An exploration of voice and power in contemporary online retail UK warehouse work

近些年来，商业街上的实体零售业有所下降，人们开始转向网购。伴随这一发展的是零售仓储的增长，以及与此相关的就业机会的扩大。虽然媒体的聚光灯把我们的注意力转移到了该行业糟糕的就业做法的例子上，但几乎没有系统的学术研究来解释在线零售仓库环境下的工作体验质量。鉴于政府最近承诺在英国制定良好的工作议程，这项研究将评估英国主要在线零售仓库在实现“良好工作”目标--工作满意度、公平薪酬、参与和进步、幸福感、安全和保障、话语权和自主权--方面的表现。特别是，通过针对该行业中最大的雇主，我们将询问工人在多大程度上可以就构成良好工作计划的各种雇用条款和条件发表意见，以及他们在多大程度上有权影响这些项目？该项目旨在评估员工的利益在多大程度上得到了行业内的倾听和解决，以及需要哪些类型的支持来弥补有效发声能力的明显不足。该项目将在英国8个最大的在线零售仓库中开展一项采访项目，采访该行业的工人和经理。还将与其他主要相关行为者和团体进行面谈，包括国家/国际网络和联盟；与工作有关的民间社会机构/正式机构；仓库工人工会代表和雇主协会、团体或机构。半结构化访谈将辅之以音频/视频工作人员日记，以实现方法创新。将开发一个基本的项目专用应用程序来收集视听日记数据。为了就研究设计提供意见，并在参与者招募、研究传播和影响方面提供援助，我们获得了主要利益相关者的支持，其中包括9名顾问委员会成员。CIPD和IPA还将作为知识交流伙伴为研究小组作出贡献，并将帮助最大限度地扩大该项目对广泛的政策制定和利益攸关方受众的影响。该项目的产出将包括参与者、学者和其他利益攸关方可以参加的至少两个活动；博客；时事通讯；在项目本身的网站上发表文章并通过更广泛的媒体传播；期刊文章、就业关系会议上的会议介绍；专著书籍、个人和比较案例研究报告以及工人语音工具包。广泛使用的工人语音工具包将在咨询委员会成员的支持下创建，其中包括作为知识交流伙伴的CIPD和IPA。该工具包将使政策制定者和在线零售仓库雇主能够审查在线零售仓库内的现有做法，并确定提高员工话语权和影响力的方法。该项目的产出可能涉及项目间协作。我们将通过组织年度研讨会和促进在线讨论和交流，建立一个ESRC项目调查人员网络。

Recent years have seen a decline in 'bricks and mortar' retail on the high street and a turn to online shopping. Accompanying that development is a growth in retail warehousing and an associated expansion in employment opportunities in such settings. While the media spotlight has turned our attention to examples of poor employment practices in the sector, there is little systematic academic research to account for the quality of working experiences in the online retail warehouse setting. Given recent government commitments to develop a Good Work agenda in the UK, this research will assess how well major UK online retail warehouses deliver on 'good work' objectives - job satisfaction, fair pay, participation and progression, well-being, safety and security, voice and autonomy. In particular, by targeting the largest employers in the sector, we will ask to what extent workers can voice their views on the various terms and conditions of employment that make up the Good Work plan and to what extent that they have the power to influence such items? The project aims to assess to what extent workers' interests are being heard and addressed in the industry and what types of supports are needed to counter any evident deficits in the capacity to effectively voice.The project will undertake an interview programme spread across eight of the largest online retail warehouses throughout the UK with workers and managers in the sector. Interviews will also be conducted with other key relevant actors and groups including national/international networks and alliances; civil society agencies/formal institutional bodies related to work; trade union representatives of warehouse workers and employer associations, groups or bodies. The semi-structured interviews will be supplemented with audio/video worker diaries to enable methodological innovation. A basic project specific app will be developed to collect the audio/visual diary data. To advise on the research design and aid with participant recruitment, research dissemination and impact we have secured support from key stakeholders, including nine advisory board members. CIPD and the IPA will also contribute to the research team as knowledge exchange partners and will help maximize the impact of the project across a wide range of policy making and stakeholder audiences. The outputs from the project will include at least two events that participants, academics and other stakeholders can attend; blogs; newsletters; articles on the project's own website hub and disseminated through wider media; journal articles, conference presentations in employment relations conferences; a monograph book, individual and comparative case study reports and a worker voice tool kit. The widely accessible worker voice tool kit will be created with the support of advisory board members, including the CIPD and IPA as knowledge exchange partners. The tool kit will enable policy makers and online retail warehouse employers to examine existing practices within online retail warehouses and identify ways of enhancing employee voice and influence. The outputs from the project could potentially involve inter-project collaboration. We would develop a network of ESRC project investigators through organizing a yearly workshop and facilitating online discussion sessions and communications.