Publications

Through combining dispersed human resources' (HR) administrative activities, shared services can deliver cost and quality benefits for councils. This guide examines some of the key issues councils should consider when introducing HR shared services. It presents possible options, offers the big questions to ask – for councillors and senior managers – and provides some practical suggestions on where to start.

This national background paper examines restructuring developments in Ireland. It gives an overview of the general economic and labour market context of the country, in particular against the background of the economic crisis. The report includes data on redundancies, and the challenges that the rising level of redundancies pose, especially in sectors such as construction, which has been particularly hard hit by the recent recession.

In March 2010, the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) set out to investigate future leadership and management and skills needs during recession, and implications for its learning and development provision. The research was conducted by the Institute for Employment Studies in partnership with the Learning and Skills Network and The Work Foundation.

NHS Institute commissioned the Institute for Employment Studies to undertake work to understand how social movement theory could provide insights into how to reconnect the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention message to the core values of staff and create a ‘contagious commitment’ to rapidly increasing quality and driving down costs. This report is structured around a visual summary of the social movement literature.

Though no longer in recession, the EU economy remained fragile, with growth well below trend rates. Unemployment continued to rise, though at a slowing pace (it stood at 9.6% in the EU27 in February 2010).

This publication was authored by Penny Tamkin before she joined IES.

This article examines explanations for the differences between public and private sector performance when it comes to sickness absence levels and suggests that some simple changes in public sector policy and practice could make a very real difference, provided that the public sector follows the general public trend, selects the 'value' or 'basics' range of products, and makes the best use of 'well-worn clothes'.

The Moving Goods Safely 3 (MGS3) intervention took place during 2007 and 2008, and targeted risks associated with the movement of goods in the logistics, warehousing, road haulage and goods delivery sectors. This report presents the findings of an evaluation carried out during 2008/09, and after the intervention had ceased.

The aims of the research were: to see whether organisations were responding to economic problems differently than in the past; and if so, to consider why they were adopting these strategies; to assess how well the strategies had worked; and to consider whether such initiatives might have longer term beneficial impacts, not just on the bottom line but on factors such as employee engagement and workforce flexibility.

The NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) is a generic competency framework that was intended to define and describe the knowledge and skills that NHS staff need to apply in their work to deliver quality services; provide a single consistent framework for staff reviews and development; and influence the pay progression of non-medical staff. This independent review identifies the barriers to the successful implementation and use of the KSF, and makes recommendations for change and improvement to support widespread adoption and effective usage.