Workplace social dialogue essential in bringing European companies out of the recession

Six out of ten employees (63%) are covered by a recognised institution of employee representation, according to Eurofound's Second European Company Survey of 27,000 public and private companies across Europe. The survey paints a positive picture of robust practices of workplace social dialogue, but also point to limitations and to important differences across Europe. The findings of the European-wide establishment survey, which also sheds light on working time and flexibility strategies, variable pay and financial participation schemes, as well as human resource practices in European companies, will be presented at a seminar organised with the Spanish MEP Alejandro Cercas in the European Parliament in Brussels on 3 March 2010. Members of the European Parliament and representatives from European social partner organisations are among the participants, and László Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, is a keynote speaker.

The recent recession has been a painful reminder of the need for managing business and employment change successfully. Social dialogue is central to moving the European social model forward and is vital for managing business and employment change. The company survey shows that, on the whole, there is a framework for social dialogue in European companies. Almost four out of ten companies (37%) in the survey reported an institutional form of employee representation. With more than 60% of the employees covered by either trade unions or works councils, and more than two out of three workers (69%) covered by collective wage agreements at either at company or higher level, the scene is set for a collaborative effort between workers and employers to help companies become more dynamic and competitive to tackle the challenges of current economic down-turn.

The survey reveals that employee representatives in Europe seem to be generally satisfied with the cooperative culture of interaction with management. Between 60% and 65% of the employee representatives in European companies are involved in setting the rules/procedures on working time issues. In companies with an institutional employee representation, most managers (70%) are generally positive about the effect of social dialogue and employee representation at the workplace, in particularly in the UK, Romania and Ireland.

Although these results point to the strength of traditional workplace social dialogue in Europe, a number of limitations exist. A third of representatives receive infrequent information on the economic and financial condition of the organisation, at most once a year, and in a great number establishment, employee representation is limited to health and safety control or is organised in an informal way. One in six employee representatives (17%) are not entitled to take any paid time off to carry out their duties. There are also big differences between countries in northern and southern Europe.

The survey also mapped work practices considered to be important elements of contractual and functional flexibility in an organisation. More than half (56%) of companies in Europe offer some kind of flexitime arrangements, and over-time work is used to handle workload peaks in more than two thirds of (68%) companies, in particularly in Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries, Ireland, France and the UK. Fixed-term employment contracts are widely used, with more than half (54%) of all establishments having at least one employee on a fixed-term contract in the last 12 months.

Three out of four establishments indicate that the need for further training is periodically checked in a systematic way. However, training is not equally distributed among all workers. While almost two out of three establishments (64%) check the need for further training in a systematic way for permanent employees in skilled or high-skilled positions, only about every second enterprise (52%) does this for permanent employees in low-skilled or unskilled positions. In other words, permanent staff have much better access to training than temporary staff.

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AplusA-online.de - Source: Eurofound