Temporary Staff Facing An
Attitude Time-Warp
People, Systems
Deterring
Knowledge Development and
Contributions
Working Relations
Michael Richards
HRINZ Conference September 2001
The Future of Work: Talent Balance
Results
• Who has worked as a
Temporary employee?
• Hired Temporary
Staff?
People, Systems
Working Relations
• Managed directly
temporary Staff?
2
What words do you associate with the
word?
People, Systems
Working Relations
Objectives
 Describe the Attitude Time-warp
 Identify its self-fulfilling characteristics
 Explore the implications for business success and
People, Systems
organisational learning
Working Relations
4
A Temping Story
People, Systems
Working Relations
5
Meaning of Words
People, Systems
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.”
Working Relations
Temporary Employment Consultant
6
“Field research matters.
People, Systems
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.”
Working Relations
Canadian Society for Industrial Organisational Psychology
Kline, T. (July, 2001).
The trials and tribulations and payoffs of field research.
7
A Business Reality?
“Just the hired help!”
Are people less important than the quality and
quantity of their outputs?
People, Systems
Perhaps we have just
become desensitised to
the needs of people in
favour of the need to
produce?
Working Relations
8
People, Systems
Old attitudes
towards temps
still cloud
today’s workplace!
Working Relations
9
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.
People, Systems
That was all the job allotted to
HR issues, safety and job training.
Working Relations
Temporary Employment Consultant
10
Monkey see, Monkey Do
People, Systems
“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.”
Working Relations
Temporary Employee
11
Few
Employment Agencies
Voluntary
Extra Income
Secretaries
•Kelly Girls
•Girl Fridays
Clerical
Administration
Small
% of Company Staff
YESTERDAY’S
TEMPS
Short-term
Secure Future Work
Transient Labourers
Housewives
Students
Temporarily
Unemployed
Negative Labels
• Uneducated
Beliefs
• Unreliable
• Uncommitted
Disposable
• Unable to find a real job
People, Systems
• Second-class worker
Expectations
Working Relations
• Job-hopper
• Low-maintenance
• “Just a temp”
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Boutique
Agencies
Expanded Roles
Voluntary
Extra Income
Diverse
Skills
Increased Volume
TODAY’S
TEMPS
Greater
Frequency
Secure Future Work
Highly skilled
A
Lifestyle
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.
The Temping Triangle
Human Resource
•450 Employment
Agencies
•1200 Personnel
Consultancies
•1000 Members NZ
& Australia in RCSA*
•8000 working every
day in NZ
Positive
•32,500 registered
NZ*
Psychological
Contract
Employment
Agencies
Organisations
Unlimited
*RCSA NZ Coporate
Members,2000
Lack of a Positive Psychological
Contract
People, Systems
“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.
Working Relations
17
People or Machines?
People, Systems
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.
Working Relations
Training Consultant
18
Congratulations!
We have reached out target!
Full time staff Area
Temporary staff Area
Temp Wanted
Proven Flexibility & Adaptability
“Can-do Attitude”
People, Systems
Working Relations
Variety of
Assignments
20
The attitude time-warp
Yesterday’s Today’s
ExpectationsReality
The
Pygmalion
People, Systems
Working Relations
Effect
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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
SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY
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.
People, Systems
“…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”.
Working Relations
Manzoni, J. & Barsoux, J. (1998 Mrach-April).
The Set-Up -to Fail Syndrome. Harvard Business Review.
23
The Attitude Time-Warp
What are the costs?
People, Systems
Working Relations
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Costs of the
Attitude Time-Warp
•
•
•
•
•
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
Interpersonal
“Them-us” Culture
Temporary vs Fulltime
• Decreased team
functioning
• Tension
• Uneasiness
DECREASED BUSINESS SUCCESS
The Attitude Time-Warp
What are some solutions?
People, Systems
Working Relations
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People Management*
People Management
Practices
+
Supportive
Organisational
Culture
•Job design
Positive Psychological
Contract
Commitment Productivity
Motivation
Contribution
Profitability
Flexibility
•Trust
•Fairness
•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
Positive
outcomes
• Knowledge
development
• Organisational
learning
The Challenge
Be Aware, Acknowledge and be Accountable
People, Systems
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.
Working Relations
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Think back to our earlier exercise.
Are the words we thought of……?
+ POSITIVE?
-
NEGATIVE?
People, Systems
o NEUTRAL?
Working Relations
+
o
29
Objectives
 Describe the Attitude Time-warp
 Identify its self-fulfilling characteristics
 Explore the implications for business success and
People, Systems
organisational learning
Working Relations
30
The
Attitude Time-Warp
People, Systems
Does it exist where you work?
Working Relations
31
CONTACT DETAILS
People, Systems
Mike Richards
People, Systems & Working
Relations
30A Hogans Rd
Glenfield, Auckland 1310
New Zealand
Ph/Fx 64 9 443 3542
spocker@xtra.co.nz
Working Relations
ADDITIONAL READINGS
The Psychology of the Temporary
Employment Industry.
Human Resources, August 2001.
Working Relations Expert (On-line)
Library
Available:
http://content.monster.com.au/expe
rts/Richards
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