Mark Hall, Sue Hutchinson, Jane Parker, John Purcell and Mike Terry

Employment Relations Research Series No. 97, Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

This report presents findings from interviews and employee surveys in eight case study organisations with 100-150 employees undertaken as part of an ongoing research project examining employee consultation practice in the light of the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004. The research found considerable similarities between the nature and operation of the case study organisations’ I&C bodies and those of larger organisations studied. There were some differences in practice reflecting factors such as greater informality in employment relations and limited HR management capacity that may be characteristic of smaller organisations. These included a lower incidence of contested elections for employee representatives and fewer ‘strategic’ issues being tabled for discussion by management. However, employee representatives received greater recognition of their role from the workforce than did their counterparts in the larger organisations.