This article examines the impact of the 2008–9 recession on training activity in the UK. In international terms, the UK is assumed to have a deregulated training market which is sensitive to changing economic conditions. However, national datasets and qualitative interviews suggest that,...

Closing the productivity gap with other nations has become a mantra of public policy in the UK. Promoting participation in learning and training is seen as the principal means of narrowing the gap. While tracking episodes of training is relatively easy, it is not clear what is learnt, by whom...

It is frequently suggested that working at home will be the future of work for many people in the UK and that trends in this direction are already well underway. This paper examines these claims by analysing data from the Labour Force Survey which has, at various times, asked questions about the...

How have managers handled the industrial relations ramifications of information technology? There is a diversity of approaches within an overall framework of employee acceptance of the need for technological change. However, the introduction of ew technology is rarely handled strategically in...

Personnel specialists from both employers and unions should be given, or, if necessary, should seize influential roles in the planning and implementing stages of computerisation projects. The seven‐month “Pensions Strike” at the Department of Health and Social Security centre in Newcastle...

One of the major trip‐wires seen for the introduction of information technology into British industry was originally thought to be industrial relations, and in particular trade unions. However, if the potential of IT has not been realised, it owes more to constraints other than industrial...

In many organisations information systems are difficult to use and so underutilised that managers lose substantial productivity gains. Major problems stem from design processes based on an engineering paradigm; these are critically assessed. How to build the software interface through user...

The extent of the work‐station problem is reviewed and an attempt is made to separate myth from reality. The reported complaints are discussed and some likely causes are identified. It is argued that the problems are real and commonplace, but that they are preventable.