Research Paper. Researching the current and potential reach of Acas services. Employer and employee tracker surveys. Ref: 11/14

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1 SETA survey of representatives in Tribunal cases 2008 Research Paper Researching the current and potential reach of Acas services Employer and employee tracker surveys Ref: 11/ Daniel Cameron, Anne Charlton and Michael Clemence (Ipsos MORI)

2 For any further information on this study, or other aspects of the Acas Research and Evaluation programme, please telephone or Acas research publications can be found at ISBN

3 Researching the current and potential reach of Acas services Employer and employee tracker surveys Daniel Cameron, Anne Charlton and Michael Clemence

4 Prepared for Acas by: Ipsos MORI Borough Road London SE1 1FY Copyright 2014 Acas About the contractor Ipsos MORI are an independent research organisation, specialised in public sector and governmental research. Acknowledgements Ipsos MORI would like to thank Nicholas Wainwright and Jonathan Cooper from Acas for their help in developing the study. We would also like to thank all those who gave their time to be interviewed for this research. Disclaimer This report contains the views of the authors and does not represent the views of the Acas Council. Any errors or inaccuracies are the responsibility of the authors alone. 2

5 Contents About the contractor 2 Acknowledgements 2 Disclaimer 2 1 Summary and conclusions 4 2 Background and methodology Employers Employees Interpreting the data 9 3 Employer findings Issues facing employers Sources of information and advice Awareness of Acas and its services Use of Acas services 39 4 Employee findings Issues facing employees Sources of information and advice Awareness of Acas and its services Use of Acas services 59 Appendix A Breakdown of employer job roles Appendix B Additional employer data tables Appendix C Additional employee data tables

6 1 Summary and conclusions Issues facing employers and employees Employers and employees were first asked about a number of employment relations issues (such as absence of employees, disciplining and grievances, changes in contract terms and redundancy). Around two thirds of employers (65 per cent) and a third of employees (36 per cent) said they had faced at least one of the issues mentioned in the past year. Employers predicted similar patterns of workplace issues facing them in the year ahead. As may be expected, larger employers are more likely to report having encountered issues compared to SMEs, with a greater number of staff increasing the likelihood that issues arise. Large employers, perhaps due to their levels of experience, are also more likely to feel confident in dealing with the different issues raised. Requests for flexible working was the area that inspired the most confidence (94 per cent said they felt confident), while employers felt the least confident in dealing with redundancies (78 per cent said they felt confident). Employees expressed similarly high levels of confidence in knowing their rights around the same issues. Those they felt most confident about (maternity paternity and adoption, 87 per cent; sickness and long-term absence, 81 per cent; and requests for flexible working, 77 percent) are largely employee-driven situations. Those they feel less confident about are situations driven by the employer or others, such as redundancies (67 per cent), discrimination at work (65 per cent) or changes in contract terms and conditions (69 per cent). Experience is the top mention for why they would feel confident in dealing with issues, for both employers (70 per cent) and employees (34 per cent), with a lack of experience being the key to making employees less confident and not knowing what to do being the key negative driver for employers. Sources of information and guidance Around a quarter of organisations (26 per cent) have an internal HR department, however this includes 96 per cent of large employers. Around half of employers (53 per cent) subscribe to HR-related journals, websites or publications, but there is no single leading source of information. For advice and guidance on employment relations issues Acas is the joint top mention for employers, alongside professional networks or organisations such as CIPD (both 16 per cent). Acas is the second mention as a source of advice in the case of a dispute or problem (15 per cent), with the same proportion saying they would seek advice from a professional network or organisation and 21 per cent saying they would seek advice from lawyers. For employees the key sources of advice were Citizens Advice Bureau and a friend or family member (both 35 per cent), followed by an internet search (19 per cent). In practice, from the qualitative work, we know that searching for information or places to seek further advice on the internet is often the first port of call for employees when they are not sure what to do. Around one in twelve (eight per cent) say that they would contact Acas for help on a problem at work. 4

7 Awareness of Acas and the service it provides Awareness of Acas is comparable with other national bodies providing services to employers and employees but there is room for improvement regarding both groups. Amongst employers seven in ten (70 per cent) said they knew at least a little about Acas - making Acas better known amongst this group than Investors in People (IiP), the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). More than half of employees (56 per cent) said they knew at least a little about Acas. Amongst both employers and employees, around one in six said they had heard of Acas but were not sure what they do. Knowledge of Acas is higher among employers from large workplaces (87 per cent of large employers know Acas very or fairly well) and this pattern of higher awareness among larger workplaces is consistent for other national bodies. Older employers were also more likely than their younger counterparts to be aware of Acas (only five percent of employers aged 55+ have never heard of Acas compared to 48 per cent of those in the age group). This pattern is replicated across awareness of most other organisations to some degree, although it is not possible to say to what extent this may be caused by differences in the level of experience within the workplace and potential exposure to a greater range of issues. The clearest exception to increasing knowledge by age is in awareness of GOV.UK, which is higher among the younger age group, however this may be expected given that younger employers (and employees) are likely to be familiar with the website through accessing government services personally. Employees show a similar pattern of awareness, with older employees more likely to be aware of Acas as well as those who work for larger organisations. Amongst those employers who report to know at least a little about Acas, awareness of what services Acas offers is centred around dispute resolution services rather than dispute prevention and advisory services. Mediation to resolve workplace issues or relationship breakdowns is the top mention for employers (70 per cent prompted and unprompted mentions), followed by conciliating in disputes that could lead to an employment tribunal (68 per cent) and conciliation in industrial disputes between employers and trade unions (64 per cent). The telephone helpline is the top mentioned advice service (63 per cent) followed by the website (55 per cent). This follows a similar pattern amongst employees with conciliating in industrial disputes between employers and trade unions the top mention (79 per cent), followed by conciliating in complaints about employment relations issues that could lead to an Employment Tribunal (74 per cent). The telephone helpline was again the top mention outside of dispute resolution services (50 per cent). As with general awareness of Acas, employers in larger workplaces are likely to be more aware of the services Acas offers across the board, particularly with regard to the advice and guidance services; the telephone helpline is the top mentioned Acas service among large employers (88 per cent, combined prompted and unprompted awareness). For employees age was the biggest differentiator, with older employees typically more aware of the services Acas provides. Young employers were the least aware, with a quarter (24 per cent) of those aged who reported to knowing 5

8 at least a little about Acas unable to name an Acas service either prompted or unprompted. This pattern is maintained even across the online services, such as the website and Helpline online. It is important to remember that this may be driven by lack of experience in the workplace, given that the need to seek advice or guidance is often the trigger for interaction with organisations such as Acas. We know from the qualitative work that employees are often quite relaxed about the need to seek out information before a problem arises feeling that they would be able to find the right places to look if they needed to. Implications The key driver of awareness of Acas and the services it provides for both employers and employees is their level of experience of issues in the workplace. Levels of experience are in turn influenced by the age of the employer or employee and the size of the organisation they work in, as this will impact the depth and breadth of issues they will have encountered. Experience also seems to drive confidence, with those who are most aware of the support that Acas can provide also the most confident in dealing with issues that arise. Therefore, a key group for Acas to focus on to increase reach in the future would be younger employees and employers (those younger than 35 and especially those aged under 24). Younger employees are a low experience, low awareness group and therefore have less confidence in knowing their rights when it comes to dealing with workplace issues. The challenge with this group will be getting them to engage, as we know from the qualitative work that even where this group say that they experience workplace issues, they often do not view these as problems. There is also scope to increase awareness of younger employers, with the data indicating that they are not only less aware of Acas than older employers but the gap in awareness of Acas between different age cohorts of employers is greater than is the case for other organisations with which Acas may wish to compare itself. Younger employers report a similar or higher incidence of having to deal with the employment relations issues they were asked about which suggest the need for Acas services is present. When asked about their expectations of using employee relations services in the next year, likely demand for such services is broadly consistent across the age bands although younger employers are more likely to use online services and websites, especially among year olds; this suggests Acas should continue to build on developing online channels and services to meet the needs of existing and potential customers. 6

9 Chapter 2 Background and methodology 2 Background and methodology The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) commissioned Ipsos MORI to conduct research investigating awareness and use of Acas and its services amongst their two key audiences, employers and employees, as part of a programme of work to find out more about the needs and ways to reach existing and new users of Acas. The data in this report is based on two separate surveys; one of employers and the other of employees. Although many of the questions are similar in both surveys, it is not possible to directly compare results across the two strands. This is due in part to differences in methodology (face-to-face compared with telephone) but mainly due to the difference in sample structure. Although the survey of employees provides indicative results from employees, it is not fully representative of the population of employees more generally, but of the general public of adults aged 15 and over in Great Britain - filtering out those who were not currently or recently (within 3 months) employed as the survey was conducted using the Ipsos MORI syndicated survey of the general public (Capibus). The employer telephone survey is, however, representative of the population of employers in Great Britain, and therefore results can be extrapolated to the population of organisations within the confidence intervals discussed in Appendix A. Both the employer and employee surveys were designed to investigate awareness and usage of Acas and its services. Importantly this research also looked at a range of employment issues to identify where unmet employment relations service needs may exist and the level of confidence employers and employees have at dealing with these issues. The surveys then investigated other sources of external advice employers and employees use when faced with a problem at work or in response to an employment relations query and included benchmarking of Acas awareness against other organisations. To reflect this fact, this report is split into two main chapters which deal with the findings from each survey in turn. This section provides detailed background on the specific methodology employed by each survey. 2.1 Employers Employer qualitative research In order to ensure that the questionnaire was asking the right questions, particularly with regard to exploring areas of unmet need for advice and guidance, initial qualitative interviews were conducted with eight employers. Interviews were conducted by telephone and lasted around 30 minutes. Participants for the qualitative phase were recruited from a random selection of records provided by Experian, stratified by establishment size, industry sector and region. A summary report of the qualitative findings was written to help inform the questionnaire design, however where the findings enhance the insight provided by the survey findings they are referenced in the following report in order to provide greater depth and understanding. 7

10 Chapter 2 Background and methodology Employer quantitative survey A quota telephone survey was conducted with employers to ensure robust profiling of Acas users. Sampling was based on Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR) 1 counts of establishment level organisations within Great Britain including all organisations with two or more employees (this ensured no sole traders were included in the sample as there is often confusion between zero and one employees). Sample was drawn at the establishment level (only including head offices where this was the establishment selected by the sample) and interviewers were instructed to speak to the person with HR responsibility within that establishment. This means that the survey results represent the way that employment relations issues are dealt with within the workplace rather than at a strategic HR level for those businesses with multiple workplaces. For this reason, where the size of the business is discussed within the body of the report, this refers to the establishment or workplace size rather than the organisation or enterprise size. The sample was procured from the Experian business database, due to the relatively high level of telephone coverage it provides, with organisations stratified by size (excluding those with 0 1 employees), broad SIC 2 category and region. Large organisations were over-sampled in order to ensure a sufficient number of interviews were conducted with this group to allow analysis by employer size. Where possible contacts were for the Director of Human Resources (HR), with the owner or senior decision-maker where these contacts were not available. Interviews were conducted with those who had responsibility for human resources or people management within the workplace contacted. A full breakdown of job roles can be found in Appendix C of this report. Interviews were conducted by telephone using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), with an average interview length of 15 minutes. Fieldwork was conducted 22 nd April 2 nd June Disproportionate quotas were set on establishment size and broad SIC category to ensure that sufficient interviews were received in each band with which to conduct analysis. In total, 1,700 interviews were completed. Data was RIM weighted 3 by number of employees and then by broad SIC category based on the IDBR profile data. As is usual with employer surveys, the relatively heavy weighting to correct for the over sampling of large organisations means that the effective base size is relatively low (1,312 overall). This limits the subgroup analysis included in the report in some instances. It should be remembered that a sample and not the entire population of employers in Great Britain has taken part in the research. Consequently, all results are subject to sampling tolerances, which means that not all differences are significant. 1 The Inter-Departmental Business Register is a register which contains information on all organisations in the UK which are VAT registered or operating a PAYE scheme and is maintained by the Office for National Statistics. 2 Standard Industry Classification; the 2007 codes were used throughout. 3 RIM weighting is designed to attempt to weight all of the weighting characteristics at the same time, while not interlocking them. As the RIM weighting process runs, it tries to distort each variable as little as possible while still trying to attain all of the desired proportions among the characteristics. 8

11 Chapter 2 Background and methodology 2.2 Employees Employee qualitative research As with the employer survey, initial qualitative interviews were conducted with eight employees in order to inform questionnaire design. Interviews were conducted by telephone and lasted around 30 minutes. Participants for the qualitative phase were recruited via on-street recruitment and were screened to ensure that a variety of industry types, age groups and social grades were interviewed. A separate summary report of the qualitative findings was written to help inform the questionnaire design, however where the findings enhance the insight provided by the survey findings they are referenced in the following report in order to provide greater depth and understanding Employee quantitative survey The employee survey was conducted with a representative sample of the British general public to provide a robust reading of levels of awareness of Acas. In order to focus on the key groups for which Acas provides a service, respondents took part in the survey if they were currently in employment or had left employment within the last three months. Ipsos MORI conducted 930 interviews in-home, face-to-face on the Ipsos MORI omnibus survey (Capibus) between the 25 th April 2014 and 1 st May Interviews were with British adults aged 15+, and respondents were screened to ensure that only those in employment, the self-employed and those who had been in employment within the last three months were included. Employees, and those who have recently been in employment, formed Acas target group (excluding employers with whom a separate survey was conducted). The data was weighted by age, gender and social grade to ensure it was representative of the British adult population using the most recently available Census data. 2.3 Interpreting the data Interpreting quantitative data Where percentages do not sum up to 100, this may be due to rounding, the exclusion of don t know / not stated response categories, or multiple-response answers. Where * per cent is shown, this indicates a percentage of less than 0.5 but greater than 0. Statistical significance testing was conducted within subgroups and between subgroups and the total. Where differences are noted in the report these are statistically significant at the 95% level unless otherwise stated Interpreting qualitative data Unlike quantitative surveys, qualitative research is designed to be illustrative, detailed and exploratory, providing insight into the perceptions, feelings and intended behaviours of people rather than conclusions from a quantifiable valid sample. Therefore, these interviews do not allow statistical conclusions to be drawn about the extent to which views are held across the wider public. 9

12 Chapter 2 Background and methodology Throughout this report, verbatim comments from participants are used. Where this is the case, it is important to remember that the views expressed do not always represent the views of other participants, but are illustrative of the issues raised in that interview. Copies of the questionnaires and the topic guides used for each stage of the research can be found within the technical report. 10

13 Chapter 3 Employer findings 3 Employer findings This chapter of the report analyses findings from the telephone survey conducted with employers. Where the term employers is used, this refers to the respondent answering about employment relations issues and the usage of Acas from the employer perspective. Where possible the sample was made up of Human Resources (HR) managers, with company owners or directors and senior decision makers used as the point of contact for those where HR details were not available. All had some influence on HR decisions within their organisation. The chapter explores the employment environment by looking at different issues faced by employers before looking specifically at awareness of Acas and its services, and usage of employment relations services more generally. 3.1 Issues facing employers Issues faced in the previous year In order to understand the employment relations context in which employers are operating, at the start of the survey, employers were asked which of a list of employee relations issues they had faced in the preceding year. Almost two thirds of employers (65 per cent) said that they had faced at least one of the issues mentioned, with 35 per cent saying that none had been a problem in their workplace over the last 12 months. The most commonly encountered issue was related to sickness or long-term absence of employees, which a third (33 per cent per cent per cent) had encountered in the previous year. This was followed by disciplining or dismissing employees (29 per cent), changes in contract terms (28 per cent), maternity, paternity and adoption leave (27 per cent) and requests for flexible working (26 per cent). Workers on zero hour or casual contracts has been an issue for just under one in five (18 per cent), and redundancies had been an issue for just one in ten (nine per cent). Figure 1 Employer recent experience of employee relations issues Q5. In your job, have you had to deal with issues relating to any of the following in the past 12 months? Yes No Don t know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%100% Sickness or long-term absence of employee 33% 67% Disciplining or dismissing employees Changes in contract terms and conditions of employees (such as moving workplace locations or changing hours worked) Maternity, paternity or adoption leave for employees 29% 71% 28% 72% * 27% 73% Requests for flexible working 26% 74% Workers on zero hours or casual contracts 18% 82% 1% Redundancies 9% 91% Base: 1,700 employers from businesses in Great Britain Source: Ipsos MORI 11

14 Chapter 3 Employer findings The size of the workplace was the biggest driver in whether or not organisations had experienced issues, with all large organisations (those with 250 or more employees in the workplace) having experienced at least one of the issues mentioned. Almost half (49 per cent) of micro organisations (2-9 employees in the workplace) said they had experienced none of the issues mentioned in the past year, with eight per cent of small organisations (10-49 employees in the workplace) saying this and only one percent of medium organisations ( employees in the workplace). The private sector were more likely than the public sector to say they had experienced none of the issues mentioned (37 per cent compared with 28 per cent). The construction and transport industries were more likely than employers as a whole to say they had experienced none of the issues mentioned (48 per cent and 45 per cent respectively compared with 35 per cent overall), with hotels and restaurants (23 per cent), education and financial services (both 25 per cent) the least likely to say they had not experience any of the issues listed. Experiencing issues with sickness or long-term absence of employees is strongly related to the size of the workplace nearly all (97 per cent) large employers have experienced this in the past year, as have around nine in ten (86 per cent) medium sized employers and around six in ten (62 per cent) small employers. Just one in five (22 per cent) micro-sized employers report issues with long term absence. This is also significantly more of an issue for those working in the education sector (43 per cent experienced this issue), the public sector more generally (43 per cent compared to 30 per cent in the private sector), and those based in London (42 per cent). This was notably less of an issue amongst those working in wholesale or retail (73 per cent said this had not been an issue) and the private sector (70 per cent did not report this as an issue). A similar relationship with issues being more prevalent for larger size organisations is noted amongst those who said they had issues with disciplining or dismissing employees over the past year. Nine in ten (89 per cent) large employers reported issues with this area, compared to eight in ten (80 per cent) medium employers, half (49 per cent) of small employers and two in ten (20 per cent) micro employers. This has also been notably more of a problem in London (40 per cent reporting this issue) and the North West of England (38 per cent) compared to other regions. However in this case there are no significant differences between the public and private sector, or between industrial sectors. Changes in contract terms and conditions, the third most commonly reported issue, are again more of an issue for larger employers (82 per cent compared to 75 per cent of medium firms, 51 per cent of small firms and 19 per cent of micro firms), in a similar pattern to the previous two issues. This is also notably more of an issue for the public (39 per cent) and voluntary (36 per cent) sectors than it is for the private sector (26 per cent), with issues being reported most strongly in the education (45 per cent) and health (35 per cent) industry sectors. Issues around maternity, paternity or adoption leave are concentrated more strongly amongst larger employers (88 per cent of large employers reported this as an issue, compared to 52 per cent of small and 16 per cent of micro employers), and public sector employers (34 per cent reported this as an issue, compared to 26 per cent of private sector employers), particularly in education 12

15 Chapter 3 Employer findings (43 per cent). However, employers in financial services were also significantly more likely than average to say they had faced issues in relation to this area, with 43 per cent of employers saying they had faced problems. London-based employers were also more likely to say they had faced issues with maternity/paternity/adoption leave (33 per cent) than organisations in England overall (27 per cent). Employers in the voluntary sector were most likely to mention Requests for flexible working, 36 per cent of whom cited this as an issue they had dealt with recently (compared to 27 per cent of those in the public sector and 25 per cent of private sector employers). Issues related to flexible working requests were also cited by a significantly higher proportion of organisations based in London (46 per cent) and in Wales (37 per cent), and 40 per cent of employers in the hotel and restaurant sector cited this as an issue they had dealt with in the last 12 months. Larger employers were most likely to mention workers on zero hour or casual contracts as an issue; 41 per cent of large employers had dealt with issues related to this area in the past year, compared to just 26 per cent of small and 14 per cent of micro sized employers. Regionally London employers are most likely to mention this issue (26 per cent), followed by employers in the East of England, where 22 per cent had dealt with issues related to workers on zero hour contracts. Employers in two industry sectors health (37 per cent) and hotels and restaurants (33 per cent) were significantly more likely to report issues related to dealing with zero hour contracts than many other sectors, including wholesale/retail trade (16 per cent), manufacturing (11 per cent) and construction (7 per cent) where reports of dealing with this issue were below average. Reports of dealing with issues relating to redundancies were less of an issue overall (9 per cent), and reported at a relatively even level between work and industry sectors. Dealing with redundancies was focused strongly amongst larger employers, with 53 per cent of large employers and 42 per cent of medium employers reporting issues related to redundancies. 15 per cent of small employers significantly more than the average also reported dealing with issues related to redundancies. Only five per cent of micro sized employers reported encountering or dealing with this problem in the past year. A full breakdown of the issues faced by organisations by employer demographics and organisation characteristics is provided in Appendix B Issues employers expect to encounter in the next year Employers were then asked how likely it was that each of these areas would be an issue for them over the next year. The most frequently mentioned topic was changes in contract terms and conditions of employees; three in ten (31 per cent) mentioned changes in contract terms and conditions of employees, and a quarter (26 per cent) said sickness or long-term absence or requests for flexible working were likely to be an issue. Another quarter (26 per cent) said maternity, paternity or adoption leave was likely to be an area in which they would face problems, and two in ten (20 per cent) mentioned disciplining employees. 17 per cent felt that it 13

16 Chapter 3 Employer findings was likely they would face issues related to zero hour or casual contracts, and just seven per cent said redundancies were likely to create issues. Around two thirds (65 per cent) of employers say it is likely that their organisation will face at least one of the issues listed within the next 12 months, with 35 per cent saying they think it is unlikely that they will face any of the problems mentioned. Just one percent of employers think it likely that they will face all of the issues mentioned over the coming 12 months. Whether an organisation believes they will have issues over the coming year is based to a large extent on whether or not they have dealt with issues over the previous year, with 69 per cent of those who have not experienced issues in the last 12 months expecting not to experience any issues over the next 12 months, and only 16 percent of those who have had issues thinking that this will not be the case in the coming year. Figure 2 Employer expectation of encountering employee relations issues Q6. And how likely or unlikely do you think it is that any of these will be issues for you in your job over the next 12 months? Very likely Fairly likely Not very likely Not at all likely Don't know 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Changes in contract terms and conditions of employees (such as moving workplace locations or changing hours worked) 11% 19% 27% 42% 1% Sickness or long-term absence of employee 11% 16% 34% 33% 7% Requests for flexible working 9% 18% 28% 42% 2% Maternity, paternity or adoption leave for employees 13% 13% 25% 47% 3% Disciplining or dismissing employees 7% 13% 35% 42% 3% Workers on zero hours or casual contracts 9% 8% 17% 65% 1% Redundancies 2% 4% 31% 61% 2% Base: 1,700 employers from businesses in Great Britain Source: Ipsos MORI As with those who have experienced issues in the past year, larger workplaces are more likely to feel that they will face issues in the coming year, with 91 per cent thinking that they will face at least one of the issues mentioned and nine per cent saying that they think they will face all of them. The smaller the workplace the less likely they are to feel that they will face issues over the next 12 months, with 91 per cent of medium workplaces saying it is likely they will face some of the issues mentioned, and seven per cent saying it is likely they will face all of them, with three per cent thinking it unlikely that they will face any. This increases to 12 per cent of small businesses who say it is unlikely they will face any of the issues mentioned, and 43 per cent of employers in micro workplaces. Echoing the experiences of those who have experienced issues in the last 12 months, those who work in the private sector were more likely than those in the public sector to say they think it unlikely they will experience any of the issues mentioned in the coming year (37 per cent compared to 26 per cent). Similarly, 14

17 Chapter 3 Employer findings employers in transport and construction (both 49 per cent) are the most likely to say they do not anticipate any issues in the next 12 months, while public authority employers are most likely to say they anticipate issues across all areas (four per cent). This relationship is also repeated in relation to work sector public sector organisations are significantly more likely to say it is very or fairly likely they will experience problems related to sickness and long-term absence (36 per cent compared to 24 per cent of private sector employers) and maternity, paternity or adoption leave (35 per cent versus 23 per cent), whilst voluntary sector employers highlight redundancies as an area where they are significantly more likely to face issues (15 per cent say issues arising is very or fairly likely to occur, compared to nine per cent of public sector employers and five per cent of private employers) Most problematic areas for employers Employers were also asked which two or three of the seven specified areas they felt posed the greatest problem for their organisation if things went wrong. The most frequently chosen category in this case was disciplining or dismissing employees, which nearly six in ten (58 per cent) said had the greatest potential to cause problems. Handling sickness and long-term absence was the second more problematic area, chosen by over four in ten (45 per cent), and changes in contracts was seen as problematic by three in ten (28 per cent). The least problematic area was seen as workers on zero hour or casual contracts, which one in ten (9 per cent) felt had the potential to cause problems. Figure 3 Employer most problematic areas of employee relations Q10. Regardless of your confidence in being able to deal with the following issues, which two or three of these do you think have the greatest potential to cause problems for your organisation if they go wrong? 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Disciplining or dismissing employees 58% Sickness or long-term absence of employees 45% Changes in contract terms and conditions of employees (such as moving workplace locations or changing hours worked) Redundancies 22% 28% Requests for flexible working 17% Maternity, paternity or adoption leave for employees 12% Workers on zero hours or casual contracts 9% Base: 706 employers from businesses in Great Britain Source: Ipsos MORI For the largest employers, disciplining or dismissing employees is the most problematic area by some distance. Three quarters (73 per cent) of large employers said that this area had the greatest potential to cause problems, and 15

18 Chapter 3 Employer findings two thirds (67 per cent) of medium sized employers. The figures for small and micro employers stand at over half (57 per cent and 56 per cent respectively). Sickness or long-term absence is a greater issue for small employers than for larger ones, with half (50 per cent) of small employers stating this is a problem, compared to 43 per cent of medium and 37 per cent of large employers. Unlike the previous two issues, which have been a focus for either smaller or larger employers, there are no statistically significant differences in changes in contract terms and conditions; it is seen as an equally problematic area by employers of all sizes and in public, private and voluntary sectors. Redundancies are again seen as more of an issue by larger employers; 41 per cent of large employers and 26 per cent of medium employers identified this as a problematic area, significantly more than those from small (22 per cent) and micro (19 per cent) employers who said the same. Employers in the voluntary sector were significantly more likely to say this was one of the most problematic areas (35 per cent selected this option), however the small base size here (59 employers in the voluntary sector) means this result can be treated only as indicative. Requests for flexible working were cited equally as an issue by micro, small and medium sized employers (17 per cent, 16 per cent and 18 per cent respectively) significantly more than the proportion of large employers who felt the same way (eight per cent). Opinions on the problematic nature of this area of employee relations were also similar across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Although it was not seen as an issue by many (12 per cent overall), smaller employers were also more likely to say that maternity/paternity or adoption leave had the greatest potential to cause problems; 13 per cent of micro employers and 14 per cent of small employers said this was a problematic area, compared to eight per cent of medium and seven per cent of large employers. Finally, workers on zero hours or casual contracts were seen as the least likely to cause problems for most types of firm. Organisations in Scotland and in the hotel and restaurant sector are significantly more likely to say this has the potential to cause problems, however in both cases the base sizes are too small to draw concrete conclusions Confidence in dealing with issues Respondents were asked how confident they felt in dealing with each of the issues that they felt were relevant to their organisation. In all cases, a majority felt very or fairly confident; ranging from 94 per cent who expressed this level of confidence in dealing with issues arising from requests for flexible working, to 78 per cent who said they felt confident dealing with redundancies. 16

19 Chapter 3 Employer findings Figure 4 Employer confidence in dealing with employee relations issues Q7. You said that these issues have been, or could be, relevant to your business. How confident, if at all, would you feel in dealing with queries or issues when it comes to each of the following? Very confident Fairly confident Not very confident Not at all confident Don't know 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Requests for flexible working 55% 39% 4%2% * Maternity, paternity or adoption leave for employees 50% 40% 7%2% 1% Sickness or long-term absence of employee 49% 44% 6%1% 1% Disciplining or dismissing employees 49% 41% 8%2% 1% Changes in contract terms and conditions of employees (such as moving workplace locations or changing hours 43% 46% 9%2% 1% worked) Workers on zero hours or casual contracts 40% 44% 11% 3% 1% Redundancies 35% 43% 15% 4% 3% Base: 1,700 employers from businesses in Great Britain Source: Ipsos MORI In all cases, those from larger employers are more likely to express confidence in dealing with queries or issues. For example, in dealing with requests for flexible working, almost nine in ten (87 per cent) of respondents from large employers feel very confident (and 99 per cent say they feel very or fairly confident), compared to 68 per cent of medium, 55 per cent of small and 52 per cent of micro employers. Even when dealing with redundancies, the area in which employers expressed the least confidence, seven in ten (70 per cent) large firm representatives said they felt very confident in their ability to deal with issues arising in this area. The difference with small employers here is more stark; only 35 per cent of small employers and 25 per cent of micro employers also said they felt very confident, and although a larger proportion of small and micro sized employers said they felt very or fairly confident (83 per cent and 71 per cent respectively) in dealing with redundancies, this is significantly lower than the 88 per cent of medium and 92 per cent of large employers who felt the same way. Dealing with redundancy is also one area where there is a significant difference between sectors. Two in five (41 per cent) of public sector organisation representatives say that they are either not very or not at all confident in dealing with redundancies, compared to just 15 per cent of private employers (although public sector employers have a small base size here so results should be viewed as indicative) Reasons for confidence/lack of confidence Those who expressed either confidence or a lack of confidence in dealing with one or more of the issues above were asked the reason for their confidence or lack thereof. 17

20 Chapter 3 Employer findings The most commonly given reason for confidence in dealing with any issues in these areas was having previous experience seven in ten (70 per cent) cited this as one of the reasons for their confidence. A great deal of faith is put in experience; the next most commonly chosen options (having external support and good internal policies) were both cited by just two in ten (21 per cent). Figure 5 Employer reasons for confidence Q8. Thinking about all of those instances where you said you feel confident, why do you say you would feel confident? 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%100% Have lots of experience in this area We have external support that would be able to advise us in dealing with the issue (accountant, HR company) We have good internal policies to deal with this I would seek information from a specific source Good relationship with staff / close knit / small company Adequately trained in this area Aware / up to date with the relevant laws / policies I would seek information from Acas We have internal support that would be able to advise us with this issue Flexibility of job / staff Easy process Other Don't know 21% 21% 11% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% * * 2% 2% 70% Base: 1,295 employers from businesses in Great Britain Source: Ipsos MORI Although all types of firm cited it as their main reason for confidence, respondents from larger employers were significantly more likely to say that their experience was one of the main reasons, with 85 per cent of those from large employers citing their experience as a principal reason. Those from medium sized employers were almost equally likely to cite their experience (83 per cent), whilst small and micro firm representatives were less likely to rely on experience (73 per cent and 68 per cent respectively). Smaller employers were significantly more likely to rely on external support, with one quarter (26 per cent) of small employers and around two in ten micro (19 per cent) and medium (22 per cent) employers also mentioning this compared to 12 per cent of large employers. Conversely, reliance on good internal policies was higher amongst large employers, with four in ten (39 per cent) saying this was a principal reason for their confidence. Medium sized employers were also significantly more likely than average to mention good internal policies (28 per cent), whilst micro employers were the least likely to mention good internal policies (19 per cent). Those from public sector organisations were also more likely than private sector employers to mention this reason (27 per cent compared to 19 per cent). Seeking information from a specific source was a reason for confidence mentioned by a roughly equal proportion of employers across different categories, although this reason was particularly prevalent amongst agricultural companies 18

21 Chapter 3 Employer findings (20 per cent), suggesting that for these employers there is a specialist information source they use on a regular basis. The most commonly given reason for a lack of confidence in dealing with issues is also related to experience three quarters (75 per cent) of those expressing a lack of confidence in dealing with the issues listed say this is because they don t know what they would need to do in this situation. The second most frequently given reason not knowing where to go for information (10 per cent) follows a similar theme. Figure 6 Employer reasons for lack of confidence Q9. Thinking about all of those instances where you said you would not feel confident, why do you say you would not feel confident? 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% I don't know what I would need to do 75% I don't know where to go for information It would cause problems with other employees It would have an adverse effect on my business I would not have any support I would not have the time to deal with it properly Don`t have the authority / dealt with at Head Office Difficult / unpleasant situation Employment law is always changing Other Don't know 10% 7% 7% 6% 4% 3% 2% 2% 2% 4% Base: 220 employers from businesses in Great Britain Source: Ipsos MORI Although the small number of respondents who answered this question particularly amongst the typically more confident larger organisations means little can be drawn from analysing sub groups, not knowing what they would need to do is a greater issue for private sector (79 per cent) and small size (89 per cent) employers than for all employers on average. 3.2 Sources of information and advice Prevalence of internal and bought-in HR support The majority of employers do not have an internal HR department just one quarter (26 per cent) report having an internal HR department. As might be expected, however, this is heavily skewed by company size; 96 per cent of the largest employers have an internal HR department whilst one in five (18 per cent) of the smallest employers (1 to 9 employees in the workplace) have one. 19

22 Chapter 3 Employer findings Figure 7 Organisations with internal HR departments Q11. Does your organisation have an internal HR department? Yes No Don't know 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Overall 26% 73% * Micro (1-9 employees) 18% 82% * Small (10-49 employees) 44% 56% Medium ( employees) 75% 25% * Large (250+ employees) 96% 4% 1% Base: 1,700 employers from businesses in Great Britain Source: Ipsos MORI Public sector employers are significantly more likely to have an internal HR department than private sector employers (43 per cent versus 23 per cent), and employers in London are also more likely than average to report having one (41 per cent of employers based in London). Having an internal HR department is also correlated with greater use of Acas services three in ten (30 per cent) employers with an internal HR department have used Acas services in the past two to three years, compared to a quarter (25 per cent) of those without one. Around a quarter (23 per cent) of employers buy in external HR support. Buying in HR support is most common amongst middle sized employers, with almost half of medium employers (45 per cent) and four in ten (39 per cent) small employers saying they do this. A quarter (26 per cent) of large employers also buy in support, as do one in six (17 per cent) of micro employers. 20

23 Chapter 3 Employer findings Figure 8 Organisations with bought-in HR support Q12. Does your organisation buy in support from an external HR company? Yes No Don't know 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Overall 23% 72% 5% Micro (1-9 employees) 17% 78% 5% Small (10-49 employees) 39% 53% 8% Medium ( employees) 45% 53% 2% Large (250+ employees) 26% 69% 5% Base: 1,700 employers from businesses in Great Britain Source: Ipsos MORI Across most sectors the proportion of employers who buy in support is roughly similar, with construction employers standing out as the industry sector most likely to have bought-in support; one third of construction employers (33 per cent) have this type of support Subscriptions to HR resources Almost half of employers (47 per cent) do not have an institutional subscription to any HR-related journals, websites or publications. Amongst the majority who do, there is no pre-eminent source of information HR specialist publications and general organisation magazines are the two most frequently chosen sources, with one in ten employers saying they subscribe to these (11 per cent and 10 per cent respectively). 21

24 Chapter 3 Employer findings Figure 9 Organisational human resources subscriptions Q21. As far as you are aware, does your organisation or Human Resources department subscribe to, or gather information from any journals, websites or publications in order to keep up-to-date with human resources issues? HR Specialist magazines (NET) 0% 10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100% 11% HR specialist magazines (net) HR HR Specialist specialist magazines (online) 8% HR Specialist HR specialist magazines (hard copy) 5% HR Specialist HR specialist magazines (not specified where) 1% General business General business magazines (NET) (net) 10% General General business business magazines magazines (hard copy) (hard (e.g. copy) First 7% General business General magazines business (online) magazines (e.g. First (online) Voice, 5% Government Government websites websites (e.g. (e.g. HMRC, gov.uk, BIS) 6% Legal newsletters (e.g. Croner, Legal Daniel newsletters Barnet) (NET) (net) 5% Legal newsletters (online) Legal (e.g. Croner, newsletters Daniel Barnet) (online) 4% Legal newsletters Legal (hard copy) newsletters (e.g. Croner, (hard Daniel copy) 1% Legal newsletters (not specified where) Legal newsletters (not specified where) (e.g. Croner, 1% Industry Industry specific specific publication (NET) (net) 3% Industry specific specific publication publication (not specified (not specified) where) 1% Industry Industry specific publication (hard copy) 1% Industry Industry specific specific publication publication (online) (online) 1% Professional Professional network/organisation organisation (NET) (net) 2% Professional network network/organisation / organisation (not specified (not specified) where) 1% Professional network/organisation / organisation (online) 1% Acas (NET) (net) 2% Acas (online) 1% Acas 1% Federation of Federation Small Businesses of Small (not specified Businesses where) 1% Newspapers (NET) (net) 1% National newspapers 1% Regional newspapers * TV TV or radio * Other 5% We do We not do not subscribe to/gather this kind of information 47% Don t Don't know 20% Base: 1,700 Employers from businesses in Great Britain Source: Ipsos MORI As might be expected, larger employers are more likely to report having institutional HR subscriptions. Whilst over half (53 per cent) of micro employers say they do not gather this type of information, one third (34 per cent) of small employers and one in five (19 per cent) medium employers say the same, and only 13 per cent of large employers do not gather this type of information Sources of advice on employee relations and in disputes Employers were asked what external sources of information they usually refer to in two separate situations; one where they were looking for information, advice and guidance on employee relations, and the other where they were looking for advice and support in the case of an employment dispute or problem. In both cases there is no pre-eminent go-to source of information, although different sources are sought dependent on the situation. 22