International Labour Markets: Workplace Flexibility in UK and France

This report provides a comparative analysis of the labour markets in the United Kingdom (UK) and France, focusing on the impact of workplace flexibility. It explores how both countries have implemented policies and regulations to adapt to changing economic landscapes, including the adoption of measures such as flexible working arrangements and minimum wage laws. The report examines specific initiatives, such as the Employment Rights Act of 1996 in the UK and the reduction of the workweek in France, evaluating their effects on employee rights, productivity, and overall labour market dynamics. It also discusses challenges, such as the implementation of zero-hour contracts in the UK and the CNE in France, and their implications on inequality and workplace flexibility. The report further includes visual aids like a graph depicting the national minimum wage in the UK and provides insights into the evolution of labour market regulations, including the impact of EU law and the introduction of new legislation like the 'right to disconnect' in France, ultimately assessing how these measures have shaped the labour markets and influenced the relationship between employers and employees in both countries.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL LABOUR MARKETS
International Labour Markets
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Introduction
The Britain or United Kingdom (UK) is one of the major economies of the world. The
global city, London is the largest and capital city of the United Kingdom. It was the 9th largest
and 6th largest country of the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) and nominal GDP
respectively as of 2018 (Gov.uk 2020). The Western European country, France is one of the
largest economies of the world. The main commercial and cultural city and capital of the France
is the Paris. In 2018, it stood at 10th largest country of the world in terms of purchasing power
parity (Gouvernement.fr 2020). Both are advanced and industrialized economies of the world,
where the role of the labour market is vital. The structure of the labour market largely depends
on the workplace flexibility offered to the workers.
In order to create an effective organization, it is essential to focus on the workplace
flexibility. Workplace flexibility is associated with the changing facilities in terms of how, when
and where to work for the employees in order to meet the requirements of the business and
individual. Though, the structure and needs of the labour market varies with the different
countries. To boost the labour market, all countries adopt some measures in terms of workplace
flexibility. In addition, over the last two decades the government of the Britain and France also
adopted several policies and measures to strengthen the labour markets with the help of
workplace flexibility (Askenazy, Caroli and Marcus 2002). The changes brought in those
countries may have benefited the labour markets of the Britain and France. However, it is
necessary to be equally beneficial for the employees and employer of the organization, which in
turn will bring positive outcomes for the labour market of the countries.
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Practices related to workplace flexibility in French and British labour markets
One of the most important part of the labour market is labour market flexibility. The
organizations may able to make certain changes in labour force due to fluctuations in the market.
Moreover, it also helps to boost the production level, which is beneficial for country. There are
some factors that are basis of the labour pool modification of a country such as firing and hiring
of employees, conditions and hours of work and benefits and compensation. The implementation
of the workplace flexibilities in a labour market is influenced by the labour policies and laws of
the government (Caroli et al. 2010). The labour market will be more flexible where the rules and
regulations are less. On the other hand, the labour market will be less flexible where the rules
and regulations are more. The power of the labour union is significant in these markets.
As the work and family of a worker complements with each other, it is important to
create a work life balance to achieve higher output. Moreover, flexible working arrangements
may boost the productivity and help to retain the skilled labourers. The idea of the flexible
working arrangements spread across the countries of the world (Crépon and Kramarz 2002).
However, the evolution of the labour market as a response to flexible working arrangements
varies for the Britain and France. In recent years the main flexible working solutions offered to
the employees include job-sharing, part-time work, work from home, annualised hours,
flexitime, compressed hours, phased retirement and staggered hours.
In 1968, France went through a crisis, which led to the reduction of the working week to
44 hours. Moreover, each organization also created a section of trade union. The minimum wage
of the employees also revised and scaled up by 25%. On the contrary, the employees of the UK
got the right to appeal for flexible working patterns and right to leave for child care under the
Employment Rights Act of 1996 (Aït Razouk and Bayad 2009). A minimum charter of

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employment rights of the UK are found in several common law, regulations, equity and acts,
which benefitted the workers of the UK. Moreover, the country enacted the National Minimum
Wage Act in 1998, which ensures minimum wage of 8.21 pound for more than 25 year olds.
Other benefits provided to the employees under the Working Time Regulations of 1998 include
try to lower the excessive long working hours, paid holidays for 28 days and breaks from work.
Hence, the labour market regulations of the UK government was more widely accepted than the
French Government. In 2000, the government of France again reduced the workweek from 39
hours to 35 hours (Estevão and Sá 2008). The country also took a major initiative in terms of the
New Employment Contract (CNE) in 2005 by then prime minister.
The employers of the France claimed more flexibility in the labour laws of the country.
There was criticism against the CNE from the opponents of government and trade unions. While,
another act that the UK government enrolled for the right to basic occupational pension under the
Pension Act of 2008. Furthermore, the government of the France implemented a new law in the
labour market called right to disconnect. The law came into existence in 2017, which was
associated with the companies that retain greater than 50 labourers. These companies entitled to
draw up a good conduct charter, which charter fixes the hours for the employees when they are
not supposed to answer or send emails. These initiatives taken by the government had significant
effect on the labour market of the France. The flexible working conditions of the labour market
also helped in retaining employees and increasing production efficiency of the organization. The
labour relations and work of the country is governed by the national called as the French labour
code.
Though, the UK government faced several protests and crisis related to the workplace
flexibilities in the country previously. After 1997, the reform in the labour market brought

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significant changes in the country. The EU law brought crucial advancements in the labour rights
of the country. The labour rights offered under the EU law include consultation and information,
paid holidays or spreading equality. Therefore, the workplace flexibilities offered by the UK
government helps to lower the inequality in the country. It also benefitted the employees by
providing flexible working arrangements (d'Arcimoles 1997). As a result, it enhances the
productivity and efficiency of the workers to achieve higher output, which in turn proved
beneficial for the businesses and labour market of the county. The country also secured higher
growth and prospect through the robust labour market. However, a labour right programme by
the coalition government of the UK compels employees to secure insurance of unemployment
through contracts of zero hours since 2010. Hence, there was also some limitations in the labour
market regulations of the UK. The zero hours contracts of the UK government led to severe
inequality in the country. Even though, the inequality of the country was there since 1979.
Another act of the government that provided the right to strike called Trade Union Act of 2016.
These labour market regulations scaled up the restrictions and rose the poverty among the child
since 2010.
However, France also witnessed some laws, which were against the workplace flexibility.
In 2006, the government implemented the first employment contract, which was solely
applicable for the employees under 26. It allowed the employers to dismiss the employees after
initial period of two years without proving reasons in exchange of some financial compensation
(Dex and Scheibl 2001). It led to the massive protests in the country against the law, which
hampered the labour market of the country. The country offered many flexible working
arrangements for a long time. However, a new concept of the flexibility is introduced in the
country. It was not only beneficial for the employees, but also helped businesses to adapt change.

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The government of France recognized for many years that maintaining of the work life balance is
important under an organization structure (Martin et al. 2016). Later, government also focused
on the provision of flexibility for the employers as well. The employers are subject to offer
overtime payments for the employees in time of high activity in the organization. The French
government legislated some laws in favour of the employers. According to the law, it facilitated
the employers to avoid the payment for the overtime in time of more activity through the use of
work time annualisation. Moreover, it also helped the employers to avoid the redundancies
through the use of the short term work. These initiatives of French government acted in favour of
the labour market strengthening through workplace flexibility (Eldridge and Nisar 2006). On the
contrary, there was some difficulties faced by the employers to adopt such arrangements due to
some limitations. The limitations faced by the employers include keeping the track and
compensate the employees depending on the flexible working hours is difficult. Furthermore, as
per the business requirements, many organization have the arrangements of the work from home
for the employees to work in several states, cities and countries, which became difficult for the
employers to identify and compensate.
In contrast, the recently introduced labour market law of government of Britain is in
favour of all employees. Some workplace flexibilities related to right to request flexible working
for the employees, who have served minimum 26 weeks was legislated by the UK government in
June 2014. According to the legislation, the caring or parental requirement is removed to
establish the basis of the modern workplace (Green and Heywood 2008). Unlike, government of
France, it brought flexible working arrangements for the employees and employers as well. The
main focus of the UK government was the contribution of the flexible working on the businesses.
Thus, it may help to achieve the flexible working for the employees to fulfil the requirements of

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the businesses. The government of UK tried to simply the concept of the flexible working
arrangements for the both employers and employees. It provided the right to the employees to
ask for the flexible working. In addition, it also facilitated the employers by providing the right
to disagree for the flexible working through offering proper justification. Therefore, labour
market legislation of both countries provided right to the employers. The new Shared Parental
Leave Regulations also implemented in the country for the parents with children. The advantage
of the new regulations can be availed by the parents with children on or after 5th April 2015.
According to the law, the mother is allowed to share and pay all her maternity leaves with the
father of the child or partner. Moreover, there were some amendments in case of the paternity
leave in the new Shared parental Leave Regulations (Kelliher and Anderson 2008). Both parents
of the child are allowed to take leave at the same time. They can also avail the leave
discontinuously on the basis of at least one week at a time.
Figure 1: National minimum wage in the UK from 1999 to 2016

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Source: (Salais and Whiteside 2015)
Figure 1 represents national minimum wage in the UK from 1999 to 2016. The above
graph illustrates the national minimum wage in terms of adult rate, 16-17 year olds, living wage,
apprentices and development rate. The introduction of the national minimum wage in the UK
was in 1999. Over the last two decades the national minimum wage of the UK has pushed up
faster than the average wage rates.
The flexibility of the labour market of the UK enriched due to the consistent rise in the
net migration. The maximum number of migrated labourers entered in the UK from the EU and
beyond. The jobs in the low paid areas were filled by the migrant labourers. The flexibility of the
workplace scaled up the job satisfaction among the employees of the Small and medium-sized
enterprises. Thus, it had vital impact on the performance of the corporates (Whyman and
Petrescu 2015). There was also negative impacts of the increased migrant labourers on the
housing market of the certain areas of the UK. It created pressure on the housing market due to
the presence of the low paid labourers. The country also faced constraints such as lower growth
in productivity and real wage because of the higher unemployment rate.
The labour laws in favour of workplace flexibilities brought positive results for the labour
market of the France. There were various drawbacks in the French labour market rules and
regulations, which resulted in economic and social problems in the country. The labour market
flexibility of the France mainly concentrated on the temporary and fixed term workers. The
stepping stone to permanent employment in France was temporary and fixed term jobs (Origo
and Pagani 2008). Under these contracts large percentage of young people were enrolled.
However, these contracts sometimes resulted in unemployment rather than permanent jobs for
the young population. The people employed in France under the temporary and fixed contracts

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find it difficult to secure a stable job. In addition, they were also offered less wages and
professional training. Thus, it created drastic social consequences as the employees experienced
the unemployment. It also spread the impact in other industries as well because of constraints in
obtaining credit or housing. Therefore, the labour market flexibility resulted in crisis in the
housing market of the both countries (Eichhorst and Marx 2015).
In contrast, the UK witnessed a decline in the number of more flexible work and fixed
work contracts, which includes zero hour contract, short term contracts and limited contracts.
Therefore, the labour market of the UK was lightly regulated in comparison with the other
European countries such as France. Moreover, increased competitiveness and globalization
created a downward pressure on the wages in case of both economies. The reason behind the rise
in flexible contracts was increasing dominance of the service sector (Russell, O'Connell and
McGinnity 2009). Though, the policies of the government tried to promote the flexibility in the
labour market by offering legislation that make the operation of the trade union difficult. Under
the short term contracts, there exists limited protection and regulation for workers in the labour
market of the Britain and France. Furthermore, one of the largest contributor of the labour
market and economic diversification is the changing technology. The technological advancement
brought pivotal changes in the economy and labour market of both economies. The contribution
of the labour market of both economies is huge on the economic development and
industrialization. Many industries of the France and Britain went through dramatic changes due
to workplace flexibility such as food processing industry (Amossé et al. 2016).

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Figure 2: National minimum wage per hour and inflation in the France from 1990 to 2020
Source: (Salais and Whiteside 2015)
Figure 2 shows national minimum wage per hour and inflation in the France from 1990 to
2020. Historically, the rate of the minimum wage per hour of the country expanded steadily
throughout the period. On the other hand, the inflation rate of the country also registered an
increasing trend. Though, the rise in the minimum wage per hour was much higher than the
inflation rate. The minimum wage in the France is applicable to all regardless of the experience
or age. The government of France offered one of the highest minimum wage to the workers in
the Europe. A worker entitled for minimum wage of 10.03 pound per hour in the France.
Likewise, the minimum wage provided by the UK government is also one of the highest in the
Europe. Although, the minimum wage entitled in the France is greater than the UK (Menezes
and Wood 2006). Despite all these labour market regulations which brought revolution in the
workplace flexibility of the country, it suffered from one of the biggest economic crisis like

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unemployment. The labour market policies of both countries intended to support the employees
as well as employers to facilitate business growth in the economy.
After analysing the legislation regime of both countries, it can be stated that the
significance of the flexible working arrangements are increasing worldwide. The countries
started realising that the flexible working arrangements are not only vital for the employees but
also for the employers to boost the productivity of the organization and economy (Edwards and
Révauger 2018). The organizations of these nations also able to adopt viable human resource
policies to improve the performance of the organization. It helped to improve the performance of
the small and medium-sized enterprises of both countries. Though, the employers have tried to
exploit such flexibilities, to maintain a proper work-life balance for the employees, government
implemented regulations in this regard. Therefore, it contributed in the growth of the businesses
and economies. Furthermore, there should be improvements and transparencies in the regulation
to achieve better outcomes.
Conclusion
The workplace flexibility plays a pivotal role in strengthening the labour market. Both
major economies of the world such as Britain and France adopted many workplace flexibility
arrangements to regulate the labour market in a proper way, which resulted in several positive
and negative impacts (Schulten, Müller and Eldring 2015). The benefits of the workplace
flexibility arrangements were industrialization, net migration of the workers and job satisfaction.
It also helped to revamp the small and medium-sized enterprises of both countries. The
technological advancements also brought dramatic changes in the food processing industries of
both countries. There were negative impacts of the workplace flexibility as well. It created some
economic and social consequences by increasing rate of unemployment. In addition, the housing

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market of both economies witnessed a downward trend due to the labour market regulations.
Though, it may have benefitted both employees and employers. Some employers had tried to
exploit the legislation of the workplace flexibility. As it failed to maintain the labour market
flexibility by improving the workplace flexibility arrangements in both economies (Gallie 2017).
The government should bring few stringent rules and regulation for the labour market in order to
follow the workplace flexibility arrangements by the employers. Therefore, it will make changes
in the future arrangements of the workplace flexibility and will strengthen the labour market,
which in turn will reduce the level of unemployment and other uncertainties of the labour
market.