Research Republic

Stefan Stern, columnist for the Financial Times, warns of the danger of declining terms of employment, referencing research carried out The Work Foundation's David Coats in association with Research Republic. In an article titled 'We will all lose out on a foolish race to the bottom' published on the International Labour Organisation's World Day for Decent Work, he expresses concern about a cost-cutting culture among managers of "all sectors" and declining job security. The report, 'Good Work: Job quality in a changing economy', published in September, is a comparative study of job quality between the UK and Europe, and investigates the interaction between the "production regime" set by employers and the regulatory "employment regime", expressing significant concerns about employment hours, intensity autonomy, rewards in comparison to other EU countries. Among the "brave" but worthwhile assertions made by the report, Stern points out, is the central argument that without good work employees are "deprived of many of the capabilities we require to chose a life that we value", and so declining employment relations may "be seen as a significant restriction to individual liberty".