Working Lives

Building on a long tradition of research on societal influences on the quality of working life and the consequences for employee experience and well-being.

This includes research on:

  • The labour process examining changes in skill formation and organisational control systems, new technologies (including social media) and their influence on employment relations and worker voice.
  • The labour market exploring access to work, skills and employability, and patterns of labour market exclusion with a policy-oriented focus on improving opportunities for disadvantaged groups.
  • The impact of workplace and social change on professional, occupational and other social identities; and divisions of age, gender, socio-economic status and ethnicity in access to and experiences of work.

Related staff

Professor Chris Baldry

Dr Hazel Baxter-Reid

Dr Adelina Broadbridge

Professor Sharon Bolton

Dr Knut Laaser

Professor Oliver Mallett

Dr Simon McCabe

Professor Ronald McQuaid

Dr Linda Perriton

Professor Paul Thompson

Research staff

Dr Yvonne Hail

Ms Anne Marie Cullen

Dr Danny Zschomler

Related outputs

Negotiating gendered ageing: Intersectional reflexivity and experiences of incongruity of self-employed older women

Meliou E & Mallett O (2020) Negotiating gendered ageing: Intersectional reflexivity and experiences of incongruity of self-employed older women. Work, Employment and Society.

Employee dissent on social media and organizational discipline

Thompson P, McDonald P & O’Connor P (2020) Employee dissent on social media and organizational discipline. Human Relations, 73 (5), pp. 631-652. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726719846262

The Moral Economy of Solidarity: A Longitudinal Study of Special Needs Teachers

Bolton SC & Laaser K (2020) The Moral Economy of Solidarity: A Longitudinal Study of Special Needs Teachers. Work, Employment and Society, 34 (1), pp. 55-72. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017019871237

Buying into Capitalism? Employee Ownership in a Disconnected Era

Brown R, McQuaid R, Raeside R, Dutton M, Egdell V & Canduela J (2019) Buying into Capitalism? Employee Ownership in a Disconnected Era. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 57 (1), pp. 62-85. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12309

Getting together, living together, thinking together: Management Development at Tata Sons 1940-1960

Masrani S, Perriton L & McKinlay A (2018) Getting together, living together, thinking together: Management Development at Tata Sons 1940-1960. Business History. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2018.1458840

Generation Ys' employment expectations: UK undergraduates' opinions on enjoyment, opportunity and progression

Maxwell GA & Broadbridge A (2017) Generation Ys' employment expectations: UK undergraduates' opinions on enjoyment, opportunity and progression. Studies in Higher Education, 42 (12), pp. 2267-2283. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2016.1141403

‘If you are having a go at me, I am going to have a go at you’: The changing nature of social relationships of bank work under Performance Management

Laaser K (2016) ‘If you are having a go at me, I am going to have a go at you’: The changing nature of social relationships of bank work under Performance Management. Work, Employment and Society, 30 (6), pp. 1000-1016. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017015617686

Interrogating creative theory and creative work: inside the games studio

Thompson P, Parker R & Cox S (2016) Interrogating creative theory and creative work: inside the games studio. Sociology, 50 (2), pp. 316-332. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038514565836

Buying into the 'good worker' rhetoric or being as good as they need to be? The effort bargaining process of new migrant workers

Baxter-Reid H (2016) Buying into the 'good worker' rhetoric or being as good as they need to be? The effort bargaining process of new migrant workers. Human Resource Management Journal, 26 (3), pp. 337-350. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12111

Making sense of self-employment in late career: understanding the identity work of olderpreneurs

Mallett O & Wapshott R (2015) Making sense of self-employment in late career: understanding the identity work of olderpreneurs. Work, Employment and Society, 29 (2), pp. 250-266. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017014546666

The role of mortality awareness in heroic enactment

McCabe S, Carpenter RW & Arndt J (2015) The role of mortality awareness in heroic enactment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 61, pp. 104-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2015.08.001