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New Contractual Relationships in the Agency Worker Market: The Case of the UK's National Health Service

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  • Kim Hoque
  • Ian Kirkpatrick
  • Alex De Ruyter
  • Chris Lonsdale

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a trend towards the negotiation of closer contractual relationships between employers and employment agencies. However, little is known about this change or its likely consequences. In theory, such relationships can benefit employers by lowering fees and also reducing many of the hidden costs associated with the use of agency staff by improving the effectiveness of placement matching. Against this is the suggestion that formal partnerships are unlikely to have a positive impact given the uncertainty of demand for temporary labour and broader tendencies for risk displacement in buyer–supplier networks. In this article, our aim is to explore this matter focusing on recent developments in the UK's National Health Service. We find that new contractual relationships such as framework agreements and master vendor contracts are having mixed effects. While they serve to reduce direct costs for employers in the short term, this has been at the expense of relationship building and improvements in placement matching. These developments are also found to have some potentially negative consequences for the agency workforce itself.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim Hoque & Ian Kirkpatrick & Alex De Ruyter & Chris Lonsdale, 2008. "New Contractual Relationships in the Agency Worker Market: The Case of the UK's National Health Service," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(3), pages 389-412, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:46:y:2008:i:3:p:389-412
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2008.00693.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. John S. Heywood & W.S. Siebert & Xiangdong Wei, 2011. "Estimating the Use of Agency Workers: Can Family-Friendly Practices Reduce Their Use?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 535-564, July.
    2. Angela Knox, 2014. "Human resource management (HRM) in temporary work agencies: Evidence from the hospitality industry," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 25(1), pages 81-98, March.
    3. Ian Clark & Trevor Colling, 2018. "Work in Britain's Informal Economy: Learning from Road†Side Hand Car Washes," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(2), pages 320-341, June.
    4. Syed Muhammad Waqar Hussain & Munir Hussain, 2014. "Factors influencing the employees’ job placement through recruitment agencies in Karachi, Pakistan," KASBIT Business Journals (KBJ), Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari Institute of Technology (KASBIT), vol. 7(2), pages 79-106, December.

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