Projects

This project is an employee engagement survey which will use an online survey. The project aims to explore the attitudes of staff members on a range of key subjects, including: wellbeing, change, job engagement etc.

This project involves developing a dedicated screening tool (self-report questionnaire) specifically designed to recognise and support employees at risk of job absence or loss as a result of anxiety and depression. This questionnaire, similar to other work instability scales, will enable HR, occupational health and line managers to work collaboratively with employees at risk in order to identify specific adjustments that could help people to remain in work, well before they reach the point of being unable to work as a result of their mental health condition.

This project will provide consultancy support and the role of critical friend for a place-based approach to implementing health coaching. IES will guide local change champions, using an action research methodology, during the Berkley Vale Cluster Better Conversations ‘test and learn’ pilot. The aim of this pilot is to create the critical mass of practice change required across professions and organisations in a discrete geographical area. IES will also write a learning report, drawing on data collected during the period of the pilot.

This project involves developing a dedicated screening tool (self-report questionnaire) specifically designed to recognise and support employees at risk of job absence or loss as a result of anxiety and depression. This questionnaire, similar to other work instability scales, will enable HR, occupational health and line managers to work collaboratively with employees at risk in order to identify specific adjustments that could help people to remain in work, well before they reach the point of being unable to work as a result of their mental health condition.

This project is a pilot evaluation of an intervention using the Early Years Toolbox developed by Professor Melhish as an assessment tool for early years practitioners alongside additional support from Action for Children. The intervention seeks to improve practitioner practice, behaviour and confidence in targeting support for children in language, numeracy, social development and self-regulation and ultimately to lead to improvements in child outcomes. This evaluation will include theory of change workshops, nursery case studies, telephone interviews, practitioner online surveys, observations of training and child outcome data analysis.

On behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, IES is designing an impact evaluation of three Housing First pilots, running in Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. The intervention is a response to the 2017 Homelessness Reduction Act which has increased the obligations on local authorities to house all individuals who are currently homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless. Housing First is an approach to supporting rough sleepers into long-term accommodation, putting an emphasis on finding individuals a secure and affordable home to live in, as opposed to hostel-based accommodation, while providing them with expert support to rebuild their lives, including support aimed at labour market participation. Housing First was developed in the US in the 1990s and has been shown to be effective there and in a number of European countries. The pilots will test the effectiveness of Housing First in the English context. Our evaluation will be co-designed with the pilot sites. IES’ role will be to lead the design of an impact evaluation using linked administrative datasets. Find out more about the three Housing First pilot projects on the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government website.

In partnership with Ecorys Netherlands and on behalf of the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (EASME), we will explore the productivity and business benefits of occupational health and safety (OSH) good practice in the construction sector. The project as a whole will give particular focus to smaller employers who do not always perceive a link between OSH and their bottom-line. IES will contribute UK case-study fieldwork and will lead on an evidence-mapping (desk review) exercise. This work builds on our analysis of the links between wellbeing and productivity, on behalf of EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation.

There has been growing concern about the rise in non-standard or atypical employment practices in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Recent estimates suggest that roughly 4 million workers are in forms of employment characterised by low levels of pay, unpredictable or irregular working hours, short-term contracts, a lack of job security and access to basic entitlements, and limited scope for career development and formal training. This includes: zero-hours contracts or on-call work; involuntary or ‘bogus’ self-employment (eg delivery drivers in the ‘gig’ economy); and informal or undeclared work. Centrepoint is concerned about how these employment practices may be affecting homeless young people, and the financial and other risks it may expose them to. They would like to find out more about the reasons why young people undertake these forms of work, and the effect it has on their personal finances, benefit entitlements and housing situation. Centrepoint has commissioned IES to conduct research with young people and their support workers in several hostel settings across the country to explore these issues in further detail. The research findings will help Centrepoint put forward policy recommendations for how the government can safeguard homeless young people currently engaging in precarious forms of employment.

There has been growing concern about the rise in non-standard or atypical employment practices in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Recent estimates suggest that roughly 4 million workers are in forms of employment characterised by low levels of pay, unpredictable or irregular working hours, short-term contracts, a lack of job security and access to basic entitlements, and limited scope for career development and formal training. This includes: zero-hours contracts or on-call work; involuntary or ‘bogus’ self-employment (eg delivery drivers in the ‘gig’ economy); and informal or undeclared work. Centrepoint is concerned about how these employment practices may be affecting homeless young people, and the financial and other risks it may expose them to. They would like to find out more about the reasons why young people undertake these forms of work, and the effect it has on their personal finances, benefit entitlements and housing situation. Centrepoint has commissioned IES to conduct research with young people and their support workers in several hostel settings across the country to explore these issues in further detail. The research findings will help Centrepoint put forward policy recommendations for how the government can safeguard homeless young people currently engaging in precarious forms of employment.

The Public Policy Institute for Wales commissioned IES to lead an expert review which made recommendations to the Welsh Government about how employers, health services and employment services in Wales can work together more effectively to produce better health and work outcomes.