Forging a new employment deal

There are increasing calls for insights into how people performance can be enhanced during turbulent times. The pressure to do more with fewer resources is now a key feature of the changing context of organisations in the UK, leaving very little slack in work systems. As employers depend on fewer core staff, there is a growing reliance on goodwill, trust and reciprocity to maintain the same or better levels of performance. At the same time, in a climate of austerity and job insecurity, employees are increasingly being given the message to “work hard and just be glad they have a job”, while experiencing an erosion of their pay, pensions and other inducements. Against this background, the need to forge new employment deals that better support mutual gains for all the parties concerned is essential if high levels of employee contributions are to be sustained.