Productivity Implications of Changing Employer Attitudes and Strategies

Abstract

The paper discusses two debates; the rise of individualism in employment relations and the role of employers attidudes and strategies in this shift. Secondly the affect this is having on achieving a high­wage high skills economy. The methodology for this paper used three surveys providing a national coverage of private sector organisations employing ten or more staff. These were undertaken using a cross­sectional design where the surveys matched the sample demographics used by previous New Zealand studies. Semi­structured interviews were also carried out. The main findings are that the New Zealand ’experiment’ in employment relations that has been carried out over the last 2­3 decades has not produced the high productivity growth that was intended by its designers.