Consultation at Work Regulation and Practice

Managers in firms with fifty or more employees are meant, under EU inspired law, to consult employees, through their representatives, about planned changes that affect the workforce. The book explores justifications for consultation over time and why it is much more important now that trade unions are weaker. It shows why and how the EU came to legislate in this area, and explains the half-hearted response of employers, unions, and the government in the UK.Examining comparative practices in other EU countries, the book asks what needs to be done to ensure the practice of consultation is more widely adopted.

Mark Hall is Professorial Fellow at the Industrial Relations Research Unit, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. He previously worked on the TUC's head office staff throughout the 1980s. He has written extensively on the legal regulation of employee representation. He acted as a consultant to the European Commission, 1990-1, working on the European Works Councils Directive and revision of collective redundancies Directive, and to the Department of Trade and Industry, 1997-2001, advising on the UK implementation of the EWCs and information and consultation Directives. He co-edited European Works Councils Bulletin, 1995-2006. and is co-ordinator of UK input to the European Industrial Relations Observatory. His research interests include the legal regulation of employment relations, EU and British employment law policy, European Works Councils, and employee information and consultation.


John Purcell is a specialist in the management of employment relations and HRM with a particular interest in business strategies and the way they impact on employees' attitudes and behaviour and affect performance. He is an active researcher and has led research teams looking at HRM and performance, performance related pay, mergers and acquisitions, the role of line managers, the use of agency workers and the management of change. His latest research with Mark Hall focussed on the practice of collective consultation and the impact of the law in this area. Following 14 years as a University Lecturer at Oxford University, he worked for 12 years as Professor of Human Resource Management at Bath University before moving to the Industrial Relations Research Unit at Warwick Business School where he is now an Associate Fellow. He has written or co-authored 7 books and over 50 academic papers. He is an Acas arbitrator and a Deputy Chairman of the Central Arbitration Committee.