Research interests

Main research interests: job quality, skills, and labour market and labour process developments, trends and issues. Interested in supervising doctorate and masters research degrees in job quality, skills and aesthetic labour.

Academic profile

Chris Warhurst is an internationally recognised expert on job quality, skills and aesthetic labour. He is motivated by wanting to see better scientific and policymaker understanding of work and employment.

He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and an Associate Research Fellow of SKOPE at the University of Oxford. He was Co-Chair of the ESRC-funded Renewing Work Advisory Group of Experts (ReWAGE) and a member of the Productivity Institute. He was previously Professor of Work and Organisational Studies at the Sydney University Business School, Founding Director of the Scottish Centre for Employment Research (SCER) at Strathclyde University and a Trustee of the Tavistock Institute in London. He was Chair of the Management Committee for Human Relations and co-editor of Work, Employment and Society.

He uses mixed methods in his research, which ranges over small-scale qualitative case studies to national surveys. He has secured more than 90 research awards from national research councils, government, employers, trade unions and charities etc.. He has published 18 books including the Oxford Handbook of Job Quality (Oxford University Press) , Aesthetic Labour (Sage), The Skills That Matter (Palgrave), Are bad jobs inevitable? (Palgrave) and the Oxford Handbook of Skills and Training (Oxford University Press). He has published over 60 academic journal articles, over 70 book chapters and over 70 reports for government and practitioners.

He has been an expert advisor to the UK, Australian and Scottish Governments as well as the OECD, Oxfam Scotland and the Scottish Living Wage Campaign. He sat on the Measuring Job Quality Working Group co-chaired by the Carnegie Trust UK and the Royal Society of the Arts that was tasked with responding to the UK Government’s Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices recommendation to develop a measure of job quality for the UK. He is currently a member of the Education and Labour Market Research Group of the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Current projects

• New challenges for occupational safety and health in times of the digital transformation in Europe: the role of digital labour platforms, with Beate Baldauf and Sally Wright, Funded by CHANSE; Project duration: November 2022 - October 2025

• HE bridges 5.0 - Bridging risks to an inclusive digital and green future by enhancing workforce skills for industry 5.0, with Jeisson Cardenas-Rubio and Peter Dickinson, Funder: European Commission, Project Duration: June 2022 - May 2026

• Renewing Work Advisory Group of Experts (ReWAGE)Link opens in a new window, health sector workforce, with Irena Grugulis; Funded by The NHS Confederation, Project duration April - October 2022

• Improving the future world of work post Covid - ReWAGE subgroupLink opens in a new window, Funded by Deloitte, Project duration: May - December 2023.

• Labour market information report; Funded by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority; with Peter Dickinson, Terence Hogarth and Jeisson Cardenas-Rubio; Project Duration: March 2022 - March 2023

• Renewing Work Advisory Group of Experts (ReWAGE)Link opens in a new window, with Irena Grugulis; Funded by the ESRC, Project duration June 2021-June 2023.
• Labour market and skills demand horizon scanning and qualitative scenariosLink opens in a new window, with Sally Wright and Terence Hogarth; Funded by the Department for Education; Project Duration: March 2021 - July 2021
• Productivity instituteLink opens in a new window with Professor Nigel Driffield (WBS),Link opens in a new window Professor Stephen Roper (WBS) , Link opens in a new windowIrina Surdu,(WBSLink opens in a new window), Professor Janet Godsell (WMG); Funded by ESRC; Project Start Date: 01/09/2020 - Project End Date: 31/08/2025

• BEYOND 4.0 - Inclusive Futures for Europe BEYOND the impacts of Industrie 4.0 and Digital Disruption.

  With Sally Wright, Katharina Sarter and with Chris Mathieu (Lund University), led by Steven Dhondt (TNO). Project Duration: 01/01/2019 - 30/06/2023 [details]

• Developing a Model of Employment Relations for Northern Ireland. With Sally Wright and Gaby Atfield. Funded by the Labour Relations Agency. Project start date: 01.02.20.
• Review of the Teaching of Fair Work in Scottish Business SchoolsLink opens in a new window. With Mel Simms (Glasgow University). Funded by the University of Warwick Strategic Priorities Fund. Project start date: 01/01/2020 - Project end date: 31/03/2020

All projects

Selected publications

• Balogh, R., De Moortel, D., Gadeyne, S., Vanderleyden, J., Warhurst, C. and Vanroelen, C. (2024). Is it the Past or the Present? Employment Quality, Unemployment History, Psychological Distress and Mental Wellbeing in the United Kingdom. International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services.
• Oeij, P. , Lenaerts, K., Dhondt, S., Van Dijk, W. , Schartinger, D. , Sorko, S.R., and Warhurst, C. (2024). A Conceptual Framework for Workforce Skills for Industry 5.0: Implications for Research, Policy and Practice. Journal of Innovation Management, 12(1):205-233.
• Erickson, E., Atfield, G., Balogh, R., Harris, J., and Warhurst, C. (2024). Building a business case for good jobs: The links between Good Work and innovation, productivity and employee health/wellbeing. (Evidence paper). ReWAGE and Warwick Institute for Employment Research.
• Erickson, E., Atfield, G., Balogh, R., Harris, J., and Warhurst, C. (2024). Building a business case for good jobs: Links between Good Work and innovation, productivity and employee health/wellbeing (Policy Brief). ReWAGE and Warwick Institute for Employment Research.
• Erickson, E., and Warhurst, C. (2024). Building a business case for good jobs: Links between Good Work and innovation, productivity and employee health/wellbeing (Case Studies). ReWAGE and Warwick Institute for Employment Research.
• Dickinson, P., Erickson, E., and Warhurst, C. (2024). Maximising productivity through managing new technology: The Productivity Institute.
• Yang, J., Warhurst, C. and Li, Y. (2023). The approach to and challenges in measuring innovation in China.
  European Journal of Workplace Innovation, 8(1), 85-104.
• Warhurst, C. (2023). The Emerald Handbook of Appearance in the Workplace. In Broadbridge, A. (Ed.) (2023) The Emerald Handbook of Appearance in the Workplace. Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. i-xxv. ISBN: 978-1-80071-175-4 (Print) ISBN: 978-1-80071-174-7 (Online).
• Balogh, R., Gadeyne, S., Jonsson, J., Sarkar, S., Van Aerden, K., Warhurst, C. and Vanroelen, C. (2023) ‘Employment trajectories and mental health-related disability in Belgium’, International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 96: 285-302.
• Balogh, R., De Moortel, D., Gadeyne, S., Vanderleyden, J., Warhurst, C.& Vanroelen, C.(2023). Employment quality, past unemployment, mental health and wellbeing in the UK (conference abstract). European Journal of Public Health, 33 (Issue Supplement_2),
• Cardenas Rubio, J., Harris, J., Warhurst, C., Day, R., and Bosworth, L. (2023). Green and Hydrogen Jobs in the Midlands. Midlands Engine.
• Warhurst, C. and Dhondt, S. (2023). Making Industry 5.0 Happen: Concept, Policy and Practice. Policy Brief #8.
• Bobillier Chaumon, M.-E., Delgoulet, C., Greenan, N., Lemonie, Y. & Warhurst, C.(2022). Cross-disciplinary perspectives on the duality of digital technologies. Industrial Relations, 77(3). https://doi.org/10.7202/1094207ar
• Dickinson, P., Cardenas-Rubio, J., and Warhurst, C. (2022). Green Jobs and the Green Economy in York. IER, Coventry.
• Cardenas Rubio, J., Warhurst, C and Anderson, P. (2022). Green Jobs in Scotland: An inclusive approach to definition, measurement and analysis. Skills Development Scotland.
• Warhurst, C., Wright, S. and Mathieu, C. (2022) ‘Job Quality: A Family Affair?’ in C. Warhurst, C. Mathieu and R.E Dwyer (eds) Oxford Handbook of Job Quality, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Warhurst, C., Mathieu, C. and Dwyer, R. (2022). The Oxford Handbook of Job Quality. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780198749790.
• Guest, D., A. Knox and C. Warhurst (2022). Humanizing work in the digital age: Lessons from socio-technical systems and quality of working life initiatives. Human Relations, 75(8), pp.1461-1482.
• Hunt, W., Sarkar, S. and Warhurst, C. (2022) ‘Measuring the impact of AI on jobs at the organizational level: Lessons from a survey of UK business leaders’, Research Policy, 51(2): XX.
• Warhurst, C. and Knox, A. (2022). Manifesto for a new Quality of Working Life. Human Relations. 75:2, pp 304-321.
• Totterdill, P., Pot, F., Dhondt, S. and Warhurst, C. (2022f) ‘Workplace Innovation: Europe's Competitive Edge: A Manifesto for Enhanced Performance and Working lives’, European Journal of Workplace Innovation.
• Warhurst, C., Mathieu, C., and Wright, S. (2021). Vorsprung durch Technik: the future of work, digital technology and the politics of the platform economy. In: P.A. Creticos, L. Bennett, L. Owen, C. Spirou and M. Morphis-Reibeck (eds) The Many Futures of Work: Chicago: Temple University Press, pp 179-195.
• Hunt, W., Sudipa, S. and Warhurst, C. (2021). Measuring the impact of AI on jobs at the organization level: Lessons from a survey of UK business leaders. Research Policy, Volume 51, Issue 2, March 2022, 104425, Elsevier (online publication).
• Warhurst, C. and Knox, A. (2020). Manifesto for a new Quality of Working Life. Human Relations (online first)
• Warhurst,C. and D. Nickson (2020). Aesthetic Labour. London Sage. ISBN: 9781847870858
• Warhurst, C. and S. Wright (2020) ‘What makes a good job for low-waged workers?’ in T. Dundon and A. Wilkinson (eds) Case Studies in Work, Employment and Human Resource Management. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
• Warhurst, C, Muñoz de Bustillo, L.R., Antón Pérez, J-I., Grande Martín, R., Pinto, H.F., Wright, S. (2019). Upward convergence in working conditions, Eurofound, ISBN: 978-92-897-1997-1.
• Knox, A. and Warhurst, C. (2018) 'Occupations, the missing link?: A new theoretical and methodological approach to product markets, skill and pay’, Work, Employment and Society, vol.32, no.1, pp.150-186.
• Findlay, P., Warhurst, C., Keep, E. and Lloyd, C. (2017) ‘Opportunity Knocks?: The Possibilities and Levers for Improving Job Quality’, Work and Occupations, vol. 44, no.1, pp.3-22.
• Warhurst, C., Wright, S. and Lyonette, C. (2017) Understanding and measuring job quality, CIPD Research Services Job Quality Study, Report 1. London: CIPD.
• Warhurst, C. Mayhew, K., Finegold, D. and Buchanan, D. (2017) (eds) Oxford Handbook of Skills and Training, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Knox, A. and Warhurst, C. (eds) (2015) Job quality in Australia: Perspectives, Problems and Proposals, Annandale, NSW: Federation Press.
• James, S., Warhurst, C., Tholen, G. and Commander, J. (2013) What We Know and What We Need to Know About Graduate Skills’, Work, Employment and Society, 27:6, 952-963.
• Warhurst, C., Carré, F., Findlay, P. and Tilly, C. (eds) (2012) Are bad jobs inevitable? Trends, determinants and responses to job quality in the twenty-first century, London: Palgrave.

All publications

All conference presentations

Doctoral supervision

• Jon Winfield, Understanding employer delivery of good work in the UK.
• Paul Quigley, Explaining employer engagement with apprenticeship policy.
• Rebeka Balogh, Investigating mechanisms between precarious employment and workers’ mental health. A longitudinal approach.
• Joanna Octavia, How informal workers organize in the platform economy .
• Mags Bexon, Young people NEET – how do they make their career decisions?