PSI recent research

Calling the tune at work

Project Leader: Alex Bryson

Sponsor: Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Period: 1998-1999

Collaborators: National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)

Background

Developments in the British labour market in the 1980s gave employers greater freedom to determine the distribution of jobs and the terms and conditions attached to those jobs. Correspondingly, the influence of employees and their representative institutions declined. As a result, inequality increased among those in employment, with more employees in low paid work, without an effective voice in dealing with their employer and increasingly subject to unfair treatment. With the change of government in 1997 new policies have been adopted to reduce the incidence of low pay, foster trade union representation and give employees a greater say at work.

The study aims to:

• illuminate through quantitative research how the distribution and nature of jobs has changed since 1990 in Britain.
• highlight changes in the structures and processes by which employees have a ‘voice’ that impacts on the decisions of management, particularly in relation to employment levels and terms of employment, and the causes of these changes.
• assess these changes in the light of policies pursued by government, employers and unions and, where appropriate, suggest modifications to these policies.

Study Design

The research will be carried out through detailed quantitative analysis of the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey and its 1990 predecessor. The Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (WIRS) series is the pre-eminent source of large-scale, nationally representative research data on management and employee relations matters in Britain. It features a large statistical sample across all sectors of the economy, with response rates of 80 per cent and face-to-face interviews with managers and employee representatives. The 1998 survey also includes a large and specially designed panel survey of workplaces that were interviewed in 1990. The surveys contain the most detailed information available for quantitative analysis of the ways in which employers take decisions about the distribution of jobs and their terms and conditions

Importance

The research combines detailed tabular analysis of the WIRS datasets with multivariate statistical analysis of the main variables of interest, principally on the 1990/98 panel. The findings will be used to draw implications for policy and practice for government, employers, employees and their representatives.

Publications

Bryson, A. (2001) Employee Voice, Workplace Closure and Employment Growth: A Panel Analysis, PSI Research Discussion Paper No. 6

Millward, N., Forth, J. and Bryson, A. (2001) Who Calls the Tune at Work? The Impact of Unions on Jobs and Pay. Joseph Rowntree Foundation: York