HRMWE Research Seminar – Dr Deborah Harrison
Date: Wednesday 29 January 2025 | Time: 15:00 to 16:30
Location: Frederick Douglass Centre, Room 1.18 and online via Teams
The HRMWE research group welcomes Dr Deborah Harrison from Newcastle University Business School.
She will present her work, entitled "Supporting Decent Work in UK Domiciliary Care: A Relational Approach."
About the speaker
Dr Deborah Harrison is an Alcan-funded Research Associate at Newcastle University Business School, specialising in the future of work. She has extensive experience in public sector research, policy, and service development, with expertise in employment systems, workforce sustainability, and social justice.
Research abstract
The UK social care workforce faces significant challenges including low pay, precarious work, recruitment and retention difficulties, and increasing demand for care. Competitive market pressures have led to fragmented and private sector-dominated delivery, creating downward pressure on wages and conditions. Policymakers focus on progression and skills yet fail to consider other aspects of work quality such as pay, work-life balance and wider working conditions (Crozier & Atkinson, 2024). Academics call for greater focus on social care employment systems, with identified research gaps including employee voice, HR and line management practices (Kessler et al., 2022).
This paper examines how local actors are responding to current recruitment and retention challenges in the domiciliary care sector. It draws on findings from an ongoing, qualitative case study analysis in north east England. Six case studies (3 provider and 3 commissioner) explore examples of institutional experimentation including voluntary Living Wage accreditation, not-for-profit employment models and commissioning and procurement innovation.
The discussion argues that wide-ranging economic and market pressures have generated a cycle of contraction in both the employment relationship and the worker-client relationship for domiciliary care workers, despite both acting as critical mediators in retention and wellbeing. Policymakers are urged to take a relational approach to understanding social care workforce issues, including greater focus on how they are shaped by wider system factors.