Dr Xanthe Whittaker
- Position: Lecturer in Work and Employment Relations
- Areas of expertise: digital transformations of work; people analytics and algorithmic management; the relationships between technology, work, and society, with a particular focus on race and gender; labour process theory
- Email: X.Whittaker@leeds.ac.uk
- Location: G.46 Maurice Keyworth
- Website: ORCID
Profile
I am a Lecturer in Work and Employment Relations at the Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change (CERIC), University of Leeds, and a Research Associate at the ESRC-funded Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit). I am also an affiliate of the International Consortium for Research in Employment and Work (iCREW) at Monash University.
My research contributes to understanding how technological change and structural inequalities are reshaping work and employment relations. It is organised around two intersecting strands.
The first examines the digital transformation of work, analysing how processes such as digitalisation, automation, and AI are reconfiguring labour processes, organisational control, and employment relations. My doctoral research, an ethnographic study of newspaper journalism, was a labour process analysis of digitalisation in newsrooms and its effects on work organisation and employment. My current work extends this through research on algorithmic management and collaborations with trade unions on responses to AI and technological change.
The second strand focuses on gendered and racialised inequalities at work, examining the institutional and organisational processes that underpin stratification, working conditions, and the undervaluation of labour. My recent research has focused on early childhood education and care (ECEC), exploring the gendered devaluation of care work, the role of the state, and the dynamics of worker bargaining. This work has contributed to national policy debates on workforce reform, sustainability, and gender equality.
Across both areas, my work is underpinned by labour process theory and organisational ethnography, with a sustained focus on the social, political, and ethical implications of change for different groups of workers.
I have a strong commitment to building interdisciplinary and cross-sector research communities, including as a founder and chair of the Early Years Employment Research Hub, which connects academics, policymakers, and sector stakeholders. I have also convened international research networks, including the Digital Labour stream at the International Labour Process Conference, two CERIC/Digit Disrupting Technologies conferences and convening a BSA ECR regional forum on the digital transformation of work and employment in the professions.
With a background as a policy analyst, my research is strongly orientated towards impact. My work has informed policy and practice through extensive engagement activity, including contributions to major workforce reform reports for the Early Education and Care Coalition and research on digital automation and the future of work for the European Parliament.
My work appears in work and employment relations journals including WES and New Technology, Work and Employment, and am co-editor of Humans and Machines at Work, a highly cited collection on automation, surveillance, and technological change at work.
Academic Posts held:
2021 – Present: Lecturer in Work and Employment Relations
09/2020 – 01/2022 Research Associate: Impact and Dissemination lead (0.6FTE), Childcare during Covid-19 project, CERIC (Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation & Change), Leeds University Business School.
05/2019 – 01/2022 Post-doctoral researcher, CERIC (Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation & Change), Leeds University Business School.
2016 - 2019: Teaching Fellow in Human Resource Management, University of Leeds Business School.
2015 - 2016: Interviewer, Health working lives: a longitudinal study of early career clinicians expectations and experiences of work, employment and career in the NHS. School of Management, University of Leicester.
2014 - 2016: Associate Tutor, University of Leicester Business School
2013 - Present: University of Leicester Business School funded Doctoral Researcher
2009 - 2010: Research coordinator, x:talk project Human Rights Sex Work and the Challenge of Trafficking. European Commissions Daphne programme.
2008 - 2009: Researcher. ISET, London Metropolitan University. ESRC project Migrants in the UK Sex Industry.
Responsibilities
- Director, MSc Data Analytics and Human Resource Management
- CERIC Executive Group
Research interests
My research interests include digital transformations of work; AI and algorithmic management; gender and race inequalities at work; care work and social reproduction; labour process theory; and organisational ethnography.
I welcome applications from prospective PhD students in these areas.
Qualifications
- 2019 - PhD, University of Leicester (ULSM fully-funded studentship)
- 2016 - Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
- 2001 - BPPM Public Policy and Management (Hons), University of Melbourne
Professional memberships
- British Sociological Association (BSA)
- British Universities Industrial Relations Associations (BUIRA)
- Academic Member, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD)
Student education
I principally teach strategic HRM and people analytics but also cover modules in sociology of work, critical management studies and business ethics. I currently teach on the MSC Data Analytics and HRM programme.
In addition to my academic teaching, I have a background in critical pedagogy and have worked in teaching settings with marginalised groups, including Somali women refugees and migrant sex workers. I have a long-term commitment to working with students to create learning environments that are inclusive, enable participation and that recognise the role that learning plays, not just in the development of skills and employability, but in the wider context of democratic participation in civil society and in social change.
Current:
LUBS3185 People Analytics: Strategy and Practice
LUBS5342M People Analytics: Strategy and Practice
LUBS5322M Strategic Human Resource Management
Past:
LUBS0060 Introduction to HRM
LUBS1760 Business & Society (Organisation Theory)
LUBS3855 Strategic Human Resource Management
LUBS5330M Human Resources Management
LUBS5326M Digitalization, Automation and the Future of Work
LUBS5443M Change Management and Communications
LUBS5842M Strategic HRM and Talent Management
LUBS5320M Training & Development
LUBS5592M Research Methods and Practice for Consultants
Research groups and institutes
- Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change