Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The Workplace Employment Relations Study, 2011 (also known as WERS6) is the sixth in a series of national surveys of employment relations at the workplace level. Earlier surveys were conducted in 1980, 1984, 1990, 1998 and 2004 (the series was originally known as the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, or WIRS). The aim of each survey in the WERS series has been to provide large-scale, statistically reliable evidence about a broad range of employment relations and practices across almost every sector of the economy in Great Britain. The data were collected to serve three purposes: to map British employment relations over time; to inform policy and practice, and stimulate debate; and to provide a comprehensive and statistically robust dataset on British workplace employment relations for public use. The 1990, 1998 and 2004 WERS comprised a freshly selected cross-section sample and a separate, more limited panel sample consisting of workplaces who participated in the previous cross-section survey. The key design innovation of the 2011 WERS was the integration of the two elements so that workplaces in the panel sample were eligible for all four components of WERS 2011. Weights were devised to enable the panel sample to be combined with the fresh sample to form a combined cross-sectionally representative sample. The WERS 2011 has four components: a Survey of Managers comprising the Employee Profile Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Management Questionnaire (MQ); a Survey of Worker Representatives (WRQ); a Survey of Employees (SEQ); and a Financial Performance Questionnaire (FPQ) which detailed the financial performance of trading sector establishments in the 12 months before the survey. The FPQ data, alongside region identifiers, detailed industry codes for the MQ and other anonymised but potentially disclosive data will be available through the UK Data Archive's Secure Data Service (see below). The WERS sponsors have established the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study: Information and Advice user support website for users of the WERS 2011 data. The site includes provision for users to contact the WERS research team with queries about the data. Further BIS information about WERS 2011, including the First Findings report and key tables are also provided on the gov.uk 2011 WERS webpage. Confidentiality and anonymisation edits: The following data items have been removed from the general-use (standard access or End User Licence (EUL)) version of WERS 2011: names of respondents, the workplace at which they worked, region identifiers, detailed industry classification below Section level, the Inter-departmental Business Register (IDBR) reference numbers, verbatim answers, and all data from the Financial Performance Questionnaire (FPQ). The restricted-access version of the data that will be available through the Secure Data Service (SDS) contains region identifiers, detailed industry classification, and the IDBR reference numbers of the workplaces that have consented to the linking of their WERS data to other sources and data from the FPQ. (Users should note that the SDS also holds a variety of data from WERS 2004 (WERS5).) Latest edition: For the sixth edition (September 2014), a new version of the management questionnaire (MQ) file was deposited, with additional variables included. Amendments have also been made to the mqsetup Stata ‘do’ file to take account of the additional variables. Finally, access restrictions have now been lifted on the Financial Performance Questionnaire (FPQ), so the data have been added to the study. For full details, see the updated Introductory Note in the documentation.
Main Topics:
The Survey of Managers (file wers11_mq_general_use) contains questions on workplace characteristics, recruitment and training, consultation and communication, employee representation, pay determination and payment systems, grievances and discipline, collective disputes and procedures, equal opportunities, work-life balance, health and safety, workforce flexibility, workplace performance, experience of the recession and workplace change. The Survey of Worker Representatives (file wers11_wrq_general_use) contains questions on structure of representation at the workplace, time spent on representative duties, means of communication with employees, incidence of negotiation and consultation over pay and other matters, involvement in redundancies, discipline and grievance matters, collective disputes and industrial action, relations with managers, and union recruitment. The Survey of Employees (file wers11_seq_general_use) contains questions on working hours, job influence, job satisfaction, working arrangements, training and skills, information and consultation, employee representation, and pay.
One-stage stratified or systematic random sample
Multi-stage stratified random sample
See documentation for further details.
Face-to-face interview
Telephone interview
Self-completion
Managers and worker representatives were interviewed face-to-face. The WRQ interview could be carried out on the telephone. The self-completion questionnaires (EPQ, FPQ and SEQ) could be completed on paper or online.
