Inside the Workplace: Findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey, by Barbara Kersley, Carmen Alpin, John Forth, Alex Bryson, Helen Bewley, Gill Dix and Sarah Oxenbridge, London: Routledge, 2006, 408 pp., ISBN-10: 0-4153-7812-5 and ISBN-13: 978-0-41-537812-3

This book presents research findings about the state of working life and employment relations in Great Britain. It is the fifth in a series and the culmination of several years of collaboration between UK government agencies. A multifaceted methodology is used to prepare WERs 2004. However, the substance of the approach uses employee and employer surveys, sampling and statistical inference to draw conclusions about British workplaces. In this critique, I do not give a detailed account of the methods used to produce WERs and resist stating what results are or may mean. Such efforts on my part would not do the book justice. They run the risk of trivializing a detailed and particularly well thought through piece of work. However, in the book’s first chapter there is an excellent discussion of technical considerations about the project’s methods. In subsequent sections, a broad range of findings about work and employment are clearly presented, well analyzed and astutely placed in context. In my opinion, which is consistent with the views of many employment relations experts, WERs 2004 maintains a tradition of being the best reference available about aggregate trends in Great Britain’s labour force and is far superior to alternatives. In this review, I confine my remarks to consideration of what the WERs project offers the social sciences generally. As this latter comment suggests, I consider that the project’s influence and relevance extend beyond the United Kingdom and the fields of employment relations and work sociology. The initiative embodies perseverance, faithful implementation of a research methodology and, ultimately, excellence in social investigation, the book being a tangible manifestation of these elements. The WERs concept, and the manner of its execution in 2004, gives us more than a comprehensive reference about employment relations. The book fulfils at least two other roles. It is an important example of best-practice for students of social science and early-career researchers. Also, it provides a source of inspiration for those seeking to generate interesting research questions or hypotheses about social phenomena. The authors of WERS 2004 have accomplished three remarkable things. First, they have improved on earlier versions of the report. The wording of some survey items and the approach taken to analysis and interpretation of data has been enhanced with each successive edition. The original project was ambitious and, as is mostly the case in social research, its methods and reporting format required some fine-tuning. However the current, 2004, expose is superb. It combines well-worded survey items, excellent data analysis, insightful interpretation and, in the final presentation, straightforward written expression. Second, the authors have been able to present an updated picture of working life in Britain. In this respect, many of the 2004 results can be compared with those obtained in previous surveys. Third, the scope of the project has been broadened to include consideration of emerging workplace trends; the impact of globalization and the new economy; and issues which were originally overlooked. Part of this expansion process has included increased emphasis on small workplaces and on gathering data about non-standard forms of employment. These augmentations are sophisticated and accompanied by thoughtful and well articulated rationale. For those doing social research WERs (2004) is an example of best practice for several reasons. First, survey items are short and unambiguous. They illustrate the difference between a good result and an outstanding one. Their elegance emerges from extensive pre-testing and piloting; reminding us that, in matters of social enquiry, the last 20 percent of the benefit is the hardest won. The approach taken to sample selection and weighting of data is thoughtful and, frequently, minimalist. Where appropriate, results are …