Employee Representatives and Participation in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This report draws on semi-structured interviews with leading Human Resources (HR) managers in ten organizations. They were approached through a range of contacts and prior research links, and can be considered representative of medium to large organizations in various sectors of the British economy. They are unlikely to be fully representative of the overall United Kingdom (UK) attitude towards ERs and social dialogue as they are mostly firms with embedded participation traditions of one form or another. Nevertheless, they appear to present us with an opportunity to discuss various aspects of the British labor and employment relations system. The research examined two multinational petrochemical firms (in one case two interviews were conducted with a national and international manager in employment relations), a European investment bank, a leading national supermarket, a large city council, a central government organization related to employment relations activity, a traditional large research-led British university, a charity, a health service trust (part of the National Health Service), and a local housing organization that also runs several academy schools. In the case of the multinational organizations, the focus was solely on UK operations. In addition, the report draws upon the findings of an accompanying survey. However, as explained in greater detail later in the report, there was a low response rate and the findings can be used tentatively at best. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)