Continuity and Change in Work and Employment

What we can learn from the past?

The recent special edition of Employee Relations provides a fascinating insight into the current HR landscape and its changing nature over the past 50 years whilst highlighting potential future challenges and opportunities for the HR profession.

This issue places the contemporary workplace within a historical context alongside contributions from academics and senior practitioners from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) support an academia and practical implementation.

As Paul Nowak (TUC) writes: “…Although the social, economic and industrial environment in which unions operate has changed out of recognition, in some respects the concerns and aspirations of the labour movement remain remarkably similar”. It is not only the aspirations of the trade unions that remain similar, however, as employers and HR professionals continue to aspire to create workplaces with engaged and satisfied employees to drive organisational success. The difference is the context in which these endeavours occur.