Labour turnover and management retention strategies in new manufacturing plants

Abstract

This paper draws from on-going research on labour-management relations in transnational companies within a new town in the English Midlands, Telford Smith, 1998a, 1998b;Smith and Elger, 1998). The paper examines the issue of labour turnover and the management of labour retention using two contrasting case examples from Japanese TNCs. The paper seeks to contextualize management decision-making with regard to labour turnover through a political economy and firm-level analysis. At the macro-level we highlight a shift from using wages (Fordism) and strong internal labour markets (bureaucracy) as labour retention mechanisms, towards an inter-firm collusion on wages, non-poaching and union-avoidance. At the micro-level these strategies are matched with firm-level HRM policies of careful labour selection, company paternalism, segmentation of the labour force into temporary and permanent group and accommodation to higher levels of labour turnover to balance product demand and labour supply. TNCs in our research site, Telford, dominate manufacturing employment, representing 60 per cent of all manufacturing jobs. This is similar to other sites of new jobs growth in the UK, for example Swindon where 66 per cent of manufacturing jobs are with TNCs and other new sites of TNC manufacturing investment. The findings are therefore applicable to other areas in which TNC employment has been dominant in manufacturing.

Quality of working life and turnover intention in information technology work

“…Ever since statistics have been kept, IT turnover has been a problem. Turnover has also been an issue of increased importance in manufacturing companies (Smith, Daskalaki, Elger, & Brown, 2004).…”

The double indeterminacy of labour power

“…The use of agency labour can be seen as a question of managing mobility, often in conditions where employers find it difficult to 'internalize' staff using permanent contracts within the organization, as in the case of nurses in the UK (Tailby, 2005) or manual workers in Japanese firms in Britain (Smith et al, 2004). Internal differentiation within the firm -segmenting jobs into different contracts, along the lines of the flexible firm thesis, can be read as an attempt on the part of the employer to minimize the mobility power of labour.…”

Impact of Circular Migration on Human, Political and Civil Rights

“…Hence the second generation of migrant workers was defi ned by its "structure of feeling" and its ways of life. Characteristic of the second generation's ways of life were greater dispositions toward individualism, a further proclivity for urban consumer culture (Davis 2000 ;Pun 2003 ;Yan 2008 ), less economic burden and greater personal pursuit of development and freedom (Jacka 2006 ), higher job turnover and less loyalty to their work (Smith et al 2004 ), and a greater level of spontaneous collective actions at the workplace (Chan and Pun 2009 ;Lee 2007 ). The second generation, born and raised in the reform period, was relatively better educated, materially well-off but spiritually disoriented while having a cosmopolitan outlook.…”