REPORT OF UK PRESIDENCY

CONFERENCE

High Performance
Workplaces –
because people
mean business
The DTI drives our ambition of
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 High Performance Workplaces –
because people mean business

Report of UK Presidency conference

High Performance
Workplaces -
because people
mean business

15th September 2005, Hilton Paddington Hotel, London

REPORT OF UK PRESIDENCY CONFERENCE 3

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 High Performance Workplaces –
because people mean business

Contents
A. Executive summary............................................................................................................ 6

B. Background to the conference and European context ................................8

C. High Performance Workplaces - a definition ...................................................10

D. High performance workplaces in Europe ..........................................................11

E. High performance workplaces and the global economy ..........................13

F. The highs and lows of high performance working -

the UK experience............................................................................................................. 15

G. High performance in practice - case study companies.............................17

H. Workshops: Improving elements

of high performance practice ....................................................................................20
1. Raising standards in the workplace .......................................................................20
2. The function of HR practices and skills
in creating high performance workplaces ...........................................................22
3. High performance workplaces and the research community.....................25

I. Conference conclusions and key outcomes ......................................................28

Annexes

Annex 1: Speaker and Facilitator Biographies .................................................30

Annex 2: Further information and useful resources....................................41

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A. Executive summary
This conference was hosted by the UK Presidency, and was co-funded by the
European Commission. It was held on 15th September 2005 at the Hilton
Paddington, London.
The focus of this conference was how
government policy makers and
formers, trade unions and businesses
and the academic community can
work together to maximise potential
in the workplace. The conference
started from the basis that the
greatest asset that any business has is
its people. This event was designed to
examine how businesses can get the
most out of the staff that they employ,
for the benefit of both employers and
employees.
Speakers at the conference looked at a variety of issues surrounding HPWs,
from definitions of high performance work practices to the business case for
implementing these practices in human resource policies. Representatives of
four companies drawn from across the EU gave brief presentations about
how their organisations have adopted high performance work practices and
the benefits that these have brought to both the company and its workers.
These firms represented different sizes and sectors, but each of them
demonstrated a high degree of success combined with a loyal and committed
workforce and a real sense of a company culture. Different approaches to
good people management were discussed, ranging from the involvement
of employees in decision making and the role of trade unions, to innovative
work organisation and reward initiatives such as individual bonus schemes
for talented and hard-working employees.
Afternoon workshop sessions of the conference looked at three key areas:
1. Raising standards in the workplace - quality of work, innovative work
organisation, reward and commitment and employee involvement practices;
2. Human resource management - raising skills and encouraging lifelong
learning, active promotion of equality and diversity in the organisation, the
role of community involvement;
3. The role of the research community - what academics can do to encourage
the development and adoption of high performance work practices.

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 High Performance Workplaces –
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Each workshop generated very positive and wide-ranging debate that the
facilitators report back to the Conference. It was clear that there was
considerable agreement on the benefits of good workplace practice - with
particular emphasis on the importance of high levels of employee
involvement, innovative work organisation and on training and the
development of skills. A clear link was seen between improved quality of
work and improved performance. The role and contribution of trade unions
was also a common theme - and more broadly recognition that all
stakeholders have a contribution to taking forward this agenda and need to
work in partnership. But there was also recognition of challenges - not only in
promoting a culture of change but also in concerns that the risk of badly
constructed and implemented policies over emphasising performance and
achievement could have a negative effect. On types of organisation there was
some discussion about how to encourage smaller firms to develop high
performance work practices and the benefits to the public sector of taking the
HPW approach.
It was clear from all sessions that those involved, from business, trade
unions, governments and the research community were focussed on the
same goals, but would welcome new ways to share best practice with each
other and to enhance cooperation. Good examples of work done at national
level had been identified in workshops, such as initiatives promoted by the
Hungarian government to promote family friendly working practices within
companies, or the creation of a training game in Belgium to encourage trade
unions to develop policies on skills and lifelong workers. But it was felt that
something was needed to pull this knowledge and experience together at a
pan-European level.
The European Commission undertook to look at taking this issue forward by
examining the idea of a web-based guide to high performance practices to
promote best practice between Member States. This could be collated
through the existing European research networks, and would act as a
practical guide to developing HPWs. This would be useful for European
policymakers, social partners and academics alike.

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B. Background to the conference
and European context
This conference was designed to follow up work done under the Irish
Presidency on Adaptability and Adjustment to Change in the Workplace.
The Irish conference held in February 2004 agreed on a number of key areas
of good practice and identified areas for further work: at the microeconomic
level, strong partnerships between unions and businesses were shown to
provide a good framework for change management within an organisation,
and businesses were urged to respond to employees’ needs for flexible
working patterns. At the macroeconomic level, it was pointed out that there
were too often tensions between the social and the competitiveness agendas,
when it was possible to achieve useful progress in both areas through
harmonisation of policies and a more cooperative approach. The conference
conclusions showed that a more pragmatic approach was required to
facilitate cooperation between trade unions, businesses and government
policy makers.
The aim of the UK Presidency conference was to translate some of these
themes into the context of people management, and work towards a practical
understanding of how high performance work practices can improve a
company’s economic performance and productivity. The greatest expenditure
on any business’ balance sheet is usually dedicated to its people - via
expenditure on salaries, human resource management, training and
development. It therefore makes good business sense to maximise the
benefits of this investment by maximising potential in the workplace.
Although the pursuit of high performance goals is primarily a matter for
companies themselves, it is not just in the hands of managers and business
leaders. Employees and trade unions also have a large part to play. It is also
in the interests of national governments and Europe as a whole to promote
and encourage the use of high performance work practices in order to boost
productivity and make European business more competitive in a global
environment. The recent mid-term review of the Kok report on progress
towards the goal set by the Lisbon Agenda of achieving full and high quality
employment by 2010 highlighted the need for firms to innovate, expand and
keep pace with rapid developments in the field of technology. To enable
businesses to do this, a number of crucial factors must be in place at both
national and European levels:
L A supportive macroeconomic climate that allows businesses to grow and
develop

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 High Performance Workplaces –
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L A regulatory framework that allows flexibility for labour markets but also
guarantees good minimum standards of protection for workers
L Effective communication between government policy makers and formers,
trade unions and business representatives.
The conference began with opening
speeches by Bill Callaghan (Chairman,
Health and Safety Executive),
Gerry Sutcliffe (Minister, Department
of Trade and Industry) and
Vladimir Ŝpidla (Commissioner,
European Commission). All agreed
that HPWs are crucial to all Member
States within Europe, as they help
to drive forward innovation and
growth, as well as creating good
quality jobs where workers are well
trained and highly motivated.
Commissioner Spidla pointed out that HPWs were a crucial instrument in
overcoming the challenges of demography and an ageing population, as
these companies encourage innovation, competitiveness and enhanced
productivity. Gerry Sutcliffe stressed that HPWs were good employers as well
as successful businesses - by taking account of the diversity of workers,
ensuring adequate training provision and offering a good balance of work
with family commitments, HPWs were likely to retain staff for longer.
Speakers agreed that in a dynamic, knowledge-based economy, people no
longer expect to have one job or even one career for life. The expectation of
today’s employees is that firms will give them the opportunity to develop
skills that can be used in areas outside their day-to-day activities, and that
firms will offer flexibility so employees can balance work and family
commitments. Smarter working, as opposed to harder working, is what will
help to close the productivity gap, and there was a consensus that business,
unions and governments need to take a partnership approach to achieve this.

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C. High Performance
Workplaces - a definition
Dr Ed Lawler (Center for Effective Organisation,
University of Southern California) introduced the
second session of the conference by providing a very
helpful definition of high performance working.
Although the term “high performance workplaces”
is commonly assumed to be an Anglo-American
concept, much of the foundation work originally took
place in Europe. Early research by the Tavistock
Institute in London looked at firms which had
managed to achieve high performance and meet the
needs of their employees. The microeconomic
principle of balancing economic and financial
successes with the well-being of workers is still valid
today, but it has become more of a challenge to do
this in a fiercely competitive global environment.
In the old economy, a competitive edge could be gained through acquisition
of capital and physical assets at a lower cost, and this is how many low
wage economies outside Europe managed to increase their market share and
squeeze the profits of their European counterparts. However, today’s
economy is driven by different economic factors, such as knowledge,
innovation, technology and human capital.
Organising and managing people in such a way as to increase skills at both
the higher and lower levels of the organisation will bring about competitive
advantage for firms. Recruiting people who share the organisation’s values
and have core competencies is essential in this process, but so are ongoing
training and development schemes. Strong leadership is critical within an
organisation to create vision; HPWs also strive to create a distinct and clearly
defined workplace culture with core goals and values that are understood by
all members of staff. These goals should also be supported by reward
schemes for employees - it has been shown that workers with an economic
stake in the organisation perform better and are consistently more productive.

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 High Performance Workplaces –
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D. High performance
workplaces in Europe
Dr Enrique Fernandez Macias (European Foundation, Dublin) then took the
floor to explain how workplace practices are changing across Europe. He
reiterated Dr Lawler’s point that the research on and debates surrounding
high performance practices have been around since the 1970s, but added that
in Europe the focus has been mostly on skills in the workplace rather than
systems of work organisation.
According to Dr Fernandez Macias, the core model of workplace organisation
in Europe traditionally incorporates a very high degree of employee
participation and involvement in the decision making process. This is also
embedded in the legislative framework of the European Union, with statutory
systems of employee representation. Recent initiatives such as the
Information and Consultation Directive (2002) have aimed to strengthen this
framework further and encourage direct involvement by workers. This has
been most successful when social partners and governments work together.
The different political and economic systems and labour markets across
Europe mean that whilst it is possible to identify key underlying principles,
there are important differences between member states that make it hard to
pin down a typical European high performance model. Scandinavian
countries and the Netherlands come closest to the “classic” high performance
workplace system, as they feature a high degree of employee participation in
decision-making processes and a high level of productivity. Central European
countries usually have very highly skilled workers due to excellent
educational systems, and have strong formal employee representation
systems, but labour markets may not be sufficiently adaptable to help drive
forward innovation. Southern European countries often do not demonstrate
high performance work systems, and the focus in these member states has
often been on creating jobs rather than improving productivity or quality of
work. Data is only just emerging from the ten newest member states, but
there are promising signals that their low cost capital is combined with a
highly skilled workforce, which gives these countries significant competitive
advantage.
Despite an obviously disparate approach to labour market systems, skills
training and employee representation, Dr Fernandez Macias concluded that
the challenge for Europe still lies in creating more jobs. Creating employment
is most easily done by creating more low skilled jobs. However, this poses
risks both to the high performance model and to long-term growth: the only
way for European businesses to remain competitive against low cost rivals in
India and China is to show leadership and powerful innovation.

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Successful business strategies require a supportive economic environment,
and governments and trade unions alike play a part in this. Governments
need to ensure a solid system of social protection for workers and invest in
good educational systems to boost skills of future and existing workers.
Trade unions must recognise that change is an inherent part of growth and
innovation, and must be open to changes in the workplace to meet the
demands of competitiveness. The challenge of unemployment is one faced by
all social partners, and a new social pact is the best way to address it.

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 High Performance Workplaces –
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E. High performance workplaces

and the global economy
The productivity gap and falling competitiveness of Europe were themes also
addressed by Will Hutton (Work Foundation) who presented the global need
for high performance practices in the light of his recent visits to China and
Hong Kong. There can be no doubt that China is fast becoming the world’s
biggest exporter: manufacturing is driven by imported technologies and high-
tech manufacturing plants, and there is an estimated 30% growth per annum.
However, these statistics are only part of the overall picture.
China and India lack institutional structures to support business,
and there is a notable lack of Chinese and Indian brands in the
global market. Labour productivity may be on the increase in
these countries, but workers are not encouraged to innovate or
show independent thinking, which is a dangerous trend in an
increasingly knowledge-driven economy. In India traditional
prejudices based on the caste system exclude many people from
entering the workplace.
By contrast, European countries have some considerable
strengths that are often undervalued in global comparisons: for
example, output in France, Germany, Scandinavia and northern Italy is often
higher than in the US. If globalisation continues, then the West cannot
compete with cheaper Asian labour costs and capital costs. Productivity
needs to be addressed: Europeans work fewer hours per week than the
average Japanese worker, and the drop in labour hours must be stabilised.
However, Europe’s strength lie in its flexibility and soft institutional structure,
which must not be jeopardised by either over-protection of workers or an
excessive insistence on market solutions. The academic systems in Europe
need to be strengthened so that universities in particular can regain their
former status as world-class centres of excellence in learning and innovation.
Most of all, Will Hutton argued, governments and social partners must focus
on the institutions of employee engagement that generate trust and effective
leadership, corporate governance and sustainability.
Panel debate from this session focussed on how to bring high performance
practice to low skill sectors. It was agreed that a high level of knowledge
supports an increasingly service-driven economy, making training and
education essential for all employees. Customer responsiveness can only be
properly addressed by businesses if their workers have an understanding of
customer needs, and this is easily delivered through apprenticeships in
customer-orientated departments. Soft skill training was considered

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invaluable for long-term development of the workforce, as the economic
trend towards a decline in manufacturing and an increase in the tertiary
sector means that low and high-skilled workers may need to change careers
several times in the course of their working lives.
The question of innovation also arose, and it was argued that innovation in
the workplace should not be separated from research and development: both
technical production methods and workplace organisation must respond well
to change if firms are to remain competitive.

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F. The highs and lows of

high performance working -
the UK experience
Stephen Bevan (Work Foundation) then addressed the conference to launch
a new research report into people management, People Strategy and
Performance. The Department of Trade and Industry had supported this
project in order to find out what differentiates high performing firms from
lower performance companies, and how policymakers and social partners can
help the lowest performers to improve. Three thousand UK firms of different
sizes and sectors were surveyed to look at five crucial areas relating to the
performance of any company:
1. Human resource practices
2. Creativity and innovation
3. Customers and markets
4. Stakeholder management
5. Shareholders and governance
The results of this survey generated a performance index by which the
companies could be ranked. Firms higher up the index showed stronger
financial growth, more value added per employee and a higher rate of
profitability. The highest and lowest performing companies were then
investigated in more detail to find out what common characteristics were
shared by firms in each subset.
In the high performing group of companies:
L processes were kept as simple as possible;
L lines of leadership and management were clear;
L there was evidence of clear communication between management and
workers;
L firms empowered employees to initiate changes, which was an important
driver of innovation;
L a distinct workplace culture could be identified;
L there was little fear of change - employees even became nervous when
there had not been changes for a while.

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By contrast, in the lowest performing companies:
L there was too much focus on organisational structure and bureaucratic
processes;
L customer satisfaction or end products did not affect work organisation to
the same degree;
L firms were often inefficient and unresponsive to changing demand;
L the status quo was invariably preferred over suggestions of change in
these workplaces;
L outputs were analysed in almost exclusively short-term, financial terms;
L there was little or no sign of strategic planning for future needs of the
organisation or its customers.
The report concluded that government also has a role to play in the
development of high performance working systems. Policymakers should
actively work to encourage investment in innovation, R&D, knowledge and
people, as well as providing the macroeconomic conditions for business
success. Just as trust is important at enterprise level between employees and
managers, so trust between governments and the agents of business reform -
business representatives and trade unions - is essential for the development
of high performance workplaces both in the UK and beyond.

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G. High performance in practice -

case study companies
Four companies then gave brief presentations on how they had become high
performance workplaces, and what the benefits of good people management
have brought back to the organisation.
Rachel Dobson (Pannone & Partners, a UK law firm) spoke about how the
company had managed to cut down on long hours working, a traditional
problem in law firms, through flexibility and clearly defined working hours for
different levels of seniority in the organisation to avoid people doing
unnecessary “face time” at the office. She also spoke of the innovative use
that Pannone has made of reward practices, with an active company social
life organised at staff level, days off for Christmas shopping and half day
working on people’s birthdays. There is a policy of developing and training all
staff - study leave is granted for external qualifications, and the firm offers
financial support to complete a course of study when this is required.
László Virág (Ferinfo Dunaferr, a Hungarian manufacturing company) stressed
that although the workforce at Ferinfo enjoys the protection of collective
bargaining agreements to set working and pay conditions, there are a number
of other measures in place to ensure a strong workplace culture and good
communication between staff and managers. Salaries are supplemented by
generous fringe benefit packages which are particularly advantageous in the
Hungarian tax system. A large number of people who work at Ferinfo live in
the surrounding area, so corporate recreation programmes and also several
essential services are provided to employees and their families, such as
financial support to buy a house, assistance with paying for a summer
holiday during school holidays and an emergency fund for employees who
face an unexpected crisis. There is a high level of support for employees on
maternity leave, with training provided to assist reintegration into the
workplace, and provision of regular reunions for retired employees.
Neil Henderson (St Luke’s, a UK media and advertising agency) also
emphasised the importance of a focus on the individual as well as the
company in developing a high performance workplace. At St Luke’s,
employees are all owners of the firm as they all hold shares: there are no
external shareholders. Teams are designed around specific projects, rather
than by hierarchy, so junior members of staff may be sitting next to directors.
This has proved useful in allowing people to learn more about problems and
successes at all levels of the project, which improves planning of future
projects. Staff also feel involved in the decision making process as they can
voice ideas or concerns to management much more easily. Training is
provided in a number of innovative ways: every member of staff is given a

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£150 (g200) learning fund dedicated to “making yourself more interesting” -
it is used on a course to learn something unrelated to work, or to develop a
new hobby outside work. Employees are also selected to go on budget airline
mini trips to eastern Europe, where their project is to learn about the country
and report back when they return. This fosters a “curious culture” and
develops creative thinking and innovation.
Hans Bogaert (Volvo Cars Gent, Belgium) looked at the role of employment
relations in building a high performance workplace, and how bringing worker
representatives to board level decisions improved the performance of the
whole company, as increased responsibility boosts motivation. There are
several working groups within Volvo Gent to decide issues such as job
classification, and many groups on the production line are self-managed
without intervention from senior staff. A move from individual workers being
assigned to individual tasks to a task-based team operation was successful,
but running this system is expensive as fortnightly team meetings involve
stopping the factory for 90 minutes. However, clear financial benefits have
ensued from this and other changes due to useful suggestions for
improvement which have been made by the workers themselves. It also
ensures that managers have the opportunity to keep their staff informed of
any changes within the organisation. A policy of job rotation has improved
motivation and allowed the production line to keep running even when staff
are on sick leave, as others have learned how to do their jobs so production
can continue with reduced staff levels. Quality of production has actually
improved since this change, and workers appreciate the resultant even
distribution of heavy and light tasks. Further learning opportunities have been
developed in order to make each individual operator more aware of the
strategic dimensions of Volvo and the firm’s long and short-term needs.

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Conclusions from the morning session:

Although it is clear that these firms all took very different approaches to high
performance working methods, many of the benefits for the company that
they described were remarkably similar:
L All reported increased motivation and productivity, as employees felt more
involved in decision making and work design;
L Concerns about job security were diminished, as employees were kept
informed of changes within the organisation - enabling them to
concentrate on their own work;
L Several presenters described the financial gains: St Luke’s reported that
some members of staff had chosen to work there despite offers from
similar agencies offering higher salaries;
L Absenteeism (due to illness, stress and other factors) was much less of a
problem, as employees were proud to work in those companies and
enjoyed the work environment;
L The firms’ reputation was often enhanced: Pannone & Partners’ clients
are always pleased to see that they are dealing with the same people,
as the company retains staff more easily than many of its competitors;
L An enhanced reputation also helped to cut recruitment costs and
encourage more able and highly trained people to apply to the
organisations.

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H. Workshops: Improving
elements of high
performance practice
The afternoon session of the conference began with three workshops on
different elements of high performance working. Each workshop looked at
current initiatives active within Member States, problems encountered, and
what could be done to improve in those particular areas.

H1. Raising standards in the workplace

Workshop 1, facilitated by Lucy Fallon-Byrne (National Centre for Partnership
and Performance, Ireland) looked at:
L Raising standards in the workplace through employee involvement
L Quality of work and innovative work organisation (including flexible
working and family friendly policies)
L Innovative reward and commitment practices.
Lucy Fallon-Byrne began with the question of how to
improve innovation in the workplace in order to
maximise the potential of the workforce. Ireland is
looking at ways to do this, and there has been useful
data arising from the new work on information and
consultation practices.
Guido Vanderseypen (European Commission) then spoke of the
benchmarking and monitoring process at European level on quality of work.
European policymakers have developed a multi-dimensional concept of
quality, the elements of which are directly related to productivity, access to
employment and flexibility, all key issues of the Lisbon agenda for growth,
jobs and competitiveness. He reviewed a number of them and concluded that
there were encouraging developments. There are signs that the declining
trend in productivity growth in Europe is being reversed, while at the same
time the accident rate is falling. The labour market is becoming more diverse,
at least in respect of the employment rate of older workers which is now
clearly picking up, whereas there remain clear barriers for women and
migrants. Finally, the high share of flexible contracts does not clearly seem to
affect overall job satisfaction.
The importance of a gender balance in the economically active population
was a theme also highlighted by Benoît Brunet (MEDEF/Peugeot Citroën,
France): work-life balance is embedded in legislation in France, but it is very
hard to ensure that it happens in practice, especially for working parents.

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Some employers are still reluctant to employ a woman with young children,
and “career women” often fear that they will be professionally disadvantaged
if they have children. Government intervention in an individual’s private life is
sometimes necessary: new legislation is underway in France to legislate
against discrimination based on domestic circumstances. There are also
ongoing measures to ensure that women are not disadvantaged in the
workplace by lack of training or skills, and that they receive proper support
during periods of maternity leave.
An appropriate level of
government intervention was
also considered important by
Dr Agnes Simonyi (Hungarian
Labour Ministry). Dr Simonyi
spoke about the problem of
assuring high performance and
quality in work in a country that
had until recently been used to
full employment through low
performance workplaces. The
Hungarian government is
committed not only to create more, but also better jobs and it has been
looking at ways to raise awareness of CSR practices in companies. It has also
encouraged the implementation of family friendly working policies in firms
via a national employer awards scheme which has proved very successful.
Organisations are more likely to receive the award - and a great deal of
positive publicity - if they can demonstrate that family friendly working has
led to an increase in productivity. Not all participants in this competition are
businesses: municipal offices, hospitals and even prisons take part as well!
Programs supported by the European Social Fund are also dedicated to create
more family friendly jobs in Hungary.
Jane Bird (Acas, UK) outlined the Acas Model Workplace, a series of
guidelines that Acas has drawn up based on its expertise of dispute
resolution in the workplace. The plain English guidelines and “health checks”
aim to prevent disputes by encouraging good health and safety procedures,
clarity of job design, fair pay and reward schemes that take account of
diversity. It has been designed for businesses of all sizes and sectors.

REPORT OF UK PRESIDENCY CONFERENCE 21

Paul Talbot (Amicus Union) also stressed the value of avoiding conflict through
consultation: the quality of a decision can only be improved by extra testing
with and consultation of the people it will most affect. He also pointed out the
need for managerial levels to sign up to information and consultation practices,
otherwise they can never be fully implemented across an organisation.
Discussion drew out the following themes and suggestions for further work
by governments and social partners:
L Information and consultation are very helpful for motivation and work
organisation - but there are some concerns that businesses may be doing
the minimum to ensure compliance, and trade union fears that it impacts
upon collective bargaining systems. There were calls for stronger
cooperation at national level between business representatives and unions
- problems and fears need to be set out clearly and overcome. The
implementation at shop floor level needs to be monitored carefully to
identify problem areas;
L Good management of health and safety is crucial to high performance
workplaces to boost productivity and reduce the number of working days
lost to illness through stress. Consultation has been shown to reduce
stress, and this approach is valuable;
L Dissemination of good practice does not always reach SMEs - need for
professional intermediary organisations to target this group of employers;
L Public sector participation - public sector should also look closely at taking
a high performance approach to work organisation;
L Improved communication between academic community and businesses
on work organisation - there are many excellent ideas and models of best
practice identified by researchers, but these need to be picked up at a
practical level;

H2: The function of HR practices and skills in creating high

performance workplaces
Workshop 2 was facilitated by Professor Jaap Paauwe (Erasmus University
of Rotterdam, Netherlands) and examined the following areas:
L Raising levels of education and skills and promotion of lifelong learning
L Equality and diversity in the workplace, including participation of older
workers and promoting gender equality
L Working within the community and the role of corporate social responsibility.

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Professor Paauwe’s introduction outlined the key

challenges for HR managers in high performance
workplaces, where there are often demanding targets
to be met, customer-orientated change management
which may involve rapid decision-making and work
organisation by semi-autonomous, multi-skilled
teams on specific projects, rather than traditional
hierarchies of authority. For these systems to work
efficiently, there must be a culture of creativity and
learning throughout the organisation which will
enable personal development at all levels.
Information and communication from the top of the
organisation downwards are essential to build trust
by workers and avoid insecurity.
Several discussants found that there was much yet to be done on the
question of bringing older workers into the workforce and tackling the
persistent problems of occupational segregation between women and men.
Robert Strauss (European Commission) stressed that older workers were a
priority for the development of Europe’s economy, and that whilst high
performance practices could certainly help to boost the number of
economically active older people, it must be remembered that working
practices and styles of management which suit younger workers will not
necessarily be suitable for older colleagues.
Rainer Schmidt-Rudloff (BDA, Germany) provided a helpful outline of how the
BDA (Confederation of German Employers Associations) has worked to
address this issue by encouraging HR managers e.g. to open up recruitment
to older workers or encourage shared learning between older and younger
workers. There have been several successful examples of younger workers
giving their older colleagues lessons on use of computers and IT equipment,
whilst the older workers have valuable skills and career advice to share in
return. There are some problems of absenteeism with the older workers in an
organisation, so firms should try to ensure a preventive HRM approach by
employing a good mixture of older and younger people.
Recruitment was one question addressed by this workshop, but retention of
workers was also considered. Roman Mesicek (RespAct, Austria) considered
that good policies based on principles of Corporate Social Responsibility can
also help to motivate staff and encourage them to stay with an organisation
for longer. RespAct is a government-supported initiative to award prizes to

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firms who have expanded their CSR policies and shown awareness of
diversity in the constitution of their workforce. Benefits of participating in the
competition include a great deal of publicity and endorsements by global
charities, but firms usually see local benefits more quickly: as an example, a
small business saw a drop in average days of sick leave from 10 to 4.5 once
CSR policies were introduced to the organisation.
Jerry Marston (Corporate Citizenship Company, UK) also emphasised the
benefit of the skills development that arises from giving workers the
opportunity to do some voluntary work during working hours. Employees can
gain experience of chairing meetings, organising teams and delegating
activities - communication, problem-solving and leadership skills which are
certainly useful for the short-term projects but can be invaluable for career
development back in the workplace. There was a great deal of evidence to
suggest that CSR-orientated firms retained staff for longer and enjoyed lower
recruitment costs as potential workers were keen to join an organisation with
good “moral values” and responsible business ethics.
Another government-backed award scheme came under the spotlight in this
workshop as Albertina Jordao (Equality is Quality initiative, Portugal) showed
how the Equality is Quality prize has encouraged Portuguese firms to become
more gender-neutral, and often to address the question of their CSR policies
at the same time, as the jury for the award must bear in mind other issues
such as environmental responsibility, compliance with law and health and
safety measures. Awards are given to companies who have taken positive
steps to improve the gender balance in their organisations and adopt
measures to improve quality of employment/work-life balance. Although no
financial prizes are awarded, the Equality is Quality endorsement gives
valuable publicity to a firm and workers have often been more motivated by
the very act of their employers applying for the prestigious award scheme.
Consumers are starting to look out for the Equality is Quality backing of
products and services, so firms are becoming more determined to succeed in
their applications.
Jan Franco (ACV-CSC, Belgium) gave an interesting outline of the importance
of competency development in the workplace, and the role that trade unions
could play in supporting this. Many people are keen to talk about lifelong
learning, but there have been few examples of this in action, as there is
resistance from both employers and employees. Although trained and multi-
skilled workers enjoy benefits such as a greater level of employability and the
opportunity to change jobs within an organisation and work on areas of

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interest, workers are traditionally suspicious of the motives behind training

packages. Blue-collar workers in particular have not usually been encouraged
to take an interest in further training and development. Employers are
sometimes reluctant to invest in training for fear of over-skilling their workers
and giving them more opportunities to leave the organisation, which would
lead to higher recruitment costs. There are some real risks of training
programmes, such as isolation of those who do not “fit” the competencies
required to undertake them, or the burden of stress on workers who are
struggling to keep up with the training. Moreover, the very ideology of
personal development is sometimes seen as posing a threat to the trade
union movement and the principle of “equal pay for equal work”. To break
down these barriers, a “training game” has been created for Belgian union
representatives which aims to display the benefits of training for the
workforce, along with a complementary website of case studies where
training has been of benefit to both the organisation and its staff.
The following themes emerged from the workshop:
L Community working schemes were an excellent way for firms to improve
the skills of their workforce at relatively low cost, as long as the skills
developed were roughly aligned to the training needs of the firm;
L Government awards can be extremely effective in encouraging the spread
of good practice, but their criteria must be firmly established, objectives
should be clear and they must be seen to be fairly judged, preferably with
social partners on the jury;
L Lifelong learning must be a real commitment by governments, businesses
and trade unions - there is a serious need for action in this area, rather than
meaningless rhetoric.

H3: High performance workplaces and the research community

Workshop 3, facilitated by Professor David Guest (King’s College London, UK)
focussed on the research work that has been done on high performance
workplace practices and what further work would be useful in this area.
Professor Guest began by introducing the topic of high performance in broad
terms, starting with the definition of performance - is this measured by
productivity, return on assets, profit or share price? He also raised the
question of how to ensure that “performance” is not just driven by business
needs but also incorporates a high degree of well-being within the workforce
that goes beyond minimum standards of protection. It is not yet clear whether

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there is one defined model of high performance practice to follow, or whether
very different business strategies can all produce high performance. It is also
uncertain whether a widespread use of high performance practices across
sectors would cut the degree of competitive advantage for the firms that
made use of them. His final question was how academics should “sell” high
performance as a concept, and what factors are preventing such an obviously
attractive theory from being taken up by more companies.
Dr Thomas Zwick (Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim,
Germany) then looked at research conducted on the benefits of high
performance workplaces. He found that high performance practice helped to
cut unnecessary strands of middle management by giving workers a higher
degree of autonomy and responsibility, although financial savings made
would be offset by the costs of extra training. When workers are motivated
and involved in the workplace, they have a better grasp of the innovation and
continual improvement required by business. This in turn has been shown to
lead to increased productivity, especially for firms with works
councils. Measures of productivity can be problematic, however,
as companies sometimes are forced to change their
organisational structure during recessions, while they introduce
financial participation during boom times. There is also a
noticeable time delay between implementation of high
performance measures and significant results in terms of profits
and productivity. More research needs to be done to determine
how long this “lead time” is and whether the results are lasting.
Dr Tony Huzzard (National Institute for Working Life, Sweden)
gave a brief presentation of the Swedish Innoflex project which
examines quality of working life as linked to competitiveness.
The project identified two types of organisations: those that use
sustainable work practices and invest in development of their
people, and those that deploy intensive work systems that treat staff like an
expendable resource. It is often difficult to find the right balance between
quality of working life and the needs of a firm, but there is a demonstrable
positive between both elements so that firms who treat staff well tend also
to be more competitive. Dissemination of good practice is vital - peer review
between similar institutions was crucial in developing quality of working life
systems on the ground, and national conferences were held on the subject
where practitioners could discuss their experiences and possible ways to
overcome obstacles. Once action plans were identified, learning networks
were set up to support implementation and to encourage new developments

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and refinements to existing systems of work organisation. On a wider scale,

there is a distinct role at European level for the dissemination of best practice
between Member States.
Carmen Alpin (DTI, UK) offered a useful summary of the 2004 findings from
an employer-employee dataset called WERS (Workplace Employment
Relations Survey) which identifies a number of key areas commonly
discussed under the ‘high performance’ banner, such as work organisation,
recruitment, performance appraisal and employee development, financial
incentives and welfare-related practices (including job security guarantees
and dispute resolution procedures). The dataset can be used to examine the
incidence of HPW practices in British workplaces. She was keen to point out
that the 2004 WERS had expanded in scope, with micro firms included in the
dataset for the first time, and that new financial performance data was also
helping to identify high performance workplaces, which could lead to
important future research work in this area.
Discussions in this workshop centred on important future areas for research
work, such as:
L The long-term benefits of high performance: many organisations give up
HPW strategies, and the research community needs to look at why this is,
what effect it generates and how firms can avoid change fatigue and
innovation decay in order to keep HPWs on track.
L How can performance be defined and measured in non-financial terms,
and how can work organisation be designed around the performance
measure?
L How can the gap between practitioners and researchers be closed, so that
there is useful business support by the academic community, and which
intermediary organisations can help to do this?
L How does regulation in a sector impact upon its use of high performance
practices?
L The role of social partners in promoting HPWs - how can national social
partners, and trade unions in particular, help to manage employee
resistance to high performance working?
L Risks of negative consequences of high performance workplaces -
researchers should not assume that high performance is necessarily a
good thing for workers or an organisation, by taking account of potential
factors such as the possible link between high performance and stress.

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I. Conference conclusions
and key outcomes
In her closing address to the conference, Lenia Samuel (Deputy Director
General, European Commission) stated that the conference had focussed
attention on the clear link between quality of work and productivity, two
crucial elements for European workers and businesses. She argued that in a
global economy, the key to survival lies in adaptability and flexibility in the
labour market. The targets achieved at Lisbon can only be achieved if Europe
attracts and retains more people to the workforce, improves productivity and
makes a concerted attempt to invest in human capital. The European
Employment Strategy was set up to monitor and benchmark quality in work,
and several improvements have been noted, particularly with regard to
training in the workplace. European productivity is also on the increase, but
there is still some way to go before the gap with the US is closed. The
question of work-life balance in the EU still needs to be addressed, and the
labour market must be made more efficient, flexible and fair. Questions of
demographic change in Europe need to be addressed by ensuring that people
have the opportunity to have longer working lives, and are happy, motivated
and productive at work.
Ms Samuel reminded the conference audience of the Kok report’s
recommendation that Member States should learn more from each other’s
policy experiences in the employment field. She went on to say that the
Commission was prepared to support this learning process through the
creation of a centralised website that identified good work organisation
systems and supporting governmental initiatives across Member States.
She further suggested that the Commission might use its existing European
Employment Observatory research networks to collate the information
required for this website.
In his closing remarks, the conference Chair Bill Callaghan noted that
businesses, trade unions, governments and the academic community face a
number of challenges:
L Businesses are constantly competing for skilled staff, and it makes no
sense to exclude talented people on the basis of factors that have nothing
to do with their competence to do the job. Creativity should be encouraged
through innovative work design and an organisational culture that
promotes the suggestion of new ideas to management.

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L Trade unions need to address the problem of change in the workplace, and
help workers to see the potentially positive benefits of change in boosting
not only the firm’s profitability but also workers’ own employability.
L Policy makers and policy formers should work to create a legislative
environment that supports flexibility and growth for firms and ensures a
high level of minimum standards, guaranteeing quality of working life for
employees. There is also a strong need for the promotion of research, skills
and the provision of advice and information on high performance working.
L The academic community needs to take a long-term view of high
performance workplaces in order to identify and help businesses, unions
and governments to manage potential risks associated with a high
performance culture.
The Chair concluded that best practice can most easily be shared through a
pragmatic partnership approach which seeks to improve economic
performance and maximise potential in the workplace. He hoped that the idea
of a website to share experience between Member States would be a
significant step forward in improving communication and partnerships
between all the main agents of change, and that high performance working
would come to represent the very principles of a civilised society and a
successful economy.

REPORT OF UK PRESIDENCY CONFERENCE 29

Annex 1:
Speaker and Facilitator
Biographies
Conference Chair, Bill Callaghan, HSC (UK)
Bill Callaghan was first appointed Chair of the Health and Safety
Commission on 1 October 1999 and was reappointed for a
period of up to 3 years from October 2004. He was previously
the Chief Economist and Head of the Economic and Social
Affairs Department at the TUC. He has considerable experience
of working with different groups in the industry and public life
and has served on the boards of Business in the Community
and the Basic Skills Agency.
Bill Callaghan served on the Low Pay Commission from 1997
to 2000. He was also a member of the Economic Social
Research Council’s (ESRC) Research Priorities Board. He is a
Visiting Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford and a member of the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Fair Markets Group
Board. Bill Callaghan was sworn in as a magistrate in spring
2005.

Gerry Sutcliffe, Member of Parliament (UK)

Gerry Sutcliffe was first elected MP for Bradford South in 1994.
He was re-appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for
Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs following the
May 2005 General Election.
Gerry Sutcliffe served as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS)
to Harriet Harman when she was Secretary of State for Social
Security (1997-1998). He served as Stephen Byers’ PPS in his
roles as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (July - December 1998)
and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1998-2001). He
was also Assistant Government Whip (between 1999 and 2001).
Before becoming a Minister, Gerry was Vice-Chamberlain of
Her Majesty’s Household (2001-2003) after which he took up his
first Ministerial post at the Department of Trade and Industry
responsible for Employment Relations, Competition and
Consumers on 13 June 2003. This role was expanded to include
Postal Services in September 2004.

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 High Performance Workplaces –
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Gerry was born on 13 May 1953 in Salford, Manchester and

educated at the Cardinal Hinsley Grammar School, Bradford,
going onto the Bradford Ilkley Community College. His first job
after college was as a sales assistant at Brown & Muff’s
Department Store, before moving onto the local paper the
Telegraph and Argus. After this he moved onto a firm of printers
where Gerry became active in the union movement through the
GPMU (Graphical, Paper and Media Union) now part of Amicus
and became involved with the Labour Party.
He became a Bradford Councillor in 1982, culminating in being
the leader of Bradford Council from 1992-1994 when he entered
parliament. His political interests include Employment Relations
issues, the economy, the role of the United Nations and
Regional Government.
In the little time remaining Gerry enjoys music, other sports and
relaxing with his family. He is married with three sons and two
grandchildren.

European Commissioner for Employment,

Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities,
Vladimir Ŝpidla (Czech Republic)
Born on April 22, 1951 in Prague, Mr Ŝpidla completed his
secondary education in 1970 to enrol in the Faculty of Arts,
Charles University, Prague where he read history and prehistory.
In 1976, he successfully defended his thesis on the subject of
the foundation of the Zivnobanka financial institution. He then
took up a number of jobs: such as in the field of preservation of
historical monuments and nature conservation; archaeologist,
saw mill worker, employee in a dairy and a building materials
warehouse.
Without party affiliation before 1989, Mr. Ŝpidla is one of the
founding members of the CSSD, the Czech Social Democratic
Party. In 1990, Mr Ŝpidla became Vice-Chairman of the
Jindr̂ichùv Hradec District National Committee responsible for
education, health care, social affairs and culture. From 1991 -
1996, he served as director of the local job centre. In 1992, he
became a member of the Presidium of the Czech Social
Democratic Party (CSSD), in March 1997 its statutory Vice-
Chairman, and in April 2001 Chairman of the CSSD.
In the Chamber of Deputies, to which he was elected in 1996,
he served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Social Policy and
Health Care Committee. From July 22, 1998 to July 12 2002, he

REPORT OF UK PRESIDENCY CONFERENCE 31

 held the post of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of Labour and Social Affairs authorised by the Government to
co-ordinate the departments of labour and social affairs, health
care, education, youth and physical training, the environment,
and culture. He was appointed as Prime Minister on July 12,
2002. As of 22 November 2004 Mr Ŝpidla is European
Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal
Opportunities.
His hobbies include care of historical monuments, cross-country
running and various outdoor sports. Mr Ŝpidla is married for the
second time; he has two children from his first marriage and
another two acquired by marriage.

Professor Edward Lawler, Marshall School of Business,

University of Southern California (USA)
Edward E. Lawler is Distinguished Professor of Business in the
Management and Organization department of the Marshall
School of Business at the University of Southern California. He
is also Director of the School’s Center for Effective
Organizations.
In 1978, he became a professor in the Marshall School of
Business at the University of Southern California. During 1979,
he founded and became the Director of the University’s Center
for Effective Organizations. In 1982, he was named Professor of
Research at the University of Southern California. In 1999, he
was named Distinguished Professor of Business.
Ed Lawler has been honoured as a major contributor to theory,
research, and practice in the fields of human resources
management, compensation, organisational development, and
organizational effectiveness. He is the author and co-author of
over 300 articles and 35 books. His most recent books include
Rewarding Excellence (Jossey-Bass, 2000), Corporate Boards:
New Strategies for Adding Value at the Top (Jossey-Bass, 2001),
Organizing for High Performance (Jossey-Bass, 2001), Treat
People Right (Jossey-Bass, 2003), Creating a Strategic Human
Resources Organization (Stanford Press, 2003), Human
Resources Business Process Outsourcing (Jossey-Bass, 2004),
and Achieving Strategic Excellence: An Assessment of Human
Resource Organizations (Stanford Press).

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Enrique Fernández Macías, European Foundation

Enrique Fernández Macías comes from Spain and is a research
manager in the Working Conditions team of the European
Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditons.
Before working at the Foundation, Enrique developed his career
at the University of Salamanca, where he worked as a
researcher in the departments of Sociology and of Applied
Economics, participating in many different national and
international research projects, most of them related to the
world of work. He is currently involved in the European working
conditions survey, in the Company Survey on working time, and
the project on flexibility.

Will Hutton, Chief Executive, Work Foundation (UK)

Will Hutton is chief executive of The Work Foundation, an
independent, not for dividend research based consultancy
which is the most influential voice on work, workplace and
employment issues in Britain.
Will began his career as a stockbroker and investment analyst,
before working in BBC TV and radio as a producer and reporter.
Prior to joining The Work Foundation, Will spent four years as
editor in chief of the Observer and he continues to write a
weekly column for the paper.
Will has written several best-selling economic books including
The World We’re In, May 2002 (launched in the US as A
Declaration of Interdependence, May 2003 in Italy as Europa v.
USA in December 2003, and in Russia this May), The State
We’re In, The State to Come, The Stakeholding Society and
On The Edge with Anthony Giddens. In addition, he won the
Political Journalist of the Year award in 1993.
In 2004, Will was invited by the EU Commission to join a High-
level Group on the mid-term review of the Lisbon strategy and
he acted as rapporteur for the report.
Other roles Will performs outside The Work Foundation include:
Governor of the London School of Economics; Honorary Fellow,
Mansfield College, Oxford; Visiting Professor, Manchester
University Business School and Bristol University. He is also a
member of the Scott Trust.

REPORT OF UK PRESIDENCY CONFERENCE 33

 Stephen Bevan, Director of Research,
Work Foundation (UK)
Stephen Bevan is Director of Research at The Work Foundation.
He is responsible for the delivery of a programme of both
applied and frontier research on the world of work. With a multi-
disciplinary team of researchers, he oversees a programme of
over twenty studies each year, each designed to enhance the
UK’s evidence-base and to inform the climate of policy debate in
the UK’s Boardrooms and in Whitehall.
His current research interests include; high performance
workplaces, work well-being and productivity, the strategic role
of reward, social and network capital in organisations and public
service delivery.
Stephen spent almost twenty years as Associate Director at the
Institute for Employment Studies and has been at The Work
Foundation for three years. He has carried out research for the
No.10 Policy Unit, The Prime Minister’s Office for Public
Services Reform, HM Customs & Excise, DTI, DfES, Inland
Revenue, DEFRA, HM Treasury, DoH, DWP, the Cabinet Office,
the LGA and the MoD. He has also worked for many ‘blue-chip’
employers and several research councils, charitable trusts and
EU bodies. He sits on the Boards of The Work Foundation and
of The School of Coaching. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society
of Arts and a Council Member of the HR Society. His
publications include: The Ethical Employee, Smart Incentives,
Attendance Management, Achieving High Performance: CSR at
the Heart of Business, Workplace Trends Survey: 2004, Trade
Union and Employee Involvement in Public Service Reform and
Where’s Daddy?: The UK Fathering Deficit.

Rachel Dobson, Partner and Head of HR,

Pannone & Partners (UK)
Rachel Dobson is a partner and Head of HR at Pannone and
Partners, a full service law firm, located in Manchester on a
single site. The firm has 85 partners and 582 personnel
altogether and is part of the Pannone Law Group, an E.E.I.G.,
with offices throughout Europe and beyond. Rachel joined
Pannones in 1992 as a trainee solicitor, coming a partner
specialising in Commercial Litigation in 1998. She joined the
firm’s management team and took over responsibility for HR,
in 2000.

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Before joining Pannone, Rachel worked for 5 years for

Marks and Spencer plc in store management and in HR at
M&S’s Head Office in Baker Street, London. Her experience of
high performance management in that environment has been
invaluable in helping shape Pannone’s approach as a high
performance workplace. Rachel works ‘slightly part time’, an
approach typical of the firm - she has 2 small children and takes
one afternoon a week to collect her eldest son from school,
‘make spaghetti and watch cartoons’!

Mr László Virág, Ferrinfo Dunaferr Co (Hungary)

Mr László Virág has been the HR Manager at Ferrinfo since
1999, having joined the company as a training and education
consultant in 1994 after his first degree in Human Resources at
the Janus Pannonius University. He completed further study of
Management and Organisation at the Budapest University of
Economics and Administration in 2001.
Since starting his career in HR with Ferrinfo, he has been
responsible for defining the company’s human resources
strategy and leading the company’s operational and structural
development. He has also been engaged in establishing internal
communication within the compnay so that social issues are
raised for discussion by both employers and employees. He has
been responsible for making social and other agreements with
the trade unions involved in the manufacturing sector, and has
ensured that Ferrinfo remains in close contact with unions
through collective agreements and other negotiation systems.
In addition to these key responsibilities, László has personally
devised and successfully introduced a number of initiatives
during his time at Ferrinfo. These include the creation of a new
management motivation system for the company, a
performance-evaluation system based on competence and new
management training programmes for employees to follow.
Ferrinfo was proud to be awarded first prize in the Hungarian
“Family-Friendly Workplace of the Year 2004” award, sponsored
by the Hungarian Government.
László is a member of the board of the DUNAFERR Sports Club.

REPORT OF UK PRESIDENCY CONFERENCE 35

 Neil Henderson, Joint Managing Director,
St Luke’s (UK)
Neil joined St Luke’s in 1996 from BBH as head of account
management. The following year St Luke’s was Campaign’s
Agency of the Year. He was made Joint Managing Director in
2002 and was an FT “Face to Watch” in the same year. Since
Neil has been Joint MD St Luke’s has consistently appeared in
the top 50 Best Small Companies to work for in both The
Sunday Times and FT lists. Neil is a member of the IPA General
Council.
Lenia Samuel, European Commission
Lenia Samuel has been Deputy Director General of DG
Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities since 1st
June 2005.
She has wide national and international experience in social and
labour issues. Prior to her appointment as Deputy Director
General , she was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Labour and Social Insurance in Cyprus. She has served on
many ILO and Council of Europe Committees, dealing with
labour and social matters, often in the capacity of chairperson
or rapporteur.
Mrs Samuel studied Law in London. She is a barrister-at-law
(Gray’s Inn) and has completed postgraduate studies in Public
Administration at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague.
She has written a book entitled “Fundamental Social Rights”
covering the case law of the European Committee of Social
Rights, which was published by the Council of Europe in 1997.
A second edition was published in 2002. She has also co edited
jointly with the ILO a book entitled “Protection of Social
Security”.
Apart from Greek, which is her first language, she has an
excellent knowledge of English, good command of German and
a fair knowledge of French.
She is married and has a son.

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Hans Bogaert, Volvo Cars Gent

Hans Bogaert is HR Director of Volvo Cars Gent in Ghent,
Belgium. Volvo Cars Gent is the largest assembly plant of Volvo
Car Corporation, which is part of Ford Motor Company since
1999. It is the sole producer of the Volvo S40, V50 and S60 and
co-assembles the Volvo V70 together with its sister plant in
Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars Gent employs 5000 people.
Hans started his working life at Volvo Cars Gent, which is not
unusual since the Ghent plant has a very loyal workforce. He
was born in 1965 and joined Volvo in 1987. That year was the
starting point for Volvo Cars Gent for working in teams.
Teamwork was gradually introduced within, not imposed upon
the workforce, which proved be to a crucial difference. Hans
Bogaert was actively involved in promoting teamwork and the
cultural change which was required to make this transition a
success.
Hans took up several HR functions since 1987 - employee
administration, selection and recruitment and labour relations.
In 1998 he was named manager Labour Relations.
His dealings with - and in-depth knowledge of - the trade unions
obviously helped to foster support for teamwork at all levels.
It also guaranteed the continuation of the so called consensus
model that management and unions agreed upon since the late
1970s. Teamwork evolved organically, with Hans and the whole
organization supporting the change. Self management became
the next logical step, with Volvo Cars Gent being in the
vanguard of the movement to push responsibilities as much as
possible to the shop floor level. Teams got a say not only in
maintenance, material ordering and quality, but also in adapting
work balances, following up cost, quality and other targets,
performing basic team administration - in short, to function as a
self supporting unit.
In 2001 Hans Bogaert became director of Human Resources and
Organisation and he also joined the plant’s management team.
Although the focus is now much broader - not only encompassing
HR issues but also matters of general company policy - Hans is
still very much involved in teamwork and self management,
working presently on a common basis for a teamwork approach
among blue and white collars at the different plants of Volvo Car
Corporation in Sweden and in Belgium.
Hans Bogaert holds a Bachelor degree in Social Sciences.

REPORT OF UK PRESIDENCY CONFERENCE 37

Workshop facilitators
Workshop 1:
Raising standards in the workplace
Facilitator: Lucy Fallon-Byrne, National Centre for
Partnership and Performance (Ireland)
Lucy Fallon-Byrne was appointed Director to the National Centre
for Partnership and Performance in May 2001. Prior to this, she
was Assistant Chief Executive of the National Council for
Curriculum and Assessment and formerly a primary school
teacher and principal.
Lucy has extensive experience in strategic management and
planning and has worked as a consultant to organisations at
national and international levels. She holds an MBA Degree with
particular reference to strategic planning and organisational
change and also an MA in political science.
Discussants:
L Guido Vanderseypen, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal
Opportunities, European Commission
L Jane Bird, UK Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
(acas), UK
L Paul Talbot, Assistant General Secretary, Amicus Union, UK
L Benoit Brunet, Peugeot Citroen (member of French industry
federation MEDEF), France
L Dr Agnes Simonyi, Deputy State Secretary,
Hungarian Labour Ministry, Hungary

Workshop 2:
Human resource practices for recruitment and retention
Facilitator: Professor Jaap Paauwe, Erasmus University
of Rotterdam (Netherlands)
Jaap Paauwe is Professor of Business and Organisation at the
Rotterdam School of Economics, Erasmus University,
Rotterdam. He has written and co-authored eleven books on
human resource management and published numerous papers
on HRM, industrial relations and organisational change.
Together with other Dutch universities, he initiated the Dutch
HRM Network. In 1997 and 2001 he was responsible for editing
a special issue on HRM and Performance for the International
Journal of Human Resource Management (UK), and he acts as a
reviewer and guest editor for this publication. He is a Research

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 High Performance Workplaces –
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Fellow and coordinator for the research programme on

Organising for Performance of the Erasmus Research Institute
for Management (ERIM).
Before joining the University in 1988, he worked for both the
Dutch trade union movement and a major employer. For several
years, he was head of the research department at CNV group of
trade unions, and before this he worked for the Dutch-based
engineering company SHV/GTI. During that period, he was
involved in coaching works councils, training and development
and in research into the area of measuring HRM progress.
Having experienced both the employers’ and unions’ side, he
decided to return to the University in order to deepen his
insights from a more academic and theoretical perspective.
In 1991, he was an academic visitor at the London School of
Economics (department of Industrial Relations) and in 1996 he
was a visiting Professsor at Templeton College, Oxford
University. In 2001-2002 he was a fellow in residence at the
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the Social
Sciences and Humanities (ANIS) in order to write a large part of
the book HRM and Performance: achieving long-term value.
His fields of interest are: institutional theory, human resource
management, organisational change, new organisational forms
and corporate strategy.
Discussants:
L Robert Strauss, Director, DG Employment, Social Affairs and
Equal Opportunities, European Commission
L Roman Mesicek, RespAct Workplace Award, Austria
L Albertina Jordao, CETE, Portuguese Equality Commission,
Portugal
L Rainer Schmidt-Rudloff, BDA, German Industry Federation,
Germany
L Jerry Marston, The Corporate Citizenship Company, UK
L Jan Franco, SCV-CSC, Belgian trade union, Belgium

REPORT OF UK PRESIDENCY CONFERENCE 39

Workshop 3:
Taking forward the research agenda on high performance practices
Facilitator: Dr David Guest,
King’s College London, UK
Professor Guest took his first degree in Psychology and
Sociology from Birmingham University, followed by a PhD in
Occupational Psychology from London University. After
postgraduate research, he became a research officer in the
Department of Occupational Psychology at Birkbeck College. He
then spent three years as behavioural science adviser to British
Rail before joining the London School of Economics in 1972. He
moved to Birkbeck in 1990 and for ten years was Professor of
Occupational Psychology and head of the Department of
Organizational Psychology. During that period he had a spell as
a Governor of Birkbeck and as Pro-Vice Master with
responsibility for Information and Learning Technology. He
moved to King’s College in 2000 where he is now Head of The
Department of Management and Deputy Head of the School of
Social Science and Public Policy.
He has written and researched extensively in the areas of
human resource management, employment relations and the
psychological contract, motivation and commitment, and
careers. He is a member of the editorial advisory board of a
number of journals and a Council Member of the Tavistock
Institute. He is a member of the SDO Commissioning Board and
of the Sector Skill Development Agency Academic Advisory
Group. He has worked closely with a range of companies
including Shell, ICL, IBM, HSBC, Hong Kong MTRC, as well
as with the NHS and a number of Government departments.
His current research is concerned with the relationship between
human resource management and performance; the
individualization of employment relations and the role of the
psychological contract; flexibility and employment contracts;
partnership at work; and the future of the career.
Discussants:
L Thomas Zwick, Centre for European Economic Research,
Mannheim, Germany
L Tony Huzzard, National Institute for Working Life, Sweden
L John Forth and Carmen Alpin, Department of Trade and
Industry, UK

40
 High Performance Workplaces –
because people mean business

Annex 2:
Further information and
useful resources
General
http://www.dti.gov.uk
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk
http://www.eurofound.eu.int
http://www.cipd.co.uk
http://www.bestcompanies.co.uk
http://www.ipa-involve.com
http://www.greatplacetowork.com
http://www.edwardlawler.com

Work-life balance and flexible working

http://www.theworkfoundation.com
http://www.employersforworklifebalance.org.uk

Partnership working
http://www.ncpp.ie
http://www.acas.org.uk

Equality and diversity

http://www.eoc.org.uk
http://www.corporate-citizenship.co.uk

Skills and training

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/employers

http://www.lsc.gov.uk

http://www.ssda.org.uk

REPORT OF UK PRESIDENCY CONFERENCE 41

42
 Printed in the UK on recycled paper with a minimum HMSO score of 85.
First published November 2005. Department of Trade and Industry. © Crown Copyright.
http://www.dti.gov.uk/ DTI/Pub 8073/0.2k/11/05/NP. URN 05/1832