Organisational accreditation and worker upskilling in Britain

This is an event in the Leeds Economic Seminar series taking place on Wednesday 31 January 2018.

Dr Getinet Haile
University of Nottingham

You are invited to take part in the Leeds Economic Seminar Series, organised by the Economics Division at Leeds University Business School. All welcome!

This week, Dr Getinet Haile from the University of Nottingham will lead a seminar on 'Organisational Accreditation and Worker Upskilling in Britain'.

Britain has lagged behind G7 countries in labour productivity terms in recent years, making this a vital policy and research interest. Upskilling the existing workforce via on-the-job training may enhance productivity in the short term. Using a panel of organizations and their ‘Investors in People’ accreditation status, this paper empirically examines if accreditation promotes upskilling. Panel (FE) difference-in-differences estimates using matched organizations reveal that accreditation does enhance employee training. However, the effect is largely confined to the private sector. 

On the other hand, di-accreditation, which is found to be linked to the 2008 financial crisis, barely impacts training adversely. This may be due to potentially lingering effect of past accreditation. Policy may have to further engender accreditation schemes that boost worker training to combat the productivity malaise. 

For further information, please contact Helen Greaves at h.z.greaves@leeds.ac.uk