PhD Seminar Faculty of Business

Transcript

1. 1 Active labour market policies (ALMP) - the employers' role: motives when recruiting from UK welfare-to-work schemes Richard Meredith Work and Employment Research Unit University of Greenwich R.Meredith@Greenwich.ac.uk
2. 2 SESSION OUTLINE • Context • Literature • Theory • Research Questions • Methodology • Predicted Results • Contribution to literature • Bibliography
3. 3 UK CONTEXT • Unemployment >8% in 17/36 years since 1979 (spikes in 1981-88; 1991-97; and 2011-12). Back to 1979 level (5.4%). Persistent sub-national disparities (Clegg, 2015; Pike et al., 2012) • ALMP since’80s; Contractual layer to PES since 2012 (Work Programme). Contested nexus of welfare and work (Dean, 2013, Niblett et al., 2015; van Ours, 2015; Bonoli, 2010). • Weak evaluation on evidence of favourable effects of ALMP on employment (Card et al., 2015)
4. 4 STYLISED LITERATURE INSIGHT • Activation genesis as activation of state and employer but individual focus since 1970s (Martin 2015, Ingold & Stuart, 2014; Weishaupt, 2011; Martin, 2004; Martin & Swank, 2004) • Individualisation in labour markets = weak local institutions and embedding of employer networks (Brown & Marsden, 2011; Grugulis, 2007; Edwards et al., 2002; Streeck, 1992) • Market allocation from employers' perspective - how and why employers decide to attract job applicants from the unemployed in the labour market (Hasluck, 2011; Meadows, 2006)
5. 5 THEORY • to investigate the link between recruitment practice (dependent variable) and the ALMP (independent variable). • organisational-level research on staffing and its relation to strategy (Ployhart, 2006) • organisational recruitment (Breaugh, 2008, Barber 1998), • organisational and management approach (Miles et al 1978)
6. 6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS • In a theoretical population of the employers who have recruited from ALMP schemes: • What recruitment strategies do UK employers use? • How has ALMP influenced their recruitment decision?
7. 7 METHODOLOGY • Gap = what are employer recruitment practices - UK Commission for Employment and Skills (Devins et al., 2011, p.122) • Design = three-stage exploratory sequential mixed method strategy in Critical Realism paradigm (Ivankova et al., 2006) • (a) interviews to generate factors inductively n=4; (b) regression of employer responses to on-line survey (n=350); (c) focus group (n=8) to check results and reach conclusions abductively.
8. 8 PREDICTED RESULTS • ALMP not significant influence on employer • Recruitment decisions taken on the basis of recruitment strategy and ex-anti taste discrimination • Determined by the prevailing perceptions about individuals from this part of the labour market. • Variation of recruitment practice e.g. by sector • No influence from Employer Association (eg Local Enterprise Partnership or Chamber of Commerce)
9. 9 IMPLICATIONS FOR LITERATURE • Extend literature on recruitment theory and practice • Extend literature on role of state in UK employment relations
10. 10 BIBLIOGRAPHY • Barber, A.E., 1998. 1998 Recruiting Employees_Individual and Organisational Perspectives.pdf. SAGE Publications. • Bonoli, G., 2010. Active labour market policy and social investment: a changing relationship. • Breaugh, J.A., 2008. Employee recruitment: Current knowledge and important areas for future research. Human Resource Management Review 18, 103–118. doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2008.07.003 • Brown, W., Marsden, D., 2010. CEP Discussion Paper No 1037 December 2010 Individualisation and Growing Diversity of Employment Relationships William Brown and David Marsden. • Card, D., Kluve, J., Weber, A., 2015. What Works? A Meta Analysis of Recent Active Labor Market Program Evaluations. • Clegg, R., 2015. Monthly Labour Market Statistics - geographical coverage: UK. • Dean, H., 2013. The translation of needs into rights: Reconceptualising social citizenship as a global phenomenon: The translation of needs into rights. International Journal of Social Welfare 22, S32–S49. doi:10.1111/ijsw.12032 • Devins, D., Bickerstaffe, T., Nunn, A., Mitchell, B., McQuaid, R., 2011. The Role of Skills from Worklessness to Sustainable Employment with Progression. (No. 38). UK Commission for Employment and Skills, Wath-upon-Dearne. • Edwards, P., Gilman, M., Ram, M., Arrowsmith, J., 2002. Public Policy, the Performance of Firms, and the “Missing Middle”: The Case of the Employment Regulations, and a Role for Local Business Networks. Policy Studies 23, 5–20. doi:10.1080/0144287022000000055 • Grugulis, I., 2007. Skills, training and human resource development: a critical text. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke [England]; New York. • Hasluck, C., 2011. Employers and the recruitment of unemployed people: an evidence review. • Ingold, J., Stuart, M., 2014. Employer Engagement in the Work Programme (No. 5). Centre for Employment Relations Innovation & Change, Leeds University Business School, Leeds. • Martin, C.J., 2004. REINVENTING WELFARE REGIMES Employers and the Implementation of Active Social Policy. World Politics 57, 39–69. • Martin, C.J., Swank, D., 2004. Does the organization of capital matter? Employers and active labor market policy at the national and firm levels. American Political Science Review 98, 593–611. • Martin, J.P., 2015. Activation and active labour market policies in OECD countries: stylised facts and evidence on their effectiveness. IZA Journal of Labor Policy 4. doi:10.1186/s40173-015-0032-y • Meadows, P., 2006. What works with tackling worklessness? London Development Agency, London. • Miles, R.E., Snow, C.C., Meyer, A.D., Coleman, H.J., 1978. Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process. The Academy of Management Review 3, 546. doi:10.2307/257544 • Niblett, R., Begg, I., Mushovel, F., 2015. The Welfare State in Europe: Visions for Reform (EU Research Paper). Chatham House: The Royal Institute of International Affairs. • Pike, A., Tomaney, J., McCarthy, A., 2012. Governing uneven development:: the politics of local and regional development in England, in: Regional Development Agencies: The Next Generation?: Networking, Knowledge and Regional Politics. Routledge, pp. 102–122. • Ployhart, R.E., 2006. Staffing in the 21st Century: New Challenges and Strategic Opportunities. Journal of Management 32, 868–897.