Abstract
Reviewed by: Raymond Markey, Macquarie University, Australia
The 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS) was the sixth in the series of surveys previously conducted in 1980, 1984, 1990, 1998 and 2004. The basic format has remained the same, with large-scale multi-instrument surveys of workplaces, enabling matched results from employers, employees and employee representatives. The repetition of broadly similar instruments also enabled panel samples to be surveyed, allowing more specific indications of change over time. This approach became the gold standard for employment relations surveys and was influential in the design of the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Surveys of 1990 and 1995, as well as the Australian Workplace Relations Study (AWRS) of 2014.
This book is the seventh reporting the broad results of the surveys (the 1998 WERS produced two). The WERS 2011 surveyed 2680 workplaces with five or more employees, and 21,981 of their employees, with a total of five questionnaires:
three questionnaires for managers:
– a self-completion questionnaire relating to the profile of the workplace, – an in-depth employee relations questionnaire based on person-to-person interviews and – a self-completion questionnaire relating to financial performance; a questionnaire for worker representatives; and an employee questionnaire.
Over time, the research design has shifted a little. An attempt has been made to garner objective data on productivity/financial performance rather than the entirely subjective assessments of previously, although unfortunately this book does not report on this survey instrument. The size of workplaces has also been reduced, from 25 employees in 1980 to 5 in 2011. This recognises the significance of the small business sector as an employer and also the importance of non-union and more informal approaches to employment relations.
A shift from industrial relations in the title of the early surveys to employment relations more recently also broadly indicates a shift in emphasis in the survey themes. The books in particular have changed thematic emphases in analysing the results. Hence, whilst the traditional industrial relations (IR) fare of trade unions, collective bargaining, pay and rewards, and industrial disputes still receive coverage, there is now more focus on non-union forms of employee voice, representative and direct and informal approaches. Employee involvement, flexibility, employee well-being and job quality are more important themes in this book.
The shift in focus is determined by the changing context for employment relations. Trade union and collective bargaining coverage have declined substantially since 1980, as have industrial disputes. Pay systems are more varied because of the greater influence of performance-based systems, and part-time and other non-standard forms of employment have grown substantially. After the growth in union and non-union joint consultative committees (JCCs), including health and safety committees to 1998, these have since declined with employers’ greater use of direct forms of employee voice. The impact of EU directives, such as the European Works Councils Directive and the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) regulations, have also been relatively limited. All of this is documented thoroughly by the surveys and associated books, including the most recent ones.
This most recent book in the series is particularly concerned with the economic context of the global financial crisis and its lingering aftermath, as indicated by its title; 60% of all employees identified at least one change while at their current workplace as a result of the depression, and over a third had experienced a number of changes, but these frequencies were much higher in the public sector (73% and 47%, respectively). The most common changes identified were wage cuts or freezes (32%), workload increases (28%) or work reorganisation (19%). Within workplaces employee experiences varied, with men and the disabled being particularly likely to experience changes.
Considerable variation also occurred within industry sectors as to the impact of the recession, with employment relations characteristics strongly associated with this variation. Private sector workplaces that introduced employee involvement schemes and performance related pay were less likely to be weakened by the recession. In the public sector work, reorganisation was more likely to sustain workplaces, and performance related pay had a negative impact on lessening the impact of recession.
As with the previous books, the quality, succinctness and accessibility of the summary analysis of such a large dataset is to be highly commended. It also provides a base for comparison with AWRS. A word of warning, however: direct comparisons between WERS and AWRS can be difficult because of different definitions of numerous variables such as unionised workplaces, JCCs, casual employment and even industry sectors. Unlike WERS, AWRS also took the organisation, rather than workplace, as the unit of analysis.