The Regulation of Employment Relationships at the Enterprise

The chapter draws on the findings of a three-year research project carried in four Italian regions out with different instruments (in-depth interviews to key informants, survey on a large representative sample of over 2,300 small firms, 76 in-depth interviews with small firms’ owners/managers; methods are described in the first chapter of the book). Specifically, the chapter provides and analysis of labour regulation practices within small businesses and the dynamics of the various actors involved. We do this by focusing on several selected aspects of the employment relationship; precisely, we examine the processes through which wages and additional benefits are defined, tasks are allocated, work is organised and reorganised, working time is planned, and work-life balance and skills development opportunities are regulated. The chapter considers the agency of owner/manager and workers in its interplay with structures, in particular with external influences and constraints. In opposition to a strand of the literature, we highlight a variety of patterns of regulation with different degrees of formalisation and employer unilateralism and diverse forms of worker participation and union involvement. Within this general scenario, an important point highlighted by our investigation is the key role played by the national/sectoral collective agreements and by external professionals, particularly labour and business consultants.