Determinants of Formal Training Programmes in Large Canadian Organisations

This study investigated the extent to which large employers provide formal training to employees. More than two-thirds of large Canadian employers had formal training. Factors related to the presence of formal training included organisation size, decision-making ideology, and the use of team-based programmes.     

Factors Affecting Permanent Workforce Reduction: Evidence from Large Canadian Organizations

Abstract Despite an extensive practitioner literature on workforce reduction, relatively few Canadian studies have empirically examined the determinants of workforce reduction policies. Using data from more than 1,000 organizations across the country, this study investigated factors associated with permanent workforce reduction strategies. Fifty-three percent of the respondents permanently reduced their workforce during the two-year period of the study (with an average reduction of almost 15% of the workforce). Multinomial logit was used to compare organizations that had and had not engaged in employee cutbacks. The results revealed that differences in workforce reduction strategies were associated with the economic environment, characteristics of the organization, and human resource management policies. Résumé Malgré l'abondance de la documentation qui existe sur la pratique de la réduction des effectifs, relativement peu d'études canadiennes ont examiné empiriquement les déterminants des politiques de réduction des effectifs. Basée sur les réponses de plus de 1,000 organisations dans tout le pays, cette étude se penche sur les facteurs qui déterminent les stratégies de réduction permanente des effectifs. Cinquante-trois pour cent des répondants ont réduit leur personnel de façon définitive pendant les deux années de l'étude (réduction moyenne de près de 15% des effectifs). Des organisations qui ont et qui n'ont pas réduit leurs effectifs ont été comparées au moyen d'un logit multinomial. Les résultats montrent que les stratégies de réduction des effectifs dépendent de la con-joncture, des caractéristiques de l'organisation et des politiques de gestion des ressources humaines.     

Workforce Reduction In Australia and New Zealand: A Research Note

Relatively few studies have examined the incidence of permanent workforce reduction and factors related to workforce reduction behaviour. In this study, such issues are addressed using data from more than 1,450 organisations in Australia and New Zealand. On average, about 36 per cent of respondents reported a permanent reduction of the workforce over the past three years (with an average reduction of almost 19 per cent of the workforce). Several factors, including product or service demand, pressure to focus on short-term profits or budget goals, a major change in organisational strategy, the quality of the relationship between the employer and employees, the organisation's expressed commitment to job security and the age of the organisation, distinguished organisations that had or had not engaged in a permanent employee retrenchment.     

Creating a concession climate: the case of the serial downsizers

This paper uses panel data from New Zealand from the years 1995 and 1999 to examine the impact on those organizations, size fifty and over, that engaged in repeat downsizing during this period. It was found that, during the panel period, approximately 20 per cent of the 322 organizations in the survey had engaged in the permanent reduction of their workforce in both periods. When compared with organizations in the survey that had not engaged in downsizing in both periods, it was found that the repeat downsizers exhibited characteristics that were little different from those that had downsized only in the later period, who reported the greatest decline in performance. However, those who had downsized only in 1995 had, by 1999, largely recovered from the initial negative effects. The repeat downsizers appear to have created a long-term concession climate that is associated with negative workplace performance.