Flexicurity is a policy approach that gains growing importance on the national, European and international level as an instrument which aims at combining labour market flexibility with employment security and the need to respect the rights and working conditions of workers.

Ciett is convinced that private employment agencies could play a more active and prominent role in striking the right balance between workforce flexibility and employment security. For instance, temporary agency work clearly provides an essential form of embodiment of flexicurity, which should be fully recognised by all relevant stakeholders. In 1997, the ILO Convention 181 on Private Employment Agencies formally recognised the positive contribution of the industry when stipulating that “One purpose of this Convention is to allow the operation of private employment agencies as well as the protection of the workers using their services, within the framework of its provisions.”

Indeed, private employment agencies protect the rights and working conditions of their agency workers by:

• Being a well-regulated form of flexible labour, which is covered by a mix of national and international legislation, collective labour agreements and self-regulation.
• Providing an essential stepping stone to the labour markets and to permanent employment, especially for current outsiders of the labour market.
• Creating new employment opportunities that would not exist otherwise.
• Providing Agency workers with a social status that no other worker in a flexible contract or employment relationship enjoys.

At the same time, private employment agencies increase labour market flexibility by:

• Acting as essential intermediaries that improve the fluency and efficiency of the labour market
• Providing an efficient external solution to the companies need for flexible workforce
• Improving the competitiveness of companies by providing professional HR services to them

Ciett advocates that international bodies and actors involved in the flexicurity debate should take the positive contribution of private employment agencies more proactively into account, when addressing the flexicurity topic.