Dodgy labour market dichotomy: the repercussions of sneaky labour intermediaries on employees’ constitutional rights

ABSTRACT

The flexibility inherent in temporary agency work allows employers to cut labour cost in a variety of ways. Recurring themes in the employment literature draw attention to the duality of the labour market rooted in type-of-contract segmentation. This duality in the labour market carries with it a number of undesirable consequences. Drawing on qualitative data from six case studies in Pakistan, this paper reports on an in-depth study of deceitful labour market intermediaries, through which employers attempt to bypass statutory obligations concerning workers’ constitutional rights. A case study inquiry, based on qualitative interviews, suggested that the agencies were ‘created’ or ‘arranged’ to illustrate indirectness of employment relationship by misclassifying effectively permanent employees as ‘agency workers’. The evidence points towards a growing trend for agencies to be, simply, a sham arrangement. This study broadens our comprehension about the nature of temporary agency employment and subsequent labour market duality in Pakistan, beyond the traditional functional model of legitimate labour market intermediaries. Precarious work in Pakistan, a large and growing economy, shares many features in common with the rest of the world. These findings offer useful policy and social implications for national and multinational companies.

KEYWORDS:

• Employment Agencies
• workers’ Statutory Rights
• dubious Employment Intermediaries
• labor relations

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the research participants and also the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments to improve the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abdullah Zafar Sheikh

Dr. Abdullah Zafar Sheikh (Associate Professor) completed his MBA from the USA and PhD from University of Nottingham (UK). He has worked in the UK, China and Middle East. He is interested in researching human resource management related topics.

Atif Saleem Butt

Dr. Atif Saleem Butt (Assistant Professor) is in the Department of Management, teaching management courses to the undergraduate, MBA and EMBA classes. Before joining AURAK, he was employed as a Sessional Lecturer at Deakin University, School of Management and Marketing. He has also worked as a Research Assistant at Monash University, Department of Management on a project entitled ‘Process Innovation in Australian Manufacturing Sector.’

Basharat Hussain

Dr. Basharat Hussain (Assistant Professor) obtained PhD from the University of Nottingham (UK) for his thesis on diversity and organisational change in the UK National Health Service (NHS). His research interests include diversity management, organisations, entrepreneurship, evidence –based practice and Health services management. He has practical experience of working on public sector reforms, field operation monitoring and micro- enterprise development.

Stephen Timmons

Professor Stephen Timmons works with University of Nottingham Business School in the Division of Organisational Behavior and Human Resource Management. His area of research includes: Sociology of Health & Illness; Science and Technology Studies; Sociology of Professions; Service Improvement/Patient Safety; Emergency Care. He has experience of working with academics in US, China, Brazil, India and Pakistan.