Employee relations and employment conditions

The relationship between employers and employees, both individually and collectively, and the changing nature of work and the workplace has long been a central feature of IES's work, both for policy bodies and employers.

Our work on employee relations explores the way people are managed at work as well as employee rights and the various ways in which disputes are resolved, including through employment tribunals, mediation and conciliation services. Our work also covers employee representation at the workplace, trade union rights and activities, and the provision of information to and consultation with employees.

We also study employment conditions in the workplace, pay and wage formation including the impact of the minimum wage, employment contracts and flexible employment practices, working time, the quality of work and equality and diversity. For instance, we have conducted a number of equal pay audits in a wide variety of organisations.

We work for a wide range of clients including individual employers, employer and employee representative organisations, UK public policy bodies, such as Acas and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and international institutions including the European Parliament, International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).

Contact: Duncan Brown

Our work in this area

IES experts

Helen Gray Principal Research Economist	Duncan Brown Head of HR Consultancy

Related projects

Qualitative analysis of individuals in the gig economy
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

Segmentation of the UK self-employed workforce
Centre for Research on Self-Employment

Wage bargaining regimes and pay outcomes study
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound)

Precarious employment: patterns, trends and policy strategies in Europe
European Parliament (EMPL) (Committee on Employment and Social Affairs)

Smart Industrial Relations - Smart production in the manufacturing industry and work organisation: new scenarios for Industrial Relations
European Commission

Precarious employment in (recently) privatised utilities
European Parliament