Flexicurity
The European Commission in its Employment in Europe 2006 report describes flexicurity as an optimal balance between labour market flexibility and security for employees against labour market risks. The Commission’s interpretation of flexicurity involves replacing the notion of job security, a principle that dominated employment relations until recently, with that of ‘protection of people’. The flexicurity model, first implemented in Denmark by the social democratic Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen in the 1990s, is a combination of easy hiring and firing (flexibility for employers) and high benefits for the unemployed (security for the employees). Perceived as a new way of viewing flexibility, flexicurity represents a means whereby employees and companies can better adapt to insecurities associated with global markets.
The Commission’s 1997 Green Paper on ‘Partnership for a new organisation of work’ stressed the importance of both flexibility and security for competitiveness and the modernisation of work organisation. The idea also features prominently in the ‘adaptability pillar’ of the EU employment guidelines, where the social partners are invited ‘to negotiate at all appropriate levels agreements to modernise the organisation of work, including flexible working arrangements, with the aim of making undertakings productive and competitive and achieving the required balance between flexibility and security’. This ‘balance’ is also consistently referred to in the Commission’s Social Policy Agenda 2000-2005. An integral part of the re-launch of the Lisbon Strategy in 2005 was the emphasis on training, which continues to remain a central aspect of flexicurity.
The need for security of employment to balance flexibility in the labour market is also reflected in the European social dialogue. For example, the Framework Agreement on part-time work (concluded 6 June 1997) and the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work (concluded 18 March 1999) both refer to ‘flexibility in/of working time and security for workers’. Employment security is a particular concern in relation to fixed-term work. In the Commission’s Explanatory Memorandum to the proposed draft directive implementing the Agreement, the Commission emphasises that ‘…the social partners’ contribution is positive in itself in that it guarantees that consideration is given both to business competitiveness and to the interests of workers’.
Although in recent years there have been different interpretations of the flexicurity term, with the ETUC in particular rejecting the claim that job security needs to be replaced by employment security, recent developments suggest that the social partners along with the Commission are moving towards an interpretation which is acceptable to all parties. The key breakthrough occurred towards the end of 2007, when the European Parliament endorsed a resolution entitled the Common Principles of Flexicurity on 29 November. The Parliament’s position is a response to the Commission Communication Towards Common Principles of Flexicurity. In December 2007, the Council adopted eight common principles of flexicurity as follows:
1. Flexicurity is designed to implement the main principles of the Lisbon Strategy.
2. Flexicurity, in addition to being committed to life-long learning, active labour market policies and a modern social welfare system, sees the need for flexible contractual arrangements.
3. Flexicurity needs to adapt to the different circumstances in each Member State.
4. Flexicurity needs to support open and inclusive labour markets which help to reintroduce inactive employees back into employment.
5. Flexicurity needs to involve the smooth transition between jobs by constantly up-grading employees’ skills and providing the necessary social protection in transition periods.
6. Flexicurity should promote both gender equality as well as considering means to reconcile work–life balance issues.
7. Flexicurity needs the support of the social partners.
8. Flexicurity needs to involve a cost-effective distribution of resources which public budgets can sustain.
In February 2008, the Commission underlined its commitment to flexicurity by announcing the setting up of the Mission for Flexicurity. Consisting of members representing the Commission, ETUC, BusinessEurope and the French government (French presidency of the Council from July 2008), the Mission’s role is to visit four or five Member States, and discuss in depth the state of play as regards the development and implementation of the national pathways based on the Common Flexicurity Principles. In December 2008, the Commission will present the Mission report to the employment ministers, outlining ways in which the principles can be best implemented, taking into account the specific circumstances of each Member State.
See also: adaptability; fixed-term work; fragmentation of the labour force; pacts for employment and competitiveness; part-time work; quality of work; temporary agency work; work-life balance.