Employee Investment Research Articles

Staff management in correctional institutions: Comparing DiIulio's “control model” and “employee investment model” outcomes in five jails

In this study of five podular direct-supervision jails we test whether facilities with characteristics related to an “employee investment model” for management of corrections, as opposed to a “control model,” experience the positive personnel outcomes claimed by DiIulio for prisons operated in the “control” manner. We analyze outcome measures such as job enrichment, job satisfaction, workplace stress (supplemented with data on role conflict, organizational commitment, training, and turnover) and find only limited support for the supposed benefits of the DiIulio management model in the contemporary jail. In fact, we discover some evidence that investment in personnel is beneficial to the jail organization.

Employees on the Capital Market

During the 1970s several proposals to set up employee investment funds were brought to the fore in Scandinavia. In 1984, wage earner funds were introduced in Sweden. The experiment, however, was short-lived and partly a failure. In Denmark, the debate on economic democracy is almost non-existent today, and in Norway, the funds idea never gained ground at all. The hypothesis stated in this article, is that collective strategies which include all employees, or large groups of employees, are hard to realize within a highly diversified labour market. It is also argued that pension funds can prove to be significant devices for industrial purposes and employment, and that employee ownership can imply co-optation or an enlargement of employee influence. If employees enter the capital market to a greater extent, it can also imply a new role for the trade unions.

Employer-provided housing in Papua New Guinea: Its impact on urban home ownership in the city of lae

There is a general and widely accepted perception in Papua New Guinea that employers have the obligation to provide housing for their employees. To find out which issues influence this perception and the demand for employer-provided housing, a questionnaire survey was conducted in Lae, the second largest city in Papua New Guinea. Four hundred respondents were interviewed on a number of issues related to urban home-ownership. It was evident from the study that urban home-ownership in Lae, and Papua New Guinea in general, had not improved significantly when compared to previous studies. A number of factors mitigate against individual investment in urban home-ownership and many employees still rely on their employers to provide them with urban housing.

Early-retirement incentive programs for medical school faculty.

The Association of American Medical Colleges surveyed the principal business officers of all 126 accredited U.S. medical schools in late 1991 in order to learn about their retirement benefit programs for faculty and whether early-retirement incentive programs were being used. A total of 115 of the schools provided usable responses, which the author reports for all schools, public schools, and private schools. For all schools, defined-contribution plans (based on employer's and employee's contributions plus investment earnings) were the preferred type of retirement benefit program (77%, or 89, of the responding schools). Defined-benefit plans (based on a formula that uses variables of age at retirement, years of service, and salary) were available at 37% (43) of the schools. Early-retirement incentive programs had been used by 70% of the responding schools in the five-year period 1987-1991. Sixteen schools provided descriptions of their formal early-retirement programs, which are summarized. The author observes that, although nearly three-fourths of the responding schools are familiar with the use of the incentive programs, these programs have resulted in few actual early retirements. He discusses why this may be true and compares the pros and cons of formal and ad hoc programs. He concludes that no single program can be considered best; each institution must work with its faculty to design programs to meet institutional goals and faculty interests.

Managing Owners: The National Freight Consortium in Perspective.

The emergence of employee ownership privatization and employee ownership - the NFC conversion the employment investment decision - issues the employee investment decision at the NFC employee ownership and industrial relations - issues the effects of employee share ownership on industrial relations at the NFC.

Erratum: Employee Investment and Commitment: The Ties That Bind

Erratum: Employee Investment and Commitment: The Ties That Bind

Employee Investment and Commitment: The Ties That Bind

Government can no longer afford to be complacent about the recruitment and retention of high quality employees. Public service is at risk because it is losing some of its best people to alternative employment. Of course, many high quality and highly dedicated public employees remain. But recent patterns of turnover put government agencies at risk of dropping below a critical mass of dedicated, highly qualified employees.

The Effects of Formal and Informal Training on Tenure and Mobility in Manufacturing Firms

This article analyzes the effects of employer investment in employees through formal and informal on-the-job training on job tenure and mobility for male and female workers, male supervisors, and male managers. Formal on-the-job training positively affects job tenure of male and female workers, firm tenure of male workers, supervisors, and managers, and mobility of male workers and managers. It negatively affects mobility of female workers. The results do not support arguments about the effects of informal on-the-job training on mobility and security, found to have a positive effect only on male managers” firm tenure.

The Democratization of Capital

Schemes of financial participation developed by unions in negotiations with employers, such as pension funds, profit-sharing arrangements and employee investment funds, are theorized in this paper as steps towards the democratization of capital. Based on experience obtained to date, particularly more recent cases such as the Swedish Renewal Funds, an approach to a theory of collective capital formation is offered. The political implications of following this strategy, and interpreting it as fulfilment of the nineteenth-century goal of 'socialization', are sketched out.

The Political Economy of Employee Investment Funds

‘No man is good enough to be another man’s master’ (William Morris). Economists frequently describe efficiency and equality as two separate, yet potentially conflicting, objectives. While in some circumstances the achievement of one of these objectives might preclude attaining the other, the evidence suggests that the post-war British economy has suffered a decline in relative efficiency with no progress towards greater equality. Faster growth rates, full employment and higher living standards are most likely to occur as a result of increased and sustained capital formation. The currently dominant economic philosophy of monetarism seeks to satisfy this requirement by redistributing income towards capitalists in the hope that they will then find investment attractive. The British left urgently requires an alternative strategy that generates new investment, while simultaneously establishing an ongoing egalitarian trend. As the political conditions for a revolutionary transformation of society are unlikely to prevail in the foreseeable future, socialist governments need to fulfil three crucial economic objectives:- (i) to restore full employment while maintaining approximate price stability, (ii) to accelerate the rate of capital accumulation in order to boost future increases in living standards, (iii) to redistribute income and wealth in the direction of greater equality without imperilling future economic growth.

Employee Investment Funds: A Crucial Element in the Transition to Socialism

Employee Investment Funds: A Crucial Element in the Transition to Socialism

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:FELDSTEIN, M. S. and INMAN, R. P. (eds). The Economics of Public ServicesMEIDNER, R. Employee Investment Funds. London: George Allen & UnwinTAINIO, R. Determinants of Labour Turnover in a Firm

LAVARACK v. WOODS OF COLCHESTER LTD.

July 19, 1966 Master and Servant — Wrongful dismissal — Damages — Service agreement for annual salary and “such bonus (if any) as the directors … shall determine” — Employee not to invest in competing company without consent of employer — Bonus scheme ended after dismissal of employee — Higher salaries negotiated with employees — Whether future bonus or possible increase in salary to be taken into account — Employee's investment in competitive company — Employment by other company in which employee held shares — Increase in value of shares — Whether credit to be given for increased value of shares and investment in competitive company.