What is Charles Handy’s Shamrock Organization and how does it increase flexibility in the workforce?

Charles Handy’s Shamrock model advises a business to have three types of workers:

  1. Core workers: full time, permanent staff, may be managers/professionals, central production staff

  2. Peripheral workers: temporary, flexible, part-time workers

  3. Contract workers: employed for a specific task, often for a certain time period (outsourcing)

With only core workers present, there would be no flexibility of time or expertise. Including peripheral workers in the workforce allows for the time aspect of flexibility to be ensured, while including contract workers allows for the expertise aspect to be achieved.