Title: Inside the Workplace First Findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey
1Inside the WorkplaceFirst Findings from the
2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey
- WERS Research Team
- Royal Society of Arts
- London
- 5 July 2005
2Overview
- What is WERS?
- Design and conduct of WERS 2004
- First Findings
- Timetable for survey outputs
3What is WERS?
- Survey mapping the state of employment relations
across Great Britain - Data are collected from managers, employee
representatives and employees at the same
workplace - Multi-sponsored survey DTI/ESRC/Acas/PSI
- Previous surveys held in 1980, 1984, 1990, 1998
4Design and conduct of WERS 2004
5Aims of WERS 2004
- To map workplace employment relations in Britain
and changes over time - To inform policy development and stimulate and
inform debate and practice - To provide a comprehensive and statistically
reliable dataset on British workplace employment
relations - which is made publicly available and easily
accessible.
6Survey structure
7Survey content
- Management of personnel and employment relations
- Recruitment and training
- Consultation and information
- Employee representation
- Payment systems and pay determination
- Grievance, disciplinary and dispute procedures
- Equal opportunities, work-life balance
- Workplace flexibility
- Workplace performance
- Employee attitudes to work
8Fieldwork outcomes
Total responses Response rate
Number
2004 Cross-Section
Survey of Managers 2,295 64
Survey of Employee Representatives 991 78
Survey of Employees 22,451 61
Financial Performance Questionnaire 1,069 52
1998-2004 Panel Survey
Survey of Managers 956 77
9First Findings
10First Findings
- Key dimensions of employment relations are
explored - Analysis is based on workplaces with 10
employees - Primary focus of the presentation is on change
since 1998
11Recruitment, appraisal and training
12Selection tests, performance appraisals and
off-the-job training, 1998 and 2004
13Work organisation
14Work organisation, 1998 and 2004
80
74
72
69
70
66
60
48
50
41
Per cent of workplaces
40
30
21
20
16
10
0
Some core employees
Some core employees
Problem-solving
Some core employees
work in formally
trained to be
groups involving non-
trained in team-
designated teams
functionally flexible
managerial
working,
employees
communication or
problem-solving
1998
2004
15Employee representation
16Employee representation, 1998 and 2004
70
64
57
60
50
40
33
Per cent of workplaces
30
27
30
22
20
20
14
10
0
No union
Union recognition
Joint consultative
Any collective
members
committees
bargaining
1998
2004
17Joint regulation of terms and conditions all
workplaces
70
6
5
18
Pay
75
10
13
3
Training
73
11
6
10
Pensions
Per cent of workplaces
71
9
5
15
Holidays
71
5
8
16
Hours
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Nothing
Inform
Consult
Negotiate
18Joint regulation of terms and conditions
workplaces with recognised unions only
16
10
13
61
Pay
36
24
31
9
Training
Per cent of workplaces with recognised unions
Pensions
22
25
16
36
19
17
13
52
Holidays
18
10
20
53
Hours
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Nothing
Inform
Consult
Negotiate
19Extent of trust between managers and employee
representatives
- Managers and employee representatives asked
to rate each other on 3 dimensions of trust - whether the other party could be relied on to
live up to the commitments they had made - whether the other party was sincere in their
attempts to understand each others point of view - whether the other party could be trusted to act
with honesty and integrity
20Extent of trust between managers and employee
representatives
Managers and non-union representatives
Managers and union representatives
Reps trust managers
Managers trust reps
13
Reps trust managers
12
No trust
17
23
No trust
7
Managers trust reps
Mutual trust
Mutual trust
33
31
64
21Addressing workplace conflict
22Indicators of workplace conflict, 1998 and 2004
23Incidence of grievance and disciplinary procedures
- 88 per cent of workplaces had grievance
procedures - little change since 1998
- 91 per cent had disciplinary procedures
- an increase from 85 per cent in 1998
24Procedures for handling grievances and
disciplinary actions
25Equal opportunities
26Incidence and coverage of equal opportunities
policies
27Work-life balance
28Flexible-working and leave arrangements for
non-managerial employees in continuing
workplaces, 1998 and 2004 (1)
24
Special paid leave in
emergencies
31
Paid
48
paternity/discretionary
92
leave for fathers
38
Parental leave
73
31
Job-sharing
41
46
Switching from full to
part-time hours
64
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Per cent of continuing workplaces
2004
1998
29Flexible-working arrangements for non-managerial
employees in continuing workplaces, 1998 and 2004
(2)
19
Flexitime
26
16
Homeworking
28
14
Term-time only
28
8
Annualised hours
13
3
Zero hours contracts
5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Per cent of continuing workplaces
2004
1998
30Responsibility for work-life balance
- 65 per cent of managers believed that it was up
to individual employees to balance their work and
family responsibilities - down from 84 per cent in 1998
- 58 per cent of employees considered that managers
were understanding of their responsibilities
outside of work - up slightly from 55 per cent in 1998
31Job-satisfaction
32Job satisfaction (1)
100
10
11
11
16
90
19
18
80
19
22
70
60
Per cent of employees
50
40
72
72
70
63
30
20
10
0
Scope for using
Work itself
Sense of
Job security
initiative
achievement
Satisfied
Neither
Dissatisfied
33Job satisfaction (2)
34Management-employee relations
35Managers and employees perceptions
ofmanagement-employee relations, 1998 and 2004
36Summary
37Stability in a number of ER areas
- Incidence of procedures for handling grievances
- Incidence of industrial action
- Employees satisfaction with pay or
management-employee relations - Proportion of workplaces with methods of work
organisation
38Continued decline of collective organisation
- Employees less likely to be union members in 2004
- Decline in the rate of union recognition
- Collective bargaining less prevalent
- However,
- Fall in union recognition had arrested in
workplaces with 25 - Decline in collective bargaining was confined to
the private sector. - Joint regulation remains a reality for many
employees - half of employees were in workplaces with a
recognised union - 40 per cent had their pay set through collective
bargaining.
39Work-life balance
- Substantial increase in availability of a number
of flexible working and paid leave arrangements - at least amongst continuing workplaces
- Employers increasingly concerned about employees
needs to balance work and family life - However, employees did not perceive such a change
in employer attitudes
40State of employment relations
- Overt workplace conflict remained low
- Managers perceptions of management-employee
relations have improved - though there was little change in employees
views - Mutual trust appeared in only a minority of
management/union rep relationships - but was more prevalent amongst managers and
non-union reps
41WERS 2004 Timetable
42Timetable for survey outputs
Activity Timing
WERS 2004 questionnaires December 2004
Data deposited in UK Data Archive November 2005
Sourcebook of findings Spring 2006
Report on ER in small businesses Spring 2006
43Further information
- Further information about the design and
development of WERS 2004 - www.dti.gov.uk/er/emar/wers5.htm
- Routledge companion website to the sourcebook
of findings - www.routledge.com/textbooks/0415378133
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