Computerising: lessons from the DHSS pensions strike

Personnel specialists from both employers and unions should be given, or, if necessary, should seize influential roles in the planning and implementing stages of computerisation projects. The seven-month “Pensions Strike” at the Department of Health and Social Security centre in Newcastle which cost more than £150 million is assessed, revealing that deficiencies in planning the introduction of new technology, limited objectives, and the failure to understand the industrial relations and personnel implications of those plans will crucially show up at the implementation stage.