Good HRM Practices Make Best Use of Skills to Improve Business Performance

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills commissioned IES in partnership with The Work Foundation to undertake a three-component project on how using good HRM practices can enable employers to make full use of the skills of their workforce and improve business performance. The first element was a review of policies intended to encourage employers to adopt good HRM or 'high performance work systems'. The second part was the development of a survey that employers can use to assess the links between high performance work systems and organisational performance. The third part involved conducting 12 organisational case studies which aim to unpick how HRM practices are combined and how line managers and employees contribute to enable better use of employee skills.