Workplace Employment Relations Survey Research Articles

Disability and trade union membership in the UK

AbstractUsing data from two national surveys, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey and the Workplace Employment Relations Survey, we establish evidence of a robust disability‐related trade union membership differential in the UK. After controlling for differences in other personal and work‐related characteristics, disabled employees are found to be 3.6 percentage points (12–14 per cent) more likely to be union members than non‐disabled employees. While the differential is consistent with evidence that disabled employees have stronger preferences for union representation, we do not find evidence that union membership is associated with disproportionate benefits for disabled employees in terms of a reduction in disability‐related labour market inequality.

Employee empowerment, equality plans and job satisfaction: an empirical analysis of the demand-control model

PurposeThe paper investigates the effects of individual employees' empowerment on different forms of job satisfaction in British workplaces while controlling for the presence of job demands and whether these effects depend on the presence of an equality plan in the workplace. The demand-control model that the authors test proposes that imbalances between the demands placed on employees and the control they have in their job negatively affect employee well-being and health. Control may also be strengthened, and demands mitigated, by effective equality policies. This study looks at nine forms of job satisfaction and examines the individual effects of job demands, job control, the interaction of control and demands and their joint effects with equality plans.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses matched employee–employer British data from the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). The authors conduct principal component analysis (PCA) and logit estimations and estimate a recursive simultaneous bivariate probit model.FindingsEmployee empowerment, or job control, is a key predictor of job satisfaction, and job demands are negatively associated with various aspects of job satisfaction. The presence of equality plans strengthens the positive effects of job control and mitigates the detrimental effects of job demands. Consistent with the demand-control model, employees are more likely to be satisfied in low strain jobs (jobs with low demands and high control) than in high strain jobs (jobs with high demands and low control). Employees in passive jobs (jobs with low demand and low control) on the other hand are less likely to be satisfied with achievement and influence than employees in low strain job.Originality/valueMuch of the empirical literature has focused on collective empowerment practices and none has tested the demand-control model. This paper adds to the literature on employee empowerment practices with a focus on individualised job control and the way its effects interact with equality plans. In the process, the authors provide novel and rigorous empirical evidence on an extended version of the demand-control model.

High-performance HR practices, job demands and employee well-being: The moderating role of managerial support.

Drawing on the labour process theory and the job-demands resources model, this study challenges the assumption of beneficial effects of high-performance HR practices (HPHRP). The study argues that such practices lead to heightened work demands, which in turn compromise employees' well-being. The study also argues that the negative consequences associated with HPHRP can be ameliorated when employees receive support from their managers. To test the study's moderated mediation model, multisource matched employer-employee data from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2011 is used. Results of generalised multilevel structural equation modelling in STATA revealed that the relationship between HPHRP and well-being (anxiety and depression) is mediated by Job demands (JD). Furthermore, the relationship between JD and both anxiety and depression is moderated by Managerial support (MS), such that when the level of MS is high, the positive relationship between HPHRP and both anxiety and depression via JD is weaker. Taken together, the findings of the study advance our understanding of why and when HPHRP may impair employees' well-being.

Need to cut or freeze pay of your employees? Providing work–life balancing practices can help if maintaining employee morale is a concern

PurposeResearch on the effect of pay cuts/freezes on employee morale is limited. More importantly, past studies examining this relationship tend to focus on fairness perception as a mediator. This study hypothesizes that work–life conflict also mediates the negative relationship between pay cuts/freezes and employee morale.Design/methodology/approachA total of 13,139 employees in 1,830 workplaces in Britain in the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Survey were analyzed.FindingsThe analyses confirm the above hypothesis. The results also demonstrate that this mediating mechanism can be mitigated to some extent when work–life balancing practices are available, but much more strongly when they are actually used.Practical implicationsIf possible, organizations should provide and encourage employees to use work–life balancing practices when employees' pay needs to be cut or frozen if maintaining employee morale is a concern.Originality/valueOur study highlights the need to incorporate various theoretical frameworks, and not just the dominant justice/fairness theories, into the study of pay cuts and freezes. The current research demonstrates that the work–life conflict framework can also be applied to understand the relationship between pay cuts/freezes and employee morale.

Performance at the cost of well-being? Testing the multi-level effects of HR practices on organisational performance via employee experiences and well-being

PurposeWhile the potential for HR practices (HRPs) to improve organisational performance is well-established, the mechanisms by which this occurs are complex. Individual HRPs may affect organisational performance either by mutual gains (improving both organisational performance and employee well-being) or by conflicting outcomes (organisational performance is improved at the expense of employee well-being). Models which combine HRPs may mask these differences and this study therefore tests pathways for four individual HRPs.Design/methodology/approachHRPs (employee involvement, pay, performance management and training) were hypothesised to influence organisational performance directly and indirectly via employee experiences of work (communication, autonomy) and employee well-being. The study used a large secondary dataset, the UK Workplace Employee Relations Survey 2011, to test these relationships in a multi-level model.FindingsEmployee experiences of work strongly predicted well-being. In addition, three different pathways from HRP to organisational performance were identified. Pay showed indirect negative effects, involvement had direct positive effects and performance management had a mixture of both positive direct and negative indirect effects on performance.Originality/valueUsing a disaggregated analysis of HRP and demonstrating their differing effects, this study questions the feasibility of a universal model of HRP effects. By using multi-level modelling (MLM), the study develops understanding of employee perspectives and integrates these into organisational-level models, demonstrating that performance effects are partially mediated by both employee experiences of work and employee well-being. Finally, the study highlights the complexity of performance effects achieved via both employee benefits and an intensification of employee experiences.

Precarious employment and workplace health outcomes in Britain

RationaleThe world of work is changing rapidly, and precarious employment is becoming more prevalent in Britain and elsewhere, particularly since the 2008 financial crisis. This is despite the evidence linking employment precarity to adverse health outcomes, and the policy discourses advocating for high-quality jobs. ObjectiveI seek to establish empirically the extent and nature of the potential link between employment precarity and health outcomes, which is done chiefly at the workplace level. The research can be vital from the perspective of informing policy, given that the workplace represents the level where key policy levers operate. MethodsI use nationally representative data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey. Four workplace health outcomes (WHOs; viz., injuries, illnesses, job satisfaction, and job anxiety) have been used to examine if organizations with precarious employment arrangements are likely to experience adverse health outcomes. I use alternative econometric approaches to compare organizations that reported to have three types of precarious employment arrangements, viz., shift working, annualised hours, and zero-hours contracts (ZHCs), vis-à-vis their counterparts without such arrangements. ResultsThe results obtained reveal that workplaces with precarious employment arrangements are significantly unhealthier, and those with the most insecure form of precarious employment perform particularly worst in this respect. ConclusionsPrecarious employment may become ever more prevalent as organizations contend with economic fallouts from shocks such as Brexit or Covid-19. This may lead to sub-standard health outcomes. The positive influence of trade unions on working conditions has largely been decimated and the workforce in Britain is ageing. These combinations may pose significant challenges to public health including mental health crises. Public policy ought to help minimise adverse health outcomes linked to employment precarity.

From monopoly to voice effects? British workplace unionism and productivity performance into the new millennium

AbstractBritain has featured prominently in debates about unionism and productivity. This article suggests a recent revolution in the productivity effect of British unionism. A thorough review of extant evidence at various levels of aggregation indicates that whatever the broader cost to employee welfare and well‐being, the hollowing and erosion of workplace unionism under Thatcherism delivered a one‐off productivity dividend. However, by the turn of the millennium, extant Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) analysis shows that workplace unionism, where it remained, was no longer robustly linked to poorer productivity performance. Our private sector analysis of WERS2011 confirms this, while our analysis of the WERS2004–2011 panel indicates that stronger workplace unionism now positively promotes private sector productivity. A thorough contemplation of the shifting concomitants of modern British unionism suggests a variety of processes which may underlie our striking panel findings, underscoring the suggestion that there has been a revolution in British unionism's productivity implications, but also indicating mechanisms which may underlie positive productivity effects of joint regulation already apparent in other countries.

Organizational leadership: How much does it matter?

AbstractI study the influence of leadership on organizational performance and worker wellbeing using data from the 2004 and 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). Our most conservative estimates from fixed effects regressions on a panel of organizations reveal that virtuous leadership is significantly and positively linked to an upbeat assessment of organizational performance, and an increase in worker wellbeing. Specifically, the estimates reveal that an increase in leadership quality by one standard deviation increases organizational performance and worker job satisfaction by 0.27 and 0.73 standard deviations, respectively, while it leads to a fall in worker job anxiety by 0.13 standard deviations. The results support the hypothesis that good leadership is vital for the success of business, including worker wellbeing, which organizational policymakers ought to heed. There is a dearth of empirical evidence on organizational leadership as an institution and its influence on organizational outcomes, which this article aims to address.

The role of manager's gender in mentoring: Evidence in the United Kingdom

AbstractThis article studies the role of managers' gender as a determinant of mentoring relationships between managers and employees in British firms by using data collected from the 2004 and 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. Past literature suggests a rather mixed figure with datasets collected from either one point in time or in a single firm. Using longitudinal data collected from hundreds of British firms, this study shows that the results are inconsistent between classical pooled ordinary least squares (POLS) and fixed effects (FEs) regression models. The significant associations found in POLS regressions disappeared when firm FEs are included. This finding should encourage researchers to go beyond gender differences in mentoring relationships which often are the results of conventional stereotyping.

The effect of computerisation on the wage share in United Kingdom workplaces

AbstractThis historical paper analyses the distributional consequences of computerisation on the wage share of income in United Kingdom (UK) workplaces in the first decade of this century. The reasons why computerisation might increase a firm’s income but reduce the share assigned to wages are still not well understood. The uniquely rich Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) 2004–2011 includes firm-level measures of the main production inputs and outputs, and thus allows an analysis of the main mechanisms through which increased computer usage influenced the wage share of income in UK workplaces over this period. This analysis shows that the proportion of employees using computers impacted the wage share in ways that were at odds with two mainstream views: that computers complement capital, and that labour can be easily replaced by capital. The results show that the proportion of employees using computers reduced the wage share by disproportionally increasing the productivity of the least skilled employees, who were not proportionally compensated for their increase in productivity. The stability of the wage share, over the period of interest, is explained by the rise in a workplace’s share of professional employees and by a rise in work effort. This positive contribution to the wage share was counteracted by an increased share of employees using computers and by a reduction in the share of employees whose pay was negotiated by unions, thereby contributing to a decline in the wage share of firm income.

Is pupil attainment higher in well-managed schools?

ABSTRACT Linking the Workplace Employment Relations Surveys 2004 and 2011 to administrative data on pupil attainment in England we examine whether secondary and primary schools who deploy more intensive human resource management (HRM) practices have higher pupil attainment. We find intensive use of HRM practices is positively and significantly correlated with higher labour productivity and quality of provision, and with better financial performance, most notably in primary schools, but it is not associated with higher pupil attainment as indicated by assessment scores at Key Stage 2, Key Stage 4 and value-added measures based on assessments at these points.

Patterns of organizational ownership and employee well‐being in Britain

AbstractThis paper seeks to contribute to the current debate about corporate governance and work relations in two ways: it extends the analysis to include employees’ subjective well‐being and it considers a wider range of ownership models using Hansmann's typology as a guide. It argues that a key input into subjective well‐being is provided by the scope to undertake work that is intrinsically as well as extrinsically rewarding. Rosen's theory of compensating wage differences is used as a lens to examine the problems of contracting over the intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of jobs as the former are largely intangible, whereas the latter are more easily codified and enforced. This asymmetry gives rise to moral hazard problems, which make the former more dependent on trust. Ownership models help to resolve this because they provide clear signals about an employer's value priorities, and its likely adherence to them after hiring. The study uses data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey. The results suggest that ownership models do indeed facilitate different trade‐offs between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards that may be beneficial to many workers, warranting more attention to alternative forms of ownership to promote greater employee well‐being.

Men, women and unions

AbstractThe paper examines whether workplace gender dynamics contributed to the decline of unions. To this end, it reviews relevant literature and proposes three hypotheses, which it then tests using alternative empirical analyses and data from Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) and British Social Attitudes Survey (BSAS). The results from employee‐level analysis reveal that, compared with women, (i) men were significantly less likely to have never been union members and (ii) they were also significantly more likely to have been union members in the past. In addition, workplace‐level analysis using WERS reveals that there is an inverse link between union membership and the share of women in workplaces, which is also found to have a non‐linear form. The paper ponders if unions may need to encompass broader agenda than those informed by the median voter to improve their fate.

Flexible working practices and job-related anxiety: Examining the roles of trust in management and job autonomy

Although flexible working practices (FWPs) have been associated with positive individual outcomes, less is known about ‘how’ and ‘why’ such associations occur. Drawing on Conservation of Resources theory, this study examines the mediating and moderating processes which underpin the relationship between FWPs and job-related anxiety. The study’s hypotheses, proposing a moderated mediation model, are tested using data from Britain’s Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) 2011. The results of generalised multilevel structural equation modelling (GMSEM) reveal that FWPs increase trust in management (TIM), which, in turn, decreases job-related anxiety. Furthermore, job autonomy moderates both the positive relationship between FWPs and TIM and the indirect relationship between FWPs and job anxiety through TIM, such that the mediated relationship becomes stronger when perceived autonomy is high. Our study encourages focusing on FWPs, as these stimulate perceptions of resource gain spiral, and the integrated influence of resources accumulated through such positive gain spirals promotes well-being.

Workplace financial transparency and Job distress

Social scientists have long been interested in questions of organizational culpability, workers’ rights, and workplace equity. This study focuses on a particularly important aspect of managerial practice—financial transparency—and its implications for job-related distress. Drawing on 2011 British Workplace Employment Relations Survey data, we interrogate the transparency-distress relationship and whether it is mediated or moderated by other organizational dynamics, such as managerial relations. Our hierarchical analyses of nearly 20,000 workers across over 2,000 workplace establishments reveal that managerial communication and trust surrounding organizational financial transparency reduces job distress—an ameliorating effect that is both markedly robust and stronger in firms with limited collective bargaining coverage. Positive supervisory appraisals serve as a major mechanism underlying this relationship, with job security and organizational commitment playing a more moderate role. We conclude by highlighting our core findings in these regards and especially the centrality of social-interactional factors above and beyond monetary considerations.

Differentiation in pay for performance within organizations: an occupational perspective

PurposeThis study aims to address the question of why organizations do not uniformly apply pay for performance (PFP) throughout the organization, focusing on the wider occupational structure in which they and the jobs they create are embedded. The authors propose a model of “occupational differentiation” whereby the probability of a job within a given organization having PFP increases with the levels of monitoring difficulty and requisite human asset specificity characterizing the occupation to which a job belongs, being highest in occupations characterized by high levels of both (generally managerial and professional occupations).Design/methodology/approachUsing the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (a nationally representative matched employer–employee dataset for Britain), this paper investigates this question for all 350 occupations delineated by the UK's Office for National Statistics using regression methods that adjust for other confounding factors such as demographic factors and workplace fixed effects.FindingsThe authors find organizations “occupationally differentiate” the use of PFP in ways consistent with the model, i.e. PFP is most likely to be found in occupations characterized by both high monitoring difficulty and high requisite human asset specificity (mainly managerial and professional occupations) and least likely in occupations scoring low in both. The finding holds across PFP types (individual, group, organizational), whether organizations are large or small, and hold across most industrial sectors.Research limitations/implicationsThe main implication of this study is that organizations appear to be taking into consideration whether the wider profession to which a job belongs when implementing PFP, irrespective of their own human resource management strategies and organizational context. There are a few limitations to this study, with the main one being that this model is mainly confined to empirical support is only found in the private sector. The public sector appears to be beyond the reach of the model, where PFP implementation is generally rarer. A second limitation is that the dataset is from 2011 and only covers a single country.Practical implicationsGiven organizations appear to be implementing PFP based on occupation, this may lead to equity concerns, as different groups are being treated differently within organizations based upon their occupational group.Social implicationsAs PFP jobs tend to pay more than non-PFP jobs and PFP prevalence has been growing, by being more likely to implement it for generally high-paid groups (generally higher managerial and professional occupations), PFP may contribute to wider pay differentials within and between organizations.Originality/valueBy introducing the occupational-level of analysis and the differential nature of tasks across occupational groups, the model offers a new midrange, sociological perspective to understanding intra-organizational dynamics in PFP use and potentially human resource practices more broadly.

A promise made is a promise kept: Union voice, HRM practices, implicit contracts and workplace performance in times of crisis

AbstractSociological debates on financialisation emphasise that workplace‐based productivity bargains between employers and employees are often precarious. This literature suggests that where employers are unable to keep their side of the bargain, participative arrangements with employees are likely to become unsustainable in generating high workplace performance. Recessions substantially increase the pressures on employers to breach (unwritten and invisible) implicit bargains with employees. We propose that a robust (rather than shallow) implementation of union voice and Human Resource Management (HRM) practices will make implicit bargains more resilient and benefit workplace performance if recession impact is high. Using two waves of the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey (2004 and 2011), we examine our hypotheses in the context of the deep 2008–2009 recession and find supportive evidence – especially in (a) firms without a dominant individual or family owner and (b) growing markets.

Recessionary actions and absence: A workplace‐level study

AbstractActions such as work restructuring and wage and employment freezes taken by organizations in response to recessions are widely assumed to decrease employees' job security and detrimentally affect perceptions of management's trustworthiness. We assess whether these effects occur and if, in turn, they affect workplace absenteeism. Using data from Britain's Workplace Employee Relations Survey 2011, we show that the effects on stress‐based absence are limited and not as predicted, but the effects on withdrawal‐based absence are strong and as predicted. Reductions in well‐being or job security's effect on well‐being did not affect absence, and while the reduction of trust perceptions' effect was to increase anxiety, anxiety did not increase but reduced absenteeism. The effects on withdrawal absence differ: those of recessionary action through job security reduce absenteeism, while those through trust perceptions increase it, both as predicted. The two effects involving trust perceptions are less pronounced when recessionary actions are accompanied by voluntary layoffs, but not by compulsory layoffs. The implications for management are that they should be more conscious of the effects on absence when planning recessionary actions, and more generally their effects on presenteeism.

Differentiation in Pay for Performance Within Organizations: An Occupational Perspective

Purpose: This article addresses the question of why organizations do not uniformly apply pay for performance (PFP) throughout the organization, focusing on the wider occupational structure in which they and the jobs they create are embedded. We propose a model of ‘occupational differentiation’ whereby the probability of a job within a given organization having PFP increases with levels of monitoring difficulty and requisite human asset specificity characterizing the occupation to which a job belongs, being highest in occupations characterized by high levels of both (generally managerial and professional occupations). Design/methodology/approach: Using the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (a nationally-representative matched employer-employee dataset for Britain), this paper investigates this question for all 350 occupations delineated by the UK’s Office for National Statistics using regression methods that adjust for other confounding factors such as demographic factors and workplace fixed-effects. Findings: We find organizations ‘occupationally differentiate’ the use of PFP in ways consistent with the model i.e., PFP is most likely to be found in occupations characterized by both high monitoring difficulty and high requisite human asset specificity (mainly managerial and professional occupations) and least likely in occupations scoring low in both. The finding holds across PFP types (individual, group, organizational), whether organizations are large or small, and hold across most industrial sectors. Research limitations/implications: The main implication of this study is that organizations appear to be taking into consideration whether the wider profession to which a job belongs when implementing PFP, irrespective of their own HRM strategies and organizational context. There are a few limitations to this study, with the main one being that empirical support is only found in the private sector. The public sector appears to be beyond the reach of the model, where PFP is generally rarer. A second limitation is that the dataset is from 2011 and only covers a single country. Practical implications: Given organizations appear to be implementing PFP based on occupation, this may lead to equity concerns as different groups are being treated differently within organizations based upon their occupational group. Social implications: Since PFP jobs tend to pay more than non-PFP jobs and PFP prevalence has been growing, by being more likely to implement it for generally high-paid groups (generally higher managerial and professional occupations), PFP may contribute to wider pay differentials within and between organizations. Originality/value: By introducing the occupational-level of analysis and the differential nature of tasks across occupational groups, the model offers a new midrange, sociological perspective to understanding intra-organizational dynamics in PFP-use, and potentially HR practices more broadly.

Combining career and care‐giving: The impact of family‐friendly policies on the well‐being of working mothers in the United Kingdom

Taking into account variations in family structure among working mothers, this study examines the effect of family‐support policies on the well‐being of 4,247 female employees in Britain who have never married, are married, or are divorced, separated, or widowed. Based on data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey of 2011, the study found that not all family‐friendly policies were equally effective in alleviating anxiety and depression or in fostering job satisfaction among working mothers. Although having the option to work the same number of hours across fewer days per week was shown to be beneficial to the well‐being of never‐married mothers, flextime was beneficial to divorced, separated, or widowed mothers. Having the chance to reduce work hours, work from home, or work only during the school term was most beneficial to the well‐being of married mothers. These findings bolster arguments that the availability of family‐support policies in the workplace enhances the effectiveness of working mothers in both their work and family roles, thereby positively affecting their overall well‐being. They also highlight the role that individuals' family structures may play in the use of those initiatives.