A new survey by the Irish Business and Employers Confederation shows that up to 92 per cent of companies operating here use some form of consultation with their employees over problems in the workplace. The survey shows also that 78 per cent of companies consult employees about their future plans and 58 per cent provide financial involvement, ranging from cash forms of profit-sharing to share options.
The survey on "Partnership at Enterprise Level" is the largest of its type conducted in the Republic. In the past there has been considerable criticism of the superficial nature of workplace partnership initiatives by companies in academic surveys, but IBEC director Mr Gerry Dempsey said yesterday this was a major study, showing strong movement towards employee consultation, financial involvement, team-working, training and development.
Some 400 enterprises, employing 207,847 people, responded to the survey. It found that 78 per cent consulted employees on company plans. However, in the vast majority of cases consultation was restricted to the plant or operational level. In keeping with a UCD survey published earlier this year, the survey shows that levels of consultation with union representatives were much lower than in direct discussions with employees. Development of new forms of partnership at the operational level was found to be strongest in manufacturing. Overall, 63 per cent of companies had some form of team-working, and 43 per cent had adopted continuous development procedures. However only 11 per cent had adopted annualised hours.
While 92 per cent of companies surveyed had put in place formal channels to report defects and hazards in the workplace, only 70 per cent had safety statements written in consultation with employees. Even more surprising, given that new equality legislation is being enacted, is the revelation that less than two-thirds of companies had reviewed procedures and agreements to assess their potential impact on equal opportunities.
Commenting on the findings, ICTU general secretary Mr Peter Cassells said that, "while some progress has been made on partnership in the workplace, much more needs to be done". The positive experience of companies which allowed workers to become real stakeholders should encourage others to do likewise.