Research and Information

Key themes - High Performance Working

The concept of the high performance workplace has become increasingly important to employers, policy makers and the social partners over recent years. The UK government of course wants to improve the competitiveness of the UK economy, which is variously considered to be between 20 and 40 per cent less productive than that our main competitors, including France, Germany and the USA.

According to a recent DTI discussion document, 'High Performance Workplaces: The role of employee involvement in a modern economy', 'modern, high performance workplaces build on the simple insight that individuals are more likely to give of their best if they feel valued and are given the opportunity to contribute their ideas; and that people who are well-prepared for change can help to introduce it and thereby help secure employment within the business' (DTI 2002: 13).

The shift to high performance working relies heavily on the adoption by organisations of a strategic approach to people management, but also upon the introduction of new forms of work organisation. As the European Commission's Green Paper, 'partnership for a new organisation of work' states, 'improving employment and competitiveness through a better organisation of work at the workplace, based on high skills, high trust and high quality' (1997: 5), is considered to hold a key role in improving the competitiveness of European organisations, as well as the quality of working life and the employability of its citizens.

Many of these new forms of work organisation or 'high performance work practices' require increasingly decentralised and devolved decision making and the direct involvement of employees.

The TUC adds that 'representative participation and high performance go hand in hand', a view supported by the Employee Direct Participation and Organisationsal Change (EPOC) programme, undertaken by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, that 'confirm[s] the importance of employee and employee representative involvement in the regulation of direct participation in order to improve both the quality of the participation itself and its economic and social effects. Far from being a barrier to progress, it seems, employee representatives are agents of change' (Sisson et al, 1997: 204).

There is no single formula or 'best practice' to ensure high performing workplaces, but there are a wide range of 'good practices'. However high performance should be about more than simply promoting business performance. As Joseph Stiglitz stated in a recent address to the American IRRA conference:

'We care about the kind of society we live in. We believe in democracy. Democratic processes must entail open dialogue and broadly active civic engagement, and require that individuals have a voice in the decisions that affect them, including economic decisions. Economic democracy is an essential part of a democratic society'.

The IPA sees the contribution of workers to business performance and the broader role of individuals as 'citizens' as inextricably linked. 'Coping with change in a global economy requires new forms of work organisation which actively challenge the role of managers, demand job redesign, teamworking and leave little option other than for employers and employees to become engaged and involved' (IPA 2002: 4).

Not ignoring the important role of new technology and innovation, direct involvement and representative participation are key catalysts for the development and sustainable implementation of new forms of work organisation and essential tools in establishing, firstly, the trust and secondly, the cultural change and continuous learning required of truly high performance workplaces.

Click here to search for examples of high performance working on Partnership at work.com, our extensive good practice database.

Click here for the UKWON research report on High Performance Working, published February 2007.