Employment Relations Information

Employment Relations Dispute Resolution Research

The Department of Labour is carrying out short and long-term research into how employment disputes are resolved in New Zealand workplaces.

The short-term research has been completed. It consists of:

• Focus group discussions on employment relations disputes
• A ‘snapshot’ of personal grievances taken to the Department of Labour’s mediation service
• A ‘snapshot’ of Employment Relations Authority personal grievance determinations.

The information below summarises the scope of the Department’s short-term research.

Focus group findings on employment relations disputes

Focus groups were carried out in five centres around New Zealand in 2006 to discuss the extent to which employment relationship problems are settled outside the Act’s m27-Aug-2009ution processes are used.

Focus groups involved a small number of employer and representative participants (31) who had been involved in the dispute resolution process in the past year. While their views and their comments are genuinely held, they cannot be regarded as being representative of the general population.

‘Snapshot’ of personal grievances taken to mediation

This is a ‘snapshot’ on personal grievance claims taken to the Department of Labour’s mediation service during five weeks in 2006. Information captured includes the type of personal grievance, the applicant’s profile, the applicant’s length and terms of employment, the profile of the organisation the applicant was employed by, the representation of parties, and the final outcome.

‘Snapshot’ of Employment Relations Authority personal grievance determinations

This is a ‘snapshot’ of Authority personal grievance determinations during five weeks in 2006. Information captured is similar to that captured by the mediation research.

Long-term research

The Department of Labour has now completed further research into employment relationship problems, including surveys of the public and private sectors, and qualitative case studies of individual employment relationship problems.  

A report on the key findings from this research, Employment Relationship Problems: Costs, Benefits and Choices, is now available. This report provides a more in-depth investigation of the issues raised in the short-term research programme.

A technical report on the long-term research, completed by McDermott Miller Ltd, is also available on request. The technical report includes a more detailed description of the findings, research methodology and technical aspects of the data analysis. Email your request to info@dol.govt.nz

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This page was last updated on: 27-Aug-2009 and is current.