Surveys
International: Call centre employment and HR practices examined
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 12/07/2007
Research published in May 2007 analyses employment and HR management in call centres in 17 countries worldwide. It finds that the widespread view of call centres as “electronic sweatshops” with low pay, poor quality of work and little collective representation of workers is not true in all countries and types of call centre.
Austria: Union membership falls
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 09/05/2007
Figures published by the Austrian Trade Union Confederation (ÖGB) show that in 2006 its membership fell by 4.75%, or 63,000 members, to 1,272,000. This was a significantly greater fall than during the previous year, when the ÖGB lost 22,500 members.
Austria: Labour market participation predicted to rise
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 11/04/2007
The Austrian institute of economic research (Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung,Wifo) has recently published a study predicting a rise in employee numbers by 2025.
Austria: Men dominate leading positions in companies
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 11/04/2007
A study published by the chamber of labour (Arbeiterkammer) in February 2007 reveals the extent to which the senior management of leading Austrian businesses is dominated by men: only 5% of management board members of the largest joint-stock companies and 10% of supervisory board members are women.
Austria: More employees entitled to severance pay
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 01/03/2007
A new evaluation of changes to the severance pay system that were introduced in 2003 finds that half of all employees are now entitled to claim severance pay when their jobs finish.
European Union: Flexicurity in the spotlight
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/12/2006
With "flexicurity" - a balance between flexibility and security on the labour market - high on the EU agenda at present, the European Commission has recently published research examining the extent to which flexicurity currently exists in the member states.
European Union: Employing an ageing workforce
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/11/2006
Increasing the employment of "older workers" has been a focus of European Union policy for many years. A new study examines national policies and looks at company practice on this issue across Europe in a series of case studies.
European Company Statute state of play
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/11/2006
The European Company Statute and its employee involvement Directive came into force in October 2004. Two years on, we review progress in national implementation and in the establishment of European Companies.
European Union: Collective bargaining trends in Europe
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/08/2006
The European Trade Union Confederation recently published the results of its mid-year survey of collective bargaining trends in Europe. Its main findings are that the pay moderation that has characterised the EU15 member states is set to continue and that annual working time is increasing in some countries.
International: OECD Employment Outlook 2006
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/08/2006
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development recently published its annual Employment Outlook. This year's report urges countries to ensure that all economic policies support measures to boost employment and incomes.
European Commission issues first report on worker mobility
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/03/2006
The European Commission has produced a report on how transitional labour market restrictions placed on eight of the 10 new EU member states have worked in practice during their first phase, from 1 May 2004 until 30 April 2006.
European Company Statute state of play
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/12/2005
The European Company Statute and its employee involvement Directive came into force in October 2004. More than a year later, few European Companies have been established, while a number of EU member states have not yet implemented the Directive.
International: OECD Employment Outlook 2005
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/10/2005
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published its annual Employment Outlook. This year's report urges countries to introduce more dynamic employment policies as a response to globalisation.
International: The minimum wage debate
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/09/2005
The majority of EU member states have a statutory minimum wage, while in many other countries collective bargaining at sectoral level sets binding minimum rates of pay. In this feature, we examine the debate surrounding the introduction, implementation and uprating of the statutory minimum wage in European countries.
European minimum wage survey
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/08/2005
The majority of EU member states have a statutory minimum wage, while in many other countries, collective bargaining at sectoral level sets binding minimum rates of pay.
International: OECD publishes Employment Outlook Report 2004
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/12/2004
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has recently published its annual Employment Outlook Report. In this year's report, the OECD sets out some of the evidence for a reassessment of the organisation's jobs strategy, which has been in place for 10 years.
UK has the second-worst health rate
Source: IRS Employment Review
Date: 23/01/2004
Long-term illnesses and disabilities have a greater impact on the UK's labour market than almost any other European country, according to official statistics analysed by the European Union.
International: Comparative labour costs in 2002
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/01/2004
Hourly labour costs in western German manufacturing industry in 2002 were 28% above the average among its competitor countries, according to the most recent annual report issued by the Institute of the German Economy. In eastern Germany, however, the hourly rate was on a level with that in Italy. Overall, the report noted that since 1980, in all the countries surveyed, non-wage labour costs increased more steeply than wages.
International: OECD publishes Employment Outlook report 2003
Source: European Industrial Relations Review
Date: 01/12/2003
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recently published its annual Employment Outlook report. The overall message of the 2003 report to policymakers is that the workforce must expand through the integration of under-represented groups. Crucially, there must be investment in skills. Without progress in these areas, the prospects for economic growth in many countries will be undermined as the population ages.
UK still lags behind in productivity stakes
Source: IRS Employment Review
Date: 09/12/2002
Only 51% of work time in the UK is productive, compared to 63% in Germany and 62% in the United States, a major study from specialist adviser Proudfoot Consulting has discovered1.
Case studies
International: UniCredit signs transnational equality agreement
Source: European Employment Review
Date: 17/09/2009
UniCredit, an Italy-based banking multinational, announced in August 2009 that it had signed a joint declaration on equal opportunities and non-discrimination with its European Works Council, setting out principles and commitments to apply across all its operations.
No butts
Source: Personnel Today
Date: 12/12/2006
Tobacco company Gallaher underwent a major change programme to overhaul its image and bring different working cultures together. Nic Paton reports.
