Andy Charlwood

The vulnerable worker in Britain and problems at work

This article investigates the experience of low paid workers without union representation. It reports on the findings of a recent survey of 501 low paid, non-unionized workers who experienced problems at work. The results demonstrate that problems at work are widespread and, despite a strong propensity to take action to try to resolve them, most workers failed to achieve satisfactory resolutions. In the light of these results, we argue that the current UK Government definition of vulnerability is too narrow because our results suggest that a large proportion of low paid, unrepresented workers are at risk of being denied their employment rights. Therefore we question the ability of the UKs current system of predominantly non-unionized employment relations to deliver employment rights effectively and fairly.

Not all that it might seem: why job satisfaction is worth studying despite it being a poor summary measure of job quality

Interest in data on job satisfaction is increasing in both academic and policy circles. One common way of interpreting these data is to see a positive association between job satisfaction and job quality. Another view is to dismiss the usefulness of job satisfaction data, because workers can often express satisfaction with work where job quality is poor. It is argued that this second view has some validity, but that survey data on job satisfaction and subjective well-being at work are informative if interpreted carefully. If researchers are to come to sensible conclusions about the meaning behind job satisfaction data, information about why workers report job satisfaction is needed. It is in the understanding of why workers report feeling satisfied (or dissatisfied) with their jobs that sociology can make a positive contribution.

HR and analytics: why HR is set to fail the big data challenge

Few organisations have made much progress in developing HR analytics capabilities, write Andy Charlwood, Mark Stuart, Ian Kirkpatrick and Mark T Lawrence

What is the relationship between long working hours, over-employment, under-employment and the subjective well-being of workers? Longitudinal evidence from the UK:

Are long working hours, over-employment and under-employment associated with a reduction in subjective well-being? If they are, is the association long or short-lasting? This article answers these questions through within-person analysis of a nationally representative longitudinal survey from the United Kingdom. The results suggest that long working hours do not directly affect subjective well-being, but in line with theories of person–environment fit, both over-employment and under-employment are associated with lower subjective well-being. However, over-employment is more likely for those who work the longest hours. The duration of the subjective well-being penalty associated with over-employment and under-employment is typically short, but subjective well-being levels tend to remain depressed for those who remain over-employed for two years or more. Results imply that state and organizational policies that reduce the incidence of long hours working are likely to enhance aggregate well-being levels.

Informal Employment Dispute Resolution among Low-Wage Non-Union Workers: Does Managerially Initiated Workplace Voice Enhance Equity and Efficiency?

The decline of collective industrial relations has shifted the focus of industrial relations research to the study of individual employment disputes. In this article, we investigate whether employer-initiated workplace voice is associated with improved resolution of individual complaints or grievances workers make against employers. We find that our measure of workplace voice is associated with less serious problems, more informal methods of dispute resolution, more satisfactory outcomes for workers and lower quit rates. However, these findings need to be set against generally low rates of satisfactory dispute resolution for all employees in our sample.

Union Membership Decline in New Zealand, 1990—2002

This article uses individual-level data from the New Zealand Election Study surveys to analyse trade union membership decline between 1990 and 2002. The abrupt decline in union density during the first two-and-a-half years of the Employment Contracts Act 1991 was concentrated almost entirely in the private and mixed/non-profit sectors, and was sharpest among workers in the secondary labour market. Across 1990—2002, compositional change (i.e. change in the structure of the economy and workforce) and attitudinal change, as captured in our analysis, had little impact on union density decline. Most of the decline in density explained in this analysis can be attributed to within-group behavioural change. A number of explanations are discussed. The findings are consistent with the thesis that the sharp decline in union membership under the Employment Contracts Act 1991 was largely due to receding union reach, resulting in the current unfulfilled demand for union membership reported elsewhere.

Long working hours and physical activity

Background It is widely believed that persons employed in jobs demanding long working hours are at greater risk of physical inactivity than other workers, primarily because they have less leisure time available to undertake physical activity. The aim of this study was to test this hypothesis using prospective data obtained from a nationally representative sample of employed persons. Methods Longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (93 367 observations from 17 893 individuals) were used to estimate conditional fixed effects logistic regression models of the likelihood of moderate or vigorous physical exercise for at least 30 min, at least four times a week. Results No significant associations between long working hours and the incidence of healthy levels of physical activity were uncovered once other exogenous influences on activity levels were controlled for. The odds of men or women who usually work 60 or more hours per week exercising at healthy levels were 6% and 11% less, respectively, than those of comparable persons working a more standard 35–40 h/week; however, neither estimate was significantly different from 0 at 95% CI. Conclusions The findings suggest that there is no trade-off between long working hours and physical activity in Australia. It is argued that these findings are broadly consistent with previous research studies from Anglo-Saxon countries (where long working hours are pervasive) that employed large nationally representative samples.

Clear, rigorous and relevant: publishing quantitative research articles in Work, employment and society

According to the recent benchmarking review of the discipline, UK sociological research is predominantly based around qualitative research methods (BSA/HaPS/ESRC 2010: 23). Further, evidence suggests that the overwhelming majority of empirical articles published in mainstream UK sociology journals are qualitative in their focus (Payne 2007: 903). In this context, WES has always been something of an outlier within UK sociology in that a relatively high proportion of articles published in the journal employ quantitative analysis (Rainbird and Rose 2007: 212; Stuart et al 2013:382). However, one consequence of the relative neglect of quantitative methods within UK sociology is that there is a lack of shared understanding about what constitutes appropriate ways of framing and presenting quantitative sociological analysis. This lack of shared understanding can then create problems for researchers seeking to publish articles based on quantitative research, because in contrast to social science disciplines where quantitative analysis is the norm, there is no clear, well established template or set of expectations for quantitative sociological research articles.

Do economic conditions influence union activism behaviour

This article develops and tests the theory that union activism is related to economic conditions using a nationally representative panel of workers from the UK. Results suggest that a fall in real wages of two percentage points and a three percentage point increase in the unemployment rate are both associated with a one-tenth increase in the probability that a ‘benchmark’ worker will become a union activist (albeit from a low base). This relationship is largely explained by the behaviour of workers in highly unionized sectors.

Book review symposium: Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone

The Spirit Level demonstrates that societies with less economic inequality have better social outcomes, with the result that everyone in a more equal society is better off. It then argues that economic inequality is the key cause of social problems and proposes several ideas for making societies more equal. I found it a frustrating book to read. In part, it is brilliant: concise, clear and compelling. But the other part is simplistic, speculative and polemical. The main substance of the book can be found in Chapters 4 to 12. These chapters establish that there is a strong statistical relationship between higher levels of economic inequality, poorer community life, higher levels of health and social problems and less social mobility. This is demonstrated through analysis of advanced industrial economies and of US states. Wilkinson and Pickett do a very good job of communicating these relationships in a clear and simple manner. Their favoured method is to plot graphs of the relationship between the gini coefficient and different outcomes. They explain this method in clear and simple language that is readily accessible. They eschew more complex statistical and econometric methods, although they include plentiful supporting references to studies based on these methods. Throughout they discuss why these statistical relationships are observed. Simply put, they argue that the social conditions of less equal societies lead to less trust and create more stress and anxiety. Again, this argument is well supported with references to the academic literature, and the weight of evidence is convincing. Later chapters are more problematic. Wilkinson and Pickett assert strongly that economic inequality is the key cause of poor outcomes. They posit that while other social conditions may vary between countries, countries with very different social and economic systems (e.g. the Scandinavian nations and Japan) both enjoy relatively low levels of social problems while also possessing relatively low levels of economic inequality, therefore equality must be the cause of good outcomes. Consequently, it is essential to reduce inequality. The methods used to reduce inequality are of secondary importance. I am not convinced. Many of the studies cited suggest more complex chains of causality, which imply the methods used to reduce inequality will matter for the outcome. To pick one example from many, Michael Marmot’s Whitehall studies (see Marmot, 2004) are cited to explain 464416WES27110.1177/0950017012464416Work, employment and societyBook review symposium 2013