted. The theoretical approach is Sverre Lysgaard’s theory about the subordinate workers’ collective. The interviews focused on whether on-call employees perceive a workers’ collective and if so how their relationship to the collective is constructed.

The interviews show that the respondents perceive a workers’ collective among the permanently employed. However, due to lack of similarity, closeness and identification of shared problems, it is difficult for them to be included in the collective. Instead the permanent employees often view on-call employees as a stigmatized out-group. The latter are thus subject to an undignified treatment and the work they perform is not recognized. They also lack autonomy in the work process and face difficulties in planning their leisure time. In order to deal with these problems on-call employees can use inclusive, control and creation-of-meaning strategies. It is argued that the strategies do not solve the problems, but only make the perception of them less negative.