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The most frequently used flexible forms of work in Slovenian companies in 2004 were fixed-term employment, overtime, shift work and weekend work. These forms of work were not only used by the large majority of organisations but also affected a high proportion of employees in those enterprises. The least frequently used flexible forms of work were home-based work, telework, a condensed working week, contracts based on annual working hours and job sharing.
Employers as well as experts often claim that the Slovenian labour market and employment relations are rather rigid, with the majority of workers in relatively secure full-time, permanent (open-ended) employment. According to Labour Force Survey data for the second quarter of 2006, 90.7% of employed persons are on full-time and 87.2% are on permanent employment contracts.
However, research evidence shows that, at company level, various forms of work flexibility are being used. Data from the Survey on human resource management (HRM) practices in organisations in Slovenia reveal the incidence and the scope of flexible forms of work used in 2004.
In Slovenia, labour law stipulates relatively long dismissal notice periods and dismissal compensation for employees on permanent employment contracts. Therefore, companies ensure greater flexibility in terms of the number of staff mostly through fixed-term employment. According to the Employment Service of Slovenia (Zavoda Republike Slovenije za zaposlovanje, ESS), in 2005 some 76.6% of new employment was for a fixed-term period, which particularly affected young people, who represent the majority of new entrants to the labour market.
The survey on HRM practices reveals that 98.1% of organisations in Slovenia issued fixed-term employment contracts in 2004, which makes this the most common form of flexible employment. Statistically significant differences emerge between companies in various sectors of economic activity in relation to the proportion of fixed-term employees. In the manufacturing and construction sectors, a higher proportion of employees work on fixed-term contracts: 56.1% of companies in these sectors report more than 5% of fixed-term employees among their workforce. Conversely, in business services and the public sector, the proportion of employees on fixed-term contracts is lower: 35.9% of companies in business services and 25.8% of organisations in the public sector employ more than 5% of workers on fixed-term contracts.
The proportion of employees on fixed-term contracts is higher in companies with a lower employee educational profile: 52.7% of such enterprises have more than 5% of fixed-term employees, compared with 35.1% of establishments with a higher employee educational profile.
In 2004, some 46.9% of organisations in Slovenia also hired people to perform occasional work – for example, on short-term contracts or for student jobs – but the proportion of workers employed for such positions was low; only 8.1% of companies had more than 5% of such workers.
Slovenian organisations mainly use three forms of working time flexibility: overtime, shift work and weekend work (see Figure). Payment for these forms of work is stipulated in national collective agreements as well as at sectoral level. According to a recent study (Stanojević et al, 2006), manual workers often favour these forms of working time flexibility, which are consequently accepted by trade unions, since they offer workers the chance to considerably increase their monthly pay.
The incidence of overtime and weekend work is relatively evenly spread through organisations in all economic sectors, but shift work is used most often by companies in the manufacturing and construction sectors, at 90% of all enterprises, and least often in organisations in the public sector, at 67.7% of establishments.
Shift work is also significantly related to the employee educational profile in companies, being more often used by organisations with a lower than average employee educational profile. Weekend work is significantly related to company size: it is more often used in larger organisations – that is, with more than 500 employees – than in enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
Despite the high prevalence of weekend work and overtime at company level, these two forms of working time flexibility affect smaller proportions of employees than is the case for shift work. In 52.2% of Slovenian organisations, more than 20% of employees work shifts. However, only 16.3% of companies have this proportion of employees working overtime and 24.2% of companies report this level of working at weekends.
Company use of different forms of working time flexibility, 2004 (%)
Source: Organisational and Human Resources Research Centre, University of Ljubljana, 2005
Company use of different forms of working time flexibility, 2004 (%)
Companies in Slovenia use part-time work – that is, less than full working hours – for a small proportion of employees: 34.8% of enterprises do not use this form of work at all and 58.4% of organisations use it for up to 5% of their employees. The incidence of part-time work is statistically related to company size. Among companies with more than 500 employees, 82.3% use part-time work, while only 54.1% of establishments with fewer than 500 employees avail of this option. Part-time work is used more often by organisations in the public sector (71% of organisations) and in business services (69.2%), and less often by companies in industry (61.5%).
The incidence of other forms of working time flexibility in Slovenian organisations is lower and they are not extended to a large proportion of staff. Working time flexibility may be regarded as an exception as it affects more than 20% of employees in 19.4% of companies. However, less than 10% of enterprises apply job sharing, contracts on annual working hours or a condensed working week to more than 20% of employees.
Some 11.2% of Slovenian organisations use telework and all of them offer this form of work to a small proportion of employees (up to 5%). It is least commonly used in the public sector, at only 3% of organisations.
Home-based work other than telework is very rarely used: only 5.6% of organisations use it for up to 5% of staff.
The most common flexible forms of work in Slovenian organisations – fixed-term employment contracts, overtime, shift work and weekend work – indicate a strong company orientation towards greater efficiency, utilisation of the available workforce and work intensification. The use of employee-friendly flexible forms of work – such as flexible working time, home-based work, telework, contracts based on annual working hours, job sharing and, potentially, part-time work – lags far behind the use of more employee-unfriendly forms of flexibilisation. This is true not only with regard to the number of companies using such forms of work but also in respect of the proportion of employees affected by them.
The Survey on HRM practices in Slovenian organisations was carried out by the Organisational and Human Resources Research Centre (OHRC) of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana. It is part of the international data collection of the Cranfield Network on Comparative Human Resource Management (Cranet). The data were collected in the spring of 2004, through a standardised Cranet questionnaire sent by post to a sample of establishments in Slovenia with at least 200 employees. The response rate was 30.8%, representing 161 organisations. OHRC published results of the 2004 survey in 2005 in Slovenian.
Stanojević, M., Rojec, M. and Trbanc, M., ‘Multinational companies and (in)flexibility of employment in Slovenia’, in Stanojević, M. and Nadoh, J. (eds), Conference proceedings, Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, 2006.
Martina Trbanc, Organisational and Human Resources Research Centre (OHRC), University of Ljubljana