Recession drives change in workplace practices
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Employee survey
The employee survey, reported in The changing workplace: A survey of employees’ views and experiences (2.14Mb PDF) (Volume 2), covered 5,110 employees in the public and private sectors. The survey covered topics such as:
- workplace change;
- attitude to job;
- skills and learning/training;
- employee relations;
- employee involvement and participation.
When compared with a similar study carried out in 2003, the data provided ESRI with a unique opportunity to examine change in the Irish workplace over a period in which there was a dramatic shift in the Irish economy from rapid growth to deep recession, and to examine the impact of these changes on employees.
Methodology
The survey targeted employees in the public and private sectors aged 15 and over. Following a pilot study in February 2009, telephone interviews were carried out between March and June 2009.
The sample for the telephone survey was generated ‘on a stratified random basis’ (Volume 2, p. 152) from a database of landline telephone numbers (containing both listed and unlisted numbers). To ensure all regions of the country were represented, the database was sorted by area code. The response rate for the employee survey (calculated as completed interviews as a percentage of the total estimated eligible) was 50%.
Findings
The effects of the economic downturn were evident in employees’ reports of their experiences over the preceding two years.
- Over half reported a reduction in staff numbers within their organisations in the preceding two years.
- One third said their job security had decreased compared to 4% in the 2003 survey.
- Just over a fifth (21%) of employees reported a decline in hourly pay in the previous two years – a finding that was uncommon in the 2003 survey. Some 37% of public sector workers reported a decline in pay compared to only 16% of those in the private sector.
- Over half (54%) of employees reported increased pressure at work compared with 34% in 2003. This finding could be linked to the economic downturn (for example as a knock-on effect from staff cuts or increased competition for markets/contracts).
Increased pressure could also arise from changing work practices, for example, increased devolution of responsibility to employees (61% reported an increase in responsibility) and up-skilling (45% reported an increase in the use of technology in their jobs).
Employee attitudes
‘Despite the very difficult economic context’, average satisfaction scores increased among private sector employees, although they decreased among public sector workers compared with the 2003 survey (Volume 2, p. 8). The level of organisational commitment also increased compared with 2003 as indicated by the finding that:
- the proportion of employees who would work harder to help the organisation to succeed increased from 81% in 2003 to 89% in 2009;
- the proportion who would turn down another job with higher pay to stay with the current organisation increased from 38% to 51%;
- the proportion who would take any job to stay with the organisation increased from 27% to 48%.
There was also a ‘marked increase in the willingness of employees to accept change since 2003’ (Table 2). Positive changes such as ‘willingness to take on greater responsibility, to innovate and to up-skill’ may ‘indicate a level of agreement between employee attitudes and high-level policy objectives’. However, the report’s authors caution that ‘the increase in employees’ willingness to accept poorer conditions, for example: increased pressure, increased supervision, and having to work unsocial hours, is likely to reflect the reduced bargaining power of employees’ (Volume 2, p. 9).
| Aspect of employment | 2003 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|
| Increase in the responsibilities you have | 73.8 | 84.7 |
| Increase in the pressure you work under | 44.3 | 56.9 |
| Increase in the level of technology or computers involved in your work | 75.3 | 89.0 |
| Being more closely supervised or managed at work | 40.8 | 59.9 |
| Increase in the level of skills necessary to carry out your job | 78.8 | 89.0 |
| Having to work unsocial hours | 30.9 | 45.9 |
| Increased responsibility for improving how your work is done | - | 90.5 |
Source: ‘The changing workplace: A survey of employees’ views and experiences’, Table 1 used with permission of the authors.
Pay systems and work practices
Incentivised pay systems such as bonuses, profit-sharing and gain-sharing were found to be much more common in the private sector than the public sector: ‘almost half of all employees in the private sector participate in an incentivised rewards system, compared to 11 per cent of public sector workers who are rewarded in this way’ (Volume 2, p. 12).
Over two thirds (69%) of public sector workers receive a regular increment to their pay compared with only 41% of private sector workers. The survey found that those in receipt of incentivised rewards earned more on average than those on flat rate pay systems (all other things being equal).
Part-time working and flexible working time were found to be the most common forms of working time flexibility in the Irish labour market. The proportion of employees in workplaces with part-time hours increased from 53% in 2003 to 62% in 2009, and personal involvement in part-time work increased from 20% to 26%.
Nearly half (47%) of employees were in workplaces that used flexitime/flexible working in 2009 compared with 43% in 2003.
Employee representation
The proportion of workers reporting the presence of a trade union or staff association at their workplaces ‘fell from 53 per cent in 2003 to 48 per cent in 2009’ (Volume 2, p. 40). There was a corresponding decline in the number of workers reporting that they were a member of a trade union/staff association, that is, from 38% to 34%. According to the report:
The biggest decline in trade union presence in the workplace and union membership took place in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Union presence and membership has remained stable in the public sector and has increased in the education sector, which is predominantly public sector.
(National Workplace Surveys 2009, Volume 2, p. 40)
Trade union presence and membership sector are shown in Table 3. The figures correspond with findings from the employer survey, which found that employee representation in the private sector was more common in manufacturing and construction than in the services sectors. Rates of collective bargaining in the private sector were also found to be highest in the manufacturing sector (29% in traditional manufacturing and 31% in high-tech manufacturing) and were considerably lower in distribution (16%), financial/insurance/business services (14%) and hotel/restaurant (14%).
| Sector | Trade union/staff association in workplace | Trade union/staff association member |
|---|---|---|
| Public | 87.2 | 68.7 |
| Private | 36.3 | 24.9 |
| Manufacturing industry and primary | 47.4 | 33.1 |
| Construction | 30.8 | 22.5 |
| Wholesale, retail | 35.0 | 21.6 |
| Hotel, restaurants | 15.1 | 8.9 |
| Transport, communication | 59.6 | 46.2 |
| Finance and other business services | 35.8 | 19.8 |
| Public administration and defence | 90.7 | 69.3 |
| Education | 77.3 | 60.0 |
| Health | 58.7 | 50.8 |
| Other services | 25.5 | 17.6 |
Source: ‘The changing workplace: A survey of employees’ views and experiences’, Table 2.10, used with permission of the authors.
Trade union membership among men has declined but women’s membership has remained stable. Although there has also been a decline in membership among those aged under 40, it has increased among those aged over 40. Membership had also increased among workers with the lowest level of educational attainment. Significantly ‘the greatest decline in membership occurred among third level graduates, who represent an increasing share of the workforce’ (Volume 2, p. 40).
Employees were also asked about ‘formal collective organisation in which employee representatives work with management’. The question was as follows:
Some workplaces establish committees on which unions work with management to promote partnership and co-operation, or to improve the organisation’s performance. Do union officers or shop stewards represent members on any such committees in your workplace?
(National Workplace Surveys 2009, Volume 2, p. 57)
Just over 21% of employees indicated that formal partnership institutions were in place at their workplaces:
Public sector workers, with higher levels of union presence and membership, are much more likely to report the presence of partnership institutions in their workplace: 41 per cent, compared to less than 16 per cent in the private sector.
(National Workplace Surveys 2009, Volume 2, p. 58)
The presence of partnership institutions was most frequently reported by employees in public administration and defence:
The presence of partnership institutions is also clearly related to organisational size: only 5 per cent of workers in organisations with one to four employees report the presence of such institutions, compared to almost 37 per cent of those with 100 or more employees.
(National Workplace Surveys 2009, Volume 2, p 58)
Roisin Farrelly, IRN Publishing
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