The Learning Workplace

Presentation March 2004

Lucy Fallon-Byrne, Director

Overview

1. Strategic importance of change in the

workplace

2. Characteristics of successful workplace change

and innovation

3. Workplaces in Ireland today: Survey research

4. Emerging priorities and areas for action

Wim Kok – Competitiveness and jobs

Increase adaptability of workers and enterprises

Attract more people to the labour market

Invest more and more effectively in human capital

Ensure effective implementation of reforms through better governance

‘Member States, social partners, enterprises and workers must increase their capacity to anticipate, trigger and absorb change, whether cyclical or structural, if more jobs are to be created and filled’.

Kok Report (2003)

1.Strategic importance of change in the workplace

• Performance of our workplaces is now critical to achieving our national ambitions and moving to higher value-added activities

• Workplaces can create new opportunities but to do so they must be geared towards constant change and innovation

• How work is configured and workplace relations are a real force for change, improvement and value added at national level

However…• There has been very little analysis and focus on the

workplace in the development of national strategy to date

NCPP Website – www.ncpp.ie

Emerging characteristics of a future workplace

• Organisational fitness as a strategic priority

• Employees as the ‘thinking core’ of the organisation

• Promoting more participative models of management

• Investment in skills and training but in the context of the workplace

• Diversity – a source of competitive advantage

• Recognition of the value of better work-life balance

• Changing role for trade unions

2

Organisational Fitness

Fitness – The capacity of the organisation to:

• LEARN – change commitments, attitudes and values

• ADAPT - its strategy and business model

• CHANGE – multiple organisational elements

• DEVELOP – needed capabilities

• OFP – Organisational Fitness Process

Six Silent Killers

• Unclear strategy• Poor leadership style – top down• An ineffective top team• Poor co-ordination• Closed vertical communication• Inadequate leadership / manangement skills

and development in organisation

Employees as ‘the thinking core’

• In the future all workers will be knowledge workers

• Need to widen and deepen the knowledge base of the organisation

• Enormous implications for HRM• information and consultation

• employee involvement

• creating the conditions for employees to contribute

• honest conversations

• tolerance of failure and risk

• New psychological contract

Benefits of high involvement – the international evidence

• Benefits– Overall performance and profitability

– Productivity and efficiency

– Innovation

– Employee benefits

• New model of management

– Participative and engaging managment style

– Engaging rather than heroic management

– About us rather than about me

– Implies increased vulnerability, emotional

intelligence

72

25

3

67

29

4

71

25

4

70

27

3

73

20

6

76

19

50

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Job Sat Performance Pay & Cond Emp Security Willingness tochange Confid co-op withm'ment

Positive effect No effect Negative Effect

Perceived effects of partnership

Diversity

• Diversity critical because of demographic situation

• The business case for diversity

– Widens the innovation, creativity and knowledge base

– Allows for greater diversity in the thinking core

– Mirrors the diverse needs of customers

• Ireland’s poor performance in relation to diversity

– biggest gender pay gap in Europe at 16%

– poor childcare infrastructure

– largest gap between high and low skills employed

Changing role for trade unions

• Working in partnership with mangement to – Secure the future success of the organisation

– Increase the skills and employability of their

members

• Research shows that workers want – Unions to work more closely with management than

at present

– A wider range of representation including training

and learning, flexibility, work-life balance

Workplaces in Ireland today

NCPP/ESRI Survey Work Autumn 2003

• Employee Survey - 5200 employees – Focus

• Working conditions• Attitude to change• Openess to change

• Employer Survey – 1400 private sector employers

– 572 Public sector organisations

– Focus • Perceptions of pressures for change• Responses to pressures

3

Workplaces in Ireland: Key survey findings

• Employers– Twin track attention to innovation and costs

– Increasing priority attached to developing human capital

• Employees– High levels of job satisfaction

– High levels of commitment to work and to organisation

– Evidence of substantial change over past two years

– Evidence of willingness to change• Three quarters of employees willing to accept increased

responsibility – Importance of communication

• Employees who report higher levels of consultation relating to decisions affecting their work are more likely to accept change

Emerging areas for action

4

• Under-utilisation of the workforce

• Low levels of information and consultation

• The knowledge / opportunities divide in the workplace

• Linking innovation and change to job satisfaction and

reduction in stress

• Policy supports and infrastructure

4137

40

58

42

52

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Competition Intro newprod/serv

Intro new tech Re-orgcompany

Change workpract

Sales/Profits

Percentage of Private Sector Employees 'Hardly Ever' Receiving Information from Mangement in 6 Areas of Work

Information flows - Private Sector

Emerging areas for action

4

27

2124

1513

0

10

20

30

40

50

Almost always Often Sometimes Rarely Almost Never

Percentage of employees consulted prior to decisions

affecting their work

The opportunities divide

• Social class and educational attainment create

important differences

• job satisfaction and work commitment

• levels of information and consultation

• levels of discretion and autonomy

• levels of partnership and participation

• levels of training

How equal are our workplaces?

4

The opportunities divide: training Education levels

35% no quals60% with 3rd level quals

Social class 35% semi skilled, 28% unskilled63% higher professionals

Full-time more than part-timeUnion more than non-unionPublic sector (60%) more than private sector (45%)More general in nature that specific

How equal are our workplaces?

4

The opportunities divide:• Higher professionals 3.3 times more likely to receive

information that unskilled manual workers• Higher professionals three times more likely to have

participation arrangements in workplaces (58%) than unskilled workers (19.8%) but…..

• Where participation arrangements are in place there is a high level of involvement among semi-skilled and unskilled workers (54% and 74%)

• Employees in public sector (45%) much more likely to report presence of partnership than employees in private sector (18%)

How equal are our workplaces?

4

The opportunities divide:Trade union membership lowest among: • Young workers• Those with no educational qualifications • Those with short job tenure• Part-time workers

and • Significanly lower among those with non-

permanent contracts

How equal are our workplaces ?

4

Under-utilisation of the workforce – Employees are under-utilised: low levels

of consultation but high levels of willingness to change among workers

– Lack of diffusion of new work practices• Employee financial participation • Flexible working• Partnership and participation

Inequality and underutilisation

4

D. Linking change to job satisfaction and reduction in stress – Reducing stress is particularly important in implementing

change successfully – Information has little effect on reducing stress – information

and consultation most powerful

Autonomy Consultation and involvement

Family-friendly policies Flexitime

Information without involvementLack of autonomy, control

Performance review Working from home

High level of organsational changeManaging Stress

Increasing Stress

Emerging areas for action

4

Knowledge society and knowledge working needs a different type of support – a new HRM paradigm– Acknowledge employee involvement as a key

strategy in achieving change and high performance

– Make the economic and business case for equality and diversity

– Recognise the link between well-being at work, work relations and productivity and innovation

– Develop policies to address the opportunities divide in our workplaces and underutilisation of our workforce

5

Conclusions

2. Change as a mindset: Some examples

Medtronic

TegralAbbott

Aughinish Alumina

High performance founded on information and consultation

80% of employees working on products that are less than 2 years old

Employment continuing to grow despite significant cost disadvantage

Philosophy based on partnership, participation and team working

Commitment and expansion to growth for example into power generation

Innovative links with third level

Willingess to Change

Allianz

Forum Website – www.ncpp.ie/forum