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From here to security?

Summary

We examine employment security policies in 18 organisations in a variety of sectors, ranging from construction, manufacturing and the privatised utilities to financial services and local government. Our main findings are that:

  • in most cases employment security policies are seen by employers as part of a strategy for managing change, and are introduced with the aim of reassuring employees and committing them to the change process (which may or may not involve job losses) and expediting the introduction of new working practices;

  • such policies are sometimes introduced in the wake of large-scale job losses - in which case they are partly aimed at showing remaining employees that their jobs are not threatened;

  • alternatively they may take the form of commitments given in advance of a programme of job losses - to guarantee that redundancies will be entirely (or mostly) voluntary;

  • it is rare for commitments on employment security to be used as a "trade-off" for low pay rises, pay freezes or pay cuts;

  • some policies offer a guarantee that there will be no compulsory redundancies for a specified period, often coinciding with the duration of a pay settlement, while others state that compulsory redundancies will only be used as a last resort;

  • most policies set out a list of measures which will precede (or take the place of) compulsory redundancies in the event that staffing reductions become necessary - including not renewing the contracts of temporary employees, not replacing leavers with new recruits (natural wastage), early retirement, voluntary severance and moving surplus employees to areas of staff shortage;

  • the use of temporary staff as a "buffer" to protect permanent employees from the effects of fluctuations in demand is common in organisations with employment security policies;

  • commitments on employment security may be included in collective agreements, but in other cases they take the form of guarantees or statements of intent issued by employers;

  • many employers make a distinction between job security and employment security, favouring the latter phrase because it allows for the idea that people will work flexibly and may change jobs and be redeployed as business requirements dictate; and

  • a number of employers are looking at ways of enhancing the "employability" of their staff and have included this concept in their employment security policies - hence broadening the definition of employment security to include the preparation of employees for successful participation in the external labour market.