The UK current performs strongly on job creation, with each record low unemployment statistic celebrated in the national media. But why do we not have any similar measures for understanding quality of work and how we can make work better?
The Carnegie UK Trust-RSA Working Group on Measuring Job Quality has brought together representatives from across trade unions, industry, charities and academia to consider the practical challenges of implementing national job quality measurement in the UK. Responding directly to the recommendation of Matthew Taylor’s Modern Employment Review and the ambition of the UK Government’s Good Work Plan, the report presents a measurement framework for tracking progress towards the outcome of good work for all.
Measuring Good Work, the final report of the Group, presents 16 recommendations for how a national job quality measurement framework can be introduced in the UK to understand and take action on quality of work.
Within the report it recommended job quality measures:
Terms of employment
- Job security
- Minimum guaranteed hours
- Underemployment
Pay and benefits
- Pay (actual)
- Satisfaction with pay
Health, safety and psychosocial wellbeing
- Physical injury
- Mental health
Job design and nature of work
- Use of skills
- Control
- Sense of purpose
Social support and cohesion
- Peer support
- Line manager relationship
Voice and Representation
- Trade union membership
- Employee information
- Employee involvement
Work-life balance
- Over-employment
- Overtime (paid and unpaid)
- Anxiety and work-life balance
Read the Measuring Good Work report or the executive summary.