Abstract
This chapter explores the role of the workplace in employees’ job quality using a composite indicator of non-pecuniary job quality and declared job satisfaction. Where one works plays an important role in shaping employee perceptions of job quality, over and above the individual and job traits which appear in most studies. We find managerial practices, the composition of the workforce, and worker representation all affect employees’ perceptions of job quality. We discuss how the findings enhance our understanding of British and French employment relations.
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In both countries factor analysis identifies a single factor with an eigenvalue above 1 (2.23 in France and 1.92 in Britain). In France (Britain) this accounts for 96 (89) percent of the variance in the eight items. All items load reasonably on the single factor with the exception of job demands: in both countries job demands are strongly correlated only with work–life balance. The alpha reliability coefficient for the non-pecuniary job satisfaction scale is 0.60 in France and 0.51 in Britain.
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All models are survey weighted to account for the probability of employee and workplace selection into the sample. These weights also make adjustments for differential non-response on observable traits. Standard errors are clustered to account for the non-independence of employee observations clustered within workplaces. Where an observation is missing on an independent variable it is identified by a “1” denoting missing on a dummy variable.
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Studies often find those on non-permanent contracts have lower job quality than permanent employees (Green et al. 2013; OECD 2014). But in a recent study using the European Working Conditions Survey 2010 Green et al. (2013) found no job quality differential between temporary and permanent jobs. They conjecture that temporary jobs may be improving in quality. In any event, we find no differential in non-pecuniary job quality for those on temporary or fixed-term contracts compared to those on permanent contracts in our population, namely, those with at least 12 months’ tenure working in workplaces with at least 11 employees.
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These results are not shown in the table but are available on request.
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Industry affiliation was also statistically significant. Results are available on request.
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“On the whole, are you very satisfied, satisfied, not very satisfied or not at all satisfied with working conditions in your main paid job?” Source: Eurofound
https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/fr/surveys/data-visualisation/european-working-conditions-survey-2010. The EU15 average for very satisfied/satisfied was 85%.
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WERS refers to “training you receive” whereas REPONSE refers to “your training opportunities.”
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Pay dissatisfaction is very strong in France, and it has been discussed in many papers (e.g. Askenazy et al. 2013).
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Factor analyses on the 10,457 REPONSE respondents without missing job satisfaction data identified a single factor with an eigenvalue of 2.08. Inter-item correlations ranged between 0.49 and 0.72. The alpha reliability scale was 0.78. The WERS analysis was run on 10,901 respondents without missing data. It identified a single factor with an eigenvalue of 4.30 and inter-item correlations between 0.24 and 0.78. The alpha reliability scale was 0.88.
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Those aged 65 and over express particularly high levels of job satisfaction, while young teenagers have the lowest satisfaction. However, these age groups have relatively low labour market participation rates in France.
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These occupational effects are not presented in the tables but are available on request.
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Bryson, A., Erhel, C., Salibekyan, Z. (2016). Job Quality. In: Amossé, T., Bryson, A., Forth, J., Petit, H. (eds) Comparative Workplace Employment Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57419-0_6
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