Work in Global Society

BUSM4561, sem 2, 2020

RMIT International University Vietnam

BUSM 4561 – Work in Global Society
Group Number Team 33

Team Name: Team 33

Location & Campus RMIT Vietnam, Hanoi

● Tran Bao Long - s3759604

● Do Tu Anh - s3557748
Student names & ● Ta Tuong Duc Thinh - s3753739
students number: ● Nhat Quang Pham - s3751304
● Vu Quang Quang Vuong - s3751375
● Chu Nam Hoang - s3754238

Teacher Name: Do Thi Huong Nhu

Date of Submission: 4-9-2020

Word Count: 2580

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Contents

I. Executive Summary 3

II. Introduction 3

III.Background 3

IV. Findings: 4

Labour market trends/developments: 4

The effects of flexible work in employees’ life and career development (flexibilisation through
individualisation): 5

Risk and labour regulations (flexibilization through decollectivisation): 6

V. Discussions: 6

Flexible labour market trends 6

Flexibilization: decollectivisation 7

Flexibilization: individualisation 8

VI. Conclusion 9

VII. Appendix 10

VIII. References 10

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I. Executive Summary

In this report, we will provide the reader with an overview of flexible work together with
our study methods, findings, researches and discussion based on real interviews of many
workers focused on non-standard employment. We expect that this report will help people of
the young generation and current workers have a better understanding of the current market
as well as the future of work. In detail, this report will include our findings from the
interviews about labour market trends, the effects of flexible work in employees’ life and
career development, preferences on the regulation of work and risks. Afterward, we discuss
these findings and relate them to the existing research on flexible works to have a clearer
view of this topic then conclude. The main conclusion is most students used the flexible
works practical experience and knowledge of the business world while the workers found that
flexible works are unstable as well as expected these kinds of jobs would have more legal
protections in the future. Therefore, flexible works should not be considered as the main way
to make a living in the long-run but a way for us to explore ourselves and the world.

II. Introduction

In the time of globalization, the world is dramatically changing and so the people. The
development of technology and communication is changing the market while people within
the society have to do their best to adapt with the demand. As a result, people choose to do
flexible work more and more instead of full-time jobs. In front of these changes, many people
of the young generation and current workers are confused with the variety of possible
decisions for their future. Therefore, we will take a further look at the flexibility of work in
order to help them have a clearer view of the current situation and future of work in this
report.

III. Background

In the 1970-1980s, unemployment in Europe was frequently blamed upon strict labour
regulations, whose critics coined the term ‘Eurosclerosis’. They criticized generous
unemployment benefits, hiring and firing restrictions, and restrained wage competition

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(Bentolila & Bertola 1989). The debacle was part of the broader backlash against
Keynesianism, with the arguments resembling those of classical economists.

There has been a significant trend in the labour market that relate toward Neoliberalism
around the world, people are more and more detached to employers, long-term
unemployment is growing, concerns about job insecurity is increasing, more people are
working in temporary employment, workplaces are facing concern about safety, work-
based stress and harassment also show a significant increase (Arnold & Bongiovi 2013).
The OECD Employment Outlook in 2019 shows that nonstandard work cannot be looked
down as a minor circumstance, with one out of seven people being self-employed, and one
out of nine working temporary contracts.

Flexibilization, as the name suggests, is a process of rendering institutions and social

structures flexible, and can be brought about through two paths, two modes: through
labour deregulation and through empowering workers, decollectivisation and
individualisation (Chamberlain 2014). The former mode induces risk and precariousness
for flexible workers, and the latter theoretically affects their life and career development in
a positive manner, but is somewhat limited to the more privileged.

From there we derived three themes – labour market developments, the effects of flexible
work in employees’ life and career development, and risk and labour regulations – around
which we built seven questions in order to better understand an flexible worker’s
experience. The second theme is tied to flexibilization through individualisation, risks and
labour regulations are tied to flexiblization through decollectivisation, and the questions
are in the appendix. The themes have a degree of overlap, but serve as a fine, if slightly
arbitrary method of giving the findings cohesion.

IV. Findings:

Labour market trends/developments:

We found that part-time is the most common type of flexible employment in Vietnamese
environment, with five people having taken at least one part-time job and only two got a
company contract employment. The majority of interviewees only took flexible work as a
temporary option considering their personal circumstances such as undergoing higher

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education; they still aimed for more stable forms of occupation like a full-time job in the
future. Only one person claimed that he was determined to take this as a life career as he
found it is extremely difficult for him to adapt to a different work environment. Besides
that Mr. Long and Mr. Dung stated, “Because I’m a student, I do not have much time to do
so I choose to keep my part-time jobs.”
In terms of the competition in the labour market, the majority of interviewees stated that
their job security were not likely to be affected by a boost in the number of flexible
employees thanks to a higher increase in the demand for this kind of work.
All in all, the flexible job market in Vietnam is not particularly large and seems to be
expanding; nevertheless, if the findings are indicative of a broader trend, then it appears
that growth is impeded by flexible jobs being regarded as too unstable and not profitable
enough.
Finding 1a: part-time work was the most common form among interviewees
Finding 1b: some interviewees (3/7) prefer the uniqueness of the new unregulated
profession, willing to turn their flexible work into full-time work
Finding 1c: most of the interviewees (4/7) planned on eventually taking a regular job
Finding 1d: few of interviewees thought that other flexible workers threatened their work
security

The effects of flexible work in employees’ life and career development

(flexibilisation through individualisation):

All of the interviewees agreed that there were various positive effects of flexible
employment to their career, they gave various examples of skills learned from flexible
jobs such as timeline, budget, resource and risk management which enhanced their later
work performance significantly. One Mr.An shared that as a sales, table runner, and part-
time designer, he gained many new skills from management to interpersonal skills.
Furthermore, he also claimed that his manifold experiences allowed him to accumulate
skills, improving his future career as well.
In addition, the employees stressed that with flexible jobs, they had the capability of
achieving a balance between work and life. The majority of interviewees agreed that
flexible work afforded them greater control over aspects of their lives. As one interviewee,
Mr. Dung put it, “Taking up a flexible job gives me chances to modify the working time
according to my life schedule, thus giving me a sense of self-control.” However, the issue

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is multi-faceted; Mr.An mentioned that flexible jobs may also result in less pay, leading to
potential financial troubles, and Mrs. Nhan mentioned how flexible jobs had led to her
overextending herself, juggling several jobs at the same time.
All in all, most interviewees were of the opinion that taking on flexible jobs led to positive
outcomes in their lives.
Findings 2a: Most interviewees believed that taking on flexible jobs taught them skills that
improved their job prospects
Findings 2b: Most interviewees found that flexible jobs allowed them greater control over
their lives
Findings 2c: most of the interviewees (4/7) appreciated the time-saving aspect of flexible
work

Risk and labour regulations (flexibilization through decollectivisation):

Some interviewees complained about unfair contracts and a lack of legal protections –
notably Tu Anh2. <...> we are a part-time worker so the only thing we can negotiate is
our working time. We could not negotiate the salary. <...> I still do not see the amount of
salary is reasonable, there is not any legal protection for us, I didn’t even receive any
overtime salary when we were working for any event.’
Nevertheless, most of the interviewees did not regard flexible work contracts as unfair –
or, if they did, then they accepted them as par for course. One Tomek said, “There is
always uncertainty in everything we do and encounter in life and we learn to overcome it,
be patient, and adapt to it gradually and raise it to the management for a change to keep
you encouraged and motivated”. In addition, most of them have stated that flexible jobs
expose them to risks.
Regardless, 100% of them believed that they would have better terms in their flexible
employment contracts if they had received more legal protection from the government.
Finding 3a: Most, but not all, of the interviewees either did not think that their flexible
work contracts were risky/unfair, or accepted them without much fight
Finding 3b: Some of the interviewees (3/7) justified the lack of legal protection
Finding 3b: All of the interviewees prefer to have legal protections than not

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V. Discussions:

Flexible labour market trends

Finding 1a – that most of the interviewees worked part-time jobs – is explained by Ha,
Thao & Son (2016), who found that the likelihood of students taking on part-time jobs
is correlated with the number of years studied. And most of the interviewees are
students in their later years or were students in their later years at the moment of
working part-time jobs. However, the low and homogenous sample pool makes it hard
to generalize the finding – as well as its explanation – to other groups of workers in
Vietnam.
The question on interviewees’ preference of jobs was inconclusive, given findings 1b
and 1c. What is interesting though, is why interviewees who do not plan on taking on
flexible jobs quasi-permanently took them on in the first place. There are three possible
explanations.
Firstly, flexible jobs (finding 2a) are a good way of earning experience for the
permanent position (Broadbridge, Swanson, 2005). Most of the interviewees are
students; and for students desiring to acquire practical experience and knowledge of the
business world, flexible jobs are a good option due to a lack of time (Curtis, Shani,
2002).
Secondly, flexible – especially part-time – jobs are a good way for Vietnamese students
to take advantage of their free time to make money (Ha, Thao & Son 2016).
money is a strong motive. In particular, students may wish for extra spending money
(Neil et al. 2004) to fund their lifestyle or tuition.
Thirdly, people may seek flexible jobs to express their individualism (Mingione et al.,
2014). Though whether it’s a subjective strategy or is based on personal values is
unknown.

Flexibilization: decollectivisation

The finding in this theme somewhat contradicts a significant portion of existing

literature.
Chamberlain (2014) criticized this particular mode of flexibilization for engendering
instability and precariousness for individual workers. Arnold & Bongiovi (2013) cited a
number of authors claiming that employers are increasingly shifting risks on the

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employees who have less resources to shoulder them – which Kalleberg (2009) sets as
an indicator of precarious work – and that, for many scholars, activists, and workers,
flexibilization is synonymous with insecurity and lower pay.
An example of this mode of flexibilization is casualisation. Standing (2008) defines
casualisation as a shift from regular workers to part-time, nonstandard, or contingent
employment arrangements. He distinguishes explicit casualisation – wherein workers
are shifted from regular to casual categories, and implicit casualisation, wherein regular
workers’ contracts are slowly changed until they are flexible workers in all but name.
Neither was experienced by any of the interviewees, yet that’s not an indication of its
inexistence in Vietnam.
Another example is contractualisation, which is similar to casualisation; Arnold &
Bongiovi (2013) define it as replacing permanent workers with the increasing number
of fixed-duration contract workers. Standing (2008) sees contractualisation as a process
of dismantling collectively bargained contracts in favour of individualized ones, thus
granting even more negotiating power to the employers. This has potential to leave
workers more vulnerable against the predation of big corporations.
Thus, the finding 3a may, on first glance, be baffling. Why most interviewees would
rather have legal protections than not, is easy enough to understand, so we will focus on
their ambivalence towards the unfairness of contracts. This can largely be explained by
two things.
Firstly, the sample pool was too small and homogenous, with more than half of the
interviewees being students of the same nationality.
Secondly, it is highly possible that culture plays a role. A lot of the papers previously
cited were based primarily in developed countries; and, not to further fuel the
Orientalism movement, which has been extensively denounced by Said (1995) as an
uncritical remnant of colonialism, but it is undeniable that individuals are shaped by the
culture they are immersed in.
According to Hofstede et al. (2010), Vietnam has a high power distance index value
and a low individualism score. Power distance measures the acceptance of deference to
authority and unequal power distribution; individualism is self-explanatory. Vietnamese
people are more accepting of inequality, even going as far as mentally justifying it,
which explains finding 3c. Vietnamese people are also more accepting of the status
quo; therefore, they are, generally speaking, are slightly more tolerant towards unfair
working conditions.
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Flexibilization: individualisation

Work–family balance is defined as “satisfaction and good functioning at work and at

home, with a minimum of role conflict” (Clark 2000). Time-based work-family conflict
is experienced when commitments to one role clash with commitments to another
(Greenhaus & Beutell 1985), and it is this mode of conflict that will be focused on.
Hammer et al. (2004) argues that work-family conflict is strongly correlated to work-
stress. Disrupted work-life balance, especially time-strained one, reduces or outright
removes social support one gains from their friends and family, impeding the
individual’s recovery from the created stress (Tetrick & Winslow 2015).
Flexible work arrangements (FWA) provide employees with the control and autonomy
needed to adapt to simultaneous work and family demands (Allen et al. 2013; Field &
Chan 2018); its mere availability may increase perceptions of psychological control,
which can help alleviate work–family conflict (Kossek et al. 2006). And indeed, this
was the case with most interviewees.
However, one interviewee noted that he felt less in control of his life due to taking
flexible jobs. There are two explanations for that.
Firstly, blurred boundaries may result in the perception of less control or even create
the need for greater self-control (Schmidt & Neubach 2007). Work-life borders include
psychological and physical boundaries that divide place, time, and people associated
with each role (Field & Chan 2018). Therefore, FWA – both flexspace and flextime
which Allen et al. (2013) claimed to be the two major forms of FWA may blur work-
family boundaries, both psychological and physical (Allen & Shockley 2009; Kossek &
Michel 2011).
Secondly, the self-regulation theory argues that flexibility creates new choices and
decisions to be made; these choices and decisions sap self-control (Baumeister et al.
1998), and research suggests that individuals differ in their capacity for self-control
(Muraven & Baumeister 2000). Thus, some may find that, with the extra expenditure of
self-control, they have less to spend on either family or work.
The two explanations are by no means mutually exclusive, and, when used in
conjunction may offer an even richer perspective.
On the matter of finding 2a, as mentioned earlier, flexible jobs are a good way of
earning experience (Broadbridge, Swanson, 2005).

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VI. Conclusion

Based on the information we gathered from findings and discussion, we concluded that
flexible work can be considered as a way to explore the world and ourselves or to survive in
the short-run. Most students used the flexible works practical experience and knowledge of
the business world while the workers found that flexible works are unstable as well as
expected these kinds of jobs would have more legal protections in the future. In the end, we
are living in a globalized environment, everything is changing and so the people, flexible
work is one of many ways we try to adapt with the world.

VII. Appendix
1. What kind of flexible jobs were/are you engaged in? (part-time work, contract
company employment, independent contractor, short-term work, temporary agency
work, contingent work...)
2. After knowing all the uncertainties of flexible work, do you still want to keep this
form of employment or would you like to switch to a full-time job strictly?
3. What skills have you learned from all these experiences, and how do you think it
would help you in furthering your career?
4. Do you feel more or less in control of your life when you take up a flexible job?
5. Do you believe that the contract you negotiated (for your flexible job) was unfair?
Would you have appreciated more legal protections during negotiation, even if you
were satisfied with the contract?
6. Do flexible workers affect your work? Do they make it harder for you to find a job?
7. How do you manage your time table when you have to do all these gigs at the same
time? Do you think that you have already achieved balance time management?

VIII. References
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