15th January 2009
Hannah Jameson, IPA Research Manager looks at the debates about the
future of employment relations and argues that there is still a case
for collectivism.
The Information and Consultation regulations were the great hope of many in moving employment relations in Britain towards the continental model of social partnership, widening representation and strengthening voice in the workplace. Yet almost four years on, leading academic John Purcell recently called the regulations “fatally flawed”, blaming employer opposition, a lack of government support and employee apathy for the failure of the regulations to live up to their potential.
Purcell argues that the current regulations rely to too great an extent on the willingness of managers to engage, but at present, there is little incentive for them to do so. Where I&C arrangements do exist in Britain, they are most often established through pre-existing arrangement. These are not necessarily negotiated agreements that operate within the law, but are sufficient to avoid defaulting to the standard I&C conditions. Only 2 out of 5 respondents to a CIPD poll in 2008 claimed to have implemented new consultation arrangements since the introduction of the regulations in 2005. Research from the IRRU shows that less than half of organisations in their large scale longitudinal study have I&C arrangements that approximate standard provision.
But are regulations that rely on a large degree of voluntarism necessarily doomed to fail? Before the regulations were introduced it was anticipated that trade unions would play a significant role in organising workers to request I&C provision. According to Purcell, this has not happened. Unlike their continental counterparts, who view I&C forums as an opportunity to extend influence into non-unionised workplaces, British unions have shown little appetite to engage with the regulations.
In the absence of active trade unions, workers are often either left unaware of the potential of the regulations or unable or unwilling to rally the necessary 10 per cent of the workforce to trigger the I&C process. The increasing number of ‘never union members’ amongst the private sector workforce means that there are fewer and fewer workers with experience of organising or expressing collective voice at work, making a change in demand unlikely . Head of Employment Relations at the CIPD, Mike
Emmott, agrees that consultation only works “when those involved are desperate to make it work”.
If neither the regulations, employers, employees or unions alone can be relied upon to implement I&C fully, then what next for information and consultation, or more broadly, collective voice in the workplace? Emmott argues that employers are only likely to support collective arrangements where they are believed to impact positively on performance.
This could explain why the CIPD’s recent Barometer report claimed that maintaining and developing employee engagement was likely to be the focus of changes in the employment relationship in the immediate future. But does this necessarily mean a complete abandonment of collectivism in the workplace?
The IPA believes that collective consultation arrangements can, and should, be part of any employee engagement programme. Much of the research on engagement points to the ability of employees to feed views upwards, or more broadly to feel valued and involved, as key drivers of engagement. Research from the Centre for Economic Performance points to the ability of employees to control the working environment as the biggest factor in determining employee commitment – a key component of
employee engagement. Effective expression of voice, genuine influence in the workplace and involvement in decision making are all reliant on a degree of collectivism.
Almost four years after the introduction of I&C regulations and their eventual impact is far from certain. As many commentators point out, Britain, unlike much of the rest of Europe, had no history of information and consultation, making easy implementation unlikely. Large scale cultural change takes time. What seems likely at the beginning of 2009 is that if I&C arrangements are to be strengthened in British businesses, then change is likely to occur through the sharing of best practice, and not just through further top down reform. I&C forums are going to have to prove their worth, particularly in engagement and productivity terms, for business leaders to accept that collective voice is an essential part of an effective workplace. Spreading best practice is essential.
Hannah Jameson
IPA Research Manager
hannah.jameson@ipa-involve.com
The discussion of the future of employment relations took place at a recent conference organised by UKWON and ACAS. John Purcell and Mike Emmott spoke at the event. For more information see www.ukwon.net
