Temporary Staff Facing An Attitude Time-Warp

1. Temporary Staff Facing An Attitude Time-Warp Deterring Knowledge Development and Contributions Michael Richards HRINZ Conference September 2001 The Future of Work:Talent Balance Results

2. Who has worked as a Temporary employee? • Hired Temporary Staff? • Managed directly temporary Staff?

3. What words do you associate with the word? TEMP?

4. Objectives • Describe the Attitude Time-warp • Identify its self-fulfilling characteristics • Explore the implications for business success and organisational learning

5. A Temping Story

6. Meaning of Words Just a temp is such a damming phrase to use. If, for example, the temp gets injured on the job, or creates a whole pile of scrap then people take notice.” Temporary Employment Consultant

7. “Field research matters. Even if at the end of the day you have far fewer knowledge claims to make because of so many other possible confounding variables You still have a tale to tell…a wealth of information about what really goes on in a field setting and more importantly, ... an excellent understanding of the phenomenon of interest.” Canadian Society for Industrial Organisational Psychology Kline, T. (July, 2001). The trials and tribulations and payoffs of field research.

8. A Business Reality?“Just the hired help!” Are people less important than the quality and quantity of their outputs? Perhaps we have just become desensitised to the needs of people in favour of the need to produce?

9. Old attitudes towards temps still cloud today’s workplace!

10. Training “Our clients often use temps in a manufacturing setting…they had a 10 minute rule.” 10 minutes from the front door to the job. That was all the job allotted to HR issues, safety and job training. Temporary Employment Consultant

11. Monkey see, Monkey Do “The fallacy is that most HR people think that the jobs temps do are so simple a monkey could perform them. By underestimating the level of effort for the job, HR does a great disservice to the temp employee but also to the company.” Temporary Employee

12. Few Employment Agencies • Secretaries • Kelly Girls • Girl Fridays Voluntary Extra Income Clerical Administration Small % of Company Staff YESTERDAY’S TEMPS Transient Labourers Housewives Students Secure Future Work Short-term Temporarily Unemployed

13. Beliefs Disposable Expectations Negative Labels • Uneducated • Unreliable • Uncommitted • Unable to find a real job • Second-class worker • Job-hopper • Low-maintenance • “Just a temp”

14. Boutique Agencies Expanded Roles Voluntary Extra Income Diverse Skills Increased Volume TODAY’S TEMPS Highly skilled Secure Future Work Greater Frequency A Lifestyle

15. Current Trends • According to Australian, Recruitment & Consulting Services Association (RCSA), 69% increase in casual workers between 1988-1998. • Last 5 years in USA, increases from 1.2 to more than 2 million in temporary staff. • In 1990’s 22% of all new jobs were temporary. • 90% of companies use temporary staff to augment full-time regular workforce (NATSS, 1999) • Fastest growing segment of staffing industry.

16. The Temping Triangle Human Resource • 450 Employment Agencies • 1200 Personnel Consultancies • 1000 Members NZ & Australia in RCSA* • 8000 working every day in NZ • 32,500 registered NZ* Positive Psychological Contract Employment Agencies Organisations Unlimited *RCSA NZ Coporate Members,2000

17. Lack of a Positive Psychological Contract “A person’s experience of work and the interpretation they place on that experience, plays a fundamental part in how they view their job and the organization they do it for. This experience creates a set of unwritten rules, beliefs, and commitments about how people approach work that we call the psychological contract.” Eder, G. (2000, October). The Psychological contract: Its implications for Managers. NZATD Networker, p. 3.

18. People or Machines? Temps are not human robots, replaceable at whim. They are potential employees who come into the organisation in a unique way. Each one has the opportunity to grow in competence and confidence, evolving into successful, permanent employee. Some of the best employees our clients have came to them as temps. Training Consultant

19. Full time staff Area Congratulations!We have reached out target! Temporary staff Area

20. Variety of Assignments Temp WantedProven Flexibility & Adaptability“Can-do Attitude”

21. The attitude time-warp Yesterday’s Expectations Today’s Reality The Pygmalion Effect

22. SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY The Pygmalion Effect in Temporary Employment Many organisations believe temporary staff are “disposable” Communication of these beliefs/expectations through biased/selective verbal and non-verbal interactions/cues Staff respond to these behavioural cues and behaviour is constrained and changed Staff perceives self as “disposable” and original belief is validated

23. Picking up Cues What we believe affects how we act. The way organisation's manage temporary staff can constrain and limit the possibility of them behaving in other ways. “…our research shows that most employees can-and do-’read their boss’s mind.’ In particular they know full well whether they fit into their boss’s in-group or out-group. All they have to do is compare how they are treated with how their more highly regarded colleagues are treated”. Manzoni, J. & Barsoux, J. (1998 Mrach-April). The Set-Up -to Fail Syndrome. Harvard Business Review.

24. The Attitude Time-WarpWhat are the costs?

25. Organisational Decreased performance Mistakes High Turnover Failure to get best from staff Unavailable & Detached staff Individual Disempowered Alienated Indifference Dehumanised Frustrated Ignored Isolated Undervalued Marginalised Reduced Motivation DECREASED BUSINESS SUCCESS Costs of the Attitude Time-Warp Interpersonal “Them-us” Culture Temporary vs Full-time • Decreased team functioning • Tension • Uneasiness

26. The Attitude Time-WarpWhat are some solutions?

27. Commitment Motivation Contribution Productivity Profitability Flexibility Positive Psychological Contract • Positive outcomes • Knowledge development • Organisational learning People Management* People Management Practices + Supportive Organisational Culture • Trust • Fairness • Job design • Skills Development • Climate of involvement *Rudman, R. (6 January, 2001) People Management and the bottom Line http://www.hrinz.org.nz/info/academic_journal/articles/default.asp

28. The Challenge Be Aware, Acknowledge and be Accountable for your attitude time-warp to ensure that what you like about temporary staff does not become the organisation's continued nemesis in the future.

29. Think back to our earlier exercise.Are the words we thought of……? + POSITIVE? + - NEGATIVE? - o NEUTRAL? o

30. Objectives • Describe the Attitude Time-warp • Identify its self-fulfilling characteristics • Explore the implications for business success and organisational learning

31. The Attitude Time-WarpDoes it exist where you work?

32. Mike Richards People, Systems & Working Relations 30A Hogans Rd Glenfield, Auckland 1310 New Zealand Ph/Fx 64 9 443 3542 spocker@xtra.co.nz The Psychology of the Temporary Employment Industry. Human Resources, August 2001. Working Relations Expert (On-line) Library Available: http://content.monster.com.au/experts/Richards ADDITIONAL READINGS CONTACT DETAILS