Workplace Social Dialogue Essential in Bringing European Companies out of the Recession

Eurofound Launches the Overview Report of Second European Company Survey:

DUBLIN, March 1, 2010 - Six out of ten employees (63%) are covered by a recognised institution of
employee representation, according to Eurofound's Second European Company
Survey of 27,000 public and private companies across Europe. The survey
paints a positive picture of robust practices of workplace social dialogue,
but also point to limitations and to important differences across Europe. The
findings of the European-wide establishment survey, which also sheds light on
working time and flexibility strategies, variable pay and financial
participation schemes, as well as human resource practices in European
companies, will be presented to European social policy-makers at a joint
Eurofound - European Parliament seminar in Brussels on 3 March 2010.

The recent recession has been a painful reminder of the need for managing
business and employment change successfully. Social dialogue is central to
moving the European social model forward and is vital for managing business
and employment change. The company survey shows that, on the whole, there is
a framework for social dialogue in European companies. Almost four out of ten
companies (37%) in the survey reported an institutional form of employee
representation. With more than 60% of the employees covered by either trade
unions or works councils, and more than two out of three workers (69%)
covered by collective wage agreements at either at company or higher level,
the scene is set for a collaborative effort between workers and employers to
help companies become more dynamic and competitive to tackle the challenges
of current economic down-turn.

The survey reveals that employee representatives in Europe seem to be
generally satisfied with the cooperative culture of interaction with
management. Between 60% and 65% of the employee representatives in European
companies are involved in setting the rules/procedures on working time
issues. In companies with an institutional employee representation, most
managers (70%) are generally positive about the effect of social dialogue and
employee representation at the workplace, in particularly in the UK, Romania
and Ireland.

Although these results point to the strength of traditional workplace
social dialogue in Europe, a number of limitations exist. A third of
representatives receive infrequent information on the economic and financial
condition of the organisation, at most once a year, and in a great number
establishment, employee representation is limited to health and safety
control or is organised in an informal way. One in six employee
representatives (17%) are not entitled to take any paid time off to carry out
their duties. There are also big differences between countries in northern
and southern Europe.

The survey also mapped work practices considered to be important elements
of contractual and functional flexibility in an organisation. More than half
(56%) of companies in Europe offer some kind of flexitime arrangements, and
over-time work is used to handle workload peaks in more than two thirds of
(68%) companies, in particularly in Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordic
countries, Ireland, France and the UK. Fixed-term employment contracts are
widely used, with more than half (54%) of all establishments having at least
one employee on a fixed-term contract in the last 12 months.

Three out of four establishments indicate that the need for further
training is periodically checked in a systematic way. However, training is
not equally distributed among all workers. While almost two out of three
establishments (64%) check the need for further training in a systematic way
for permanent employees in skilled or high-skilled positions, only about
every second enterprise (52%) does this for permanent employees in
low-skilled or unskilled positions. In other words, permanent staff have much
better access to training than temporary staff.

The Second European Company Survey is available at
www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/companysurvey/2009/index.htm

Note to the editor

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions (Eurofound - www.eurofound.europa.eu ) is a tripartite EU
body, whose role is to provide key actors in social policymaking with
findings, knowledge and advice drawn from comparative research. Eurofound was
established by Council Regulation EEC No 1365/75 of 26 May 1975 and is
located in Dublin, Ireland.

The 'European Company Survey 2009 - Flexibility practices and social
dialogue' is the second European-wide establishment survey carried out by
Eurofound, the Dublin-based EU agency. Both human resource managers and
employer representatives in 27,160 establishments across the 27 EU Member
States as well as in Croatia, Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia (FYROM) were interviewed between March and April 2009.

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For further information, contact Mans Martensson at email
mma@eurofound.europa.eu, telephone +353-1-204-3124 or mobile +353-876-593
507.

For further information, contact Mans Martensson at email mma at eurofound.europa.eu, telephone +353-1-204-3124 or mobile +353-876-593-507.