ABSTRACT
The flexibility debate was sparked by Atkinson’s (1984) core-periphery model of functionally and numerically flexible labour. Functional flexibility enables multiskilled workers to perform various jobs, while numerical flexibility enables the ready engagement and dispensation of various forms of atypical labour. The main benefit of functional flexibility is that a multi-skilled worker can be deployed across tasks according to demand, thus maximizing labour productivity. Multiskilling differs from multi-tasking, because the worker is trained in different skills. Numerical flexibility enables the firm to adjust labour costs to changes in the market. Hence, in circumstances of uneven and unpredictable demand the HI has long functioned on the basis of high proportions of contingent labour. Restaurants have been described as ‘the ultimate “JIT” deliverer of goods and services’ (ILO, 2001: 48).
