Collective bargaining—the key to performance

Collective bargaining does more than just improve wages and conditions for workers. Your company’s performance will also improve.

The socio-economic crisis caused by the pandemic has posed three main threats to the world of work: the quality and quantity of jobs, and the most vulnerable groups. To minimize this threat, the International Labor Organization called for appropriate measures emerging from social dialogue to ensure business restructuring and preserve jobs. The ILO’s concerns are reflected in a range of studies identifying how the coronavirus crisis has exacerbated insecurity, inequality, insecurity and exclusion.

The management of this crisis has foregrounded the importance of the real economy, while revealing that some “essential jobs” are low-paid and insecure. The impact of the pandemic on working conditions has particularly affected women, young people and people in temporary and low-skilled jobs. Poverty and inequality have increased in societies around the world.

In Spain at the time, consensus was reached through social dialogue and millions of jobs could be saved through measures such as the short-term redundancy scheme (ERTE). However, despite its usefulness, ERTE was his one-time measure, ushering in a new, worker-friendly management model for the center.

Companies cannot exempt their employees from their duty of care. Economic actors cannot demand higher commitment and job performance without providing better well-being at work and abandoning practices that increase job insecurity.

workplace benefits

The idea of ​​workplace benefits is currently based primarily on the concepts of social interaction and mutual benefit that underlie the employment relationship. However, we can delve deeper into how collective bargaining and human resource management positively impact well-being and employment relations. And work environments that focus on workers’ needs and expectations have received attention from some companies and many researchers in recent years.

The quality of life at work depends on the composition of the working environment with good psychosocial conditions, organizational processes and methods, and the participation of employees at all levels of the hierarchy. for Organizational goals. Ultimately, such involvement will have a positive impact on employee commitment and performance.

This is where collective bargaining, one of the central institutions regulating the labor market, comes into play. Spain’s labor relations system regulates the working conditions of most workers within this framework. According to data published by the Ministry of Labor, Social and Economic Affairs, in 2022 (provisionally) 3,950 registered collective agreements regulated the working conditions of 11.6 million workers, affecting a total of 1.2 million companies.

Main character

Collective bargaining plays a leading role in improving worker welfare while reducing job insecurity. However, despite its importance to workers’ lives, there is little research on how to address workers’ needs and expectations apart from their impact on productivity and business competitiveness.

The collective bargaining survey, led by the May 1st Foundation of the CCOO trade union federation and coordinated by the University of León and the University of Córdoba, aims to fill that gap. This study uses a quantitative methodology based on an online survey of 1,600 workers living in Spain to investigate the impact of collective bargaining on benefits and job security, and thus on commitment and performance.

The main conclusion is that collective bargaining is an essential element for workers to improve their well-being at work and reduce insecurity. This increased sense of well-being and reduced anxiety is accompanied by an increase in their commitment to the company. This highlights the clear relationship between collective bargaining and job performance.

worker perception

This study addresses relevant and worrying concerns related to workers’ perceptions of collective bargaining, welfare and insecurity, among other findings. Therefore, 54.7 percent of respondents believe that collective bargaining agreements improve gender equality within their companies, 53.3 percent believe that collective bargaining has a positive impact on occupational health and safety, and 52.3 percent believe that collective bargaining has a positive impact on occupational health and safety. believes that collective agreements improve working conditions.

However, 49% believe they cannot negotiate working conditions, and nearly one in four workers fear retaliation if they join a union. At the same time, 28.1% said they did not think their job paid them enough, 32.2% suffered from long working hours, and 34.8% felt they had no options for advancement.

Although 55% are satisfied with their level of happiness at work, 55.3% feel mentally and emotionally exhausted by their work, and 44.3% feel irritable, sad, nervous, or irritable. I feel that it is causing this. A significant proportion of 30% claim that it is difficult to relax after work, and 36.8% are aware of how work is affecting their personal life. This research, which focuses specifically on women, once again shows that women enjoy fewer labor rights, suffer from particularly long working hours, and are more likely to be underemployed.

even more pressing

The results of this study can contribute to promoting the reform and development of the labor relations regulatory framework and collective bargaining within it. This issue has become even more pressing as the coronavirus crisis and the digitalization of economic relations accelerate the transformation of the world of work and industrial relations.

Research has shown that collective bargaining is fundamental to improving business performance by increasing happiness at work, reducing insecurity, and strengthening worker commitment. Dialogue and cooperation between businesses and worker representatives translates into high-performing labor practices, resulting in a balanced and fair distribution of the wealth generated.

As the governing body of labor relations, collective bargaining is the starting point for new agreements and social contracts, reaching a socio-economic agreement that companies must not pursue their own needs and expectations at the expense of those of their workers. must be. On the contrary, there is a need to achieve a balance between improving performance and expanding and improving workers’ rights and conditions. Only in this way can collective bargaining be in harmony with the welfare of workers, promoting and motivating change in an emancipatory direction.