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Involving employees at the workplace pays off in higher levels of work performance

(Dublin, Ireland): Research shows that employee involvement can support employers’ objectives to raise levels of work performance and can also enhance the quality of employees’ lives at work. However, new data from Eurofound shows only about a quarter of employees in Europe (27%) are working in high involvement organisations, casting doubts over the ambitious Europe 2020 strategy aimed at attaining ‘smart’ growth through the development of higher-quality jobs in higher value-added industries and ‘inclusive’ growth in which all citizens have access to high-quality employment opportunities. The report is presented at the International Helix Conference 2013 in Linköping, Sweden, today and available online below.

Innovations in work organisation have the potential to optimise production processes in companies and improve employees’ overall experience of work. In the EU27 overall, however, most of the workforce is in organisations that provide very limited opportunities for employees to participate in decision-making, either in their immediate job or in relation to wider organisational issues affecting their work. While 38% of employees were in low involvement organisations in 2010, just 27% were in high involvement organisations, with 35% in organisations that offer intermediate levels of involvement. The broad pattern was very similar for both men and women.

Given the importance of a highly skilled workforce for economic growth, the need to develop systems of work organisation to foster employee motivation and well-being is likely to become increasingly important to the policy agenda. The research found that higher levels of employee involvement are more likely to be found in companies with relatively advanced technology and a more skilled workforce.

There were marked differences between countries in the control that employees can exercise over their work tasks, their involvement in wider organisational decision-making and the likelihood that they work in a high involvement organisation. The Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland and Sweden) had the highest levels of involvement, while the Southern countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain) and the East-South countries (Bulgaria and Romania) had particularly low levels of involvement.

The research analysis found that there was also a strong association between the level of employee involvement and the opportunities for informal and formal learning at work. Nearly 60% of employees in high involvement organisations had received training in the previous 12 months compared to just over 42% of those in low involvement organisations. Greater involvement was also associated with stronger employee motivation in terms of commitment to the work task and to the wider organisation. Those reporting that work organisation is motivating performance rose from 47% in low involvement to 76% in high involvement organisations.

It also found that greater opportunities for involvement in decision-making were associated with higher levels of psychological well-being – for both men and women. It was also consistently related to fewer physical symptoms of stress. There were clear benefits in terms of working and employment conditions from being employed in an organisation that provided greater scope for involvement in decision-making.

At present, relatively little is known about the prevalence of employee involvement across the EU and the factors that encourage it. The extent to which employee involvement leads to mutual benefits for the employee and employer is also controversial. The report Work organisation and employee involvement in Europe draws on data from Eurofound’s fifth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) of 2010 to investigate these issues and to strengthen the evidence available.

More can be found at the following address : http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/press/releases/2013/130612.htm?utm_source=website_item1&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=workorg20130612