Innovation Fellowship 3 - Enhancing organisational effectiveness by modernising support for working carers

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This research focuses on improving support for working carers. Recruiting, retaining and returning carers to the workplace have been identified as major economic and social issues in the UK. They are likely to become even more important as a consequence of demographic and economic pressures on families and employers (HM Government et al., 2013). Employers for Carers was launched in 2009 as an employers' membership forum, with the aim of supporting employers to retain and manage employees with caring responsibilities. Employers for Carers (2017) states that 3 million of the UK's 6.5 million carers combine paid work with caring for older, disabled or seriously ill relatives. Eight in 10 carers are of working age, with that proportion increasing to one in five of people aged 45-64, the peak age for caring (Carers UK, 2015). Caring responsibilities are a key reason why workers leave employment. One in six employees reduce their working hours or leave work altogether to provide care (Ipsos MORI, 2009). Often, these workers are the most experienced in any organisation, an issue that is gaining recognition among employers and policymakers (Employers for Carers, 2017). This is explicitly acknowledged, for example, in the UK government's 'Fuller Working Lives Strategy' which focuses on supporting workers aged 50 plus (DWP, 2017). The research will be aligned to the UK Industrial Strategy (HM Government, 2017), which sets out the government's plan to create an economy that boosts productivity and earning power throughout the UK. Ten pillars have been identified, which the Government believes are important to drive forward the Industrial Strategy across the entire economy in the UK. This research has the potential to contribute to Pillars 2 (Developing Skills), 4 (Supporting Businesses to Start and Grow) and 9 (Driving Growth across the Whole Country) of the strategy. Pillar 2: The Innovation Fellow will address deficiencies in the management / HRM skills vital for productivity improvements, particularly in small to medium sized enterprises and 'lagging' sectors (O'Mahony & Van Ark, 2003). It will promote upskilling of managers and team leaders and enable them to introduce innovative approaches to supporting and managing employees with care responsibilities which can reduce the costs of absence and recruitment and enhance productivity. Pillar 4: The potential for businesses to start up and grow is highly reliant on their success in attracting, investing in and retaining employees. Working carers often face difficulty combining their carer and employee roles; many quit their jobs, causing disruption to business and excess recruitment/training costs and holding back organisational capacity for business growth. The Innovation Fellow will support smaller businesses to design innovative approaches to reducing turnover/absence, promote flexible working, and increase their ability to recruit and expand. Pillar 9: Caring is more prevalent in deprived areas, and the need for work-care support more acute in areas with low skills or productivity. The Innovation Fellow will gather evidence on how adopting measures to retain/support working carers helps businesses in under-performing regions address challenges in expanding their business and improves their productivity. Better working practices and management arrangements for workers with care responsibilities, in organisations of all types and sizes, will ensure organisational efficiency and lead to a more productive economy both locally and nationally. Major efficiencies are achievable via HR initiatives to reduce care-related retention, absence and recruitment costs and wasted human capital investments. The focus in the Industrial Strategy (2017) on business leadership, innovative high-performing organisations and the challenges of operating in localities with skills gaps and/or low productivity is also highly relevant to the focus of this research.