Work and Employment

In this chapter we look at some of the key issues facing work and employment today, with particular emphasis on unemployment, and the paradox of why there has been an increasing inequality between the rich and poor in terms of the distribution of employment income. We look at the demand of employees for greater participation in decision making and in the profitability arising from increased productivity, and at how the “future of work”, as depicted in the “Shamrock” and “Hollywood” models, may change the ways in which people will be employed in future, and how we should define full employment. The important principle for industrial relations is to see employees and employers as stakeholders in the economic value of the companies for which they work, and in the negotiations for new work models of employment.