Government_as_Employer_Detaile employees d.pptx

Employees relation

1. Government as Employer Detailed Overview of Role, Employee Relations, and UK Context

2. Government as Employer – Overview • Size and nature of public sector reflects government ideology. • Liberal ideology → smaller public sector, private provision. • Corporatist ideology → larger public sector, state-run enterprises. • Public sector includes national, regional, local agencies, utilities, goods & services. • Forms of control: full nationalization, semi-commercial model, privatization with regulation.

3. Employment Relations in Public Sector • Governments may act as model employers, promoting 'best practice'. • Centralized decision-making, bureaucracy. • Employees often committed to service values. • HR policies & management styles directly affect commitment. • Control of funding used to enforce efficiency and performance goals.

4. Trade Unionism in Public Sector • Higher union membership than private sector. • Collective bargaining encouraged historically. • In sensitive areas (defense, police, armed forces) → strikes often illegal. • Alternatives: compulsory conciliation/arbitration. • Public-sector employees may lack some rights given to private-sector workers.

5. Employment Conditions in Public Sector • Comparisons often made with similar private-sector jobs. • Incomes policy applied by government → public employees often 'catch up'. • Public-sector benefits: job security, pensions, retirement rights. • Vulnerability: privatization, expenditure cuts, market exposure. • Government changes bring cultural shifts and job insecurity.

6. UK Public Sector – Pre 1979 • Public sector set example in HRM & industrial relations. • National collective bargaining → unions strong. • Centralized, formal agreements, binding precedents. • Better conditions (job security, pensions, holidays) than private sector. • Pay lagged behind → worsened during 1970s inflation. • Double impact: restraint on public pay to influence private sector → 'Winter of Discontent'.

7. UK Public Sector – Post 1979 (Thatcher Era) • Employment dropped: 7.4m (1979) → 5m (1997). • Privatization & denationalization reduced workforce. • Financial controls: cash limits, borrowing limits. • Separation of purchaser and provider roles (e.g., NHS trusts). • Competitive tendering: local authorities contract services to cheapest bidder. • Aim: efficiency, cost savings, weaken unions.

8. Post 1979 , Industrial Relations Changes • Unions seen as too powerful, especially in public sector. • Government encouraged managers to resist unions. • Refusal to allow arbitration (e.g., ACAS involvement limited). • Local pay determination encouraged. • Performance-related pay introduced. • Private-sector managers brought into public institutions. • Aim: decentralization of employee relations and fragmentation of bargaining.

9. Impact on Employees & Unions • Cultural shift: from service orientation → cost efficiency & performance targets. • Redundancies and job insecurity. • More assertive local management, fewer national protections. • Unions weakened by declining membership & decentralization. • Unions resisted fragmentation (partly successful in NHS & education). • Higher levels of industrial conflict (coal miners, civil service, NHS, teachers).

10. Labour Government After 1997 • Some expansion in health & education employment. • Privatization continued through Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs). • Pay tied to modernization and performance targets. • Focus on efficiency, cost reduction, and breaking outdated practices. • Employee dissatisfaction grew: morale low, terms worsened. • Workers felt values of service replaced by cost-cutting culture.

11. Dispute Resolution – State Role • Corporatist/liberal collectivist governments encourage conciliation & arbitration. • UK: ACAS created in 1974 as independent, government-funded. • Role: improve industrial relations, extend collective bargaining. • Provides conciliation, arbitration, mediation. • Codes of practice guide tribunals (e.g., Grievance & Discipline Procedures).

12. ACAS Services & Impact • Arbitration: third-party decides dispute. • Conciliation: third-party helps parties reach agreement. • Mediation: third-party proposes recommendations. • Majority of caseload = individual disputes (unfair dismissal, wages, discrimination, redundancy). • Handles 170,000+ cases annually, reduces tribunal cases by ~75%. • Collective disputes less frequent but success rate >90%.

13. ACAS – Effective Workplace Model ACAS promotes best practices: • Clear goals and plans employees understand. • Managers who listen and involve employees. • Employees feel valued, treated fairly, and supported. • Work encourages initiative and teamwork. • Work-life balance acknowledged. • Fair, transparent pay & reward system. • Safe, healthy working environment. • Job security and training opportunities. • Strong trust between management and unions. • Fair grievance and dispute resolution procedures.