In Employment Relations in the Shadow of Recession Brigid van Wanrooy and her co-authors offer a thorough and insightful analysis of the recession’s impact on employment relations. Drawing on findings from the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS), the book provides an in-depth analysis of the changes made to employment practices through the recession and of the impact that the economic downturn has had on the shape and character of the employment relationship and workplaces within the UK. The 2011 WERS is the sixth in a series of periodic, large-scale, nationally representative workplace surveys of employment relations and employment practices. Its predecessor, conducted in 2004, was undertaken when the British economy had experienced sustained economic growth and a buoyant employment rate. Thus, the authors offer an assessment of the extent to which employment relations have changed in the intervening time period of 2004-2011.
Following earlier waves in 1980, 1984, 1990, 1998, and 2004, WERS 2011 includes questionnaires for workplace managers, employee representatives, and employees. Findings are based on data collected in 2011, comprising of a sample of 2,680 organisations and 21,981 workers in those organisation on top of reporting analyses from a panel of 989 organisation also surveyed in 2004. A unique feature of WERS 2011 was the inclusion of the impact of the recession, which is covered in full detail in chapters two and nine of the book. The effects of the shadow of recession is a continuing theme throughout, in particular within the six chapters that examine employment relations institutions and workplace employment practice, the quality of employees’ jobs and employee wellbeing, and the overall climate of employment relations. Throughout these six chapters topics covered include: the nature of employment between 2004 and 2011 (with particular attention in the method of labour deployment and whether this changed during the recession), the role of the recession in pay outcomes (notably pay freezes), whether the recession has led to a deterioration in job quality, and the employment relations climate in British workplaces since 2004. In addition, Chapter 9 focuses on the experience of workplaces and employees in the recession, going beyond a descriptive analysis presented in Chapter 2 to examine in more detail which type of employees were affected by recession-induced changes in the workplace.
There are several themes that pervade the text and create a sense of continuity across the chapters. One is an emphasis on the importance of distinguishing between the public and private sectors, a point the authors convincingly develop throughout, particularly in the chapters on pay and rewards and on the quality of jobs and employment. Another theme, as mentioned previously, explores the impact of the recent recession on workplaces and employees. In fact, some of the 2011 questions were purposely crafted to uncover the effects of the recession on workplaces and employees. Of central interest is whether the long run decline of collective institutions, including trade unions and collective bargaining, tracked by successive WERS, has continued. Evidence from the book suggests the decline in union recognition and collective bargaining has plateaued since 2004. What’s more, levels of union recognition and membership numbers remain markedly lower in the private than in the public sector.
In the private sector, collective bargaining reportage of employees in 2011 remained at the same low level of 16 per cent it was in 2004, however the range of items on which bargaining takes place has continued to fall. Most notably, even of those workplaces with union recognition, almost half reported in 2011 that no bargaining over pay existed. For the public sector, the change underlying the apparent stability of union recognition has been sharper as, although collective bargaining is presumed the norm, union influence over pay has distinctly diminished. This is, in part, because independent Pay Review Bodies now cover employees in a third of public-sector workplaces as well as the influence of public-sector pay freezes.
The authors suggest that poor existence of pay bargaining is reflected in the response of employers to the recession. For the first time since the War, employers were able to reduce costs mainly by reducing real wages. In the private sector, wage freezes and cuts were most frequently accompanied by reductions in other benefits such as employer contributions to pensions. Employers also used measures such as reducing training and voluntary redundancy, but on the whole it was shown that continuing reductions of employee income was mainly utilised. The authors identify that this was less the case in workplaces where unions were recognised compared to their non-union counterparts. Moreover, in the private sector, workplaces that recognised unions for pay bargaining were less likely to be negatively affected by the recession than non-union workplaces.
It is recognised that since 2004 the economy has experienced a great deal of turbulence while the system of employment relations has settled down. In addressing this apparent stability, Van Wanrooy and her co-authors suggest that this has been caused by a maturation of employment relations systems that evolved from the Conservative Government’s programme of reform in the 1980s and 1990s. Against a setting that is largely non-unionised, managers have been encouraged to directly engage with employees. The public sector remains different, however, as it continues to be strongly unionised, but even here it is suggested that there are signs of convergence towards managerial practices that are commonplace in the private sector. The authors remark that whether this largely non-unionised system is sustainable in the long term remains to be seen. Nonetheless early signs from the private sector do show employees are more positive about their jobs and their working environment than they were in the early 2000s.
In conclusion, Employment Relations in the Shadow of Recession: Findings from the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study is written clearly and demonstrates a uniform style despite having several authors. It is solidly packed with new results, covering a notable amount of ground for its modest length. It provides a thorough and accessible introduction to the 2011 data that is likely to stimulate much more new research. The book is full of results that will be of interest not only to researchers but is also fully accessible for non-academics. Overall, the content of this well-executed book is highly relevant and accessible for all who practice, tutor, research, or study in the field of human resource management, and it should be read by anyone interested in using WERS 2011.
