Young and flexible: labour contracts in young and incumbent firms

Jochen Späth

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016, vol. 29, issue 1, 46-65

Abstract: This paper investigates if young firms differ from incumbents regarding their use of non-standard employment - part-time employment, fixed-term contracts, agency-based work and freelancers - and flexible working time arrangements - overtime hours and trust-based working time. Both non-standard work forms and flexible working time arrangements are associated with various flexibility-enhancing features and constitute a major resource for personnel planning, firm strategy and success. Based on the IAB Establishment Panel, a representative survey of employers in Germany, we find that young firms use most non-standard work forms and flexible working time arrangements more frequently than their incumbent counterparts. We derive that these measures are particularly suited for the challenges of firm start-ups, and that their managers may profit from taking them into account. Moreover, our analyses suggest that young firms may contribute to the rise of non-standard employment and flexible working time arrangements that can be observed in Germany and other industrialised countries.

Keywords: start-ups; incumbents; job quality; non-standard work; part-time employment; fixed-term contracts; agency-based work; freelancers; trust-based working time; overtime; labour contracts; young firms; Germany. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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