Job Quality; Fair, Decent & Good Work

Overview

Job quality matters. It effects worker wellbeing, firm performance and national competitiveness. It varies by occupation, industry and country, and there are strong moral and business cases for wanting job quality to be better overall.

IER has established an international reputation for its UK and international research on conceptualising, measuring and promoting job quality. This research is quantitative and qualitative and is intended to support government, employers and trade unions to better understand and improve job quality in all its expressions: ‘good work’, ‘fair work’ and ‘decent work’ for example.

Research areas

Improving job quality
Making bad jobs better
Measuring job quality
Trends in job quality
Working conditions

Blogs

Declining real wages and why we need to think about the income-health relationship– Jamelia Harris

Selected recent projects

The role and impact of employment charters and procurement by subnational authorities to achieve good work standards; University of Warwick (2022 – 2023).

Responding to Metropolitan Combined Authorities skills and employment needs post Covid - ReWAGE subgroup; Warwick University’s Research & Impact Services; (2021 - 2022).

Improving UK job quality data – ReWAGE subgroup; Warwick University’s Research & Impact Services; (2021 - 2022)

Research to inform the development of an employment relations model in Northern Ireland; Labour Relations Agency (2020-2021).

Review of the Teaching of fair Work in Scottish Business Schools (with Glasgow University); University of Warwick Strategic Priorities Fund (2020).

Monitoring convergence in the dimension of Working Conditions; Eurofound (2019).

Quality of Jobs and Innovation Generated Employment Outcomes (QuInnE), H2020 EURO SOCIETY 2014, Topic: EURO 2 2014; European Commission (2015-2018).

Quality of Work and Productivity project; Carnegie UK Trust (2019).

Implementing the UK Government’s Taylor Review Recommendations on Job Quality; Warwick ESRC Impact Accelerator Account (2018).

Creating Decent Work (with Oxfam Scotland & University of West Scotland); ESRC Impact Accelerator (2015 – 2018).

Research on job quality and the purpose of work; CIPD (2017).

Investment in Workplace Technology; CIPD (2018).

Supporting the work of the Midlands Good Work Charter; Midlands ACAS (2020-21).

Monitoring convergence in the dimension of Working Conditions; Eurofound (2019).

Compilation of tasks data at the national level and support in the development and testing of a tasks questionnaire; European Commission, Joint Research Centre (2018-2019).

Global JOBS Project: Analysis of structural change of employment and job quality in Australia; Eurofound (2013-2015).

Selected recent publications & downloads

Articles

Warhurst, C. and A. Knox (2022). Manifesto for a new Quality of Working Life. Human Relations. 75:2, pp 304-321.

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. Volume 75, Issue 8 of Human Relations. London: Sage.

Hughes, D., Warhurst, C. & Duarte, M.E. (2021). Decent work, inclusion and sustainability: a new era lies ahead, British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 49 (2), pp 145-152, DOI: 10.1080/03069885.2021.1898540

Mathieu, C., Wright, S., Boethius, S. and Green, A. (2020). 'Innovations on a shoestring: Consequences for job quality of public service innovations in health and social careLink opens in a new window', European Journal of Workplace Innovation, 5(2): 4-30.

Pautz, H., Wright, S. and Collins, C. (2019). Decent work in Scotland, an agenda-setting analysis. Journal of Social Policy, 50(1): 40-58. doi:10.1017/S0047279419000916.

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, 32(1): 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, 44(1): 3-22.

Knox, A., Warhurst, C., Dutton, E. and Nickson, D. (2015) ‘More than a feeling: using hotel room attendants to improve understanding of job quality’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(12): 1547-1567.

Books

Warhurst, C., Mathieu, C. and Dwyer, R. (2022). The Oxford Handbook of Job Quality. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780198749790.

Knox, A. and Warhurst, C. (eds) (2015) Job quality in Australia: Perspectives, Problems and Proposals, Annandale, NSW: Federation Press.

Book chapters

Warhurst, C., Wright, S. and Mathieu, C. (2022) ‘Job quality: a family affair?’, in C. Warhurst, C. Mathieu and R. Dwyer (eds) (2022) Oxford Handbook of Job Quality, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Warhurst, C., Mathieu C. and Dwyer, R. (2022) ‘Job quality matters’ in C. Warhurst, C. Mathieu and R. Dwyer (eds) (2022) Oxford Handbook of Job Quality, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Knox, A. and Wright, S. (2022) Understanding job quality using qualitative research’ in C. Warhurst, C. Mathieu and R. Dwyer (eds) (2022) Oxford Handbook of Job Quality, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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.

Bosworth, D. and Warhurst, C. (2020). ‘Does good work have a positive effect on productivity? Developing the evidence base’. In G. Irvine (ed). Can good work solve the productivity puzzle? Collected Essays (pp. 10-19).

Gautié, J., Ahlstrand, R., Green, A. and Wright, S. (2017). ‘Innovation, Job Quality and Employment Outcomes in the Aerospace Industry: Evidence from France, Sweden and the UK’, in K. Jaehrling (ed) Virtuous circles between innovations, job quality and employment in Europe? Case study evidence from the manufacturing sector, private and public service sector, QuInnE Work Package 6, Deliverable D6.3.

Green, A., Illéssy, M., Koene, B., Makó, C. and Wright, S. (2017). ‘Innovation, Job Quality and Employment Outcomes in Care: Evidence from Hungary, the Netherlands and the UK’ in K. Jaehrling (ed) Virtuous circles between innovations, job quality and employment in Europe? Case study evidence from the manufacturing sector, private and public service sector, QuInnE Work Package 6, Deliverable D6.3.

Keune, M., Payton, N., Been, W., Green, A., Mathieu, C., Postels, D., Rehnström, F., Warhurst, C. and Wright, S. (2017). ‘Innovation and Job Quality in the Games Industry in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK’ in K. Jaehrling (ed) Virtuous circles between innovations, job quality and employment in Europe? Case study evidence from the manufacturing sector, private and public service sector, QuInnE Work Package 6, Deliverable D6.3.

Warhurst, C., Mathieu, C. and Wright, S. (2017). ‘Workplace Innovation and the Quality of Working Life in an Age of Uberisation’, chapter in P. Oeij, D. Rus and F. Pot (editors) Workplace Innovation: Theory, Research and Practice, Berlin: Springer

Mathieu, C., Warhurst, C. and Wright, S. (2016) 'Job Quality as a Lever for Organizational Innovation’ and the Role of Human Resource Management’ in Strumińska-Kutra, M.; Rok, B. (eds) Workplace innovations: Between efficiency and quality of work life), Warsaw: Poltext.

Wright, S. (2015), ‘Current challenges in researching job quality’ in A. Knox and C. Warhurst (eds). Job Quality: Perspectives, Problems and Proposals, Annandale, NSW, Federation Press.

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.

Reports

Refslund, B, Larsen TP, Arnholtz J. (2023) Promoting Decent Work Through Public Procurement in Cleaning & Private Security Services. Procurfair - report. Uni-Europa.

Warhurst, C., Muñoz de Bustillo, L.R., Antón Pérez, J-I., Grande Martín, R., Pinto, H. F. and Wright, S. (2019) Upward convergence in working conditions, Dublin: Eurofound.

Wright, S., Warhurst, C., Lyonette, C. and Sarkar, S. (2018) Understanding and measuring job quality, Report 2, London: CIPD.

Warhurst, C., Wright, S. and Lyonette, C. (2017) Understanding and measuring job qualityLink opens in a new window, Report 1, London: CIPD.

Stuart, F., Pautz, H., Crimin, S. and Wright, S. (2016) What makes for decent work? A Study with low paid workers in Scotland (Initial Findings), Glasgow: Oxfam Scotland.

Stuart, F., Pautz, H., and Wright, S. (2016) Decent Work for Scotland's Low-Paid Workers: A Job to be done, Glasgow: Oxfam Scotland.

Hurley, J., Fernández-Macías, E., Antón, J-I., Muñoz de Bustillo Llorente, R., Anxo, D., Franz, C., Kümmerling, A., Oesch, D., Murphy, E., Grimshaw, D., Rafferty, A., Gimpelson, V., Kapeliushnikov, R., Soon Hwang, D., Warhurst, C., Wright, S., Whelan, S., Teicher, J., Yang, D., Jie, C., Xiaobo, Q., Dwyer, R., Wright, E.O. and Kambayashi, R. (2015) Upgrading or polarisation? Long-term and global shifts in the employment structure: European Jobs Monitor 2015, Dublin: Eurofound.

Warwick Institute for Employment Research

Job Quality; Fair, Decent & Good Work

Overview

Research areas

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