Non-standard employment contracts and the organization of work: The case of the Brazilian information technology sector

The Information Technology (IT) industry gained strength in Brazil in late 1980 and early 1990 with the liberalization of the computer Industry, which used to be closed to international companies. In the same period were introduced important changes in the Brazilian labor legislation, allowing different forms of flexible work. In this context, non-standard employment contracts have became common in this industry, specially one called "PJ" (short for “Legal Entities”). The “PJ” consists of an individual agreement, made ​​between employer and employee, which has the ultimate goal of cheaper labor costs. In theory, a company has a contract with another company. In practice, the worker opens a business to guarantee his or her place of work.

In this paper I intend to present the case of “PJ”'s in the IT sector in the city of São Paulo and its impacts on the organization of work. I have conducted interviews with 30 men and 30 women working for this industry in different companies. This methodological choice was made because I wanted to capture a greater diversity of models of labor relations. Since there is no regulation to a “PJ”, the working hours, the wage definition, the guarantee of vacation and other employment rights and benefits are offered by companies in different ways and are negotiated individually.There are, however, some patterns identified by empirical research that will be presented and analyzed from the point of view of gender and generation.