Do HRM practices influence the desire for unionization? Evidence across workers,workplaces, and co-workers for Great Britain

We investigate the desire of nonunion workers in Great Britain to become represented by unions. Comparing our results to those from the United States, we find that workers in Great Britain are less likely to desire unionization and express lower dissatisfaction with their influence at work. The determinants of the desire for unionization are estimated controlling for a wide variety of individual and workplace variables. The roles of human resource management and employee involvement are isolated. We identify direct work-place and worker-level effects of these practices in reducing the desire for unionization and an indirect effect operating through the influence of employee relations, a major determinant of the desire for unionization. Also, we identify characteristics of co-workers that are associated with desire for unionization and examine the role information revelation may play in managerial strategies to forestall unions.     

Working children: the health and safety issue

Recent evidence has emerged that in Britain, like the US, many children below the official minimum school leaving age, are working. In many cases, the work is illegal. Research in the US suggests that many working children risk accidents and other hazards to health. Evidence from Britain on the health and safety aspects of child labour is of a more fragmentary nature, but enough exists to suggest a need for greater vigilance.     

Exploring graduate students’ perceptions about social work licensing

Social work practice is regulated in all the 50 USA, 10 Canadian Provinces, Great Britain, and Australia, to name a few. Though practitioners, educators, and researchers are increasingly attentive to regulatory dynamics, there remains a dearth in the literature related to social work licensing, specifically within the context of social work education. This exploratory study examined the US graduate social work students’ (N = 223) general knowledge and perceptions about social work licensing. Data suggest that though students value and have a desire to be licensed, some ambiguity and ambivalence persist around the topic. This paper explicates key findings and discusses implications derived from this study.     

Impairment on the move: the disabled incomer and other invalidating intersections

In this article, I argue that disabled people and immigrants are subjected to similar forms of representation. I draw on examples from theology in the Christian Middle Ages, the influence of eugenics on late nineteenth and twentieth-century US immigration policy and welfare reform in contemporary neoliberal Britain. These vignettes are invoked as case studies to illustrate how ableism follows impairment on the move and to point to the ways in which the confluence of ethnocentric and ableist fantasies about strangers brings the history of disability and migration onto the same terrain of disrepute.     

The role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and internal CSR communication in predicting employee engagement: Perspectives from the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

This study examined relationships among employees’ perception of CSR, three models of internal CSR communication and employee engagement. The findings, based on 516 valid survey responses from employees across different sectors in the United Arab Emirates, revealed that internal communication of CSR, both one-way and two-way symmetrical, predicted employee perceptions of CSR, with two-way asymmetrical communication being a negative predictor; perceptions of CSR predicted employee engagement; social and sustainable dimensions of CSR most strongly predicted social and affective dimensions of employee engagement; and both two-way symmetrical communication of CSR and employee perceptions of CSR strongly predicted employee engagement. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Perception differences between groups of employees identifying the factors that influence a return to work after a work-related musculoskeletal injury

Employee health and productivity losses as a result of work-related injury are estimated to be US dollars 1.2 trillion annually to US companies. This is approximately 14.3% of the gross domestic product [6,8,11,35]. Workers' compensation, medical care, and short and long-term disability are a part of these costs. Controlling or eliminating these costs is a problem for US employers [3,6,14,21,29]. The study discussed in this article examined the perceptions of manufacturing employees in identifying factors that influence a return to work after a work-related musculoskeletal injury. The classification of employees who participated in this study were safety professionals, supervisors and workers from the manufacturing industry in central Kentucky. The worker group consisted of material handlers, assembly line workers and quality control inspectors. The participants completed a developed survey instrument, the Return to Work Perception Survey. This survey instrument examined the perception of the participants on factors related to return to work: company policies and procedures, job satisfaction, worker relationships and work environment. The results indicated safety professionals and supervisors perceptions differ from workers on the variables of job satisfaction, worker relationships and work environment. Their perceptions did not differ on the variable relating to company policies and procedures. In addition, the safety professional and supervisor groups rated the items addressing job satisfaction higher than did the worker group. The worker group did not differ from one another on any of the factors. Implications of this study for manufacturing companies suggest (a). identifying those issues contributing to employee job satisfaction, (b). developing a plan for achieving increased job satisfaction and employee recognition at the workplace among all workers, and (c). consider allowing employees to develop new capacities and new learning, thus fostering motivation and job satisfaction [18,20].     

Workplace hazards and workers’ desires for union representation

This paper investigates “voice” responses to hazardous and otherwise disagreeable working conditions in the form of workers’ expressed desires for union representation. Using data from three surveys conducted between 1977 and 1982, workers exposed to significant health and safety risks on the job are found to be substantially more likely to report a willingness to vote pro-union than are comparable workers not similarly exposed. This finding is obtained using both subjective and objective measures of hazard and both union and nonunion workers. Management resistance, however, appears to play a strong role in determining the actual extent of unionization. Between 41 and 48 percent of workers in hazardous jobs desire union representation but have not achieved it. Support for this research was obtained from the Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California, Berkeley. Computational help was provided by Keun Lee and Glenn Shor. Valuable comments on an earlier draft were obtained from William Dickens.     

German fathers and their preferences for shorter working hours for family reasons

This study is among the first to analyze fathers’ preference for shorter working hours specifying that the preference is related to the wish to spend more time with the family. Assuming that preferences are context-dependent, this article explores the relevance of the family and workplace context for preference formation. We develop need-based and capability-based arguments to contrast the job demands–resources approach and the capabilities approach in work–family research. Using a sample of 632 fathers from the German LEEP-B3 data with a representative linked employer–employee design for large work organizations we conclude that fathers’ preferences for shorter working hours are indeed context-dependent and that there is more evidence for need-based arguments than opportunity based arguments. Our results indicate that fathers with young children and fathers with high work demands are more likely to desire shorter working hours, whereas a reduction in working hours appears to be unnecessary for fathers who can satisfactorily reconcile work and family life through support from their supervisors. In contrast to capability-based arguments the perception of a highly demanding work culture was not found to decrease but increase the likelihood to desire to work shorter hours.     

Chapter 5: Perspectives on the Integration of Employee Assistance and Work-Life Programs

SUMMARY

A recent qualitative study explored perceptions of critical issues and challenges from the point of view of experts and key informants working in diverse roles in the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) field (Sharar & Hertenstein, 2005). One of the central themes that came out of the study is that EAPs have become a type of platform for the expansion of integrated collateral services, chiefly work-life (WL) programs. This paper presents a variety of perceptions and opinions from experts in the EAP field, both pro and con, on the growing convergence of EA and WL programs, including the rationale to integrate, segregate, and concerns regarding the diffusion of traditional and core EAPs. The paper concludes with the authors? perspectives on implications for the EA field, along with the need to find ways to measure if and when integration leads to employee and organizational improvement.     

Youth-adult differences in the demand for unionization: Are American, British, and Canadian workers all that different?

We examine demand for union membership amongst young and adult workers in Britain, Canada, and the United States. Using a model of representation advanced by Farber (1983, 2001) and Riddell (1993), we find that a majority of the union density differential between young and adult workers in all three countries is due to supply-side constraints rather than a lower desire for unionization by the young. This finding lends credence to two conjectures: first, tastes for collective representation do not differ substantially among workers (either by nationality or by age) and second, union representation can be fruitfully modeled as an experience-good. The experience-good properties of union membership explain the persistence of union density differentials (in this case between youth and adults) in the face of equal levels of desired representation. An earlier version of this paper appeared as Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) discussion paper dp515, January 2002. This paper was produced under the “Future of Trade Unions in Modern Britain” program supported by the Leverhulme Trust and with the financial help of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. We thank Jo Blanden, Andy Charlwood, David Metcalf, and Steve Machin for comments on an earlier draft. We dedicate this paper to our mentor and friend, the late Noah Meltz, who passed away as this paper was being written.     

The Final Instance - Unemployment Insurance Going Private? A Study of a Future Social Security Scenario in the UK and Germany

This paper explores the scope for privatizing unemployment insurance in Britain and Germany. The research builds on two consecutive projects, undertaken in the two countries between 1996 and 2000. The studies investigated people's attitudes towards the welfare state and private insurance, and families' strategies to manage the financial risk of unemployment. About 6% of the working population of both Britain and Germany claimed to possess private unemployment insurance. A further 23% in Britain and 12% in Germany expressed an intention to acquire private unemployment insurance. Attitudes towards private unemployment insurance were influenced by perceptions of unemployment risk, household circumstances, private money management strategies, and perceptions of the welfare state and the efficiency and trustworthiness of its institutions. The risk of exclusion from insurance in the two countries, either voluntary or as a result of actuarial risk assessment, is investigated. There is at present little evidence of adverse selection, nor would an expansion of the private unemployment insurance market necessarily entail that risk. However, the study found some, albeit limited, evidence of moral hazard. Significant country-specific differences were apparent in all aspects of the study.     

The Selection of Partial or Full Retirement by Older Workers

The study investigated whether older workers chose partial or full retirement instead of full-time work. Partial or full retirement status was modeled as a combination of self-reported retirement status and change in number of hours worked. The results of multinomial logistic regression using data from the first and fifth waves of the Health and Retirement Study collected in 1992 and 2000 showed that age and gender had similar effects on the likelihood of partial and full retirement. Full retirement was also influenced by investment assets, pensions, employee health insurance, and poor health. The likelihood of partial retirement was also influenced by self-employment, chronic health conditions, and education. Workers who seek partial retirement need working conditions that allow them to make this choice.     

Divergent female part-time employment in Britain and Denmark and the implications for gender equity

This paper examines women's employment in Britain and Denmark, societies characterised similarly by high proportions of female employees working part‐time but by rather different gender arrangements. Part‐time working is associated with female‐carer workers; women who have reduced their hours in the labour market to bring up children and are able to do this because of the presence of an alternative source of income—usually a male breadwinner. Yet Denmark has been conceptualised as having more of ‘dual‐breadwinner’ gender arrangement than Britain. It would seem then, that part‐time working is distinctly different in these two societies. Examining this question, the paper concludes that extensive part‐time working for women, and not men, does indeed tend to reinforce a traditional male‐breadwinner model. However, the strength of this reinforcement varies, depending on the relative conditions of the part‐time labour market. These conditions vary substantially cross‐nationally and can also change rapidly within one society over time. As a result, the typical ‘role’ a part‐time job plays for women can also vary cross‐nationally and can change over time.     

Bridging the Border between Work and Family: The Effects of Supervisor‐Employee Similarity*

We examine the relationship between supervisor‐employee race/ethnicity, gender, and caregiving similarity and employees’ perceptions that supervisors provide support for bridging the border between work and family life. Employees report greater net perceived supervisor interactional support, but not instrumental support, when the immediate supervisor is the same race/ethnicity or the same gender as the employee, but not when they have similar caregiving responsibilities. Having a supervisor of the same gender is more salient for women and race/ethnic similarity is more salient for men. We also find patterns of difference in the relative salience of gender and race/ethnic similarity within race/ethnic/gender groups.     

Explaining Breadth and Depth of Employee Voice across Firms: A Voice Factor Demand Model

This paper develops a model which explains breadth and depth of firms’ demand for employee voice. The theory innovation is to model employee voice as a factor input in production and derive a voice demand curve. Differences in voice productivity determinants across firms act as shift factors and cause cross-section variation in voice demand curves which translates into an empirically observable voice frequency distribution. Insights from institutional economics are incorporated to show that transition from a nonunion to union form of voice may cause a large discontinuity in the demand curve. Other contributions include: sharpened definition and delineation of the employee voice construct, use of the voice frequency distribution as a dependent variable in empirical research, graphical representation of the firm’s benefit-cost choice of voice, distinction between employee voice as communication and influence (muscle) and graphical demonstration of conditions under which one is preferred to the other, clarification of the participation/representation gap concept, and policy insights regarding pros and cons of the regulation of employee voice in American labor law.     

Provider perceptions of the social work environment and the state of pediatric care in a downsized urban public academic medical center

The author's purpose through this study was to document and analyze health provider perceptions of their social work environment and the state of pediatric care at Los Angeles County King/Drew Hospital and Medical Center in 2000, after the restructuring and downsizing of the hospital and its community clinics. The research results showed nurses and physicians reporting that both the quality of pediatric care and the provider social work environment were poor. Negative factors in the social work environment included: low employee morale, poorly staffed clinical teams, lack of professional autonomy, perceptions of low quality of care for pediatric patients, and interpersonal issues of poor communication and collaboration among providers. Providers also perceived a non-supportive work environment, sense of powerlessness, poor quality of work, lack of goal clarity from leadership, lack of fairness in leadership behavior, and an organizational leadership that is abandoning its core mission and values, thereby making it difficult for providers to carry out their professional functions. The author's findings in this study suggest a relationship between intra-role conflict, social employment environment and quality of care at King/Drew Medical Center in 2000. Lessons for practice are presented.     

Environmental stressors: the mental health impacts of living near industrial activity

A growing literature examines whether the poor, the working class, and people of color are disproportionately likely to live in environmentally hazardous neighborhoods. This literature assumes that environmental characteristics such as industrial pollution and hazardous waste are detrimental to human health, an assumption that has not been well tested. Drawing upon the sociology of mental health and environmental inequality studies, we ask whether industrial activity has an impact on psychological well-being. We link individual-level survey data with data from the US. Census and the Toxic Release Inventory and find that residential proximity to industrial activity has a negative impact on mental health. This impact is both direct and mediated by individuals' perceptions of neighborhood disorder and personal powerlessness, and the impact is greater for minorities and the poor than it is for whites and wealthier individuals. These results suggest that public health officials need to take seriously the mental health impacts of living near industrial facilities.     

知识型企业员工满意度影响因素的实证研究

员工满意度被认为是影响员工工作绩效的重要因素,而员工满意度受很多因素的影响,文章以知识型企业员工为研究对象,提取了影响知识型企业员工满意度的五个维度:工作群体、工作环境、企业管理、工作回报、个人发展。研究发现,工作群体对员工整体满意度影响最大,个人发展对员工整体满意度影响最小。这样的结果主要是由知识型企业员工的工作状况决定的。     

Listening Environment and the Bottom Line: How a Positive Environment Can Improve Financial Outcomes

Amidst the onslaught of communication at work, employees’ voices can be neglected in favor of the bottom line. This research initiates an exploration of the relationship between employee perceptions of the listening environment at work and organizational financial performance indicators. In this exploratory pilot study, we collected data from N = 65 employees of a single firm with multiple geographically and financially independent units. Using simple regression analysis, researchers compared data between units to determine if employee perceptions of positive qualities of the listening climate are related to improvement in sales and net income. Results suggest a potentially positive relationship between employees’ perceptions of a positive listening environment and these organizational performance indicators, suggesting that listening is an important step in building the communication climate of a productive company.     

Family Roles as Moderators of the Relationship Between Schedule Flexibility and Stress

Employer initiatives that address the spillover of work strain onto family life include flexible work schedules. This study explored the mediating role of negative work–family spillover in the relationship between schedule flexibility and employee stress and the moderating roles of gender, family workload, and single‐parent status. Data were drawn from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce, a nationally representative sample of working adults (N = 2,769). The results indicated that schedule flexibility was associated with less employee stress and that these associations were mediated by perceptions of negative work–family spillover. This study found the moderating relationships of gender, family workload, and single parenting in the relationships between schedule flexibility and negative work–family spillover and stress. Schedule flexibility had stronger relationships in reducing negative work–family spillover and stress among women, single parents, and employees with heavier family workloads. The findings provide empirical support for intervention efforts involving schedule flexibility to reduce workplace stress among employees with family responsibilities.