The progressive change in the legal discipline of labor relations in the most recent reforms in both Europe and Latin America, highlights a radical evolution of the concepts of stability and flexibility of the contractual relationship.
This evolution is the result of international transformations: in both continents, in fact, the context is firmly globalized and characterized by a growing permeability of the legal systems, on the level of principles and constitutional values, economic and financial stress.
In recent years, stability protection has undergone significant changes aimed at ensuring greater efficiency and adaptability to production needs.
In Europe, there are numerous links between the legislative reforms of labor and the contents normally associated with the idea of Flexicurity, as a model in which flexible relationships allows the re-entry into the labor market of more frequently without occupation.
This model does not express a legal concept, but rather a policy, promoted by the European Commission and declined by the Member States in different forms. European - and Italian - legislative solutions present common features with Latin America, such as the introduction of increasingly complex forms of flexibility and, at the same time, in the promotion of stability.
Such legislative dynamics have psychological effects on workers. In this scenario, individual factors can make a difference in adapting and capitalizing those situation of uncertainty and insecurity.
The present project aims to combine the legal analysis of the "new forms" of stability and flexibility in the light of the most recent legislative reforms, with the study of the role of institutions and the impact of such an evolution on the organization of the company and on the psychological behavior of individuals and communities operating within it. The analysis will focus on the comparison between European systems and Latin American ones, to identify trends, problems and shared solutions.
A first innovative feature of this project lies in the attempt to identify lines of evolution, critical issues and common solutions within diversified legal systems: on the one hand the Italian and Spanish experience, characterized by repeated legislative interventions , within the framework and in compliance with the Euro-unitary discipline, from the other, the different experiences of some of the most important legal systems of Latin America. In particular, both on the constitutional level and on the civil law techniques, it will be useful to observe common evolutionary tendencies, between the South American States and between them and the European Union, in the regulation of labor law on flexibility and stability.
The Countries involved in the research were choosen due to the similarity of legislative and constitutional systems.
The comparison will allow the Community to highlight common changes provoked by the effects of globalization, and which are the differential traits markedly connected to the particular set of rules of the European legal system.
The critical and interdisciplinary analysis will be made available to the scientific Community, to grasp the differential traits of individual national experiences and to place them "in a system". The research will clarify how globalization graduates both the incidence of constitutional and supranational norms and techniques aimed at involving "private autonomy" of the worker in the evolutionary relation between flexibility and stability.
Moreover, the project is also relevant to the analysis of very recent reforms, that could be investigated for the first time by means of a comparative survey. The same survey will allow to verify the effects of reforms, realizing an advancement of knowledge and helping in the identification of better legislative solutions..
The last innovative aspect of the project is the attention given to the role of the institutions and the impact of political balance on the equilibrium of constitutional values.
From an empirical perspective, the analysis will deepen the influences of the evolution of the concepts of stability and flexibility on the psychological behavior of the individuals and the communities.
Results of the WOP study may help to advance basic knowledge on the role of personal characteristics, attitudes and behaviours able to promote positive occupational outcomes among of temporary workers. Moreover, the introduction of labour market indicators (at the regional and country level) may be useful to better understand the complex interaction between micro and macrolevel characteristics in order to understand which environmental conditions may intensify or attenuate the positive impact of individual characteristics.
From a practical level, results will be useful to identify intervention strategies to promote well-being and employability of temporary workers. Specifically, results will show which and to what extant the individual factors may foster career and satisfaction outcomes. Therefore, these factors could be taken into account in the selection and training process of temporary workers targeted to foster workers personal resources and behavioural strategies to face the different labour market conditions and to maximize from work changes and flexible jobs.
When the project has been carried out successfully, other positive effects will be added and pursued:
- In the short term, the growth of business productivity and wellbeing (also via a better work-life balance or use of flexibility solutions when employing people or managing employment contracts) that will ensue from the knowledge and repeating of the publicised contractual experiences that are described and reasoned as positive;
- In the mid term, the identification and selection of best practices.
- In the long term, and with a view to carrying out the project on a vast scale, the results of the study can contribute to give positive influences also on company competitiveness in each of the Countries involved by the project.