Employment Relationship Problems: Costs, Benefits and Choices
Previous Section | Table of Contents | Next Section
Future Research
The research leading up to this report has focused on the economic costs to employers and the social costs to employees as these were the main areas of concern expressed in focus group research. Given time and a sufficient budget, there are a number of areas of future research that could be usefully undertaken by the Department of Labour:
- A survey of employees, to develop a fuller understanding of the economic costs they face.
- More intensive research into the qualitative impacts of ERPs on employers and other staff.
- Research on the impacts of unions on ERP costs and benefits.
- Repeated surveys of employers and employees at regular intervals (approximately every 3 years) to understand the changing patterns of ERPs and resolution methods over time (using a larger sample, if possible, to allow greater differentiation between the costs and benefits derived from different resolution techniques).
- More focussed research on the experiences of small businesses, as they appear to have greater difficulties in resolving ERPs.
- In depth investigation into ERA and Employment Court determinations.
The Department of Labour will consider all of these in setting priorities for future research.