Diversity of employment contracts and use of the law

Abstract

From the construction of a French data base of 309 employment contracts, we analyse current practices in firms, their manpower management methods and their use of the law in the drafting of employment contracts. We present a typology of ‘employment contracts' based on different indicators characterising the terms of the employment relationship (flexibility, employee's subordination to the firm, employee's individual accountability, appropriation of immaterial asserts) Our observations show that the contractual framework and the legal guarantees that it offers are still used relatively infrequently and concern certain types of employment relationship. In conclusion, we give some insights on the French reforms concerning labour contract legislation.labour legislation; employment contract; employee's subordination; individual accountability; flexibility