GET INVOLVED

To discuss how you and your organisation can get more involved with The Work Foundation, please contact our partnership team.

Call 020 7976 3512 or email partnership@theworkfoundation.com

CONTACT

David Shoesmith
Programme Manager
T 020 7976 3574
Email

Future of HR

The Work Foundation’s vision is 'good work for all', where the quality of working life and the effectiveness of organisations converge. The practice of good work is manifest at several levels in 'the deal'.

What is 'the deal'?

At the level of exchange, employees expect fair reward, perquisites and a safe, secure work environment as consideration for their mental and physical outputs. Much of this is managed by HR as part of compliance. What sustains the deal is more often psychological. The employee’s perception of their deal is often unclear and unsaid, yet crucial to the sustenance of a healthy employer-employee relationship.  

The research at The Work Foundation examines the:


  • complex interplay between the evident (eg rewards)   
  • unsaid (eg employee expectations and aspirations)
  • drivers shaping the future of work (eg technology, globalisation/localism) 
  • important touchstones for effective leadership
  • skills required for competent line management
  • knowledge to build capabilities strategically.  

Related Reports

Understanding the Deal
This paper offers a new perspective on the modern employment relationship and explores an employee-centric approach to better understanding and managing the deal.

Wilson Wong, Laura Blazey, Jane Sullivan, Ksenia Zheltoukhova, Alexandra Albert and Ben Reid
22 November 2010

The Deal in 2020: A Delphi study of the future of the employment relationship
The Deal 2020 Delphi experts identified key drivers shaping the employment relationship. The report highlights the people management implications of different future scenarios.

Wilson Wong and Jane Sullivan with Laura Blazey, Alexandra Albert, Penny Tamkin and Gemma Pearson
01 June 2010

Deal or no deal?
This working paper critiques current and received wisdom about how the employee relationship is conceptualised in both theory and practice.

Jane Sullivan and Wilson Wong with Divya Adusumili, Alexandra Albert, Laura Blazey, Marianne Huggett
25 January 2010

Related Events

Employment Law Seminar - Age Discrimination: Managing older and younger workers
In this session we summarised the steps employers should take when engaging apprentices and identify the management issues that commonly arise and legal issues unique to apprentices with a view to demystifying this commonly misunderstood area of employment law.

Wed, 28 March 2012
09:00 - 12:00

What’s new in Employment Law terms in 2012?
This session began with a round up of the major changes from 2011 and delegates were provided with a practical summary of the steps they should take to ensure that these changes have become embedded into HR policy and practice.

Wed, 25 January 2012
09:00 - 12:00

Employment Law Seminar: Flexible and family friendly working
What are the practical issues that arise due to flexible and family friendly working?

Wed, 13 April 2011
09:00 - 12:00

Related Blogs

Can we keep a lid on executive pay?
It’s the start of the bonus season. This week, US banks will start to announce the bonuses some of their top executives will be enjoying, closely followed in the coming days by their UK counterparts.

Professor Stephen Bevan
09 January 2012

Is there method to happiness?
Eric Weiner, author of 2008 bestseller The Geography of Bliss, had little hope for the UK to become a happy state. Weiner observed that in effect “British culture hinders happiness. The most obvious manifestation is the lack of hugging.”

Ksenia Zheltoukhova
18 April 2011

Deals under fire
Employers would be wrong to assume that once they have found and recruited talented workers, the deal is sealed and set in stone....

Ksenia Zheltoukhova
05 April 2011