What's a Good Job? The Importance of Employment ... - ODESI

What's a Good Job? The Importance of Employment Relationships

Graham S. Lowe Grant Schellenberg

CPRN Study No. W|05

ISBN 1-896703-53-4 ? Canadian Policy Research Networks Inc., 2001

Available from: Renouf Publishing Co. Ltd.

5369 Canotek Road Ottawa, ON K1J 9J3 Tel.: (613) 745-2665 Fax: (613) 745-7660 Home Page:

The findings of this paper are the sole responsibility of the authors and, as such, have not been endorsed by the agencies mentioned at the end of this publication.

Contents

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes

v

Foreword

ix

Executive Summary

xi

Acknowledgments

xix

1 Introduction

1

2 Rethinking Employment Relationships

3

From Structures to Relationships

3

A Model for Understanding Employment Relationships

5

3 Studying Employment Relationships

7

Guiding Questions

7

Research Design

7

A Profile of Survey Respondents

8

4 A Deeper Understanding of Non-standard Work

11

Temporary Help Agencies

11

Temporary Jobs and Longer Term Relationships

12

Self-employment as Disguised Employment

13

Links between Paid Work, Family and Home

16

Conclusion

19

5 The Legal Basis of Employment Relationships among Employees

21

The Form of Employment Agreements

21

Issues Covered by Employment Agreements

24

Assessing the Formalization of Employment Agreements

24

The Role of Unions and Associations in Employment Relationships

25

How Workers Experience Legal and Regulatory Aspects of Employment 29

Conclusion

30

iii

6 Remapping Employment Relationships

31

Four Dimensions of Employment Relationships

31

How Workers Experience Employment Relationships

31

Commitment

33

Trust

34

Conclusion

35

7 Explaining Variations in Employment Relationships

37

Socio-demographic Characteristics

37

Labour Market Location

37

Work Environment

37

Organizational Change

39

Exploring the Importance of Workplace Contexts

43

Conclusion

46

8 How Employment Relationships Matter

47

Remapping the Labour Market by the Strength of

Employment Relationships

47

Job Satisfaction

49

Skill Development and Use

53

Turnover

54

Workplace Morale

56

Absenteeism

57

Willingness to Join a Union

59

Conclusion

60

9 Implications for Workers, Employers, and Public Policy

61

Implications for Individual Workers

61

Implications for Employers

65

Implications for Unions

66

Policy Implications

66

Appendices

A ? Results from Multivariate Analysis

71

B ? CPRN-Ekos Changing Employment Relationships

Survey Questionnaire

83

Notes

115

CPRN Funding Sources

119

iv

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes

Figures

Figure 2-1 The Structural Map of the Canadian Labour Market

4

Figure 2-2 The Organic Links between Work Environments,

Employment Relationships, Quality of Work Life, and

Organizational Performance

6

Figure 4-1 Overlap between Self-employment and Employment,

Canada, 2000

15

Figure 4-2 Access to Medical/Dental Benefits, by Class of Worker,

Canada, 2000

17

Figure 4-3 Lack of Access to Family Leave, Pensions and

Sick Leave Benefits, by Class of Worker, Canada, 2000

17

Figure 4-4 Usual Weekly Hours Worked at Home in a Typical Week,

by Workload, Paid Employees, Canada, 2000

19

Figure 5-1 Legal Arrangements among Non-union Employees,

Canada, 2000

22

Figure 5-2 Distribution of Employees by the Level of Formalization of

Their Employment Agreement, Canada, 2000

26

Figure 5-3 Membership in Labour Market Organizations, Employees,

Canada, 2000

28

Figure 5-4 Membership in Labour Market Organizations, Employees,

by Type of Membership, Canada, 2000

28

Figure 7-1 Explaining Variations in Employment Relationships,

Paid Employees, Canada, 2000

45

Figure 7-2 Explaining Variations in Employment Relationships,

Self-employed Individuals, Canada, 2000

45

Figure 8-1 Mapping Employment and Self-employment by the

Strength of Employment Relationships, Canada, 2000

48

Figure 9-1 Linking Work Environments, Employment Relationships,

Quality of Work Life, and Organizational Performance

64

v

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