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Temporary agency working continues to grow in the UK. The purpose of this paper is to look at a number of important developments in the agency industry, which generate implications for the performance of agencies, temps and the user firms in which temps work and to set out some of the key performance implications of these developments. These developments are: the increasingly complex set of contractual arrangements between agencies and user firms; the changing regulatory environment; and the changing role of agencies in pay setting.

The paper reviews the state of the art literature on agency working, and draws on 15 years of primary research and secondary analysis of the sector by the authors.

The paper shows that there is a proliferation of models of temporary agency worker supply, some of which involves agencies playing a greater role within firms in the management of temps, with other involving a deliberate and strategic distancing of client firms and/or agency in the day-to-day management of temps. This creates significant challenges for the management of temps. The paper also finds that there are significant tensions and challenges arising from the implementation of the Agency Working Regulations, even though these regulations have the potential to raise motivation and performance of temps.

The management of temps creates significant challenges for organisations and agencies. New models of supply of agency labour have the potential to make these challenges even more problematic, if not addressed effectively. The implications of the shifting regulatory and political environment also need closer scrutiny, particularly in the context of the recent EU referendum result in the UK.

The paper sheds light on a number of new developments in the agency sector, and by demonstrating their effects on organisations, agencies and temps, draws out some of the performance implications of the continued and changing use of agency temps.

The paper aims to explore the role of union strategic influence on the adoption of High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) in organisations and examines how the effects of job security and then in turn the industrial relations climate, mediate this relationship in a serial manner.

The research analyses an original quantitative survey of union negotiators and representatives in 382 workplaces in England. The analysis employs structural equation modelling techniques to examine the relationships between union influence, job security, industrial relations climate and HPWS.

Union strategic influence has a positive effect on the take up of HPWS in unionised workplaces. Job security and the industrial relations climate demonstrate a serial mediation effect between union strategic influence and the take up of HPWS: union strategic influence has a positive effect on job security, which in turn positively impacts the industrial relations climate, thereby increasing the likelihood of the adoption of HPWS. The findings for the industrial relations climate are particularly strong.

Findings suggest that organisations will benefit from focussing on the development of positive industrial relations, where unions have genuine strategic influence, because this maximises the likelihood that HPWS can be adopted and sustained.

The paper provides a novel focus on the take up of HPWS within unionised workplaces. It focusses on the role of union strategic influence and the mediating effects of job security and the industrial relations climate, which are contextual factors that have been underexplored in the HPWS literature to date.

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, to understand the degree to which the intended outcomes of Saudi’s Nitaqat labour market policy corresponds to the actual responses from private companies. Second, to investigate how these gaps between policy intentions and actual outcomes have informed recent changes to Nitaqat policy.

This paper uses a qualitative approach with a case study design and thematic analysis procedures. Data were obtained from the following three sources: semi-structured interviews completed during the early stage of Nitaqat in 2013–2014 with nine policymakers and 44 key stakeholders from six private Saudi companies; policy documents and gray literature on the aims and effects of the Nitaqat program; and available peer-reviewed literature on the subject.

This paper sets out and analyses the following four main goals of Nitaqat: First, to increase the Saudi national employment rate, second, increase company efficiency, third, improve human resource capabilities, and fourth, increase female labour participation. This paper reveals that although Nitaqat has certainly resulted in a positive change in some of these areas, in other areas, there remain gaps between the intentions and the actual effects of Nitaqat. This paper analyses recent changes to Nitaqat and argues that further changes may be needed to achieve the full goals of Nitaqat.

This paper’s originality lies in its analysis of the aims of labour market policies and organisational responses. It highlights the reasons for disconnections between the policy aims and organisational practices and explores how policymakers react and respond to these implementation gaps.

The chapter presents emerging evidence on the development of the platform economy, paying particular attention to the motivations for entering platform work, the conditions of platform work, and the extent of social protections afforded platform workers. Debate thus far has tended to be highly speculative and lacking in grounded empirical analysis, with policy-makers in particular actively looking to regulate platform work on the basis of its novelty as a form of employment within the wider context of the decline of the “standard employment relationship.” The chapter explores such concerns through an analysis of European Union labor market data and a unique data-set of circa 1,200 online “click workers” across four established platforms. A novel contribution of the analysis is to differentiate between those that only work on platforms (work-dependent platform workers) and those that do such work in addition to another job. The analysis suggests that work-dependent platform workers are more likely to be differentiated by their motivations for doing such work than their experiences of job quality or access to social protections. However, the relationship between platform working and levels of social protection is complex, notably in terms of combined level of social protection and the contractual arrangement of additional job holders. This leaves us to conclude that policy initiatives designed to address gaps in social protections for platform workers would be more appropriately targeted toward problems of insecure work more broadly. Finally, a number of areas for future research are outlined.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of contingent labour in the construction and civil engineering sector in the UK.

The paper presents the findings of a national postal survey of employment practices within the UK construction and civil engineering sector. The survey was conducted in 2002 and covered firms of all sizes within the sector. This technique has been supplemented with in‐depth interviews to provide a deeper understanding of the issues raised.

The paper finds that employers' use of contingent labour is widespread and that in many cases, the use of contingent labour has increased over recent years. It is argued that recourse to the use of contingent labour may increasingly be a constrained choice for employers, reflecting overall labour shortages and recruitment difficulties in the sector. The paper also finds that the use of contingent labour contributes to skills shortages in the industry, with the scope of training offered to workers on these contract forms being limited in nature.

The paper reveals the complex relationship between the use of contingent labour and ongoing skills shortages in the sector. The paper concludes that the cycle of turning to contingent labour in response to recruitment difficulties does not replenish the skill profile of the sector and therefore offers no long‐term solution to the skills shortages within the construction industry.

To examine the experience of agency employment for workers and employers' use of agency workers in Britain to evaluate competing claims made about this form of work.

This paper draws on results from three recent representative surveys of employment in Britain to examine the current nature and experience of agency work: the Labour Force Survey; the Workplace Employment Relations Survey and the Working in Britain, 2000 Survey.

The findings indicate that there is little evidence of the purported association between agency work and the emergence of the “knowledge economy”, as suggested by some. Turning to employers' use of agency labour, it is found that this has been driven by pressures relating to labour costs, possibly reflecting short‐term considerations. As for workers' experience of agency employment, this paper reports their dissatisfaction with many aspects of agency work, resulting in low levels of commitment and high anxiety about their work situation.

Whilst the use of agency workers may provide short‐term benefits for organisations there is considerable evidence that, in the absence of remedial action, a number of challenges are likely to emerge for human resource practitioners. In particular, organisations may incur longer‐term costs through extensive utilisation of employment agency labour.

Agency work has grown rapidly but little is known about short‐term experiences or longer term implications. The paper fills a gap in knowledge about the current nature of agency work, and provides an empirical assessment of competing claims about this form of work

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics between employers' use of temporary agency workers and the aspirations of agencies to expand their role further within organisations.

The study focuses on the construction sector in the UK. A mixed methods approach is employed comprising a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews with construction employers.

Construction employers' use of temporary agency workers remains driven by “traditional” reasons, to meet short‐term peaks in demand and for one‐off tasks. Construction employers have widespread reservations about the use of temporary agency workers. There is little evidence of an expansion in the range of tasks or managerial functions being performed by agencies in construction. Together, these findings point to limits to the inexorable expansion of temporary agencies in the sector.

Further research is needed to assess the extent to which these reservations surrounding agencies, and the limits on the expansion of agencies that these reservations imply, are applicable to sectors outside construction.

Employers' lack of appetite for agency workers stem from perceived problems of quality of agency labour and a desire to maintain control over production. These reservations suggest that agency aspirations to increase their role and functions further in the construction sector are likely to be frustrated.

Much research has pointed to the growth of agency working in recent years. The principal value of this research is in highlighting the potential limits to the inexorable expansion of agency working. The paper also reveals employers' reservations towards agencies, which have been neglected in the literature to date.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications for HRM of employers' use of migrants in low‐skilled work in a UK‐based firm. Is the use of migrant workers for low skilled work associated with “soft” or “hard” approaches to HRM? How do employers recruit migrant workers? What career progression paths are available to these workers in firms? What are the expectations and aspirations of migrant workers?

The paper examines these issues through a case study of a UK‐based employer using large numbers of migrant workers. The paper draws on data from a survey of migrant workers in the firm conducted in 2006, and from interviews with managers and migrant workers within this firm, conducted between 2005 and 2006.

The paper highlights the “hard” HRM strategy pursued by the company in order to maintain a competitive advantage based on low labour costs and substitutability of workers. A contradiction is noted between the desire of the firm to retain migrant workers with a strong work ethic and gain high commitment, on the one hand, and their continued attempt to compete on the basis on minimal labour costs and follow a “hard” approach to HRM, on the other.

The paper points to the importance of analysis of employers' use of migrants and the strategies they are adopting towards using these workers. Developing an understanding of these strategies is critical to understanding the social and economic experiences of migrant workers.

The paper combines qualitative and quantitative research through an intensive case study to illuminate the implications for HRM of employers' use of migrants in low‐skilled jobs.