The Flexibility of the Labor Relationships through the Practice of Fixed-Term Employment Contracts

The term ‘flexibility’ means a certain capacity to react and adapt to changes, it refers to both partners of the employment relationship, making it imperative that both European companies and their workers manifest more flexibility and more adaptability to the continuous economic changes. Companies are confronted daily with the challenge of striking a balance between the needs of the organization (work productivity, customer satisfaction, profit), and the needs and interests of the employees (balance between work and personal life, career development, improving working conditions, etc.). This balance can be achieved through fixed-term employment regarded as an indispensable practice to establishments, in order to cover the need for flexibility in labor relationships. This practice has been supported and promoted by the government through its introduction to the various strategies and to the labor law. In this paper we precisely propose an approach both theoretical and practical of fixed-term employment seen as a way of expressing external numerical flexibility.