Workplace and Employee Survey Client Information Seminar October 2001

Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION About the Workplace and Employee Survey “Tidbits” of information available from the WES Selected research findings from the 1999 WES Information Services

Goal of WES To develop an ongoing survey that will link events occurring in workplaces with worker outcomes, and worker characteristics with workplace outcomes

Why have a linked survey? Understand the association between labour market changes in the context of global competition, technological changes and the drive to improve human capital Develop a better understanding of what is indeed occurring in workplaces in an era of substantial change

Employee outcomes:  Wage/earnings/hours polarization;  Wage levels by worker type;  Training received; Establishment characteristics:  Technology implemented;  Operating revenues and expenditures, payroll, and employment;  Business strategies;  Unionization;  Compensation schemes;  Training provided;  Mix of full-time1part-time, contract, and temporary employees;  Organizational change;  Subjective measures of productivity, profitability, etc;  Type of market in which firm competes. Worker/job characteristics;  Education;  Age/gender;  Occupation, management responsibilities;  Work history, tenure;  Family characteristics;  Unionization;  Use of technology;  Participation in decision making;  Wages and fringe benefits;  Work schedule/arrangements;  Training taken Establishment outcomes;  Employment growth;  Growth in revenues;  Organizational change;  Implementation of technologies. The Link Between the Workplace Survey Content, Employee Survey Content and Outcomes

Design features of WES Two longitudinal surveys in one –Workplaces are followed for up to six years –Employees in the workplace are followed for two years

Possible Research Questions Are unionized workers more actively involved in workplace decision-making and employee participation programs? If competitive strategy, innovation activities, HR development and organizational change are complementary, is the likelihood of success increased when they are developed in concert? What are the characteristics of firms that have managed to meet their human resource objectives?

Possible Research Questions What is the extent to which young people use small firm jobs as stepping stones to larger firm jobs? What is the association between the relative importance of business strategies, the types of workplaces that adopt these strategies and the characteristics of workers employed in these businesses? How do small firms use technology and how do their employees adapt to the new technologies?

Who will WES help? Employers evaluate their business and employment strategies, and the impact on productivity and profitability Industry analysts benchmark their progress against other industries with similar challenges Individual Canadians learn how technology, education and training affect their work, pay and job security

Who will WES help? Consultants and the media better understand the dynamic nature of business and the labour market Future employees make choices about their education and early employment experience Analysts interested in factors contributing to unemployment dynamics

Wage and Non-Wage Benefits Admin Officers WagePension Medical Dental Life Atlantic$15 23% 37%33% 38% Quebec$17 57% 94%58% 61% Ontario$18 20% 39%37% 50% Man/Sask$21 62%..26% 26% Alberta$18 13% 50%51% 60% BC $19 16% 35% 35% 34%

Wage and Non-Wage Benefits Computer Programmers/Analysts Wage Pension Medical Dental Life RRSP Stock Plan Atlantic $24 49% 68% 63% 67% 25% 20% Quebec $26 44% 73% 66% 80% 17% 12% Ontario $23 68% 87% 91% 86% 44% 17% Man/Sask $20 40% 83% 62% 93% 14% 3% Alberta $22 51% 85% 85% 63% 19% 39% BC $24 48% 90% 91% 91% 33% 40%

Wage and Non-Wage Benefits Millwrights Wage Pension Medical Dental Life RRSP Atlantic $17 57% 58% 69% 62% 13% Quebec $17 43% 47% 38% 62% 22% Ontario $22 75% 99% 96% 96% 18% Man/Sask $21 69% 82% 90% 91% 29% Alberta $24 47% 75% 78% 79% 45% BC $23 73% 93% 94% 89% 25%

Wage and Non-Wage Benefits Nurses WagePension Medical Dental Life Atlantic$21 71% 52%49% 76% Quebec$23 67% 55%51% 78% Ontario$25 62% 27%33% 51% Man/Sask$20 74% 37%64% 77% Alberta$21 55% 24%33% 59% BC $27 71% 75% 84% 77%

Wage and Non-Wage Benefits Retail Sales WagePension Medical Dental Life Atlantic$11 22% 54%52% 55% Quebec$ %34% 46% Ontario$11 11% 15%16% 18% Man/Sask$ %34% 33% Alberta$ 8 22% 45%44% 22% BC $13 25% 38% 39% 34%

Is Computer Technology Investment Associated with Increasing Demands for Skills Skill biased technological change hypothesis associates increasing prevalence of computer technology with increase in demand for highly skilled (educated) workers relative to lesser skilled (educated) workers. Evolved as an explanation for increasing relative returns to post-secondary education in the US during the 1980s and 1990s. Some indications that relative returns to higher education in Canada have increased during the recent economic expansion.

Evidence of SBTC Macro trends  Increasing computer investment  Increasing jobs for post-secondary grads (supply- generated?)  Increasing relative returns to higher education Micro-level establishment, aggregate employee (demand side view)  e.g. plants with high levels of computer stock/investment have greater ratio of white-collar to blue-collar workers

Evidence of SBTC Macro-level worker, aggregate employer (supply side view)  e.g. Highly educated workers are concentrated in industries with high levels of computer investments Where’s the micro-level employer and micro-level employee evidence?

Findings Major implementations of computer hardware and software are associated with significant increases in computer-related training. From the demand-side perspective, employers that invest in computer technologies are more likely to have university-educated employees. From the supply-side perspective, highly-educated workers are mre likely to be employed in the most technology-intensive workplaces.

Findings New employees of computer technology implementers are better educated than their longer-tenured co-workers. Highly-educated employees are not concentrated in high-training workplaces, but are more likely to receive training in all types of workplaces.

Explaining the Gender Wage Gap: The role of worker and workplace characteristics Marie Drolet and Jennifer Ali Business and Labour Market Analysis Statistics Canada Contact:

Objectives To move beyond ‘traditional’ analyses by incorporating workplace characteristics in the wage outcomes of men and women To determine the contribution of workplace- specific effects in explaining the gender wage gap

Gender differences in characteristics Women workers have 3 years less full-time experience more likely to work part-time clerical / administrative occupations Where women work less likely to be covered by CBA in small firms industrial differences twice as likely to be employed in non-profit firms less likely to be offered alternative compensation

Modeling the Wage Gap Male Wages “Unexplained” “ Explained” Female Wages Gap

Main Finding #1 Women are disproportionately employed in low-wage workplaces

Main Finding #2 The “worker” contributes more to the gender wage gap than the “workplace” –62% worker (characteristics and returns) –38% workplace (gender distribution and characteristics )

Main Finding #3 Inclusion of workplace contributes to the “explained” component of the gender earnings differential –worker characteristics only: 42% –worker + workplace characteristics: 51% –worker characteristics + unobserved workplace effects: 57%

Main Finding #4 The workplace is just as important as the worker in explaining the differences in the pay men and women receive –25% explained by worker characteristics –26% explained by workplace characteristics –49% unexplained component

Main finding #5 Sources of workplace wage differentials –industry* 21% –performance based pay 2.6% –non-profit organization 3.8% –occupational mix of workplace: -8.9% –percent working part-time: 8.9%

Main finding #6 adjusted gender wage gap is smaller when workplace wage effects included worker characteristics only: 88% worker characteristics + workplace characteristics: 89% worker characteristics AND workplace effects: 91%

1999 WES output Compass Newsletter Compendium of “Selected” WES Statistics The Evolving Workplace Series (Catalogue # MPE/F)

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