Ethics and spirituality in the workplace : The growing role of the business case in reforms

Purpose – Draws attention to recent broad trends in UK employment regulation that refocus the emphasis in employment rights away from a primary concern with safeguarding collective rights toward a more differentiated approach privileging more individual concerns. Design/methodology/approach – Seeks to explain the reasons and consequences of this development. Findings – Argues that rights are defended on the basis of their ability to secure greater employee motivation and productivity. Practical implications – Explains that this is a business-case defense rather than a requirement for social justice. Social implications – Advances the view that modern Conservatives see society as made up of a broad range of actors and not reducible to state action. Originality/value – Claims that the extension of the minimum period of employment required before an employer may be taken to tribunal to two years, together with a greatly increased fee required to bring a case, mean that cases are much more difficult to make.