Manpower pooling

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The term manpower pooling ( English : manpower - Arbeitsskraft ; to pool - bundle, concentrate, unite) describes an efficient employment opportunity for highly qualified workers . In economics , it is assigned to external economies of scale .

Corporate clusters

With manpower pooling, an industry, for example computer technology, is concentrated in a central location and forms a so-called corporate cluster to suggest a constant change of workforce with complete competition . The aim is to lower unemployment and reduce labor shortages. Every worker should be put in a position to immediately find new employment in the company cluster. The advantage of pooling for employees is that their central location and their qualifications mean that they can indirectly increase their net earnings, as companies always try to take on the best qualified workers in their workforce. Thus, companies are forced to guarantee the highest earnings as a financial incentive system. The advantage for the industry-internal companies is consequently the meeting of the best employees in the smallest space without great search effort and thus the elimination of unnecessary costs for recruitment measures.

For a pool of workers, suitable locations must always be selected in order to allow the respective industry to operate as efficiently as possible. There are hardly any industries in which pooling is not possible.

origin

The British economist Alfred Marshall analyzed the event of the "geographical agglomeration of an industry that could not easily be explained by natural resources ". Marshall recognized that the proximity of the companies makes the labor market much more efficient than that of individual companies that are far away. A local pool of specialized workers keeps the search costs low when demand increases, and the training effort required for the new employees is low. By adding knowledge externalities , specialized providers and manpower pooling, it is advantageous for companies to form a cluster, since productivity increases.

Examples

The well-known location Silicon Valley showed how easy and flexible it was for employees to change jobs within a location. Well-known companies such as Apple , IBM , Hewlett-Packard , Oracle and many more are among the world's best companies, which is partly due to the geographical favorable location. Other well-known examples are a concentration of cutlery manufacturers in Sheffield and the hosiery industry which was found in Northampton . But the entertainment industry in Hollywood is also considered evidence of pooling.

Temporary employment

The term manpower pooling in the broader sense is also used in human resource management . In the case of the personnel management workforce pool, what is known as the temporary employment agency is spoken of. These represent more of a kind of “third-party relationship”, with the organization lending the workforce from company 1 to company 2 in order to suggest a constant exchange of workers.

The priority is always on the job security of the qualified employees, who are highly motivated to return to their own company after weeks or months. The corresponding and newly acquired know-how thus remains in the company and saves unnecessary training times, such as with temporary workers .

In addition, this employment phenomenon also supports the integration of unemployed people who are "loaned" to other companies by these organizations. The workforce pools do not work in a profit-oriented manner, but rather serve as a stepping stone to make it easier for those affected to enter the professional world. The aim is to convert the short-term employment relationships of the “leased workers” into regular employment. The advantage for the laid-off employees is that they are not unemployed and can already familiarize themselves with the new company during the notice period in the agreement with the old company.

method

The use of personnel is therefore not carried out by the employer, but by the organization, which endeavors to ensure the smooth exchange of workers. This procurement option forms an inter-company personnel reserve in the event of a shortage of employees. This is usually the case when the staffing requirements have to be reduced while the other company has staffing capacity bottlenecks. If, for example, there is a short-term shortage of employees in a manufacturing company, the company can turn to an organization to hire staff at short notice. Then the employment relationship between the company and the required workers who return to their old company ends .

In addition, this form of exchange is also used to give employees the flexibility to change jobs for a short time, to be included in other company situations and to learn new work processes.

Reasons for origin

The reasons for the increasing use of cross-company personnel are, among other things, the market and rationalization measures. Many companies prefer just-in-time production and use personnel deployment options such as KAPOVAZ (capacity-oriented variable working hours) and temporary work . Depending on the production situation, the respective company needs a certain workforce in order to keep costs as low as possible. These pools were created to create an exchange of highly qualified employees in order to be able to react precisely to the needs of the company. This commitment is mainly used on employees in the service sectors.

With the support of the workforce pools, attempts are also made at the same time to provide the workforce with a constant job and to create a long-term one from what was once a short-term employment relationship. Especially non-profit pools with the priority of reintegrating the unemployed represent a kind of help for the employment agency and constantly try to include new companies in their catalog.

example

The pioneer of labor pooling was the Dutch temporary employment agency "START". This approached the German Trade Union Confederation in the 1990s to try out this form of cross-company staffing. A pilot project was introduced in Gronau, North Rhine-Westphalia, in 1992. A non-profit reintegration measure for the unemployed was created based on the model of the Dutch organization. The introduction of the START temporary employment agency showed clear success. To date, more than 30 locations have been established.

Assessments of this employment

Workforce pools offer an alternative to the previous agency work or temporary work . The attempt is made to reduce the high unemployment rate and give those affected new perspectives.

However, this form of employment is regarded as ambivalent to this day, as it is both a matter of cooperation and competition between the contracting and contracting companies. On the one hand, participating companies have the opportunity to hire highly qualified employees, but on the other hand, this is where the problems of poaching arise.

Frequent changes are often associated with a number of stresses for those affected, such as rapid adaptation to the new company and new work requirements. Often there are even conflicts of interest between the “borrowed” and the company's permanent staff, as they are not integrated into the operational process.

literature

  • Marschall, Alfred (1920), Principles of economics , London: McMillan
  • Krugman, Paul R .; Obstfeld, Maurice (2003), International Economy , 6th edition, Person Studium
  • Weinkopf, Claudia (1996), Labor Pools , Rainer Hampp Verlag
  • Weinkopf, Claudia; Krone, Sirikit (1995), START Temporary Employment - Socially Acceptable Temporary Employment as a Labor Market Policy Instrument , Gelsenkirchen, Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
  • Möller, Hans W. (2002), Applied Economics , 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Gabler Verlag
  • Kock, Klaus (1990), The Interchangeable Workforce. Flexibility through external companies and temporary work , Cologne, Bund-Verlag
  • Franz, Wolfgang (1991), Labor Economics , Springer-Verlag
  • Gabler Verlag (1993), Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon (AE) , 13th edition, Wiesbaden: Gabler
  • Ricardo, David (1973), The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation , London: Everyman's Library
  • Pongratz, Hans J .; Voß, Günter G. (2003), worker entrepreneur , Düsseldorf, Hans-Böckler- Foundation
  • Hallwirth, Volker (1998), And Keynes Was Right , Frankfurt (Main), Campus-Verlag
  • Siebert, Horst (1995), Are Germans Running Out of Work? , Munich, Goldmann Verlag

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marschall, Alfred (1920), Principles of economics , London: McMillan
  2. ^ Krugman, Paul R .; Obstfeld, Maurice (2003), International Economy , 6th edition, Person Studium
  3. ↑ Weinkopf, Claudia, (1996), labor pools , Rainer Hampp Verlag, pp. 6-7
  4. ^ Weinkopf, Claudia; Krone, Sirikit (1995), START Temporary Employment - Socially Acceptable Temporary Employment as a Labor Market Policy Instrument , Gelsenkirchen, Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia