Digit research presented at DWP workshop on future of work

Digit research was presented at a workshop on The Impact of Digitalisation at Work, co-hosted by Leeds University Business School and the Department for Work and Pensions on 1 May 2024.

Digit Co-Director Mark Stuart, Pro-Dean for Research and Montague Burton Professor for Human Resource Management, chaired the event. It offered an opportunity for researchers and civil servants to discuss how new technologies are affecting changes in the labour market, presenting new challenges for job seekers and impacting service delivery.

Delegates heard about the latest research from the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre network into digital adoption at work; the impacts on sectors, including warehousing; the potential for agile working for lower socio-economic status workers; the challenges of a digital welfare state; and the successes and failures of digital transformation of public service delivery around the world.

Professor Stuart said:

We were delighted to partner with DWP to cohost an excellent workshop, giving us the opportunity to hear from DWP about how digitalisation is presenting new challenges and opportunities for their work and to share some of our key research.

Vanna Aldin, Deputy Director and Lead Analyst of Business Strategy, co-Chief Economist at Department for Work and Pensions and co-host of the conference said:

The conference provided us with valuable insight into the latest research on the nature and extent of digital adoption at work and the challenges of digital service transformation.  We are grateful to Leeds University Business School and the ESRC Digital Futures at Work Research Centre for a day of thought-provoking discussion.

The presentations included:

• Impact of digital adoption on work practices: UK survey evidence - Danat Valizade, Professor of Quantitative Employment Research and Mark Stuart, Montague Burton Professor for Human Resource Management Research and Innovation, Leeds University Business School
• Low-skill jobs, local labour market intermediaries and employment in warehousing - Gabriella Alberti, Associate Professor; Chris Forde, Professor of Employment Studies; and Charles Umney, Professor of International Work and Employment
• Digital poverty, marginalisation and digital welfare in the UK - Becky Faith, Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex
• Digital adoption and agile and flexible working in the NHS - Emma Russell, Reader in Occupational and Organisational Psychology, University of Sussex Business School
• Varieties of digitalisation: work and welfare ecosystems - Jacqueline O’Reilly, Digit Co-Director and Professor of Comparative Human Resource Management, University of Sussex Business School