Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. 

The Workplace Employment Relations Survey, 2004: Teaching Dataset is a slimmed down version of the Workplace Employee Relations Survey, 2004: Cross-Section Survey, (WERS) (available at the UKDA under SN 5294). The dataset contains all of the workplaces and employees that participated in the WERS 2004 Cross-Section Survey, but contains only a subset of the data collected in the survey in order to make the dataset more manageable. This subset comprises a selection of the data items collected in the Employee Profile Questionnaire and Management Interview, and a selection of the data items from the Employee Questionnaire. The remaining data items from these components of the survey are excluded, along with all data from the Employee Representative Interview and the Financial Performance Questionnaire. The data from the 1998-2004 Panel Survey are also excluded. This teaching dataset may prove useful to teachers and students of employment relations, human resource management, industrial sociology and labour economics. It may also prove useful to those teaching or studying survey methods because WERS employs a variable probability sampling design which requires the use of weights in the analysis of the survey data. Finally, it may prove useful to those teaching or studying statistics or econometrics because the employee observations are clustered within workplaces, thus providing opportunities for multi-level analysis. Further information can be found at the WERS 2004 Information and Advice Service web page. For the second edition (October 2008), the Survey of Employers and Matched data files have been updated to include weight variables.

Main Topics:

Topics covered in the cross-section management interview include workforce composition, management of personnel and employment relations, recruitment and training, workplace flexibility and the organisation of work, consultation and information, employee representation, payment systems and pay determination, grievance, disciplinary and dispute procedures, equal opportunities, work-life balance and workplace performance. The cross-section survey of employees contains questions on working hours, job influence, job satisfaction, working arrangements, training and skills, information and consultation, employee representation, and pay.

One-stage stratified or systematic random sample

Face-to-face interview

Self-completion