Survey finds that municipal workers are in favour of individual pay

Employees of Swedish municipalities and rural districts consider that their pay should depend on their work results and should thus be set on an individual basis. This is one of the conclusions of a survey commissioned by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and published in September 1999, shortly before wage negotiations were due to start for teachers employed in the public sector.

In September 1999, a study was published on the subject of the significance of pay for increased effectiveness and productivity in Swedish municipalities and rural districts. The survey was ordered by the municipal employers' organisation, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities (Svenska Kommunförbundet, Kommunförbundet) and carried out by the National Institute of Working Life (Arbetslivsinstitutet, ALI). Of 4,700 employees, managers and politicians on municipal executive boards surveyed in spring 1999, some 80% responded. Sweden is divided into 289 municipalities and rural districts (kommuner). In November 1998, there were 738,000 persons employed by the organisations represented by Kommunförbundet, three out of four of whom work in public services such as medical provision, geriatric care and education.

The study arose from a desire by the employers to obtain information from employees about their opinions on wages as a means of improving motivation at work. In brief, the survey shows that motivation is very important for workers and that satisfactory pay is related to motivation. However, there must be communication between the manager and the individual worker on result of the work and the pay. According to the researchers - Jan Wallenberg and Lage Carlsson (a wage official at Kommunförbundet) - another prerequisite for a good work result is that the employees must have a high degree of influence and independence in their work.

Six occupational groups were included in the study: teachers, whose collective agreement was to be renegotiated later in autumn 1999; nursing staff; pre-school staff; municipal workers, like firefighters and gardeners; clerical staff; and staff with a university qualification. Two kinds of managers, the manager just above the respondent and managing directors, were included in the investigation, as were the chairs of municipal executive boards.

With regard to the level at which pay should be set, 33% of the workers surveyed stated that they would like to have their pay set by individual negotiation with their "closest" manager. A further 26% of the workers considered that it would be appropriate for pay to be set by negotiation between the local trade union and the same manager. The managers surveyed expressed similar opinions to the workers on this matter, whereas the "politicians" would prefer pay negotiations to occur between Kommunförbundet and the central sectoral trade unions at national level.

Good public services emphasised

All those surveyed agreed that the most important factors to be taken account in wage-setting are: providing good public services for the clients/users; allowing workers to assume responsibility; achieving a good work result; and promoting individual initiatives. There is considerable agreement within the overall group that increasing age, period of employment, education and demand on the labour market for different occupational groups should not have an influence on wage-setting.

In practice, most of the employees consider that their wages do not reflect their work results. The survey indicates that the employees are generally rather dissatisfied with their current pay, the development of their pay and their pay in comparison with co-workers with similar tasks. Municipal workers and clerks are the most dissatisfied groups.

Managers and workers hold a number of views in common - for example: the senior manager "closest" to the worker at the workplace is the manager best equipped to judge the results of a worker's work and to set a fair wage; the same manager ought to agree on wages with the worker or with the local trade union; and politicians should not interfere in wage issues for individual workers.

Differing opinions

Opinions within the survey group differed on a number of issues. Two-thirds of the managers considered that wages do currently reflect work results. Managers and politicians considered that responsibility at work is the most important factor in judging the quality of work results, while many workers considered that it is provision of good public services for the clients/users that is the most important factor in performing and judging a "good job".

The politicians - who are also the employers given the way that municipalities are run in Sweden - considered that wages should be negotiated with the trade unions either by the municipality's head of administration or at central sectoral level, and absolutely not between a senior manager and the local trade union. Heads of administration considered, as well as the politicians, that it is the heads of administration who are best suited to agree with the unions on pay for the employees. The heads also have greater faith than the workers in the local trade unions' capability of judging the work results and of agreeing on fair pay.

No important gender differences

In terms of differences between male and female employees, it may be noted that the women surveyed emphasised more than the men the importance of a formal education and a long period of employment in setting pay. However, there was no real gender difference in terms of views on the most important factors in wage-setting. The elements identified by the women were the same as those reported above for workers as a whole - ie providing good public services to the clients, assuming responsibility, work results and power of initiative. More often than the women, men tended to consider that there are differences in work achievement between workers with similar tasks, and that such differences should lead to a difference in wages.

In occupational terms, teachers, clerical workers and university graduates tended more than other workers to consider that employees with similar tasks produce different results. University graduates were most in favour of linking pay to work results. Along with clerical workers, graduates believed more than other employees that those who work well should be paid well. Clerical and municipal workers are the occupational groups that agreed most with the statement in the survey that "if pay was more related to work results, the results would be better".

Commentary

Swedish municipalities and rural districts have a long history of independence and self-government. However, pay negotiations are carried out centrally between Kommunförbundet and the different trade unions with members in the municipal sector. Over the past 20 years, wages and salaries for the employees in the municipalities and the rural districts have moved in the direction of more individual and more differentiated pay. This change is reflected in the widespread opinion among employees surveyed that they want to have their pay set on an individual basis.

The main focus of the survey is on the judgments and opinions of the employees, managers and politicians. The aim of the study was partly to increase the knowledge of managers and politician about pay-setting as a means of improving public services. In this respect, the results of the study show a marked mutual understanding between the parties, as the workers consider that a good work result is "defined" (among other criteria) as rendering good public services to the clients in the municipality. Bearing this in mind, the negotiators ought to be able to make a good start in the forthcoming wage negotiations. (Annika Berg, Arbetslivsinstitutet)