Publications

Jobcentre Plus Equality Legislative Requirements Review

Revised equality duties covering seven equality strands were due to come into force in 2011 - at the time of the review the duties covered race, gender and disability. This report draws on 97 qualitative interviews with Jobcentre Plus staff to provide insight into staff perceptions of their individual and collective responsibilities for implementing the equality duties, views about the training and support they had received about the equality duties and to capture their experiences of working with customers, employers, other partners and colleagues in upholding this legislation.

Workforce planning during bleak times

A public sector view

Deep budget cuts were hitting the public sector in 2010, and would have a big impact on central and local government and on the NHS in the following years. The challenge for the public sector over the short and medium term was to plan workforce reductions to get not only the best possible outcome for service delivery, but also a sustainable workforce to carry the organisation into the future.

Better...Together

A case study

Better...together is the story of a small internal team which championed the people and cultural aspects of change during and after HSE's move from a split headquarters in London (Rose Court) and Bootle to a single HQ in Bootle (Redgrave Court). Better...together has not been a 'culture change' programme as such; it hasn't re-examined corporate values for example but it was 'a good time to look at identity'. It has, therefore, played an important role in highlighting the importance of organisational culture at a time when HSE was about to undergo a significant period of change.

Team Coaching: a literature review

This literature review aimed to draw on emergent empirical academic evidence, practitioner articles and case studies, to answer five questions: 1. What is team coaching? 2. How is it different from other team development techniques? 3. When is it appropriate to use? 4. What is the evidence that it works? 5. What is the future for team coaching?

Workforce planning during recession

Experience from previous recessions suggests that the recovery of full employment lags a year or so behind economic recovery. Even when private sector companies are once more successful, there may be a natural disinclination to recruit to previous levels until there is greater certainty about the economy. In 2010, deep budget cuts were hitting the public sector, and would have a big impact on central and local government and on the NHS in the following years. Taken together, these factors meant that the labour market was unlikely to return to the buoyant days of the early 2000s for the foreseeable future.

Uncertain Futures: Scenario Building for Skills for Health

The aim of this project was to help explore what the possible futures might look like, how the sector might respond to the challenges presented by these scenarios and, potentially, how the sector, and Skills for Health in particular, could influence the emerging future and plan effectively for future skills requirements. Activities undertaken included a series of interviews with sector experts; analysis of commentaries commissioned by Skills for Health; skills and labour market intelligence; three scenario-building workshops attended by health sector representatives; development of three scenarios; and an application workshop with colleagues in Skills for Health.