ABSTRACT

Debates over workplace flexibility and security sit at the heart of ongoing tensions between industrial relation actors in Australia. The deployment of organisational strategies focused on labour market flexibility have been accompanied by ambiguous discussions and a steady rise in insecure work arrangements within advanced capitalist economies. This rising insecurity is not evenly distributed throughout the labour market, with young workers and those poised to enter the labour market facing a more volatile and precarious employment context. This article seeks to explore how young Australians transitioning into the workforce decide what forms of flexibility and security are important for them. Using qualitative methods, the research surveyed university students to explore and describe how young people consider and prioritise different aspects of the flexibility–security relationship. The findings challenge popular assumptions of the flexibility–security relationship, with respondents indicating that flexibility and security are mutually dependent enablers of employee control instead of being diametrically opposed or distinct constructs under the employee perspective. The implications of these findings pose new challenges for managers and employment relations to enable young Australians to successfully transition from school to their professional lives post-pandemic.

摘要

关于工作场所灵活性和安全性的辩论是澳大利亚劳资关系参与者之间持续紧张的核心。以劳动力市场灵活性为重点的组织战略部署伴随着模棱两可的讨论和发达资本主义经济体中不安全工作安排的稳步上升。这种日益加剧的不安全感并没有均匀地分布在整个劳动力市场，年轻工人和那些准备进入劳动力市场的人面临着更加不稳定和不稳定的就业环境。本文旨在探讨年轻的澳大利亚人如何过渡到劳动力市场来决定哪些形式的灵活性和安全性对他们来说很重要。使用定性方法，该研究对大学生进行了调查，以探索和描述年轻人如何考虑和优先考虑灵活性-安全关系的不同方面。调查结果挑战了关于灵活性-安全性关系的流行假设，受访者表示，灵活性和安全性是员工控制的相互依赖的推动因素，而不是在员工视角下截然相反或不同的结构。这些发现的影响对管理人员和雇佣关系提出了新的挑战，以使年轻的澳大利亚人能够在大流行后成功地从学校过渡到他们的职业生涯。受访者表示，灵活性和安全性是员工控制的相互依赖的推动因素，而不是在员工视角下截然相反或截然不同的结构。这些发现的影响对管理人员和雇佣关系提出了新的挑战，以使年轻的澳大利亚人能够在大流行后成功地从学校过渡到他们的职业生涯。受访者表示，灵活性和安全性是员工控制的相互依赖的推动因素，而不是在员工视角下截然相反或截然不同的结构。这些发现的影响对管理人员和雇佣关系提出了新的挑战，以使年轻的澳大利亚人能够在大流行后成功地从学校过渡到他们的职业生涯。