Amplifying employee voice and hearing the unheard: a multidisciplinary study of contemporary working lives in deindustrialised communities

这项研究将采用一种创新的多学科方法来调查当代工人是否觉得他们在工作中随时了解情况，以及他们觉得自己有多少表达自己的手段来影响组织决策和改善他们的工作生活。该研究汇集了斯特拉斯克莱德大学不同学科背景、方法论专长和行业知识的研究人员团队，对去工业化社区的员工声音和当代工作生活进行了创新的多层次研究。我们的研究问题是根据以下要求制定的：1。在不同的工作环境和职业中，有不同渠道获得正式话语权结构的工人，在多大程度上觉得自己了解工作决策，有办法表达自己，并在对他们重要的问题上影响组织决策？2. 是否出现了其他的声音渠道？如果出现了，它们为谁的利益服务？它们是对更传统的机制的补充还是替代？3. 对员工来说，声音的感知价值是什么？有什么证据表明声音与更好的工作生活有关？4. 是什么因素影响着工人们是畅所欲言还是保持沉默？5. 政府、政策制定者和雇主如何制定政策来扩大员工的声音，以造福工人、组织和社会？该研究将结合多种方法，包括劳动力市场分析、利益相关者访谈、雇主案例研究、焦点小组、纵向调查和日记研究，以更好地了解声音的现实。实证研究的重点将是苏格兰西部工人的经验。虽然去工业化、经济危机和最近的新冠肺炎疫情的遗留问题意味着该地区受到社会和经济挑战的困扰，但该地区已从重工业转型为包括大型公共部门雇主在内的各种雇主类型。私营部门联络中心、零售、酒店、运输以及最近的海洋/可再生技术。它还提供了广泛的工作环境来研究声音，包括那些可以获得传统工会声音渠道的工作环境，以及“难以接触”的工人，他们无法获得任何形式的正式工作场所声音。该研究强调了获取在主流员工声音文献中未被充分代表的低薪、少数族裔和弱势员工的声音。一个特别的创新是使用CIPD英国工作生活调查（UKWLS）来提供正在调查的劳动力市场的范围和背景，以及在UKWLS基础上扩展的YouGov苏格兰调查中添加的问题。这将使我们能够为具有全国代表性的样本生成原始数据集，以允许我们检查(1)语音渠道随时间的变化(2)员工是否重视这些渠道以及(3)调查结果对苏格兰和英国的普遍性。12篇文章将针对各个学科的期刊以及更综合的渠道。影响将由我们已经成立的研究咨询小组（包括CIPD， Acas， CIPD, Poverty Alliance）提供支持，并将涉及来自商业，工会和政策社区的利益相关者，以支持传播和最大限度地进行知识交流（KE）（详细计划见支持信）。参与者、社区领袖和地方当局代表将受邀参加所有的KE活动，其中三场活动将在当地举行，以确保活动人士和参与者有机会参与讨论并制定下一步行动。向ESRC提交的最后报告将概述所有产出

The study will adopt an innovative multidisciplinary approach to investigate whether contemporary workers feel they are kept informed at work, as well the extent to which they feel they have the means to express themselves to influence organisational decision making and improve their working lives. The research brings together a diverse team of Strathclyde researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds, methodological expertise and sector knowledge, to develop an innovative multi-level study of employee voice and contemporary working lives in a deindustrialised community. RESEARCH QUESTIONS Our research questions are formulated with these requirements in mind: 1. To what extent do workers in diverse work settings and occupations with varying access to formal voice structures feel informed about work decisions, and have the means to express themselves and influence organisational decision-making on the issues which matter to them? 2. Have alternative voice channels emerged and if so whose interest do they serve, and do they act as complements or substitutes to more traditional mechanisms? 3. What is the perceived value of voice for employees and what evidence is there that voice is associated with better working lives? 4. What factors influence whether workers speak up or remain silent? 5. How can governments, policymakers and employers devise policies to amplify employee voice for the benefit of workers, organisations and society? METHODS, ANALYSIS AND OUTPUTS The research will involve a combination of methods to better understand the realities of voice including labour market analysis, stakeholder interviews, employer case studies, focus groups and longitudinal survey and diary studies. The empirical focus will be the experiences of workers in the west of Scotland. While legacies of deindustrialisation, economic crisis and latterly Covid-19 mean the area is beset with social and economic challenges, the region has transitioned from heavy industry to a variety of employer types including large public sector employers. private sector contact centres, retail, hospitality, transportation and more recently marine/renewable technologies. It also offers access to a wide range of work contexts to study voice, including those with access to traditional union voice channels, as well as 'hard to reach' workers with limited access to formal workplace voice of any kind. The research emphasises accessing to the voices of low paid, minority and disadvantaged workers underrepresented in the mainstream employee voice literature. A particular innovation is the use of the CIPD UK Working Lives Survey (UKWLS) to provide scoping and contextualisation of the labour market under investigation, as well as questions to be added to the YouGov Scotland survey expanding on the UKWLS. This will allow us to produce an original dataset for a nationally representative sample to allow us to examine (1) change in voice channels over time (2) whether employees value such channels and (3) the generalisability of the findings to Scotland and the UK. Twelve articles will target journals across the disciplines as well as more integrative outlets. Impact will be supported by our research Advisory Group already in place (including CIPD, Acas, CIPD, Poverty Alliance) and will involve stakeholders from business, trade unions and policy communities to support dissemination and maximise knowledge exchange (KE) (see Letters of Support for detailed plans). Participants, community leaders and local authority representatives will be invited to all KE events, and three will be held in locally to ensure activists and participants have the opportunity to contribute to discussions and shape next steps. A final report to the ESRC will summarise all outputs