Over the past six months a team from IER led by Chris Warhurst and Derek Bosworth have been constructing and analysing data on the relationship between good work and productivity in the UK. Some of this work was published in a new report by the Carnegie UK Trust and launched at the RSA in London in January. To download the report, see the link here.
Bosworth, D and Warhurst, C (2020) 'Does good work have a positive effect on productivity? Developing the evidence base'. In Irvine, G (ed) Can Good Work Solve the Productivity Puzzle?Collected essays. London: Carnegie UK Trust.
Supporting career and employment practitioners at a distance
The need for countries to provide appropriate support to all individuals making labour market transitions into, and through, volatile and complex labour markets is uncontroversial. What is controversial is, despite this, that the professional identity of career counselling and employment practitioners across Europe remains somewhat fragile, partly because of the need to balance tensions around funding targets and reducing unemployment, with the individual needs of clients. Maintaining professionalism can similarly prove challenging because time poor practitioners find it difficult to update their learning needs, continually, in the face of operational pressures, placing at risk their ability to familiarise themselves with new theories, research and ways of working. This article draws on empirical results of European research (2014 – 2018) that examined how career guidance counselling and employment practitioners can be supported at a distance using technology, to facilitate their professional identify transformation. Findings from an international online learning course designed to support practitioners’ professional identity across Europe as part of this research are presented and the implications for practice discussed.
IER's Director, Chris Warhurst, will be a keynote speaker on the future of work at a Gaitherin’ organised by the University of Glasgow. The meeting, which takes place on 30th January at the CitizenM Hotel, focuses on the opportunities and challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Joining Chris on the platform will be Tom Swanson, Chief Digital Officer of Atos.
(Image Credit: The Gaitherin)
Welcome to Jeisson Cárdenas
Jeisson Cárdenas is a labour economist who joined IER in January 2020. Prior to his PhD studies, he worked as a senior consultant, including for the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) and the Ministry of Labour in Colombia, on topics related to skills and occupational change and public policy design. He is currently completing his PhD in Employment Research at the IER. His doctoral research investigated to what extent can a web-based model of skill mismatches be developed for countries where the information regarding the labour market is relatively scarce. Jeisson's current research interests focus on analysing Big Data sources and development of labour market information for career guidance, skill shortages identification and labour market forecasting.
