Title: Young and flexible: labour contracts in young and incumbent firms

Authors: Jochen Späth

Addresses: Institute for Applied Economic Research (IAW), Ob dem Himmelreich 1, 72074 Tübingen, Germany

Abstract: This paper investigates if young firms differ from incumbents regarding their use of non-standard employment - part-time employment, fixed-term contracts, agency-based work and freelancers - and flexible working time arrangements - overtime hours and trust-based working time. Both non-standard work forms and flexible working time arrangements are associated with various flexibility-enhancing features and constitute a major resource for personnel planning, firm strategy and success. Based on the IAB Establishment Panel, a representative survey of employers in Germany, we find that young firms use most non-standard work forms and flexible working time arrangements more frequently than their incumbent counterparts. We derive that these measures are particularly suited for the challenges of firm start-ups, and that their managers may profit from taking them into account. Moreover, our analyses suggest that young firms may contribute to the rise of non-standard employment and flexible working time arrangements that can be observed in Germany and other industrialised countries.

Keywords: start-ups; incumbents; job quality; non-standard work; part-time employment; fixed-term contracts; agency-based work; freelancers; trust-based working time; overtime; labour contracts; young firms; Germany.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.078030

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.29 No.1, pp.46 - 65

Received: 24 Jul 2014
Accepted: 30 Jun 2015
Published online: 31 Jul 2016 *

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