HR Practices and Workforce Prospects

Abstract. The study explored the workforce reduction/expansion – as anticipated by HR managers – in relation with humanresource practices (HRPs), while taking into account organisational characteristics. Provided HRPs were reported by HR managers (N = 86) and by their employees (N = 1830). The research in six European countries (i. e., Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK) introduced ”country” as a variable for the HRPs-performance relationship. The one-to-one relationships of organisational characteristics and HRPs with workforce reduction/expansion were analysed with χ2-tests. The main findings were: (1) Societal contexts, size of the organisation, and past workforce fluctuations are important when HR managers anticipate workforce prospects, and 2) HRPs relate differently to workforce prospects, depending on the source reporting on provided HRPs (HR managers versus their employees).