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

这项研究的重点是改善对工作照顾者的支持。在联合王国，招聘、留住和让照料者重返工作场所已被确定为主要的经济和社会问题。由于家庭和雇主面临的人口和经济压力，它们可能变得更加重要（HM Government et al.，2013年）。2009年启动了“雇主为照顾者”，作为雇主会员论坛，目的是支持雇主留住和管理有照顾责任的雇员。雇主为照顾者（2017年）指出，英国650万照顾者中有300万人将联合收割机有偿工作与照顾老年人，残疾人或重病亲属相结合。十分之八的照料者处于工作年龄，在45-64岁的高峰年龄段，这一比例增加到五分之一（英国照料者，2015年）。照顾责任是工人离职的一个关键原因。六分之一的雇员减少工作时间或完全离开工作岗位以提供护理（Ipsos MORI，2009年）。通常，这些工人是任何组织中最有经验的，这一问题正在得到雇主和政策制定者的认可（雇主为照顾者，2017年）。例如，英国政府的“更充实的工作生活战略”明确承认了这一点，该战略侧重于支持50岁以上的工人（DWP，2017）。该研究将与英国工业战略（HM Government，2017）保持一致，该战略规定了政府的计划，即在整个英国创造一个提高生产力和盈利能力的经济体。已经确定了十大支柱，政府认为这对推动英国整个经济的工业战略至关重要。这项研究有可能为该战略的支柱2（发展技能），4（支持企业创业和发展）和9（推动全国增长）做出贡献。支柱2：创新研究员将解决对提高生产力至关重要的管理/人力资源管理技能方面的缺陷，特别是在中小型企业和“落后”部门（O 'Mahony和货车方舟，2003年）。它将促进管理人员和团队领导人的技能提高，使他们能够采用创新的方法来支持和管理有护理责任的员工，这可以减少缺勤和招聘成本，并提高生产力。支柱4：企业的创业和发展潜力高度依赖于他们在吸引、投资和留住员工方面的成功。在职的照顾者往往难以兼顾照顾者和雇员的角色;许多人辞职，导致业务中断和过度的招聘/培训成本，并阻碍了业务增长的组织能力。创新研究员将支持小企业设计创新方法，以减少营业额/缺勤，促进灵活工作，并提高他们的招聘和扩张能力。支柱9：照顾在贫困地区更为普遍，在技能或生产力低的地区，对工作照顾支持的需求更为迫切。创新研究员将收集证据，说明采取措施留住/支持在职护理人员如何帮助业绩不佳地区的企业应对扩大业务和提高生产力方面的挑战。在各种类型和规模的组织中，为负有护理责任的工人提供更好的工作实践和管理安排，将确保组织效率，并导致地方和国家经济更具生产力。通过人力资源举措可以实现重大效率，以减少与护理相关的保留、缺勤和招聘成本以及浪费的人力资本投资。工业战略（2017年）对商业领导力、创新型高绩效组织以及在技能差距和/或生产率低的地区运营的挑战的关注也与本研究的重点高度相关。

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.