How has economic turbulence impacted the experiences of the average British worker?

The major new survey, supported by £2.1m of funding in main from the Economic Social and Research Council (ESRC), will help to shed light on the impact of an extraordinary period of turbulence which includes the economic downturn, the cost-of-living crisis, Covid-19, and Brexit.

Professor Francis Green and Dr Golo Henseke, both involved in the previous Skills and Employment Survey in 2017, will join the research team led by Cardiff University and which also involves the Universities of Oxford and Surrey, and the National Centre for Social Research.

People aged 20-65 working in Britain in 2023 will be asked their views for the eighth survey in the series, which has been collecting data periodically for the past 35 years.

The dominance of working from home (WFH), brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, continues to be a significant feature in British worker’s lives. Researchers will investigate the extent to which employee preferences for where they work are being met by employers. It will also look at the impact the changing location of work is having productivity, work intensity, skills development, and promotion prospects.

The growth of insecure work and the impact of technology on how workers are managed are other areas that will be focused upon. The relationship between workers’ mental health and wellbeing and the social usefulness of the work undertaken will also be examined.

Dr Golo Henseke said: “The new survey will take place in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic lockdowns and of the effects of Brexit on the economy and will allow us to examine how workplaces compare with conditions before these major changes buffeted the economy.”

Funded by a grant of £2.1 million, in majority from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), it is hoped these insights will demonstrate the extent of challenges faced by the UK and help foreground productivity and employee wellbeing in government and employer decision making for the future of work in Britain.

Key findings from the 2017 survey identified that:

• Workers in Britain reported working harder than ever before. Almost half (46%) of them strongly agreed that their job required them to work very hard compared to just a third (32%) of workers in 1992.
• While workers worked harder than ever before, they did not necessarily work smarter. After nearly a decade of increasing skills use between 1997 and 2006, the typical levels of skills used to do jobs changed little between 2006 and 2017.
• Between 2006 and 2017, British teachers’ job quality had fallen, with teachers working harder in less flexible jobs for lower pay. This decline was partly related to a drop in job-related wellbeing.

Professor Alan Felstead, project leader and Co-director of the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD), Cardiff University, said: “Workers are facing some of the biggest shifts to their working practices for a generation. The Cost-of-Living crisis and current economic turbulence have quickly followed the global pandemic and Brexit. These have presented huge challenges as well as creating opportunities to develop new ways of working.”

Links

• Professor Francis Green's academic profile
• Dr Golo Henseke's academic profile
• Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies
• Department of Education, Practice and Society