Changing Employment Relationships, Employment Contracts and the Future of Work, 1999-2002

The project was designed to identify changes in the employment relationship and contractual basis of employment over the 1980's and 1990's, and to examine their consequences for the future of work. The growth and distribution of numerical and functional flexibility, and their impact on employees and the self-employed, were examined. The project also explored changes in work expectations, organisational commitment and work pressure. Human resource practices and control regimes were examined alongside their impact upon work/family balance, work effort and levels of work strain. Contemporary accounts and explanations of the changing nature of work were assessed, in order to understand both continuity and discontinuity in employment relations. <br> <br> The project used a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methodology. The quantitative survey and related documentation formed the original deposit, and sixteen qualitative interviews and related schedules were added for the second edition of the study.