91¸£Àû

In June, Chris Warhurst contributed to 91¸£Àû’s new Global Research Priorities (GRP) group’s debate on Productivity and the Futures of Work with a webinar on ‘The shape of employment to come’. It includes a 7-point plan for employment in a new UK industrial strategy.

GRPs are interdisciplinary research groupings intended to respond to complex multi-faceted global problems through collaborative research excellence.

The recorded presentation can be found here and a blog post on this topic here.

The IER and , were commissioned by to analyse the factors shaping the employment of military spouses/partners and to formulate recommendations for effective support services.

The , launched by AFF at the Royal Horseguards Hotel in London on Tuesday 19th June, with speakers including the Right Honourable Esther McVey, contains a series of key recommendations for supporting military spouses/partners into employment.

The research involved five separate phases of data collection, undertaken between October 2017 and April 2018. Data was collected from an online survey with almost 1500 spouses/partners from all three Services, 32 telephone interviews, an online survey with 38 employers and 14 stakeholder interviews.

'Military spousal/partner employment: Identifying the barriers and support required' - report to Army Families Federation.

In April the CIPD launched the first report from its new . It found that whilst half of respondents would work even if they didn’t need the money, over half of respondents also said that their jobs fail to provide decent career development. A team from IER helped develop the survey tool and analyse its results, with Dr Sudipa Sarkar seconded to the CIPD as part of this work.

Last year’s recommended that the UK Government establish a measure of job quality. IER Director Chris Warhurst has been invited to sit on a working group in support of that recommendation organised by the Carnegie Trust UK and co-chaired by Matthew Taylor. It is due to report in early summer 2018.

The British Academy has launched its .

IER was commissioned by the British Academy to conduct mixed-methods research to identify AHSS graduates’ and employers’ perceptions of their skills, the benefits of AHSS graduates to the economy and to society and the need for any further skills development. The research, involving a comprehensive review of existing literature, analysis of 3 different quantitative data sources, focus groups with 22 graduates and postgraduates, and interviews with 6 employers, found that graduates with more creative approaches to work will be highly valued in the future and, if AHSS graduates can combine their creativity with good technical skills, they will be highly sought after. Those with narrow skill sets are more likely to struggle in the labour market, except in niche areas where there may be a shortage of particular skills. The research was led by Dr Clare Lyonette, with Dr Wil Hunt and Beate Baldauf, and the has been published on the .