Good Jobs
The Work Foundation, one of the most respected authorities on the quality of working life have just published a report commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive. The report, entitled ‘Good Jobs’ says that employers want to improve the quality of working life in the UK and are looking to the government for assistance. But are they looking to the right people?
The report points out, quite rightly that it is in the interests of government for people to be in ‘Good Jobs’. The more fulfilled and happier people are at work, the more productive they will be. The benefits for the economy are obvious.
The question is whether the report is right when it calls for government to evangelise in favour of Good Jobs, and to provide practical support to improve job quality.
The report’s conclusions were based on surveys conducted amongst employers, so there is no knowing whether the Work Foundation itself really agrees with the comments that it cites. But it quotes respondents as asking government to be a ‘facilitator and adviser’ and to incentivise good working practices.
The trouble is that the government’s record on employment is dismal. These are the people who are ultimately responsible for Job Centres and Connexions, who cannot find a way to keep a million young people gainfully occupied and who blame the problems of the UK economy on a fictional shortage of skills- even though we are more highly skilled than at any time in the future. I am not going to repeat what I have written in previous blogs, but government, or rather the civil service, do not appear to be the people to turn to for assistance in improving working life.
There are dozens of excellent, independent consultancies, working with employers across the UK to improve the quality of the working life they can offer their staff. It strikes me that it would be far better to turn to them than to government. The real lesson of this report seems to be that people, whether employers or otherwise, have unrealistic and naïve expectations of what the mandarins and politicians are capable of doing.
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Tags: Good Jobs, Work-Life Balance, Working Life
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