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European policies toward flexible work arrangement
Principle of stability of labuor relations (CLC article 2-th, part 2-th, paragraph 8-th and other
related provisions of the Code) remains at the core of current Lithuanian labour law. “Job
protection” legislation norms are expected to restricting employers’ ability to dismiss
workers in response to a worsening economic environment. Yet this also creates
disincentives for employers to hire people. For this reason Lithuanian labour market
recovery after 2008 economic crisis was among the slowest in EU (Zasova, 2011). Experience
of economic crisis and European labour market policies encouraged Government of the
Republic of Lithuania to shift labour regulation towards principles of the flexicurity
(Petrylaitė, 2015).
Flexicurity officially is defined by European Commission as an integrated strategy to
enhance, at the same time, flexibility and security in the labour market. (European
Commission, 2007) EU policies towards employment regulation were influenced by
examples of successful labour reforms in Netherlands and Denmark.
In Netherlands, flexicurity was adopted as a new legislative package in late 1990’s. Reforms
included modification of dismissal protection for regular workers (shortened required notice
period), elimination of restrictions for operations of temporary work agencies and
enhancement of employment security for atypical workers (Colvin, Darbishire, 2012).
Flexicurity policy in Denmark is product of specific longstanding conditions and labour
legislation package, introduced in 1993. Aim of the reform was to diminish “structural
unemployment” (Daemmrich, Bredgaard, 2013). In result Danish labour market combines
high mobility (measured by job mobility, job creation, job destruction and average tenure)
between jobs and modest level of legal job protection, with a comprehensive social safety
net for the unemployed and an active labour market policy, which is supplemented by other
policies (educational and childcare systems) (Breedgard, Larsen, Madsen, 2008). The idea is
that flexibility and security could be mutually supportive: only through higher security
protecting the employment (and not the job), the challenges of a globalized economy could
be effectively faced via additional flexibility (hence efficiency). In 2007 the European
Commission promoted flexicurity to a key policy concept, which was incorporated into the
European Employment Strategy 2007 (and in the Lisbon Agenda), reaffirmed within the EU-
2020 strategy. It is important to note that in these strategies European institutions
flexicurity, which was devised as a solution to problem of unemployed by introduction
contractual flexibility, see as the part of strategy to reach “smart, sustainable and inclusive
growth.” “Agenda for new skills and jobs” declares that European labour markets need to be
both more inclusive and more responsive to innovation and change. It seems to be that in
terms of human resource management, these documents advocates mainly for "employee
driven" innovation enchantment. This idea where adopted, almost not mentioning term
“innovation”, in planning Lithuanian labour reform, but balancing it with notion of
employers interests (“managerial” innovations) "Report on created legal-administrative
model” ( 2015) states that introduction of flexibility has to be understood as expansion of
worker's capacity to adapt to the job processes and harmonize his professional life with
other social and economic interests. On the other hand, it helps the employer to allocate
financial resources, and to use work force to reach intended economic performance.
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