Work, Employment and HRM
Our research community focuses on changing the nature and management of work, employment and organisational environments.
About our research community
Dr David Lain and Dr Susan Kirk lead the Work, Employment and HRM community.
Its core mission is to produce high quality, innovative and theoretically sophisticated research.
This research contributes to local, national and international debates about the changing experience and management of:
- work
- employment
- organisational environments
How can parents and carers organise in the workplace? A critical community-engaged scholarship investigation
Funder: BA/Leverhulme Small Grant
Start date: May 2022
End date: May 2024
Principal investigator: Ana Lopes
Co-investigators: Mark Gatto (Northumbria University) and Nosheen Khan (Newcastle University)
Engineering Futures
Funder: Alex Ferry Foundation
Start date: 2021
End date: 2022
Principal investigator: Alan McKinlay
Co-investigators: Stephen Procter, Deborah Harrison
Report: Engineering Futures - Stage 1 Findings Report (0.7MB)
Abigail Marks, Dave Lain and Steve Procter secure NINE DTP PhD Studentship for Xuechun Ding - May 2023
Abigail Marks, Dave Lain and Steve Procter have been successful in securing a NINE DTP PhD Studentship for their candidate Xuechun Ding (who received an MSc in HRM and Industrial Relations with distinction from Manchester).
The research will focus on changes in work patterns (four-day working week) and effects on older workers. This studentship is a real achievement knowing how competitive this scheme is, and we hope that we can all learn from the success.
Dr Nosheen Khan awarded funding for EDIF project - May 2023
Dr Nosheen Khan, Lecturer in Human Resource Management has been successful in her bid with Komal Kalra and Vic Pagan for Newcastle University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Funds (EDIF).
This is for a project that emerged from the experiences of colleagues: ‘Enhancing the workplace integration of ethnic minority academic staff at Newcastle University: Understanding challenges to inclusion and belongingness’.
Ana Lopes recognised at ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize - November 2022
Ana Lopes, with Sue Durbin (UWE), has been recognised for her outstanding work receiving the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2022 in the category 'Outstanding Impact in Business and Enterprise'.
The project for which Ana was Co-I is 'Mentoring support for women through an industry-wide mentoring scheme'. The prizes were announced at a ceremony in the Royal Society and each winner was awarded £10,000 to be spent on furthering knowledge exchange, public engagement, or other communications activities to promote the economic and social impact of their research. The recognition and support from the ESRC will enable Ana and the team to further develop and expand the alta mentoring platform, which supports women to build their careers in aviation and aerospace, a traditionally male-dominated industry.
Jo Clark awarded Academic Associate of the CIPD - November 2022
Jo Clark has been awarded Academic Associate of the CIPD. This reflects the increased interest among LWO colleagues (with three others in process) seeking academic status in CIPD following the CIPD events organised by Sue Kirk as part of our RS&I programme.
Dr Benjamin Bader awarded funding for leadership project - September 2022
Ben Bader has won a Faculty Impact Fund (FIF) Rolling Call 2022 award of £4,494 for a project on “Health-focused hybrid leadership training” with a project partner SYNK Group, Frankfurt (owners of the Leada app).
Overview
This project develops a leadership training program to improve leaders’ approach to health-focused hybrid leadership, i.e., leading teams both in-person and virtual. It is developed based on my research and will be rolled out using an existing smartphone/tablet application called Leada. Leaders participate in this self-paced training program, receiving two daily push-messages with micro-impulses over the course of eight weeks. An immediate and direct effect is expected on their daily leadership behavior, improving job satisfaction and subjectively rated health in the short term and decreased sickness-related absence, stress, and burnout in the long run.
More news from 2022
Dr David Lain releases new book - September 2022
Dave Lain and his co-authors Sarah Vickerstaff (University of Kent) and Mariska van der Horst (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) have released a book “Older Workers in Transition: European Experiences in a Neoliberal Era,” Bristol University Press, ISBN-13: 9781529215007.
Summary
More people are extending their working lives through necessity or choice in the context of increasingly precarious labour markets and neoliberalism. This book goes beyond the aggregated statistics to explore the lived experiences of older people attempting to make job transitions. Drawing on the voices of older workers in a diverse range of European countries, leading scholars explore job redeployment and job mobility, temporary employment, unemployment, employment beyond pension age and transitions into retirement. This book makes a major contribution and will be essential reading within a range of disciplines, including social gerontology, management, sociology and social policy.
Sarah Carnegie recognised as Inspirational Practitioner at CIPD North East Awards 2022 - June 2022
Sarah Carnegie has been recognised as an Inspirational Practitioner 2022 for her outstanding contribution to the North East CIPD branch and the wider people profession in the North East region. Sarah was presented with the award at the CIPD North East Awards Ceremony.
Dr Judith Watson and Dr Julie Munroe contribute to social care and workplace webinar - June 2022
Judith Watson and Julie Munroe were invited to contribute to the webinar "Another World is Possible?" Alternative visions for social care and workplace models in the 21st century” organised by Middlesex University. View the recording of the event, and their presentation “Searching for Real Utopias in UK social care work”. Other webinar leaders were Marco Lomuscio (University of Trento/EGB Dept, Copenhagen Business School) and Dr Daniel Ozarow and Dr Claudio Morrison (Middlesex).
Dr Benjamin Bader AIB conference submission shortlisted for award - June 2022
Dr Benjamin Bader and Dr Anna Katharina Bader (Northumbria University) whose Academy of Internation Business (AIB) conference submission “Emotional Labor and International Assignments: How Disruptive Events Challenge the Story We Know” has been shortlisted for the Alan M. Rugman Young Scholar Award (Academy of International Business Conference, 5 - 9 July 2022).
Abstract
This study investigates the role of emotional labour (deep acting and surface acting) in the context of international assignments. In particular, we analyze how external disruptive events, represented by terrorist attacks in the proximity of our respondents, alters the relationship between emotional labour and perceived stress. Drawing on primary data using a diary study design with five different points of observation among 64 expatriates in high-risk countries, we ran our analyses using a data set with joined lagged data structure. We find that in the absence of disruptive events surface acting follows the established patterns (i.e., unfolds a negative – stress enhancing - effect). However, when disruptive events kick in, the picture changes and surface acting becomes a useful tool to mitigate stress. We conclude with avenues for future research and offer managerial implications.
Dr Ana Lopes wins competitive grant for project which gives parents and carers a voice - March 2022
Dr Ana Lopes as Principal Investigator, with her colleague Dr Mark Gatto (Northumbria University) as CO-I, has won a BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant, for the project 'How can parents and carers organise in the workplace? A critical community engaged scholarship investigation.'
The project will give parents and carers a voice in the current policy debate about parental leave, flexible working and how to support mothers, fathers and carers in the workplace. One in seven workers in the UK provides regular care for dependents. The project will develop actionable knowledge that parents' and carers' networks can use to build their organisational capacity.
The award letter notes “We received 646 eligible applications to the 2021-2022 Small Research Grants round, which were judged by the Assessors to be of a high standard. The success rate is 24%, so this has been a competitive round.”
Prof Abigail Marks gives evidence to PACE about the impact of COVID on Future of Work - February 2022
Professor Abigail Marks was invited in February in her capacity as the Principal Investigator on the 'working@home' project, to give evidence to the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development of PACE (the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) about the impact of COVID on the Future of Work. This was in particular in relation to home and hybrid working and the impact of technology on workers. Also, in connection with this project, Abigail featured on BBC Scotland’s ‘Mornings’ show talking about the Return to the Office.