A publication by researchers at the CIRHR has won the Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership Outstanding Paper award at the Emerald Publishing 2020 Literati Awards.
"The “good workplace”: The role of joint consultative committees, unions and HR policies in employee ratings of workplaces in Britain," was co-authored by Rafael Gomez, Michael Barry, Alex Bryson, Bruce E. Kaufman, Guenther Lomas, and Adrian Wilkinson.
Guenther Lomas is a PhD candidate at the CIRHR whose research interests include international strategic human resource management, economics of management, labour economics and applied statistical methods for the social sciences. His research projects include empirical work on the role of workplace consultative committees, unions and high-involvement work systems in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.
Rafael Gomez (CIRHR PhD 2000) is associate professor of employment relations at the CIRHR. He has served as the Director of the Centre from 2015-2020, and will be returning as Director July 1, 2021.
Abstract:
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to take a serious look at the relationship between joint consultation systems at the workplace and employee satisfaction, while at the same time accounting for the (possible) interactions with similar union and management-led high commitment strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
Using new, rich data on a representative sample of British workers, the authors identify workplace institutions that are positively associated with employee perceptions of work and relations with management, what in combination the authors call a measure of the “good workplace.” In particular, the authors focus on non-union employee representation at the workplace, in the form of joint consultative committees (JCCs), and the potential moderating effects of union representation and high-involvement human resource (HIHR) practices.
Findings
The authors’ findings suggest a re-evaluation of the role that JCCs play in the subjective well-being of workers even after controlling for unions and progressive HR policies. There is no evidence in the authors’ estimates of negative interaction effects (i.e. that unions or HIHR negatively influence the functioning of JCCs with respect to employee satisfaction) or substitution (i.e. that unions or HIHR are substitutes for JCCs when it comes to improving self-reported worker well-being). If anything, there is a significant and positive three-way moderating effect when JCCs are interacted with union representation and high-involvement management.
Originality/value
This is the first time – to the authors’ knowledge – that comprehensive measures of subjective employee well-being are being estimated with respect to the presence of a JCC at the workplace, while controlling for workplace institutions (e.g. union representation and human resource policies) that are themselves designed to involve and communicate with workers.