Human Resource Management, Employee Attitudes and Workplace Performance: An Examination of the Linkages Using the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey

Acknowledgements Material from the Workplace Employee Relations Survey (2004) has been made available by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) through the UK Data Archive. We would also like to acknowledge the financial assistance of BERR. None of these bodies is responsible for the views expressed in the paper. The views expressed in this report are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect those of BERR or the Government. The Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS 2004) is a nationally representative survey of British workplaces employing five or more employees and covering all sectors of the economy except agriculture, fishing, mining and quarrying. More information on the survey can be found here: For further information please refer to the main published outputs from WERS 2004: the first findings booklet (Kersley et al, 2005), a report on small and medium-sized enterprises (Forth et al, 2006), and the 400-page sourcebook of detailed findings (Kersley et al, 2006). The sourcebook is published by Routledge, while the first two reports are available free from Summary of Main Findings The study explores the link between human resource management (HRM), employee attitudes and workplace performance using the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. It finds an association between a composite measure of HRM and workplace performance and between a composite measure of employee attitudes and workplace performance. But, in contrast to most previous research, there is no association between HRM and employee attitudes and a negative association between HRM and employee well-being. Aims and objectives This study explores some key issues concerning the relation between human resource management (HRM) and performance. These include the way in which we conceptualise and measure HRM, the nature of performance and the process whereby HRM and performance might be linked. The main focus is on the way HRM and performance might be linked and in particular a core assumption in many models that HRM has its impact through its effect on workers attitudes and behaviour. The 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey provides an opportunity to address these issues. Methods and analysis We used four overlapping measures of HRM, reflecting different conceptual standpoints. These are (1) Individual practices such as selection and communication. (2) Combined bundles of practices designed to achieve employee competence, motivation, opportunity to contribute and commitment. (3) Interactions between bundles to explore the impact of an HR system. (4) An additive count of the number of HR practices in place …