The Services Economy, Subcontracting and the New Employment Relations: Contract Catering and Cleaning

Abstract

Sociological discussion of expansion in services employment has been unnecessarily limited. An examination of developments in under-explored sectors such as personal services and `low-level' producer services demonstrates the fruitfulness of analysis in terms of the social and technical divisions of labour, especially with respect to the growth of subcontracting. However, contrary to theories of the `flexible firm', this restructuring is complex, reflecting the specificities of particular industries and even firms. These arguments are developed through an empirical analysis of contract catering and contract cleaning, based on case studies of two major companies, `Contract Cleaning Services' and `Global Catering'. Both industries have traditionally had strongly gendered occupational hierarchies, with women concentrated into the highly exploited operative grades. Contemporary restructuring has increased demand for such services through the expansion of subcontracting. However, the two industries have responded in divergent ways, with cleaning adopting a strategy of intensification, whilst catering has moved some way toward improving employment conditions through, for example, enhanced training and promotion possibilities.