Suchergebnisse

High levels of economic inequality are widely viewed as a key challenge facing both advanced industrial and developing economies. Country-level studies have consistently shown a negative link between income inequality and trust in others. This is typically attributed to greater social distance within unequal societies. Do we observe similar relationships within organisations? This is an important question because employee trust is associated with important outcomes for workers and organisations. We answer it by investigating the relationship between pay inequality and employee trust in managers at the workplace level using large-scale nationally representative matched employer–employee data from Britain. The article uses innovative machine learning methods to demonstrate a curvilinear relationship between pay inequality and trust. When pay inequality is at low to moderate levels, increasing inequality is associated with increasing employee trust but when pay inequality passes a certain threshold the relationship turns negative. The relationship is mediated by employees' perceptions of manager fairness and moderated by employee collective voice. The implications of these findings for theory, research methodology, practice and future studies are discussed.

PurposeThis paper examines the extent of bargaining concessions in recession through investigating the effects of union bargaining on pay, job security and workforce composition.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on an original survey (n = 400) of workplace level trade union bargaining units in England, the authors employed latent class analysis to establish three groups of bargaining units on the basis of pay outcomes achieved. Linear regression analysis with moderation effects investigated whether pay rises at or above inflation in conjunction with shifts in bargaining priorities was associated with decreases in perceived job security and changes in the composition of the workforce.FindingsAround a quarter of sampled units, concentrated mostly in decentralised bargaining units in the private sector, achieved pay rises at or above the inflation rate during an economic downturn. Pay rises at or above inflation in workplaces severely affected by recession triggered changes in bargaining priorities requiring some concessions, notably in terms of employees' job security. That said, across the sample, achieving pay rises was associated with improved perception of job security and lesser use of contingent labour.Originality/valueThe findings uncover a subset of bargaining units able to secure positive outcomes for workers against a hostile economic tide, whilst demonstrating that concession bargaining is not inevitable but rather contingent on the micro-environments in which union bargaining takes place.

This study investigates the social protection of workers in the platform economy at the request of the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee. The report reviews literature and previous research on the platform economy with the aims of defining it and developing a typology for understanding its nature. It discusses the growth and drivers of the platform economy, as well as benefits and challenges for workers, reporting findings from 50 interviews conducted with expert stakeholders in eight European countries and from an original survey of 1,200 platform workers. It dissects the different normative layers that need to be considered when looking at the challenges of social protection of platform workers from a legal perspective. Finally, the report draws conclusions and makes recommendations concerning arrangements for the provision of social protection for workers in this growing sector of the economy ; Este estudio investiga la protección social de los trabajadores en la economía de plataforma a petición de la Comisión de Empleo y Asuntos Sociales del Parlamento Europeo. El informe revisa la literatura y las investigaciones previas sobre la economía de plataforma con el objetivo de definirla y desarrollar una tipología para comprender su naturaleza. Discute el crecimiento y los motores de la economía planificada, así como los beneficios y los desafíos para los trabajadores, y presenta los resultados de 50 entrevistas realizadas a expertos de ocho países europeos y de una encuesta original de 1.200 trabajadores de la plataforma. Disecciona los diferentes estratos normativos que deben considerarse cuando se analizan los retos de la protección social de los trabajadores de las plataformas desde una perspectiva jurídica. Por último, el informe extrae conclusiones y formula recomendaciones relativas a las disposiciones para la provisión de protección social para los trabajadores de este creciente sector de la economía.