IER Newsletter-September 2019

IER Newsletter - September 2019

New project: Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)

IER staff, led by Peter Elias, are currently engaged in a project funded by the Office for National Statistics, to add more detail into the next revision of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). Having just completed work on the revision of SOC2010 to SOC2020, the new project will provide for a six-digit structure to the classification. The work involves a series of face-to-face meetings with interested parties, such as the NHS, Royal Society, Careers Wales, Skills Development Scotland and a wide range of government departments and agencies. As part of this work, ONS and IER have teamed up to create an online survey available to anyone with an interest in this work. Details can be found on the ONS website.

IER welcomes new PhD students

Jon Winfield’s PhD examines the business case for ‘good work’ in traditionally low-wage, low-skill industries with precarious employment. It is policy focused and will be conducted in collaboration with the Living Wage Foundation. Jon restarted his education at Warwick in 2014 after 30 years of work.
Mohammed Abdullahi’s PhD focuses on the role of social capital in the labour market transition of Nigerian graduates and builds on his broader research interests. Mohammed gained his bachelor's degree in Business and Human Resource Management, he has a Master's degree in Human Resource Management and a PG Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education from Coventry University. He has worked around HR Technology and is currently employed as an employability lecturer at Coventry University. (Image credit: Lego Grad Student)

New report on digitalisation and the future of work

IER’s Chris Warhurst and Wil Hunt have a new report on digitalisation and the future of work. Going beyond the usual ‘death of jobs’ debate, the paper examines the work and employment implications of Industrie 4.0 and Uberisation plus the political positions being adopted on these two major developments and the likely policy responses within the European Union. It is published by the Joint research Centre of the European Commission on their website.

Innovation Masterclass

In August, the Director of IER, Chris Warhurst, was invited to present at a Scottish Enterprise Masterclass in Aberdeen, organised by Workplace Innovation Europe. The topic of the presentation was ‘Engaging Employees in Innovation’ and it was based on IER’s recently completed QuInnE Horizon 2020 project examining job quality, innovation and employment outcomes.

Online Social Networks and Collective Action – Joanna Octavia presents her research in Hong Kong

IER's PhD student Joanna Octavia attended the HKU-WES International Symposium on Worlds of Work: Implications of Urbanisation, Technology and Sustainability, held at the University of Hong Kong and hosted by the institution’s Faculty of Social Sciences from September 9th-11st, 2019. The symposium brought together UK, Asia, and Australia-based social science scholars to discuss and reflect on the rapidly changing dynamics and impacts of urbanisation, climate change, technological change and mass migration in the context of work. In her presentation Joanna talked about “Online Social Networks and Collective Action: Platform-based Motorcycle Taxi Drivers in Indonesia” and explored how platform-based informal workers are using internet communication tools for collective action. She presented evidence of debates on online social networks and how they are taking place within the informal sector of the developing world. She also discussed policy developments in Indonesia and whether these networks have been effective in impacting platform business decisions and regulatory change.
Joanna’s participation in the symposium was generously supported by the Early Career Researcher funding from the British Sociological Association and the Work, Employment and Society Journal.

Other publications

Meardi, G., Simms, M., & Adam, D. (2019). Trade unions and precariat in Europe: Representative claims. European Journal of Industrial Relations. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959680119863585.

Recent projects

The role of parents in providing careers guidance and how they can be better supported - Gatsby Foundation and J.P. Morgan
Quality of work and productivity - Carnegie UK Trust
Migration and UK Construction 2019 (in collaboration with IFF Research) - Construction Industry Training Board
Apprenticeships Funding policy survey - Department for Education
Valuation of the impact of the levy on Accountancy apprenticeships - Kaplan Financial Limited and Association of Accounting Technicians

Find more information on IER's current projects.