Flexibility agreements and their significance in the increase in productivity in British manufacturing since 1980

Flexibility agreements have increased in frequency since the 1970s, and so have coincided with the increase in labour productivity in British manufacturing since then. This article analyses the content and extent of a sample of flexibility agreements culled from the specialist industrial relations press, and taking these with evidence from many other sources, seeks to interpret their nature and significance in industrial relations change, and to assess their possible contribution to the manufacturing productivity increase. The evidence suggests that they were genuine agreements, and that although not themselves directly responsible for many of the changes observed, they have often facilitated other changes in working methods.