Social support and the non-standard worker

The advent of globalization and decreasing government labour market within the Western World have wreaked havoc with the concept of what has been thought of as traditional employment. As work becomes increasingly casual, part-time and temporary it also results in a workforce with increasing challenges to manage. This paper further investigates access to and use of social support as one of the challenges faced within the professional contractor workforce (a working relationship that typifies the growing number falling outside that of the traditional and ongoing employer/employee relationship). The notion of the wider community involvement in the workplace reinforces the extent to which work is interrelated with all aspects of an individual’s life though the use of support networks. It also most directly captures the changing industrial relations focus in Australia in terms of the move from employer to individual responsibility.