IER is currently inviting applications for the position of Research Fellow to undertake research of a quality commensurate with working in one of the UK’s top ten research universities and one of Europe’s leading employment research institutes. We're looking for a social scientist to contribute to the work of our interdisciplinary team of researchers from economics, sociology, psychology and geography for example. The Institute’s fields of research include, broadly: labour market assessment and forecasting; education (at all levels), training and skills; labour market classification and measurement; gender and work; work, welfare and public policy; careers; job quality; and employment policy development.
The suitable candidate will have: excellent undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications up to PhD or equivalent relevant research experience; qualitative and, preferably, quantitative research skills; knowledge of employment research; and a level of research and publication appropriate to the level of the post. Experience of engagement with policy and practitioner communities will be an advantage as will experience of international research.
The closing date is 10 March 2015. Find out more and apply here.
News & Events
HEA teaching recognition for Charoula Tzanakou
Charoula Tzanakou has achieved the status of Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) based on the assessment of her teaching portfolio (teaching in Managing Human Resources and Global Integrative Project in Warwick Business School).
Paths2Work Project Blog
Members of the research team of Paths2Work will contribute blogs monthly on issues pertinent to the project. The first entry, by Professor Melanie Simms, on employer engagement (or lack) with initiatives for employment of young people is available here.
Free workshop - Implications of open data for HEIs?
This free workshop on 19 February 2015 is being convened by Universities UK in collaboration with the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick. The workshop is intended for participants interested in using labour market information to support their work in UK universities and higher education more generally. It will explore how labour market information (LMI) can support the work of universities and introduce the LMI for All project funded by UKCES.
LMI for All is an online data portal which provides access to existing sources of high quality, reliable LMI. The data is made available via an Application Programming Interface (API) for use in websites and applications.
For more information and to register go to the workshop webpage.
Upcoming presentation on gender equality at EPSRC event
Charoula Tzanakou has been invited by EPSRC to present her research on gender equality to the RCUK wide diversity group on the 24 February 2015. She will also discuss gender bias in research assessment and ways to ensure transparent and fair processes.
Reinventing the company in the digital age
IER Director, Chris Warhurst, has been invited to speak at this year’s Harvard Business Review summit on ‘Reinventing the company in the digital age’. His contribution will focus on the need to rethink how innovation is conceived and supported in the workplace, and is based on a recent publication with Sally Wright. The HBR summit will be held next month in Mexico.
Publications
Women's Career Development Throughout the Lifespan An international exploration
Edited by Jenny Bimrose, University of Warwick, Mary McMahon, University of Queensland and Mark Watson, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
This multidisciplinary volume pulls together contributions from sociology, management, industrial, organisational and vocational psychology, geography and career guidance. International perspectives from nine countries also provide compelling narratives about the patterns of women’s career development continuing to reflect structural labour market disadvantage. Published on 18 January 2015, the book features chapters from members of IER staff (Professor Jenny Bimrose, Professor Anne Green, Professor Chris Warhurst) and IER Associate Fellows (Professor Nancy Arthur, Dr Simone Haasler, Dr Ying Kuang, Dr Mary McMahon, Professor Philip Taylor, Dr Pamela Suzanne, Massimo Tomassini, Professor Mark Watson).
Article on relative earnings and domestic division of labour between partners
Abstract: Despite more and more women entering paid employment, women still carry out more domestic work than men, limiting their ability to act on an equal footing within the workplace. This qualitative research adds to the ongoing debate concerning the reasons for the persistence of the gendered nature of domestic work, by comparing full-time working women who earn more, those who earn around the same and those who earn less than their male partners. Results show that men whose partners earn more than they do carry out more housework than other men, although women in these partnerships still do more, irrespective of their working hours and their incomes. However, these women actively contest their male partner’s lack of input, while occasionally resorting to the "myth of male incompetence". The article also identifies class differences in the ‘sharing’ of domestic work, by demonstrating that working-class couples tend to share housework more than professional couples, who are more likely to 'resolve' the issue by hiring a cleaner, so excusing men from greater sharing of the domestic chores.
The chapter outlines the changing attitudes to job quality, but signals that its potential role in helping lever innovation is under-appreciated. It highlights the shared workplace practices of innovation and job quality, and how the latter can boost the former. It concludes by offering tentative suggestions as to how change might be achieved within companies so that they benefit from an integrated approach to innovation with job quality.
See: Warhurst, C. and Wright, S. (2014) ‘If it’s innovation you want, think about job quality’ in BBVA (eds) Reinventing the Company in the Digital Age, Madrid: BBVA.
New Research Projects
Employer in STEM apprenticeships - funded by the Gatsby Foundation, 2015
Conflict Management - funded by Acas, 2015
For more information on any of these projects please email ier@warwick.ac.uk.
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This multidisciplinary volume pulls together contributions from sociology, management, industrial, organisational and vocational psychology, geography and career guidance. International perspectives from nine countries also provide compelling narratives about the patterns of women’s career development continuing to reflect structural labour market disadvantage. Published on 18 January 2015, the book features chapters from members of IER staff (