Chris Forde

• Professor of Employment Studies at University of Leeds

This article examines the changing role of the state, through an analysis of the development and implementation of the EU Temporary Agency Work Directive in the UK. The article outlines and utilizes the concept of the ‘competition state’ to help frame and comprehend the UK Government’s approach to negotiating and shaping the Directive. Using archiv...

This article looks at the relationship between employment agencies and migration. The connections between employment agencies and migrants have long been recognized. However, many have suggested that the relationship between agencies and migrants is changing. Drawing on four research studies by the authors, conducted between 2005 and 2012, the arti...

EU Social and Labour Rights have developed incrementally, originally through a set of legislative initiatives creating selective employment rights, followed by a non-binding Charter of Social Rights. Only in 2009, social and labour rights became legally binding through the Charter of Fundamental Rights for the European Union (CFREU). By contrast, t...

This report looks at the effects of the Agency Working Regulations (AWR) on employer and agency practice. It presents recent statistical data on agency working from the Labour Force Survey, alongside findings from 28 interviews, conducted across 11 agencies, four user firms, union and industry representatives, along with a small number of agency te...

Purpose: The paper explores the role of union strategic influence on the adoption of High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) in organisations and examines how the effects of job security and then in turn the industrial relations climate, mediate this relationship in a serial manner. Design/methodology/approach: The research analyses an original quan...

This presentation looks at employers' use of migrant labour post-Brexit and during and beyond COVID-19 in 4 sectors in the UK: food and drink processing, warehousing, hospitality and social care. It draws upon the findings of an original survey of 1280 employers conducted between July 2022 and February 2023.

Purpose The paper aims to explore the role of union strategic influence on the adoption of High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) in organisations and examines how the effects of job security and then in turn the industrial relations climate, mediate this relationship in a serial manner. Design/methodology/approach The research analyses an original...

This CERIC report looks at restructuring in the UK aerospace sector before, during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. It looks at the drivers and consequences of restructuring in the sector, based on in-depth interviews with industry stakeholders. It concludes by proposing and outlining a heuristic model of restructuring in aerospace.

'Temporary work' entry in In Johnstone, S., Rodriguez, J. and Wilkinson, A. (Eds) Encyclopedia of HRM, 2nd Edition, Edward Elgar: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/encyclopedia-of-human-resource-management-9781800378834.html

'Employment Agency' In Johnstone, S., Rodriguez, J. and Wilkinson, A. (Eds) Encyclopedia of HRM, 2nd Edition, Edward Elgar: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/encyclopedia-of-human-resource-management-9781800378834.html

Entry in Johnstone, S., Rodriguez, J. and Wilkinson, A. (Eds) Encyclopedia of HRM, 2nd Edition, Edward Elgar: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/encyclopedia-of-human-resource-management-9781800378834.html

'Zero hours contracts' in In Johnstone, S., Rodriguez, J. and Wilkinson, A. (Eds) (2023) Encyclopedia of HRM, 2nd Edition, Edward Elgar: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/encyclopedia-of-human-resource-management-9781800378834.html

Leeds University Business School Research and Innovation Blog: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-blog/2087/four-ways-that-archival-research-can-help-you-understand-the-past-present-and-future-of-work

HRM challenges, migrant workers and the regulation of migration post-Brexit/post-COVID-19: evidence from four sectors This research paper analyses policy and practice implications of the changing migration regulation regime in the UK for four sectors: hospitality, warehousing, food manufacture and care work. These sectors have tended to be highly...

Blog for UK in a Changing Europe https://ukandeu.ac.uk/the-contested-politics-of-migration-as-a-solution-to-labour-shortages/

This paper highlights the contribution of archival data and historical methods to impactful research in industrial relations, the sociology of work, management studies and Human Resource Management. Whilst archival methods are widely used in some of these fields of research, there has also been considerable debate in these fields over the challenge...

Blog for the Work Foundation: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundation/news-and-events/blog/the-end-of-free-movement-and-the-low-wage-labour-force-in-the-uk

Blog for Digital Futures at Work Research Centre Data Observatory: https://digit-research.org/blog_article/employers-responses-to-the-end-of-free-movement-rhetoric-and-realities-of-automation/

Blog for ESRC Digital Futures at Work Research Centre: https://digit-research.org/blog_article/research-in-progress-reflections-at-digits-halfway-point/

The COVID‐19 pandemic and Brexit were separate yet inter‐related developments which affected the British National Health Service (NHS). The UK's state‐funded health sector had historically relied on migrant labour and depended on a migration infrastructure designed to solve its nursing labour shortages. The analysis of primary qualitative and secon...

Podcast for the Leeds University Business School Research and Innovation Blog and Podcast series: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/research-ceric/dir-record/research-blog/2011/podcast-introducing-the-digit-data-observatory

Podcast for Leeds University Business School Research and Innovation Blog & Podcast series: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/research-ceric/dir-record/research-blog/2012/podcast-the-danger-of-making-assumptions-about-digital-equality

The article develops a novel conceptualisation of labour unrest and trade unionism in the platform economy, extending current understandings in two ways. First, we situate platform work historically, in the longue durée of paid work under capitalism. Secondly, we introduce a consideration of social structure into debates on union practices often fr...

Purpose This paper examines the extent of bargaining concessions in recession through investigating the effects of union bargaining on pay, job security and workforce composition. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on an original survey ( n = 400) of workplace level trade union bargaining units in England, the authors employed latent class analys...

Podcast for Leeds University Business School Future of Work: https://the-future-of-work.captivate.fm/episode/academic-perspectives

Podcast for Leeds University Business School Research and Innovation Blog and Podcast Series: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/research-ceric/dir-record/research-blog/1997/podcast-filipino-migrant-workers-in-malaysia-trajectories-of-undocumented-labour

Podcast for Leeds University Business School Work Future: https://the-future-of-work.captivate.fm/episodes/2#showEpisodes

Podcast for Leeds University Business School Future of Work Podcast Series: https://the-future-of-work.captivate.fm/episode/academic-perspectives-with-chris-forde

This article assesses regulatory reform of the state in the context of the move to furloughing in the UK. It establishes that furloughing was a successful response to the COVID-19 crisis, partly because it challenged the traditional UK crisis response of non-state intervention in the labour market. Furloughing prevented higher unemployment and enab...

Blog for Leeds University School Research and Innovation Blog Series: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-blog/1945/migration-systems-in-transition-is-changing-regulation-during-the-pandemic-increasing-risks-for-migrants

Blog for ESRC Digital Futures at Work Research Centre: https://digit-research.org/blog_article/three-unanswered-questions-about-eu-directive-on-gig-work/

Blog for CERIC Research Centre: https://cericleeds.wordpress.com/2022/01/13/from-a-health-crisis-to-a-labour-crisis-omicron-brexit-and-labour-shortages/

Podcast for the Leeds University Business School Research and Innovation Blog/Podcast series: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-blog/1909/podcast-furlough-and-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

Blog for ESRC Digital Futures at Work Data Observatory: https://digit-research.org/blog_article/another_blog_digital_futures_at_work/

Blog for ESRC Digital Futures at Work Data Observatory: https://digit-research.org/blog_article/technology_performance_management_teachers/

Purpose The aim of this paper is twofold. First, to understand the degree to which the intended outcomes of Saudi’s Nitaqat labour market policy corresponds to the actual responses from private companies. Second, to investigate how these gaps between policy intentions and actual outcomes have informed recent changes to Nitaqat policy. Design/metho...

The article argues that job retention should be a central aim and practice of human resource management (HRM). Set against the global COVID‐19 crisis, theoretical insights are drawn from strategic HRM planning and the economics of ‘labour hoarding’ to consider the potential benefits of workforce furloughing. Furlough has been supported in the UK by...

We report initial findings from a unique survey of managers on the practice of furlough, their experiences of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and workplace change during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study draws on an online survey of managers in the UK with responsibility for staffing (HR managers, or other managers at senior or middle l...

Blog for Leeds University Business School Research and Innovation Blog series: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-blog/1834/investigation-into-amazon-s-use-of-agency-workers-raises-important-questions

Blog for Leeds Teacher Well-Being project: https://leedsteacherwellbeing.leeds.ac.uk/outputs/blog/what-difference-a-year-makes-changing-priorities-for-schools/

Blog for Leeds Teacher Well-Being project: https://leedsteacherwellbeing.leeds.ac.uk/outputs/blog/blog-4-remote-control-teachers-experiences-of-working-away-from-their-school-environment-during-the-spring-2020-lockdown/

Blog for Leeds Teacher Well-Being project: https://leedsteacherwellbeing.leeds.ac.uk/outputs/blog/what-do-teachers-experiences-of-moving-to-online-teaching-during-lockdown-tell-us-about-well-being/

Blog for Leeds Teacher Well-Being Project: https://leedsteacherwellbeing.leeds.ac.uk/outputs/blog/blog-what-can-be-done-within-schools-and-colleges-to-support-teacher-well-being/

In this briefing we look at what teachers say enables them to feel supported in their professional lives and to maintain good mental health, considering evidence from schools and colleges which are being run and led in a way which seems to avoid many of the problems reported elsewhere. We present evidence from senior managers who say supporting and...

Blog for CERIC, University of Leeds: https://cericleeds.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/the-coronavirus-crisis-exposes-further-the-fault-lines-in-the-proposed-post-brexit-points-based-system-of-immigration-but-will-it-lead-to-a-re-think/

While post-2004 Polish labour migration to the UK was underpinned by diasporic spaces instrumental in facilitating social and labour market adjustments, the institutions of the host society such as trade unions also sought to establish links with migrants. The analysis of interactions between UK unions and EU migrants focused on organising strategi...

Blog for Leeds Teacher Well-Being project: https://leedsteacherwellbeing.leeds.ac.uk/outputs/blog/april-2020-burnout-in-teaching-widely-recognised-but-poorly-understood/

The pandemic has led to emergency measures restricting travel that creating a new, albeit temporary, regulation of migration, with more than 200 countries implementing coronavirus-related restrictions on border entries, and with 93 per cent of the world’s population living in countries where restrictions have been imposed In the UK, the COVID-19 cr...

In this briefing we look at definitions of burnout, the causes of burnout in teaching, and some of the effects, drawing on our stakeholder meetings held in Summer 2019.

This is a summary report of a longitudinal evaluation of Leeds Migrant Access Plus Project involving Leeds City Council and Touchstone (delivery partners)

This paper provides a nuanced insight into the workplace level interactions between a union and HRM systems within a union-management partnership arrangement. Soft outcomes of HRM systems typically suffer from compromised implementation by managers struggling to balance competing operational priorities, but we show how a union limits this poor impl...

Podcast for Leeds University Business School Blog/Podcast series: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/research-ceric/dir-record/research-blog/1692/podcast-technologies-in-the-workplace

European Union (EU) enlargement in 2004 produced a multi‐layered regulatory space structuring labour mobility between Central Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom. Building on a critical revaluation of the concept of labour mobility power as a phenomenon that cannot be reduced to earnings' maximisation, the paper contends that although post‐2004 m...

The article presents emerging evidence on the development of the platform economy, paying particular attention to the motivations for entering platform work, the conditions of platform work and the extent of social protections afforded platform workers. Debate thus far has tended to be highly speculative and lacking in grounded empirical analysis,...

The article presents emerging evidence on the development of the platform economy, paying particular attention to the motivations for entering platform work, the conditions of platform work and the extent of social protections afforded platform workers. Debate thus far has tended to be highly speculative and lacking in grounded empirical analysis,...

This study investigates the social protection of workers in the platform economy at the request of the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee. The report reviews literature and previous research on the platform economy with the aims of defining it and developing a typology for understanding its nature. It discusses the growth...

Purpose Temporary agency working continues to grow in the UK. The purpose of this paper is to look at a number of important developments in the agency industry, which generate implications for the performance of agencies, temps and the user firms in which temps work and to set out some of the key performance implications of these developments. Thes...

This multi-method case explores how change in HRM implementation can impact performance metrics in a recessionary climate. Qualitative HR outcome data are mapped against financial metrics to explore adoption of hard-line HRM practices in a major UK retailer. Despite record profits throughout the recession, the organisation responded strategically t...

Essential Skills in the Workplace (ESiW) was a Welsh Government programme that offered training in essential skills. Essential skills includes reading, writing, communication, numeracy and computer skills. The programme offered learners the opportunity to study Essential Skills Wales (ESW) qualifications and English for Speakers of Other Languages...

Recent years have witnessed increased research on the role of workplace partnership in promoting positive employment relations. However, there has been little quantitative analysis of the partnership experiences of employees. This paper examines how the kinds of attributions employees make regarding indirect (union-based) and direct (non-union-base...

Entry on 'Employment Agency', in Wilkinson, A. and Johnstone, S. Encyclopedia of HRM, 1st Edition, 2016

'Zero hours contracts' Entry in Encyclopedia of HRM, 1st Edition (2016) Eds Wilkinson., A, and Johnstone, S.

Entry on 'Temporary Work' in Encyclopedia of HRM, 1st Edition, (Eds Wilkinson. A. and Johnstone, S, 2016)

In this briefing document, we summarise the discussion and outcomes from a Roundtable event held in Leeds in March 2015 to explore the issues of migration and to look at the opportunities that migration creates for the region. The event involved councillors, business leaders, union representatives, migrant group organisations, migrants and migratio...

Migration continues to dominate political discourse in the UK. It was a key area of debate in the lead up to the General Election in May2015. Media and political attention has focused on two main areas of debate: migration patterns and trends (the numbers of migrants in the UK); and welfare and entitlements for migrants.Unfortunately, migration ten...

In this introductory article, the editors of Work, Employment and Society reflect on the journal’s body of published work and present the main contributions of the 25-year anniversary issue. As a journal of record WES is now well established and offers extensive conceptual insights into, and empirical analysis of, contemporary trends and experience...

Este informe proporciona un análisis de los efectos de la crisis económica en las mujeres del sector del transporte. Ya que los efectos de la crisis y la recesión son continuos, el análisis de los datos es relativamente limitado. Los datos de documentación y los datos directos sobre los efectos de la crisis en la mujer son preliminares y en absolut...

Ce rapport fournit une analyse des effets de la crise économique sur les femmes dans le secteur du transport. Vu que les effets de la crise et de la récession se poursuivent, l’analyse faite jusqu’à présent est relativement limitée. Les documents et les données directes sur les effets de la crise sur les femmes sont préliminaires et sont loin d’avo...

This article examines the role of support mechanisms for new migrant communities provided by networks of statutory, third-sector and refugee community organisations. The article explores the dynamics of the relationships between support groups, with analysis located in the urban context of NorthTown. The findings point to the possibility of tension...

This article examines the connections between employment agencies, ethics and migrant workers. The article identifies three approaches adopted by agencies towards ethics and migrant workers, namely, ‘business case’, ‘minimal compliance’ and ‘social justice’ approaches. Through case studies of three agencies in the UK, the article explores the poten...

- This report examines the role played by temporary employment agencies in pay setting for agency workers. - There are important gaps in our understanding in relation to the role played by employment agencies in pay setting issues. - At a very basic level, very little research has been conducted to address the question of whether agencies do play...

This article explores the use of contingent forms of employment in two diverse country contexts—the UK and Sweden—and investigates the influence of changing regulatory and economic conditions over a period that covers the current economic downturn. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data for the construction sector, the article addresses three...

This article investigates the process of moving on from redundancy in the Welsh steel industry among individuals seeking new careers. It identifies a spectrum of career change experience, ranging from those who had actively planned their career change, prior to the redundancies, to those ‘at a career crossroads’, for whom there were tensions betwee...

There has been widespread interest across various national contexts in employers’ use of contingent forms of labour. The tendency to conflate different contract types into catch-all categories has increasingly given way to recognition of the differences between forms of labour. Despite this, systematic comparisons of employers’ attitudes to differe...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications for HRM of employers' use of migrants in low‐skilled work in a UK‐based firm. Is the use of migrant workers for low skilled work associated with “soft” or “hard” approaches to HRM? How do employers recruit migrant workers? What career progression paths are available to these workers i...