“Not all employees are able to successfully stand up for themselves. Over the past five years, my colleagues and I have conducted research amongst thousands of workers: who speaks up, who remains silent? We see that people with flexible contracts (more accurately defined as insecure) – such as many self-employed workers, on-call workers and employees with small or zero-hour contracts – are twice as likely to remain silent on issues at work than their colleagues with permanent contracts. This is because they fear reprisals, are uncertain about how to address their problem or because they will soon leave their current job anyway. We also see that people with a lower education level are overrepresented in this group.”
Less assertive
“The number of employees with precarious contracts has been growing for years, and so has the group of less assertive employees. This is worrying, partly because many people derive much of their identity from their work. If workers cannot or dare not address problems at work or are punished if they do so (by not extending their contract or less career prospectives, our research has shown that this can also affect their political preference, in the sense that they are, for example, more inclined to vote for populist parties”
Redeem control
“What motivates me? I would like for all workers to be able to improve their situation if they are having problems at work. To realise this ambition, my research group is preparing a digital tool that helps (future) workers to beassertive about their problems at work. Who understands their rights, will be more able to recognise violations of these rights and and effectively stand up for themselves – and their co-workers. The coronavirus pandemic has slowed the development of this tool, but we resumed work on it in September,.. It would be great if all students learned during their studies that they have a voice in their work situation and how they can use this voice.”
Film tip: Sorry We Missed You (2019, Ken Loach)
Abbie works in domiciliary care; Ricky lost his job in construction and has started delivering parcels. He hopes for a better future for his family but is soon crushed by the inhumane workload and the endless, inscrutable rules and protocols. “This film clearly illustrates how people can become trapped in a precarious flexible work situation.”
Agnes Akkerman was trained as a sociologist in Groningen (1991 – 1994), the university where she also obtained her PhD (1999). Since 2016 she has been professor of Industrial Relations at Radboud University, since August for one day a week. Since August 2021 she is professor of Regulation of Labour at the University of Amsterdam for four days a week.
Foto: Johnny Cohen via Unsplash