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Following the European Employment Directive, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 outlawing age discrimination in employment and vocational training came into force in the UK in October 2006. These regulations made unjustified age discrimination in employment and vocational training unlawful. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) commissioned a survey of employers' policies and practices with an age dimension prior to the implementation of the regulations. The main purpose of the survey was to enable the effectiveness of the draft Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 to be evaluated in the future, through providing a baseline measure of these policies and practices against which future change could be measured. The study was based on a representative survey of 2,087 establishments in Britain with at least five employees, conducted between November 2004 and May 2005. Respondents were the most senior person with an overview of human resource policies for the establishment.

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This research, produced in partnership with PA Consulting, surveys and reviews the impact of Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in UK workplaces and the investment decisions that employers make. Using a UK-wide survey and in-depth case studies, the research sheds light on organisations' current experiences of cutting-edge technology and on the decisions that led them to invest in them in the first place. Overall, the findings show that AI and automation are radically shaping work and jobs, making jobs more skilled and interesting and creating better, more fulfilling jobs for employees.

The report argues that there is no inevitable impact of AI and automation on jobs. Employers can use them to improve people's working lives as well as increase organisational productivity, but this cannot be taken for granted. The future of work will be shaped by employers' decisions on how they invest and embed new technology. Businesses need to do more than configure the technology, plug it in and switch it on. They need to prepare their workforce and rethink their culture. The report calling for human resources (HR) and effective people strategies to be at the heart of integrating AI and automation in the world of work.

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The Australian HR Institute and the Australian Human Rights Commission surveyed 604 [human resources] HR leaders, academics, and business leaders between the 15th and 23rd of February 2021. The aim of the study was to understand organisations' strategies to recruit and retain older workers, and how [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 has impacted these strategies. Further, the study was to compare how these approaches have shifted in Australian workplaces over time, utilising data from previous surveys in 2012, 2014 and 2018. The majority of respondents reside in Victoria (27.8 per cent) and New South Wales (25.8 per cent), in a Metropolitan area (76 per cent), and are HR practitioners working within an organisation (67.4 per cent).

This survey was done in COVID time and it is likely that this had an impact on the answers and on organisational behaviours. Responses to the specific questions on this topic are interesting but not conclusive. Overall results indicate some small continuing gains but also a number of areas where progress has stalled or even gone backwards. The HR community in Australia is classifying 'older workers' as younger over time, even though the Australian workforce is ageing, with a higher proportion classifying an older worker as between 51-55 (16.9 per cent; an increase of 6.1 per cent since 2018). Results indicate that the number of older workers in Australian organisations is increasing, with one third of respondents saying at least half of their workforce is made up of workers above 55 years old. One in three respondents believed their organisation's recruitment practices have somewhat negatively impacted older workers. There is also an increase of 13.8 per cent since 2014 in the number of respondents who recognise that the departure of older workers causes a loss of key skills or knowledge but it's unfortunate that there has been little or no increase in the same time period in organisations to capture corporate knowledge as older workers transition out of the workplace. This disconnect could usefully be addressed.

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The HRpulse survey is designed to gather opinions and feedback on human resources (HR) management topics that impact on organisational performance. This curent survey was conducted online during December 2011 and communicated by email to the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) member database. A total of 1212 respondents returned answers to the survey. Responses were treated anonymously. In discussing the findings, numerical data is rounded to the nearest whole number. Key findings include: approximately half the respondents to the survey (46 per cent) report that the departure of older workers from their workplace in the last year has caused loss of key knowledge or skills; approximately one-fifth of respondents (22 per cent) report that the departure of older workers has caused the organisation to be less competitive; and more than eight out of 10 respondents (83 per cent) would like to see steps taken within their organisation to retain older workers.

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This paper provides an analysis of the determinants of selection test use in British workplaces. The analysis is based on the results of the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS 98) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) 2001 Recruitment Survey. A review of existing theoretical literature is used to develop a set of hypotheses about the economic factors and organisational characteristics that are likely to influence test use. The empirical literature is reviewed to illustrate the lack of empirical testing to which these theories have been subjected. Key findings from WERS 98 are that: (1) workplaces using a lot of formal off-the-job training are more likely to use personality tests as part of the recruitment process; (2) workplaces with managerial and professional vacancies are more likely to use personality tests for selection than those with vacancies for routine unskilled manual occupations; (3) the use of personality and competency tests is associated with the extent to which workplaces used a range of formal policies to manage equal opportunities in the workplace; (4) competency tests are associated with the presence of formal grievance procedures and with workplaces where there had been official employee complaints in the past; (5) private sector workplaces are more likely than those in the public sector to use personality tests with no such relationship for competency tests; and (5) competency tests are more likely to be used where vacancies for skilled craft workers and technical staff exist. CIPD data revealed that equal opportunities practices and the use of external consultants in the recruitment process increases the probability of personality test use but these factors are not significant for general ability tests.

This paper is complemented by a review of the evidence on levels of test use (indexed at TD/TNC 69.159) and a qualitative analysis of the reasons for the growth in test used, based on interviews with employers across a range of industrial sectors (indexed at TD/TNC 73.394). Show less

From 6 April 2011 the default retirement age (DRA) in the UK is being phased out so that people have more choice when to stop working. Consequently, from [this date] employers will not be able to issue any notifications of compulsory retirement using the DRA procedure. In order to explore employers' understanding of the changes in employment law relating to retirement age, and extending working life initiatives, a number of questions were included in [this first wave] of a piece of research which considered employers' awareness, understanding and activity relating to workplace pensions reform. A total of 751 Computer Aided Telephone Interviews (CATI) were undertaken with employers (202 with micros, 250 with small, 151 medium, and 148 with large employers).

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Since 2007 the Workplace Research Centre (WRC) at the University of Sydney has been collecting data on the work experiences of police officers employed in New South Wales, Victoria, Northern Territory and the Australian Federal Police. The final wave of results in the 'Police at work' study was released in November 2012. In particular, the findings point to ways police officer work, health and safety can be improved to benefit police and their police organisations. Compared with the wider Australian workforce, the study found that more police (44 per cent) feel at risk of injury or illness from their work than others in the Australian workforce (18 per cent). More than twice as many police feel at risk compared with the general workforce. Police who do not feel consulted or fairly treated or who have low trust in their managers are more likely to have work-related accidents or illnesses, lower job satisfaction and psychological health issues. The actual rate of work-related injury or illness is higher among those police officers who experience low trust in their managers (twice as high), do not feel consulted (three times more likely to have suffered a work-related accident) or feel they are not fairly treated at work (more than twice the rate). It was also found that almost one-third (31 per cent) of police officers felt burned out. The findings support the conclusion that organisational climate plays an important role in fostering safe working environments.

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The Health and Well-being Survey of Employers was jointly commissioned by the Cross-Government Health, Work and Well-being Strategy Unit and the UK Department for Work and Pensions. Between February and May 2010, 2,250 British employers were interviewed. The employer survey was commissioned to provide new evidence to address gaps in knowledge about: employers' perceptions of the importance of work to health and health to work and to what extent investment in health and well-being was deemed a priority; the promotion of health and well-being at work through the availability of health and well-being initiatives or support; evidence of how organisations engaged with their staff, by exploring the methods used to communicate with the workforce and to what extent organisations acted on employee feedback; measures of business productivity, namely incidence and management of sickness absence, and measures of labour turnover; and information regarding employers' occupational sick pay policies.

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This study comprised stages two and three of the Workforce Sustainability and Leadership research project for the State Library of Victoria, in partnership with the Victorian public library network and under the auspices of the Library Board of Victoria. The research undertaken for these stages of the project was designed to complement the initial scoping study conducted in 2006 (see Appendix C). Stage two investigated: current skill level of the Victoria public library workforce; current training levels and training needs; recruitment and retention issues; and development opportunities. Stage three of the project involved developing recommendations for strategies aimed at increasing sustainability and leadership in the Victorian public library workforce over the next 15 years. This research involved conducting both qualitative and quantitative research across Victorian public libraries between September and December 2007. The report discusses the findings from the research in the context of a tight national labour market that has undergone significant changes. These changes have affected both labour supply and labour demand, and influenced the development and deployment of skill at the workplace level. The contents are as follows: (1) Executive summary; (2) Background to the study; (3) Understanding changing skill requirements; (4) Findings from the fieldwork; (5) Recommendations; (6) Background - report structure and methodology; (7) Introduction - economic rationalism: labour supply and demand; training, skills and career progression; skill shortages: comparing the library, education and health sectors; (8) Qualitative findings - new graduates; library service managers; summing up qualitative findings; (9) Quantitative findings - demographics of Victorian public library managers and employees; perceived priorities in public libraries; job tasks and roles; recruitment and retention issues; retaining staff; perceptions of supervision and performance management; recommendations; (10) References; (11) Appendices - Appendix A: project requirements as stipulated in the request for proposal; Appendix B: methodology; Appendix C: scoping research report (stage one).

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Telework offers many potential benefits for organisations including productivity improvements, employee retention, and other forms of competitive advantage. The primary aim of this study was to examine manager and employee perspectives on telework productivity and wellbeing. The study surveyed almost 100 [human resources] HR and team managers and over 1800 staff across 50 Australian and New Zealand organisations. Managers were interviewed on issues such as telework policy, processes, attitudes and outcomes, while organisational members were surveyed online on their telework experience, with a focus on support for telework, telework productivity, and wellbeing outcomes.

The study found strong evidence of the positive benefits of telework for both individual workers and their organisations. Some small negative effects were found for hybrid teleworking, notably higher perceived social isolation and strain/stress. Findings suggest some attention to the ergonomics aspects of the home office should be made by employers. Given the many potential benefits of telework identified in this study and in previous research, it was surprising that most participating organisations failed to engage in any form of cost benefit analysis relating to telework, or seek to measure the positive benefits of this mode of working.

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