The Good Work Commission is a wide-ranging investigation into the UK workplace.
The key elements of better productivity and better engagement are not new, but surprisingly few companies are harnessing the real potential of their people by giving jobs a sense of purpose, and thus motivating employees to out-perform.
The aim of the Good Work Commission is to examine the major challenges of work in the 21st century and redefine the notion of good work – work that is rewarding for business, society and individuals.
What is Good Work?
Who is taking part in the Commission?
How does the Commission operate?
Why examine Good Work?
At a time of considerable upheaval in the global economy, the Commission’s purpose is to enable a broad-based, multi-perspective review of the core issues that impact working life. During difficult economic times, the point of view that “any work is good work” tends to hold sway for the very compelling reason that unemployment is damaging. Yet while understandable, this stance is also inadequate. As employers and as a society, we need to take a view on the kind of work that we aspire to create, sustain and defend.
Complex economic, moral and social issues are bound up in modern working life. Businesses’ social purpose, and how it performs for employees and society as well as shareholders, is increasingly centre-stage. The quality of work is strategically significant given the role of people in generating economic growth. And the task of raising levels of productivity in the UK, relative to our major competitors, remains an intractable challenge.
But at the same time the labour market is not like other types of market because it concerns people, and what happens at work affects well-being and social mobility. The working life of many people inevitably falls short of ideals. The Commission is thus exploring the nature of good work, and how more work can be created to fit its definition.