Staffing agencies in work relationships with independent contractors
| Published date | 13 December 2019 |
| Date | 13 December 2019 |
| Pages | 525-541 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-03-2019-0159 |
| Author | Caroline Ruiner,Maximiliane Wilkesmann,Birgit Apitzsch |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Staffing agencies in
work relationships with
independent contractors
Caroline Ruiner
University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Maximiliane Wilkesmann
Department of Sociology, TU Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany, and
Birgit Apitzsch
SOFI, Gottingen, Germany
Abstract
Purpose –While staffing agencies are gaining importance in work relationships with the highly skilled
workforce, their work relations with highly skilled independent contractors have not been investigated yet.
Staffing agencies as labor market intermediaries charge a fee to help independent contractors as well as client
organizations to create contracts for services while independent contractors remain self-employed. Besides
their growing relevance, their exact role remains unclear. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the role
of staffing agencies in work relationships with highly skilled independent contractors.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors applied a mixed-methods design comprising a qualitative
interview study with independent contractors and staffing agencies’representatives (n¼29) coupled with a
quantitative survey of staffing agencies (n¼81).
Findings –The analysis shows that staffing agencies are important actors in work relationships with highly
skilled independent contractors. However, the relationships can be differentiated into rather standardized
ones on the one hand and individualized relations on the other hand. This seems to correspond with
differences between sectors.
Originality/value –First, the authors discuss staffing agencies as new intermediaries and highlight their
relevance in the negotiation of working conditions. Second, the authors emphasize variations of the role of
staffing agencies in triadic work relationships of highly skilled independent contractors in relation to
specificities of sectors. Third, the study also adds on organizational support theory and related research.
Keywords Freelancer, Independent contractor, Labour market intermediaries, Staffing agency,
Work relationship
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
For understanding labor market dynamics in Western Europe, the growth of non-standard
employment and knowledge work is critical. Both developments have contributed to a growing
relevanceof staffing agencieswhose exact role, however, is not fullyexplored and understood.
More specifically, over the last 15 years, the share of independent contractors –self-employed
workers without personnel –has almost doubled and now accounts for around 83.4 percent of
all self-employed in the UK and 54.7 percent in Germany (Eurostat, 2018). Especially for highly
skilled workers, the decision to work as an independent contractor may be induced by a wish
for more variety and greater challenge, for more autonomy as well as independence
(Kalleberg, 2000; Kunda et al., 2002; Pichault and McKeown, 2019; von Nordenflycht, 2010).
As highly skilled independent contractors, they are mostly engaged in knowledge-based
industries (Gottschall and Kroos, 2007). Importantly, the recent expansion of independent
contractors is supply led and has occurred in the context of increasingly tight labor markets
and problems of staff recruitment and retention. In this context, staffing agencies gain
importance in work relationships with the highly skilled workforce. In doing so, staffing
agencies as labor market intermediaries charge a fee to help independent contractors as well as
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 42 No. 2, 2020
pp. 525-541
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-03-2019-0159
Received 22 March 2019
Revised 3 July 2019
19 October 2019
18 November 2019
Accepted 18 November 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
525
Staffing
agencies
in work
relationships
client organizations in contracting. Thus, they intermediate between independent contractors
and clients without having an employment contract with either party and transform
dyadic into triadic work relationships (Bidwell and Fernandez-Mateo, 2010; Bonet et al., 2013;
Kunda et al., 2002). In addition, the independent contractors remain self-employed but h ave a
contract for work and services.
The phenomenon of staffing agencies is not new in every field of employment, e.g. they
have a long tradition in the film industry. But with a large and growing share of
independent contractors in other sectors such as IT and more recently in the German
health care sector, they gain in relevance and spread their business model. This is
interesting since the independent contractors’expertise on the labor market is in high
demand, but they still rely on staffing agencies for advertising their services and
matching with clients. From the perspective of client organizations, staffing agencies may
address problems of staff recruitment and retention. In this sense, staffing agencies could
be interpreted as “place and sear ch firms”like mentioned by Bonet et al. (2013, p. 343). On
closer inspection, however and in contrast to “place and search firms,”it is not a question
of establishing a permanent work relation through those staffing agencies, but only of
temporary mediation between skill supply and demand. Staffing agencies, therefore, may
be relevant first and foremost for client organizations because of difficulties in recruitment
in tight labor markets. This does not, however, explain why highly skilled independent
contractors use staffing agencies in a privileged labor market position. Previous research
on agencies mainly focused on temporary agency work, which is based on a mutual
employment contract, and its effects on temp workers (e.g. Allan, 2000; Alsos and Evans,
2018; Biggs and Swailes, 2006; Chambel et al., 2016; Chambel and Sobral, 2019; Chen et al.,
2017; Drucker and Stanworth, 2004; Forde, 2001; Hoque and Kirkpatrick, 2008; Hoque
et al., 2008; Kalleberg et al., 2015; Kirkpatrick and Hoque, 2006; Mitlacher, 2006; Morf et al.,
2014; Svensson and Wolvén, 2010; Torka and Schyns, 2007; Ward et al., 2001). These
studies indicate that the job quality of temporary agency work compared to that of
standard employment is poor, and that uncertainties arise regarding attitudinalissues like
workers’loyalty, identity and organizational commitment. Highly skilled independent
contractors, are neither described as suffering from bad working conditions, nor as
displaying a lack of commitment at work.
Therefore, we need to take a closer look at the role of staffing agencies in the work
relationships with independent contractors as they might provide specific services to them.
Research todate still does not address the abovementioned points sufficiently, and the way in
which labor market intermediaries have been classified in the past (Bonet et al., 2013;
Eurofound, 2016) does not seem to fit to the special work relationship we aim to shed light on.
In addition to the mediation of skill supply and demand, there are indications that, in some
cases, staffingagencies fulfill tasks which go beyondthe matching function, e.g. withsupport
independent contractors in negotiating working conditions (Bidwell and Fernandez-Mateo,
2010; Connelly and Gallagher, 2004; Kunda et al., 2002), with support in their career
development or with support in management functions (Apitzsch, 2013; Apitzsch et al., 2016;
Bielby and Bielby, 1999). This kind of s upport may be of relevance, as Imhof and Andresen
(2017) emphasized that the subjective well-being of temporary agency workers depends on
their perceived organizational support. We still do not know, however, how staffing agencies
mediate between the supply and demand of highly skilled independent contractors, and how
they go beyond this matching. Therefore, our main research questions are:
RQ1. How can the work relationship between independent contractors and staffing
agencies be characterized?
RQ2. How do staffing agencies support highly skilled independent contractors?
RQ3. How can the variation of the staffing agency’s role be understood?
526
ER
42,2
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