Marilyn Carroll

Recruitment in Small Firms:: processes, methods and problems

The article summarises findings from recent case study research into recruitment in small firms. The research aims to ascertain whether small firms follow the procedures outlined in the prescriptive literature on recruitment, and to what extent they rely on informal recruitment methods. It finds little evidence of the adoption of the recommended systematic procedures and a high use of “tried and trusted” methods including word‐of‐mouth recruitment and the hiring of “known quantities”. The implications of this are examined. While these methods have certain advantages, they may also give rise to a number of problems. The study argues that the adoption of more formal procedures and methods could reduce staff turnover in small firms and its associated costs. However, it concludes that many small employers would remain unconvinced by the case for opening up recruitment channels, and may find their existing approaches more cost effective in the short term.

Adjusting to the National Minimum Wage: Constraints and Incentives to Change in Six Low-Paying Sectors

Interest in the national minimum wage (NMW) includes not only its direct impact on employment and wages, but also its indirect impact on organisational performance resulting from a reorientation of employer behaviour with regard to employment practices and product market competition. Drawing on data from small firms in six low-paying sectors, this article identifies three key constraints that have undermined the possible effect of the NMW in generating a virtuous cycle between employment practices and product market approach. These constraints relate to product market conditions, employer norms and labour market institutions (especially training).

Employment Patterns for the Future: Balancing Work and Family Life in two Local Authorities

Recent trends in employment and the labour market have brought into focus the nature of the interaction between work and family life, especially for those with responsibilities for caring for others, whether for children, or elderly, sick or disabled relatives (Dex, 1999). Women’s increased participation in paid employment has led to a rise in the number of dual-earner households, and increasing pressures between the demands of job and family. The ‘traditional’ family unit, with a woman in the role of full-time carer and a man in the role of full-time breadwinner, is now the exception rather than the rule and this has stimulated an interest in how employment practices and workplace provision can help workers to combine these two areas of responsibility. Employers have had to adjust to the changes in labour supply, although in the UK this has tended to mean offering more part-time work with little change to the working hours of men (Fagan, 1996; Rubery, 1998). Full-time employees in the UK, especially men, work longer hours than in any other EU country (Rubery et al., 1999; Watson, 1994), which has obvious implications for balancing work and family life.