Research conducted at the Universities of Strathclyde and Oxford has found that the referendum debate is having a significant impact on workplace and employment relations in Scotland.
In a report published by the Work, Employment, Skills and Training: Where next for Scotland? (WEST) project, the findings indicate that Scotland is taking a radically different direction to the rest of the UK as it looks to improve important employment relations policies.
The research suggests that the referendum debate has provided a valuable opportunity for stakeholders in Scotland to review and reflect on policy and shape a brighter future for the country.
Professor Patricia Findlay, of the Scottish Centre for Employment Research within the Department of Human Resource Management at Strathclyde Business School, said, "Through the independence debate, Scotland is experiencing a valuable opportunity to discuss and re-think policy about the workplace and employment relations in a way that is not happening south of the border.
"In education and training, Scotland has been diverging from England for a long time. The setting up by the Scottish Government of the Working Together Review ('the Mather Review') to explore workplace innovation, productivity, enhanced opportunities to promote collective bargaining, and workplace democracy, is a further distinctive policy development.
"Whatever the outcome of the referendum, it is clear that it will be very difficult to abandon discussion of the new models of employment relations similar to those used in Northern Europe. This is not to say that they will remain uncontested, far from it, but a return to the status quo in debates on employment relations seems unlikely."
Researchers from Strathclyde and Oxford have been engaged in the WEST project as part of the Economic and Social Research Council's 'The Future of the UK and Scotland' programme. This involved interviewing 45 senior policy makers from government, public sector agencies, education institutions, trades unions, employers, the STUC, and civil society organisations, and revealed how far the independence debate has helped focus national aspirations.
Professor Ewart Keep, ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge & Organisational Performance, Department of Education, University of Oxford, added, "Almost without exception, policymakers, employers and trade unions identified high levels of youth unemployment as a key challenge currently facing Scotland. The scale of youth unemployment since the financial crisis and the shrinking proportions of young workers across public and private sector workplaces was described in strident terms - as "catastrophic", "a scandal", "unacceptable" and "risking a lost generation".
"If economic matters are likely to influence how Scottish citizens vote on constitutional change, a better informed debate regarding employment and the workplace is crucial."
The findings of the report were discussed at a dissemination event, held at the University of Strathclyde on March 31. The event was chaired by Peter Russian, Chief Executive of Investors in People Scotland.