What do the workers think?

The employee survey, included in WERS for the first time, has two main consequences. First, we gain a more balanced perspective of employment relations within the workplaces reviewed in earlier chapters. Second, we can create a more detailed picture of employees’ working lives – what they think about their job, about working at their workplace, and how they are represented at work (see also Cully et al., 1999: 4-10, 137-91). Questionnaire evidence from 1,100 HI employees provides a large enough sample to examine all sub-sectors inclusive of canteens and campsites, and to be less circumspect in drawing conclusions than in the management survey.