Improving Social and Health Care Service

The Work Foundation recently completed a piece of work funded by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) entitled, Improving social and health care services, focusing on the key ingredients for successful organisational change in social and health care. The research comprised an extensive research review and four original case studies in social care organisations in England, Wales and N. Ireland. The research revealed that leadership, employee participation and involvement of social and health care users were the keys to successful organisational change.

To read more about this project, read the full knowledge review:

Knowledge Review: Improving Social & Health Care Services  Report authored for Social Care Institute for Excellence by The Work Foundation's Rebecca Fauth and Michelle Mahdon

Work, health and well-being

Our research on work, health and well-being reflects the growing concern that many employers now have over rising levels of ‘stress’ and long-term sickness absence in the workforce.

We are conducting work for Government, employers and health providers to provide evidence, insights and practical solutions to this growing problem.

Our research on absence management, ‘stress’, health & productivity, together with the development of our ‘Wellness Management Index’ places The Work Foundation at the centre of the debate on workplace health.

We have been working with WellKom, a wellness consultancy, to develop an index which enables organisations to highlight how their performance and productivity is linked to the physical and psychological well-being of their workforce. Using online profiling tools and performance data the Index is currently being piloted in a dozen organisations.

Employee Voice

As a higher proportion of the workforce become ‘knowledge workers’ it is becoming increasingly important to secure their participation and consent in decision-making.

While declining Trade Union membership means that fewer employees can use the traditional ‘voice’ institutions, for a growing number the capacity to make their views known and to be consulted on key issues is an essential driver of organisational success.

Our work on employee relations, internal communication and ‘information and consultation’ is showing that innovative approaches to ‘voice’ in the workplace can be powerful drivers of high performance working and a positive organisational climate.

Managing for Performance

It is almost universally agreed that how performance is managed in organisations can have far-reaching effects on both the organisation and their employees. But despite considerable attention from academics, researchers and practitioners alike over the last 10-20 years, performance management retains much of its ‘grail’ type quality for many organisations and is still a problematic subject for both managers and HR professionals.

Our research shows that improving management capability in managing performance effectively is often difficult. Also, there is an enduring underlying belief that performance management is a good thing to do, but a reluctance in organisations to evaluate the effectiveness of performance management systems and to harness the results of research, and that there is often a lack of understanding of the nature of the link between performance, reward and organisational culture and the implications for performance management.

Our report ‘What Makes for Effective Performance Management?’ examines the issue of performance management from a broader, more challenging commercial perspective than a purely HR focus. The report explores how organisations need to look at performance management, and the questions they need to ask. Seven critical elements of performance management are explored and discussed. Six organisational case studies underpin this paper and illustrate strategies and practices. All the case study organisations have utilised a range of performance management initiatives, processes and activities

Rewards and Incentives

The way organisations reward people can either build or destroy value — and the dividing line between them is often very narrow.

Our research on reward links closely with the work of our Consultancy colleagues and often leads to direct interventions in organisations. Whether it is an equal pay audit, the design of a reward strategy, the implementation of a team bonus scheme or the review of a base pay structure, The Work Foundation is at the forefront of thinking and practice in the field of reward.

We have conducted work for public, private and voluntary sector organisations and, as an independent organisation, frequently broker and facilitate delicate employee relations situations. By keeping at the leading edge of research and thinking on reward issues, we can also offer the most practical and grounded practical support.

Skills Agenda

All organisations, and the success of our economy, depend on the skills base of the workforce.

The Work Foundation is conducting research which is challenging policy-makers, sectors, employers, Unions and individuals to examine the role they play in the ‘skilling-up’ of the UK workforce as we move to an increasingly knowledge-based economy subject to international competition.

We have contributed to the DfES white paper on skills, carried out work on skill formation for Sector Skills Councils and examined to extent of skill mismatches in the UK compared with other EU countries.

Our current programme of work on the Knowledge Economy will also be examining changing skill needs in the service sector and the role of skill formation at the low end of an increasingly polarised labour market.

Skills and the Bottom Line

We are undertaking several strands of work looking at the contribution people make to ‘bottom-line’ performance.

Our annual ‘Workplace Trends’ survey has, for three years, collected data from UK organisations on the HR policies and practices which contribute most to high performance working.

We are represented on the IiP UK Human Capital Management Standards steering group and we are conducting research jointly with the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) on the Human Capital drivers of business performance. Building on data from 3000 organisations, we will be building an evidence-base which will inform both policy-makers and employers.

As the evidence-base in this field broadens and deepens, The Work Foundation is playing a pivotal role in its development.

Workers Index

The Workers' Index is a biannual survey of 1000 workers, run jointly by Ipsos MORI and The Work Foundation. It aims to monitor trends in the public and private sector by taking a 'temperature check' of attitudes towards the organisation, senior managers and the services the organisation delivers. Engaged employees are much more likely to be productive and deliver high quality services, so any trends suggesting a lack of engagement in particular sectors or for particular groups of workers should concern organisations.

So far we have conducted three waves of the Index, in February 2005, October 2005 and April 2006. The results are outlined in press releases and short briefing notes below:

February 2005
First results of the Workers Index

Brief analysis of first wave  (pdf 31kb)

October 2005
One in four British workers feel failed by their managers

Brief analysis of management findings  (pdf 82kb)

Growing dissatisfaction amongst public sector workers  (pdf 32kb)

Brief analysis of public and private sector findings (pdf 87kb)

June 2006
Health service workers are the gloomiest in public services

Analysis of public sector findings (pdf 59kb)

Rising numbers of workers doubt their bosses' leadership abilities

Analysis of Wave 3 findings on leadership (pdf 52kb)