WERS and other things: Recent developments in industrial and employment relations Stephanie Freeth and Andrew Rowlinson, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Part 1 Industrial Relations

Trade Union membership peaked in 1979 and has declined since… Trade union membership, UK, 1892 to 2009 (Millions) Source: Department of Employment Statistics Division; Certification Office

Union membership at workplace level has declined but percentage of employees in workplaces with any union members has remained stable … Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study

Decline in percentage of workplaces with union members was restricted to the private sector… Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study

There has been no significant decline in union recognition … Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study

Managers’ attitudes towards unions have not changed since 2004 but a higher percentage would prefer to consult employees directly. In 2011… Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study 24% agreed that unions help find ways to improve workplace performance 17% not in favour of unions 80% would rather consult directly with employees (up from 76%)

The percentage of managers who shared information with employees has increased since 2004 but other forms of employee engagement have not grown … Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study

Employees thought managers were better at consulting than at allowing employees to influencing decisions … Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study

Employees were more committed to their organisation in 2011 than in 2004 … Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study Share values of the organisation Feel loyal to the organisation Proud to tell people who I work for

Part 2 Pay determination

Collective bargaining may be declining in the public sector but that may be because of Public Pay Review Bodies or pay freeze … Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study

Trade unions were still regarded as a good representative for getting a pay increase. In 2011… Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study 30% employees saw unions as the best representative for getting a pay increase rising to 55% among employees in unionised workplaces and to 69% among union members

Private sector union-negotiated settlements are more likely to result in a pay increase… Source: Trade union membership, % change in average hourly earnings between 2010 and 2011, by union status and sectorTrade union membership, % change in average hourly earnings between 2010 and 2011, by union status and sector

Part 3 Workplace and individual disputes

Managers and employees were positive about their relationship with each other... Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study

The percentage of workplaces where an employee has raised a formal grievance has declined. The incidence of other forms of individual disputes has remained stable... Source: 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study

The number of awards for compensation at Employment Tribunal is relatively low Employment Tribunal and EAT Statistics (GB),

Working days lost due to labour disputes is at historically low levels… Working days lost (thousands) – Labour Force Survey

…In recent times the majority of working days lost has been due to public sector… Working days lost (thousands) – Labour Force Survey

…The 2011 strikes appear different.. Two 24h strikes driving the days lost Working days lost (thousands) – Labour Force Survey

Part 4 Background information about the data sources

Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS) Nationally representative, periodic, survey of public and private sector workplaces with 5 or more employees. Latest in the series is the 2011 WERS. Coverage - all industry sectors, except for: Agriculture, hunting and forestry; Fishing; Mining and quarrying; Private households with employed persons; and Extra-territorial organizations and bodies Stratified random sampling from Inter-Departmental Business Register (local units)

Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS) – survey components Face-to-face interview with most senior manager responsible for day-to-day employment relations at the workplace Paper based/online survey of up to 25 employees at the workplace Face-to-face/telephone survey of most senior union and non-union worker representatives Paper-based/online financial performance questionnaire Panel element consisting of all the workplaces that took part in the 2004 WERS and were still in existence in 2011.

Summary of research design 2011 WERS Face-to-faceSelf-completionFace-to-face/phone Interview with Managers (New sample, n=1,691) Interview with Worker Representatives (n=1,002) Survey of Employees (n=21,981) Interview with Managers (2004 sample, n=989)

Top level description of the WERS data items Factual information about the characteristics of the workplace e.g. Number of employees, workforce composition, nature of wider organisation, industry (coded to SIC 2007 and SIC 2003), workplace practices, performance Subjective data from a range of different perspectives e.g. Perception of relationship between managers, employees and union representatives, perception of financial performance relative to others within same industry WERS has data items that can be used to link it to other data sets: Annual Business Inquiry Business Structure Database Financial Analysis Made Easy Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings

Further information on WERS 2011 WERS First Findings available for download from employment-relations-study-wers-transparency-data employment-relations-study-wers-transparency-data Data for secondary analysis are available from the UK Data Service Book – Employment Relations in the Shadow of Recession (available in November 2013)