DOI: 10.5176/2251-1865_CBP15.47
Authors: Malgorzata Dobrowolska
Abstract:
The paper aims to analyse the personal flexibility of employees working in flexible forms of employment. Flexibility may also be treated as a component of psychological resistance and in this sense its development allows for an overall improvement of the psychosocial functioning of individuals.
The requirements of this non-traditional form of work force workers to develop a sustainable ability to adapt to irregular multi-faceted changes. This relatively permanent aptitude may result from long training, arise through regular repetition of activities or be an in-born quality reflected in the meta-skill consisting in the use of psycho-social domains (which is a cognitive, emotional and behavioural potential) in an optimum manner for the individual in a particular situational context.
The research questions posed in the study included the following ones - what is the level of personal flexibility in employees working in flexible forms of work and are there any differences in personal flexibility among people working in 9 different atypical employment forms.
Methodology: The paper presents the results of research completed on a research sample of n=2118 of flexible workers using an original tool called the Personal Flexibility Self-Perception Test. People working in flexible employment were divided into nine professional groups, each of which included more than 200 people. The groups were: 12.1{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} - fixed-time workers, 13.2{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} - part-time workers, 10.7{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} - people working under a contract of mandate, 10.3{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} - self-employed people, 10.4{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} - tele-workers, 10.4{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} - substitute workers, 12.4{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} - temporary workers, 10.0{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} - seasonal workers, 10.5{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465} - people working in the social economy.
Key results of the study: Mean values for all the subgroups were obtained, fitting within average results according to sten score standards, which only attests to the plasticity of behaviour and not flexibility. The relatively highest results on the personal flexibility scale were obtained by self-employed people and those working in the social economy as compared to other groups. The lowest values were recorded in the group of seasonal workers.
Practical implications: The most important of the study’s many practical implications is the use of personal flexibility and of the Personal Flexibility Perception Test in career advising, and especially in an analysis of professional aptitude intended to identify the optimum employment form for the subject. Personal flexibility as a psychological dimension allows for an adequate selection of employees for typical and atypical employment forms.
Keywords: flexibility, non-traditional forms of making a living
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