Esme Terry

Esme Terry

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds in February 2020 as a Research Fellow affiliated with the ESRC-funded Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit). The centre aims to advance understanding of digital technologies at work, and the impact of digital change on employers, employees and other stakeholders. Digit is led by the Universities of Leeds and Sussex. My current Digit work is focused around: 1) conceptualising connectivity in work and employment, and 2) digital change in financial and professional services. Further information on Digit and its current research streams can be found here: https://digit-research.org/  

My other core research interests lie in the sociology of work and employment, with a particular focus on diversity and (in)equality in the workplace. My doctoral research employs sociological theory to explore social class and impression management in the Scottish legal sector. In my previous research position at Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, I worked on an industry-funded project exploring alternative financial services and the home credit sector. This research focused on the work of collection agents, gaining insights into the changing nature of their work, their experiences and identities, and the digitalisation of their labour process.

Experience:

2020-present: ESRC Digit Research Fellow, Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change (CERIC), Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, UK

2018-2019: Senior Researcher, Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, UK

2016-present: Postgraduate Researcher, Edinburgh Business School, School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, UK

2016-2019: Academic Tutor, Business Management Department, School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, UK

Journal articles:

Marks, A., & Terry, E. (2022). Examining ‘dirty work’ using an analysis of place and territorial stigma: low-income communities and the home credit sector. Work in the Global Economy. DOI: 10.1332/273241721X16506340442240

Terry, E., Marks., A., Dakessian, A., & Christopoulos, D. (2021). Emotional Labour and the Autonomy of Dependent Self-Employed Workers: Exploring the Limitations of Digital Managerial Control in the Home Credit Sector. Work, Employment and Society. DOI: 10.1177/0950017020979504

Other publications: 

Russell, E., Murphy, C., & Terry, E. (2022). What Leaders Need to Know Before Trying a 4-Day Work Week. Harvard Business Review, 27th May [Article]. Available at: https://hbr.org/2022/05/what-leaders-need-to-know-before-trying-a-4-day-work-week 

Murphy, C., & Terry, E. (2022). Moving beyond lip service on work life balance: are UK workers being left behind on the right to disconnect? Digital Futures at Work Research Centre, 17th January [Blog]. Available at: https://digit-research.org/blog_article/are-uk-workers-being-left-behind-on-right-to-disconnect/

Other outputs:

Kirk, E., & Terry, E. (2022). (De)professionalisation, occupational closure and ‘the law’: evolving professional projects in HR and legal services. International Labour Process Conference, Padua, 21-23 April.

Terry, E., & Marks, A. (2019) ‘When professional self and class background clash: Identity dissonance amongst Scottish lawyers and the mediating role of gender’. BSA Annual Conference, Glasgow, 24-26 April.

Terry, E., Marks, A., Dakessian, A., & Christopoulos, D. (2019) ‘Grey-zones of work in sub-prime finance: How regulation and app-based digital technologies govern self-employed collection agents in the home credit industry’. International Labour Process Conference, Vienna, 24-26 April.

Terry, E., & Marks, A. (2018) ‘Social Class, Impression Management and Capitals: Exploring how lawyers in the Scottish legal sector use class during professional interactions’. BSA Work, Employment and Society Conference, Belfast, 12-14 September.  

 

Qualifications

  • 2016: MA (Hons), Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh (First Class Honours)

Professional memberships

  • British Sociological Association (BSA)
  • The British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA)
  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)

Research groups and institutes

  • Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change