More than 2.1 million Canadians today work in temporary, part-time or otherwise unstable jobs. For these workers, the ideal of a “standard employment relationship” — the predominant model for employment for decades in the second half of the 20th century — no longer defines their employment experiences or expectations.

Decades ago, full-time, permanent positions granted most employees extensive benefits and protections from their employers they could expect to receive until they retired.

Today, temporary work is largely characterized by few or no employer protections or even guarantees that employers’ contracts will be renewed.

How should we understand these workers’ experiences and lived realities? The rise of job precarity requires re-conceptualizating the nature of employment.

Read more: Why labour strife at universities should concern us all

One way to think about this is: Rather than the largely straightforward “threads” characterizing standard employment relationships, contract employment is better thought of as a patchwork with different jobs or fabrics. Some overlap, and sections take different sizes and textures.

This metaphor allows us to conceptualize these workers’ experiences as intertwined or overlapping. Many workers are required to take on different jobs in quick succession or at the same time.

This patchwork reality is likely experienced by many contract professors within Canada’s universities. As of 2019, nearly 54 per cent of academics within Canadian universities were hired on a contractual basis. Half of social science and 56 per cent of humanities faculties also consist of contract academics.

I interviewed 40 contract academics across........

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