Fun, Freedom & Fulfilment at Work

First Steps Conference.....WEF Pitch at Future Foundations Sparkle Event (27th June 2007)

Work Empowerment Foundation Pitches at Sparkle Network Event

The foundation had the pleasure of doing its first pitch at a Sparkle Networking Event run by our partners, Future Foundations, for the "First Steps!" graduate event (click here to see the post giving an overview for the event).

What is the Sparkle Network?

The Sparkle Network is a group of twenty and thirty somethings which meets on a monthly basis in London to support each other at the start of their careers. I have attended two Sparkle Events so far and have enjoyed them tremendously...typically the events consist of:

• Free form networking
• Sparkle Pitch 1 - here a small business "pitches" to the Sparkle Network for no more than 5 minutes and asks for help on certain aspects of their business from the network members...with 10 minutes of questions and answers
• Speed Networking - here you have the opportunity to meet with up to 9 other Sparkle Network members for 2-3 minutes and explore how you can help each other
• Sparkle Pitch 2 - another small business pitches to the Sparkle Network
• Free form networking

What did the Work Empowerment Foundation Pitch?

Here is a summary of my Sparkle Pitch:

"Message from Hina Patel of Work Empowerment Foundation…

“It was great to meet you at the last Sparkle event…I really enjoyed your enthusiasm in response to my Sparkle pitch on behalf of the Work Empowerment Foundation (www.WorkEmpowermentFoundation.org)  – a non-profit social enterprise seeking to help people create fun, freedom and fulfilment at work through a variety of services (online portal, social conferences, projects, consultancy etc)

As a summary, my pitch covered a social conference planned to run in November 2007 that the Work Empowerment Foundation is developing with Future Foundations. This social conference will explore the key issues that graduates are facing in the current job market…read my Blog for more information.

We want to involve both students and graduates in the development of this social conference – we are planning to pitch this to potential sponsors as an event “Created by Graduates for Graduates”.

We are looking for ways to create an active and passionate steering group of students & graduates who will work with us to (taking into account the summer vacation) to help us to achieve this.

If you are interested in participating in the steering group or have ideas to suggest on how we can create this to an impactful event, then please contact myself (Hina@WorkEmpowermentFoundation.org – mobile 0771 713 2026) or Jack Butler.”

Key Input From Sparkle Network

• People don't generally know what social conferences are...this needs to be described more clearly and concisely so that people get how they are different from conventional events
• Include student bodies in the event development (NUS, Welsh UMCA)
• Get a clear idea of what the issues that each of the stakeholder groups are facing by holding a series of focus groups as part of the event development - this will give the opportunity for the key issues to be aired so that the most appropriate people / organisations can be invited to the social conference. Also keeping the groups separately initially in the focus group phase will ensure that people are really free to speak openly about the issues that are being faced
• Use the results of the focus groups name what is really going on out there from different perspectives...this will support the development a social conference proposition that is cutting edge and addressing what really matters...this is the key USP of the event and will attract the people who are interested in actively meeting the issues face on as opposed to just having a nice discussion

Posted by: Hina Patel

First Steps Conference....Networking Dinner # 1 (20th June 2007)

Thoughts from the first "First Steps!" networking dinner

We are now in the process of developing the proposition for the graduate event which is being run in partnership with Future Foundations (click here to see the post giving an overview for the event) in November 2007.

To kick-off this development and to support the ongoing research we hosted a networking dinner with:

• Mark Faulkner - University of East London Employability Team
• Mark Winlow - LECG - employer perspective
• Keith Williams - Energize Solutions - partner for development of our Peer Mentoring Graduate Employability Programme
• Ian Nixey - Work Empowerment Foundation consultancy
• John Harper - MD SIFE UK
• Hina Patel - Work Empowerment Foundation
• Jack Butler - Future Foundations

What we explored

• Skills gap
• Graduate market
• Generation Y

The thoughts that were expressed in the dinner

Graduate Market

• Diversity tick boxes creating false expectations - it seems that some employers come to recruiting events at universities that they have no particular interest in recruiting from just to tick company boxes (to prove that they are seeking to improve the diversity of their organisation)
• Student pre selection at employer presentations - UEL have come up with good way to create a better match between employers who come to their campus and the students who meet with them - the employability department actively preselects students who have a good fit with the requirements of employers by getting students to apply to attend the events. This process has has started to change the perception that employers have of UEL students and has improved UEL's graduate recruitment success rate
• Universities need to play a more active role in the graduate job market - employers feel that universities need to provide more of a "market handshake" - they need to operate more as an intermediary to match up employers with their students / graduates
• More visibility of the graduate market is required - many employers and students are operating in the dark - we need to have a better understanding of the market (numbers that industries & employers are employing, the number of graduates available on the market and their skills, salaries that available & expected salary progression etc) so that both employers and graduates can make better decisions - this will facilitate a "market handshake" (see point above)
• UK PLC - the concept of the corporate niche in the UK was introduced - this group has been looking at why the UK is falling behind in the global  competitive landscape. How can UK PLC utilise the current graduate pool differently in order to improve their productivity?
• Employer uniqueness - just as all students are different, all employers are different as well - the recruitment process needs to allow for uniqueness on both sides. Different employers are looking for different things. Graduates need to be more aware of the uniqueness of the employers that they are applying to
• University students need to prepare early - the group felt that university students generally left it too late to be preparing themselves for employment - ideally this preparation should start pre-university
• Unrealistic expectations - some graduates in the current market believe that they should be leading projects from day one on the job - there seems to be a lack of an "apprentice" mentality - often graduates expect to be promoted four to six months after they start their first job
• "Walking into jobs" - many students believe that having a degree will allow them to just walk into a job - this has resulted in lack of preparation for work market
• Jobs have not changed - there are more and more graduates on the market but fundamentally the number and types of jobs available have not changed that much 
• Graduates are spreading bets too much - it seems that graduates do not trust the advice given that it is better to apply for fewer jobs and research / prepare well rather than playing the numbers game by making many applications across many industries and functions - this strategy results in the candidate coming across as ill prepared - candidates need to know who the employer is and the employer wants before applying - they need to make their applications more specific and be able to communicate this during the interview process
• Use of "MBA books" - most MBA schools provide a book of profiles for their MBA students - this allows employers to choose students that they want to approach. How could this concept be used with standard university students?
• Raised bars - some graduate employers are resorting to raising the bar by looking at grades achieved at the GCSE level in order to limit the applications that they receive. Typically large employers will set up "barriers" in terms of qualification levels etc to make application numbers more manageable - once candidates have passed these barriers they will need to further prove that they have the capabilities (range of skills etc) that the employer is looking for - just passing through the advertised "barriers" is not enough
• Lack of ability of graduates to sell themselves - graduates need to be more proactive in showing that they have a clear fit with what the employer is looking for. Many of the graduates on the market are lacking the ability to sell themselves - their CVs tend to lack transferable skills - they take the skills that they have for granted and do not promote them - when interacting with the employers they fail to realise that they are selling themselves as a "product"
• Getting into the "wrong" job - a Gallup poll has shown that 8 out of 10 employees feel that they are in the wrong job (a job that does not make the best use of their strengths) - only 17% of the working population is actively engaged with their work - it seems that Britain as an institution has created a job market where people end up in the wrong job. In the USA productivity is considerably better because employees can be fired easily with just 2 weeks of pay - this motivates employees to look for jobs where they are able to perform well - additionally as a constitution, Americans believe that they have the right to be happy and motivated to look for work that makes them happy
• Students need more support in making career decisions - universities should be a "non-attached" adviser - they need to take students though a path so that students are able to make choices about the jobs that are the best suited to them - students need to understand more clearly what they are good at and then be given the skills to seek for jobs that fit both their aspirations and what they are good at
• What are "graduate jobs"? - graduates should not just be looking for jobs that are labeled "graduate jobs" - there are many jobs on the market that will provide graduates a good first step in their careers

Skills Gap

• Technical skills are not enough - students and graduates in technical subjects cannot expect that their technical skills will be enough to gain technical employment...the need for basic business skills is becoming more and more important, and more and more employers are looking for this. How much are existing university curriculums catering for this? Furthermore, many current "techie" students and graduates still believe that they don't need to have a high level of social skills as they are wanting to enter a technical profession. How can students and graduates be made to realise that they NEED to have social and business skills to be success in the current market?
• "X Factor" skills - The X Factor show is full of people who really believe that they are good at something, however in many cases this does not stand up in front of an audience. This concept also applies to graduates - how can graduates really determine that they are good at something rather than how they perceive themselves to be?
• Jobs are more than a degree? - most jobs require a specific skills set rather than a specific degree - if graduates want to be successful, they need to prove that they have the skills portfolio that the employer is looking for
• Proof of skills - if an employer is looking for "strong team skills", saying you are a "strong team player" on your resume is clearly not enough - but what is enough to prove to the employer that you may have the skills set that they are looking for?
• Where "more character than qualifications" is required by employers - many of the jobs that are available on the market that are suitable for graduates require people who are more than a set of qualifications - how can graduates show that they have the "character" employers are looking for?
• Employers are reluctant to train - employers do not want to invest in graduates schemes - this is because graduates are now moving moving so quickly that the employers feel that they would be "training people for someone else". Furthermore, employers now expect candidates to have the skills that they previously trained their employed graduates for
• Is the skills shortage really a "lack of ability to find the skills"? - employers need to more specific about the skills that they are looking - the skills that are specified need to more differentiated - it seems that employers don't know how to specify and look for skills - employers need to do more tests to look for the skills that they want rather than just rely on CV and interviews
• Ambiguity of skills requirements - it seems that some employers prefer to stay general in their specifications of the skills that they require even though they know what they are specifically looking for - they want the applicants to share their, for example, experience of "strong team skills" so that they can ascertain themselves from the answers that the candidate give if he is a good match for what is required
• More soft skills are required - generally there is a growing need in the work market for "change" skills - this is because the competitive landscape is moving so fast that companies need to be more adept at change - many employers are actually looking for "change" skills but are not able to make this explicit
• It is not just about skills - motivation and the ability to demonstrate it is also a key factor that employers are looking for
• University students are missing basic English and maths - due to the increased diversity in universities many students are missing the basic levels of English and maths that employers are looking for
• Pulling out skills - graduates need to be shown how to draw out the full breath of employable skills that they have from their life and work experiences - otherwise they will just have their qualifications to promote themselves

Generation Y

• Graduates want freedom - many students do not want to work for anybody else - they want to set up their own business so that they are not treated like a "cog in a wheel" - they want to be free and not a slave to anyone
• Not looking past the first "rung" - this generation of students are typically only seeing as far as their first job - they are not looking at what they will be doing next - this need to look forward is becoming more and more important because we no longer have the situation where we have "jobs for life"
• Employers need to demonstrate opportunities more fully - employers need to be able to communicate more effectively to candidates the further opportunities that will be available to them if they take the positions offered to them - this will will appeal to generation Y who are looking for opportunities to gain a large skills portfolio rather than a specific career
• Graduates want to contribute to the social good - many students and graduates now have more of a social consciousness and are looking for organisations that are making a positive social difference in the world
• Graduates are more diverse now - it seems that many potential employers are not ready for handling and taking advantage of the diversity available from the current graduate pool
• Affluence - students are still living under the affluence of their parents and do not need to just rely on themselves and their jobs to have a good lifestyle
• Life is less predictable - in the past everything was more predicable and straightforward - life now is no longer like this - we no longer have the option of predictable career paths - there is more need now for people to actively plan their lives

Future First Steps Networking Events

We are planning to host more networking dinners and focus groups to explore the issues that could be covered by the social conference. Click here to read about other networking events.

Posted by: Hina Patel

"Graduate Skills Gap" Research Strand

Graduate Skills Gap - Research Basis

Introduction

This post details the starting basis for the research of the graduate skills gap in the UK. We have developed this research design basis by interviewing our partner on this project, Jack Butler from Future Foundations, to identify the key issues that are influencing the graduate skills gap.

Please note that we will be updating this post on an on-going basis as the research progresses.

What are the skills involved in the the graduate skills gap?

There seem to be four types of skills that graduates are expected to have to land their first jobs...the definitions of these will be clarified as we progress the research:

1. Technical skills - these are industry specific skills that students are trained for in their university course. These skills are fundamental to performing the job role (e.g. engineering, law, chemistry etc).
2. Soft skills - these are general people skills, leadership skills etc
3. Working world skills - these are skills related to actually doing work (e.g. writing a report) and work ethos (e.g. time keeping, dress, being reliable, having integrity)
4. Prior work experience skills (not sure if this is a skill but will keep it here in the list) - these are skills that are available as a result of working in previous suitable jobs

Skills Gap Issues - Generally it seems that there is "too much issue raising and not enough action" in the area of graduate skills gap.

To look up - NESTA have recently commissioned Demos to look at the top 10 skills that employers need and what the gaps are.

How does the skills gap look from the employer side?

Role of employer expectations

The vast majority of the media concerning the graduate skills gap comes from the perspective of the employer. Many of the employer bodies (CBI, IOD etc) have been complaining that they feel that the government has let them down because they do not have access to the kind of graduate work force that they desire.

Technical skills - many industries (eg IT, construction, engineering) are saying that there is a shortage of suitably trained graduates on the market that they can employ to meet their manpower capacity requirements. What could be the causes of this?

• Not enough students studying the subject in the first place...the student capacity is less than than the required industry capacity for graduates...the industry may not be considered attractive enough by potential students...or students are not aware of the potential of careers in this industry.
• Not enough trained students going on the work in the industry that they have trained for...it could be that these trained students have a large choice available to them in terms of potential jobs. These students may prefer to not enter the industry that they have been trained for because they do not find it attractive enough compared to other options.
• Graduates not specialised enough in specific areas...for example in IT it could be there is a shortage of specific programming skills even though there are more than enough IT graduates.
• Trained students lacking other skills that make their training unusable...it could be that the some of the trained students on the market have such low levels of soft skills, working world skills and work experience that they are considered unemployable by the industry that they have trained for (see below section on soft skills & working world skills).

Soft skills & Working World skills - many of the graduate employers are complaining that they cannot fill their graduate positions because the caliber of the graduates with respect to the softer skills and working world skills is not satisfactory at all. What has this been caused by?

• Students prioritising study over social activities - as the number of graduates available on the market has increased, there has been considerable pressure on students to concentrate more on their academic studies so that they improve their academic ranking in the graduate pool. This has resulted in students having less time to participate in social activities that build these kind of skills.
• Working world skills are not specifically taught - some students are not even aware that they need to be developing these skills because they are not taught specifically...and even if they are aware of what was required, how would they go about developing these skills unsupported?
• Employers are no longer recruiting for attitude and training for skills - in the past when the available graduate pool was a lot smaller, employers recruited for attitude and then trained for working skills. It seems now that perhaps graduate employers are less prepared to train graduates that they employ for these skills...they expect prospective graduates to have them already.
• Employers are not specific about the skills that they are looking for - employers need to more specific about the level and range of soft skills and working world skills that they expect from their graduates...this would then give the graduates a benchmark to aspire to. At the moment most employers say they want team players and a work ethos etc...but they are not specific as to what to what they are actually looking for. This is very much like having a performance assessment for a job based on criteria that have never have been articulated...leaving both parties dis-empowered as they are both unsure about what is needed to count as a good performance.

Work Experience skills - work experience skills are good for both parties...employers get to see examples of how graduates have performed in actual work places...graduates get to see if they really want to work in that particular industry, lowering turnover when they are employed for real.

However, in order to receive graduates with work experience skills, employers need to be prepared to "contribute to the pot" of student work experience by actually providing student work experience positions...work experience does not appear from thin air!

An idea - Many students need to work at university in order to support themselves...with the majority of them are taking minimum wage jobs to achieve this. Employers could take advantage of this trend by providing a range of jobs through the year at minimum wage in their organisation where students can gain suitable work experience - creating a win-win for themselves and for students.

How does the skills gap look from the graduate side?

The numbers game...not in the favour of graduates

From the graduate side, the issues caused by the skills gap could seem unsurmountable. There are more and more competing graduates on the market and yet employers are complaining that they cannot fill the graduate places that they have because the caliber of graduates on the market is not good enough. Graduates are finding it increasingly difficult to secure graduate positions and are being forced to take sub-graduate jobs that they could have obtained without a degree. Clearly this is not a sustainable position if the government requires to continue to grow the graduate pipeline.

Role of graduate expectations

The exploration of graduate expectations is relatively underplayed by the media who prefer to concentrate on the expectations of graduate employers. So what is the nature of graduate expectations?

• They expect to get a "graduate" job after graduating - here graduates could be contributing to their own problems because they are not willing to explore jobs that have graduate potential but are not classed as "graduate" jobs. There is a role for graduates to go into the market and look for jobs that suit them and then negotiate with the employer to create graduate potential in it.
• Graduates do not think beyond a "job" - graduates would do much better if they looked from a perspective of creating a career that suits them and then looking for work that would get them started on that career path. By taking the perspective of looking for a "job", graduates are tending to spread themselves by going a wide range of jobs...and they then come across as ill-prepared as they have not researched all the prospective markets well because of the "any job will do" attitude.
• Graduates tend to believe that doing well in their degree is enough - often graduates discover too late that they have a significant skills gap that they need to bridge in order to get the jobs that they desire.
• Variations in graduate expectations:
  • How do graduate expectations change regionally? What do they expect potential jobs will look like?
  • What do graduates think that they are worth? Is the market able to match this? Is it reasonable?
  • What are the differences in expectations between say an economics graduate and an English graduate

Technical skills

• How aware are students about the range of jobs that are actually available on the marketplace when they are selecting their university courses?
• Would they have made a different selection if they know what skills that the employers are actually looking for?
• How are students currently educated about the skills need of employers on the marketplace?
• Are there too many graduates going for industry niches that seem "sexy"?

Soft skills & Working World Skills

• Do students really understand the importance of these skills in the current graduate job market?
• How can they start developing these skill pro-actively if their university does not offer them?
• What role can graduates play in forcing potential employers to be clear about the soft skills and the working world skills that they as employers are looking for?

Work Experience Skills

• Work experience is essential...what can students do to ensure that they get the right sort?
• What role can students play in finding work experience jobs with employers that they like instead of taking low paid jobs (e.g, cleaning, factory work etc) that do not provide suitable work experience?

Understanding the Graduate Skills Gap - Research Results

Summary of research required:

• NESTA / Demos report on skills required by employers
• What industries has short-fall of graduates? What is the reason why?
• What percentage of graduates do not end up working for the industry that they have trained for? Why?
• Just how important are soft skills and working world skills to the graduate employer of today?
• How well do employers articulate the level and range of soft skills and working world skills that they require for their graduate positions?
• What is the general employer philosophy towards student work experience?
• Survey - what are the key concerns that graduates / students have about the graduate market?
• Survey - how do graduate expectations change by discipline and by region?
• Survey - how aware are students / graduates about the actual manpower requirements of the economy?

Research results - list of the posts detailing research results

This list will be updated on an ongoing basis as the research phase commences.

Posted by: Hina Patel

"Generation Y" Research Strand

Generation Y - Research Basis

What is Generation Y?

The current group of graduates entering the market at the moment have been classified as "Generation Y"...who is this new generation?

Definition of Generation Y: TBD....we will be updating this definition as we progress with our research on Generation Y.

This post details the starting basis for the research of Generation Y. We have developed this research design basis by interviewing our partner on this project, Jack Butler from Future Foundations, to identify the key Generation Y issues.

Key issues pertaining to Generation Y

Education on Generation Y

Generation Y is not at all well understood by the work market and the general public....there is a need to provide some education of what is Generation Y and the implications of Generation Y to society and the workplace.

Generation Y does not understand itself

Generation Y is the silent revolution born from technology, economic and social factors...it is an emergent generation that still has to acknowledge to itself what it is. Starting points for research:

• Book "Generation Why?"
• Australian website for Generation Y
• Orange and Demos report on Generation Y

CPA phenomena

CPA...Continuous Partial Attention...Generation Y has grown up with technology and are using it in a way that is unprecedented in the current work market. How can the work market maximise the opportunities made available by CPA. This issue was covered well in Channel 4 conference on 10th May 2007 looking at informal learning for young people.

Ambitious and Restless

Generation Y have a very high sense of ambition. They want early responsibility and they want to make a difference..."they are driven to make a difference". They want to work for organisations that are making...this is driving an increased interest in the third sector.

Boomerang Children

Financial concerns are causing more and more graduates to return back home after they graduate. Graduates need to look for jobs from home if they have not been successful in finding a job whilst at university. This group of graduates are so focused on finding a job that most of them do not have robust career plans. It will be interesting to explore in the research how this situation fits in with Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Generation of Career Breaks

Generation Y is the generation of career breaks...

• Why are career breaks taken?
• How many graduates are taking career breaks?
• What happens after a career break?

Understanding the Generation Y- Research Results

Summary of research required:

• What do employers and general public understand about Generation Y
• Continuous Partial Attention phenomena
• What kind of work are Generation Y demanding from the market
• What do Generation Y know about themselves
• Career breaks (why, how many, what afterwords)

Research results - list of the posts detailing research results

This list will be updated on an ongoing basis as the research phase commences:

• First Steps conference - research background
• Generation Y research strand
• Generalisations & Generation Y
• Generation Y articles used for research
• Gen Y1 - role of Generation Y parents
• Gen Y2 - role of technology
• Gen Y3 - other factors influencing Generation Y & the Generation Y divide
• Gen Y4 -Generation Y characteristics and values in life
• Gen Y5 - the marketing view of Generation Y
• Gen Y at work 1 - characteristics and values at work
• Gen Y at work 2 - Generation Y and intergenerational conflict
• Gen Y at work 3 - Generation Y - vision, good work, work ethics, work-life balance
• Gen Y at work 4 - how employing Generation Y will benefit business
• Gen Y at work 5 - how to manage Generation Y
• Gen Y at work 6 - Generation Y and career
• Gen Y at work 7 - recruiting Generation Y

Posted by: Hina Patel

"Graduate Market" Research Strand

The Graduate Market - Research Basis

The graduate market is made up of the:

• The suppliers - graduates & universities
• The customers - organisations

This section of the research will look at the structural factors that are impacting on each side of of the graduate market. The more softer issues will be covered in the following posts:

• Generation Y - how the characteristics of the graduates are changing
• New Organisations - how the characteristics of organisations are changing (link to be provided later)

This post details the starting basis for the research of the graduate market. We have developed this research design basis by interviewing our partner on this project, Jack Butler from Future Foundations, to identify the key issues pertaining to the graduate market and then using a bit of common sense structure the research work.

Research Results - This post will be updated on a regular basis (see last section of this post) with links to other posts that we have made that are related to the Graduate Market.

The Suppliers - The Graduate Side of the Market

Graduate Numbers

The number of graduates entering the market has increased significantly as a result of a government policy decision to increase graduate numbers. What are the implications of this on the graduate market?

• More diversity is now available - in the past university students were mainly from a white middle class background (need to check out this assumption)...now there are more university students from a working class background covering a diversity of cultures. This should support employers to create greater diversity at tops of their organisations.
• A wider range of abilities is now available - typically in the past only the top students of the class attended university, now a large proportion of the class is expected to attend university. This means that a wider range of abilities and skills is now available in the graduate pool. It also means that the previously assumed "high classroom intelligence" is no longer a norm in the graduate market.
• Degrees are the "norm" - having a degree now is no longer a premium on the market. Many graduates are attempting to differentiate themselves on the market by spending more time studying to achieve high grades - however in this pursuit they are letting lapse the more social aspects of university life that build team working and other people skills.
• Increased financial burden - most students need to take out loans to pay for their university education. This financial burden can limit options - students try to minimise costs by studying from home (limiting the universities that they can take attend) and working part time (reducing the time that they have to study and to enjoy student life). After they graduate, they are then under pressure to bring in money as soon as possible to cover their debts. This has resulted in graduates taking the first job that they find - often these jobs will mostly be sub-graduate jobs (jobs that do not require a degree) or other jobs that may not give them the best start to their careers.

How is the current system working? Looking at Graduate Rates

How can we understand how well the graduate side of the market is working - what are the key numbers that we need to understand?

• Drop out rates - how many of the students entering university are actually finishing?
• Retention rates - how many graduates go onto further study instead of entering the job market?
• Sub graduate job rates - how many graduates are entering sub graduate jobs when they leave university?
• Graduate job rates - how many graduates are successful in obtaining graduate jobs?

The Role of the University in Marketing of Graduates

• What is the role of the university in helping their graduates to find suitable employers and jobs?
• How has the roles of the university changed as a result of increased of student numbers and a more challenging graduate job market?
• Which universities and regions are more successful than others?
• What is the potential for student empowerment in universities?
• What is the role of the university in working with industry sectors to attract students into industries with manpower shortages?

The Role of Graduates in Marketing Themselves

The increased competition in the market has resulted in more graduates "hedging their bets":

• Graduates go for many options (job, masters, law school etc) and then they take the first one that comes up...letting the market dictate their career choices
• Graduates go for many markets and dissipate their energy by spreading themselves thin - this results in them coming across the potential employers as not very knowledgeable about the sectors that they are applying for
• Graduates look for "jobs" rather than for "careers" - this can result in graduates making choices that are not good for their career in the long term

Typically, graduates are not selecting and targeting niches that best suite their strengths and aspirations. As an analogy, businesses that do not select and target their customer niches well tend have mediocre or sub-mediocre business performances.

Other Non-UK Graduates Entering the Market

The UK market is currently very attractive to high quality graduates from the European mainland - for example London is now the 7th largest French city. There seems to be opportunities in the UK market that the rest of Europe cannot offer - what are these opportunities?

The Customers - The Employer Side of the Market

Graduate Numbers & Diversity

The employer market does not seem prepared for the availability of a large pool of graduates that is more diverse in terms of culture, abilities and skills. What are the possible implications of this?

• There are new potential employers who do not know how to recruit and work with graduates - employers who previously did not recruit graduates now have that option available to them. However, working with new graduates is a challenge that can be difficult to meet if you have not worked with them before.
• Employers not prepared to train graduates so other employers can have them - it seems that graduates are considerably more employable once they have completed a graduate programmes with another employer. This has resulted in some graduate employers dropping their graduate programmes(eg Vodaphone and Orange).
• Existing graduate employers not used to the new diversity of graduates - the diversity and the mix of graduates available on the market is increasing, however many existing graduate employers may still be recruiting on the basis of the old graduate pool. This means that that employers maybe making graduate employment decisions that are not realistic for the current graduate pool. Additionally, the existing graduate programmes may no longer be well suited to this new pool of graduates.
• Employers try to handle the volume by raising the academic bar- employers could be trying to cut down the volume of applications that they receive by increasing their criteria (typically academic levels) to well above that required by the graduate jobs that they are offering. This results in the employers all going for the same niche of graduates for vastly different jobs that could be more suited to more practical graduates.
• Employers are not fully exploring the possibilities that are available with this new pool of graduates for meeting their manpower needs - many employers have not looked at how they can exploit this large graduate pool fully in their organisation. There are many jobs in organisations that can be done by new graduates that would both benefit the graduate and the organisation. Employers are missing out on good, cheap highly motivated young people who could make a significant difference to the performance of their organisation because they are not thinking beyond standard graduate positions.
• Graduates are missing out on career opportunities because some employers are not willing to take new graduates - many growing sectors such as the third sector, creative economy, and media are only willing to take on graduates who have several years work experience in related fields - this situation would also apply to some rapidly growing SMEs. This situation creates significant issues in the graduate pool because many graduates specifically want work in these target markets and they are struggling to get the right work experience so that they will be eligible for the positions later on in their careers.

How the sectors have been changing

The landscape of the industry sectors has changed considerably over the last decade due to globalisation, technology and other factors:

• What new sectors have been emerging?
• What existing sectors are in growth?
• What existing sectors are in decline?
• What existing sectors have changed their roles?

How has this impacted on the ability of the sectors to recruit the manpower that they require:

• Undersupply - which sectors are struggling to find graduates? What are the reasons for this struggle?
• Oversupply - which sectors are inundated with graduate applications?

Understanding the Graduate Market - Research Results

Summary of research required:

• Government policy around university education
• Growth of the graduate market
• Diversity of the graduate market
• Effective ways of creating differentiation on the graduate market
• Typical student debts
• Graduate rates (drop out, retention, sub graduate jobs, graduate jobs...by region & university)
• University - role of career and employability departments
• Graduate employment strategies
• Who are the employers new to graduate recruitment
• Employer graduate programme trends (retention rates etc)
• Third sector, creative economy, media - how do they view new graduate employment?
• How has the landscape of sectors (as defined by the sector skills councils) changed over the last five years
• How are the sectors getting on with recruiting the graduates that they require?

Research results - list of the posts detailing research results

This list will be updated on an ongoing basis as the research phase commences.

Posted by: Hina Patel

Graduate Conference "First Steps" - Introduction to the Research

Introduction to the graduate "First Steps" conference

Our Partner - Future Foundations

The Work Empowerment Foundation has partnered with Future Foundations to create the foundation's first conference event empowering a specific niche of working people. Future Foundations are...

.....pioneers in training and support services for graduates, students, school-leavers, and pupils to help prepare them for the real world and the transitions within education.

Why graduates?

Graduate skills shortage has become a prominent employment issue in the past years...the number of graduates on the market has been increasing at unprecedented rates, yet employers are still complaining that they are not able the recruit the kind of graduates that they need. Graduates are having significant difficulties in getting their first employment...and employers are having significant difficulties in recruiting graduates.

Out of the two groups, the graduates are the ones with most immediate need...and they are very open and eager to empower themselves NOW. They do not want to wait for years whilst larger structural changes take place - they are willing to work with the market situation as it is NOW to find jobs and other opportunities that that will enable them to take their FIRST STEPS in starting successful careers.

How the graduates fit with Work Empowerment Foundation

A key role of the Work Empowerment Foundation is to facilitate empowerment of working people. We do this by working with niches who are willing to do what it takes to empower themselves NOW in order to improve their working situation...the niche for graduates fit this criteria.

Furthermore, as a foundation we intend to provide opportunities for graduates to gain experience and leadership skills by providing volunteer work and part time work to support us deliver of our services, conferences and projects. The aim of this is to enable graduates to gain the work experience that they require to demonstrate their employability and fit with their target organisations.

Why a conference?

The foundation is launching the empowerment of graduates with the FIRST STEPS conference. This conference is planned to take place in November 2007. The social conference format provides the ideal forum to bring together the key stakeholders to start the self empowerment of graduates by:

• Discussing the key issues from an empowerment perspective
• Exploring how graduates can empower themselves in different contexts
• Exploring the potential collaborations that can made to create win-win results for graduates, universities and employers
• Giving feedback on some of the empowerment tools that have been developed by the foundation to be run by graduates for graduates (graduate peer mentoring employability programme; graduate empowerment events; on line empowerment communities)
• Joining working groups to carry on the conversations that have started in the conference

Graduate conference research

Issues to be researched

Our research for the conference will concentrate on the following strands:

1. Graduate Market - How the market looks from the graduate side (suppliers) and the employer side (customers)
2. Generation Y - How the characteristics of the graduates are changing
3. New Organisations (link to be provided later) - How the characteristics of organisations are changing
4. Graduate Skills Gap - What exactly is the skills gap and what are the key drivers of the gap
5. Current Graduate Empowerment Landscape (link to be provided later) - What are the other empowerment initiatives that are available for graduates and who are the key players in the graduate market

Graduate Empowerment Tools developed by the foundation

We will also doing research for the three tools that the foundation itself is developing to empower graduates - these will be demonstrated at the conference:

• Graduate Empowerment Events (link with more details will be provided later)

Work Empowerment Foundation will be working with Future Foundations to develop a Graduate Empowerment Event that will be run every 1 - 2 months depending on time of year. We plan to facilitate a team of graduates to run this event for other graduates.

• Graduate Employability Programme (link with more details will be provided later)

Work Empowerment Foundation is working with Energize Solutions to develop a peer mentoring programme to help students to develop employability skills through mentoring delivered by graduates who have been working 1 - 2 years. The students will be able to demonstrate that they have employability skills by running a community project that covers the three sectors (public sector, private sector and the third sector).

• On line Graduate Employability Communities (link with more details will be provided later)

Work Empowerment Foundation will be including graduate topics on its Empowerment Website service. These topics will be moderated by groups of students volunteers. The foundation will be partnering with Future Foundations to design and develop these communities.

Posted by: Hina Patel

Summary....Happiness Conference Research

"Happy Days" Conference Research Summary

This post summarises the research that the foundation has done for its happiness & wellbeing event. Please note that we will be adding to this post as we progress in the conference development. This aim of this post is to pull together the key themes and related posts in a way which makes the the whole happiness & wellbeing arena easy to understand.

The research will be summarised into four areas:

1. Overall perspective of happiness and wellbeing
2. Happiness and wellbeing of family & young people
3. Happiness and wellbeing at work
4. Politics of happiness & wellbeing

1. Overall Perspective of Happiness and Wellbeing

An overview of happiness

The website supporting Mark Easton's BBC 6 part series "The Happiness Formula" that was screened in 2006 provides a good overview of happiness. The articles that were written to support the airing of the programme in May / June 2006 provide a synopsis of the key issues associated with happiness by exploring the journey to lasting happiness. [Post "Mark Easton - The Happiness Formula" ].

What the science of happiness is telling us

During my research, I was extremely surprised by the amount of work that had been done in this area...it seems that happiness and achieving happiness is becoming more important to us as a worldwide society. In the following series of posts, I have tried to make sense of what I have found:

• What is happiness and wellbeing? Happiness is created by a variety of factors and that typically we need to have them all in our lives. This was determined by finding people who are happy and determining what kinds of lives that they were living that were creating that happiness. To be happy we need to create lives that balance - and the level of balance is dependent on the individual (their preferences, needs and desires) i.e. one size does not fit all. [Post "Happiness & Wellbeing - Key Facts"]
• How do we measure happiness? The one sure thing in the happiness of science is that we know if we are feeling happy or not (this is the measurement of "subjective" happiness). However, it also seems that there can be a big difference between what we are feeling moment to moment and the overall satisfaction the we feel in our lives. [Post "Measuring Happiness & Positive Psychology].
• How can we make ourselves happy? Research has shown us what kinds of factors that we need to have in our lives to make us happy by looking at happy people. However, research also suggests that those of us who are unhappy are not very effective at making ourselves happy. Most of this lack of effectiveness comes from pursuing happiness as a goal - this results in us having a lot of wrong strategies about what makes us happy [Posts "Do We Know What Makes Us Happy?" & "Daniel Gilbert - Stumbling on Happiness"]. It seems that there is some need to educate people as how to create balanced lives for themselves.
• How can we use the happiness studies to make us happier at the governmental level? Now that we have all this research about what makes us happy - the challenge for governments is to determine how best to use public resources to create environments that empower us to be happy. The UK government has created a group (Whitehall Wellbeing Working Group) to oversee the development of a wellbeing index (as part of the defra sustainability agenda) and to determine how to apply happiness and wellbeing research to policy development.
• How can we use the happiness studies to make us happier at the individual level? We are the source to our own happiness - it is up to us to create balanced lives that make us feel fulfilled, satisfied and happy. Even if the government was extremely successful in creating an economy and living environments that fully support our ability to be happy, only we can make ourselves happy - and it appears that we are currently not very effective at doing this. Positive Psychology has been born from this gap - it is a science dedicated to taking happiness research and creating tools and resources from them that people can use to make themselves happier. [Post "The Basics of Positive Psychology?" ]. Also positive psychologists are also not adverse to advising governments how to create policies that make people happier.

How happy are we?

So just how happy is the UK?  This varies according to where we look:

• We are not okay - levels of mental depression - according to Oliver James in Affluenza Anglo-Saxon cultures (English speaking) are suffering from a middle-class virus called "Affluenza" which causes depression, anxiety and addiction. Anglo-Saxon countries (eg. USA and UK) have twice the amount of mental depression than non-English speaking cultures (eg. Denmark) - the raised depression level is attributed to having a culture that is excessively focused on work, consumerism and money.
• We are okay - work happiness surveys - the majority of the work based surveys looking at happiness (based on "subjective happiness" which are self-reported happiness levels) say that we are generally happy at work. [Post "Work Surveys" ].
• We are not okay - the unicef report - this report  has put the UK at the bottom of 21 developed countries in terms of the wellbeing and happiness of its children. The UK is reported as being a "dog-eat-dog" culture that is not very kind to each other. [Post "What can we learn from the Unicef report"].
• We are not okay - the politics of wellbeing - the sense of urgency around wellbeing in politics seems to be increasing. [Post "The issues from cif politics of well-being debate", "Well-being working groups", "Conservative party & well-being", "Happiness, well-being and the government" ]. 
• We are okay - world map of happiness - this projection of global happiness shows us to be 41 out of 178 countries. [Post "Adrian White - World Map of Happiness" ].
• We could be okay and not know it - happiness experiments - a personal happiness experiment run by Adam Gee where he reported 3 things that made him happy at the end of each day run made him realise how lucky and happy his life was. This kind of exercise is typical of those used in the application of positive psychology. [Post "Adam Gee - Happiness Project" ].
• We are showing the strain - ESRC & the impact of a changing world - as we become globalised and more knitted in with the rest of the world, we are needing to expend a lot energy and effort to keep up with the new world that we are in. Our society is now starting to show the strain - we are overworked and suffering from related mental and physical stresses - we are becoming more obese - our children are unhappier - divorce rates are increasing. [Post "ESRC" ].
• We could be okay with help - positive psychology - positive psychology has now penetrated the UK market demonstrating that we have a need to be educated in how to make ourselves happy [posts "The basics of positive psychology" & "Martin Segliman - Authentic Happiness" ].
  • The Wellbeing Institute - [Post "Nick Baylis - The Wellbeing Institute" ]
  • Centre of Applied Positive Psychology - [Post "Centre of Applied Positive Psychology" ]
  • Centre of Confidence and Wellbeing - [Post "Centre for Confidence" ]

2. Happiness & Wellbeing of Family and Young People

What is the current situation?

The best indicator at the moment about how we are getting on with happiness and wellbeing of family and young people is the unicef report . The report "An overview of child well-being in rich countries" was released in February 2007 amidst a lot of publicity. This report put the UK bottom of 21 developed countries when unicef looked at 40 indicators (data collected over 2000-2003). The key reasons reported for this poor performance is then general underinvestment in young people / family and an overly competitive unkind society. [Post "What can we learn from the unicef report" ]

A brainstorm on what could have given rise to this

The below list is based on some of the themes that I have picked up during the research for the happiness & wellbeing conference:

• Our culture is becoming more focused on self gratification and quick returns - as we pursue more happiness and fulfilment, our lack of understanding of what truly makes us happy has caused us to concentrate more on creating transient pleasures and self gratification. We are becoming more and more focused on consumerism. We as a culture are under investing in both our communities and families. Both of these which are phenomenal sources of long lasting happiness but they require medium to long term investment of hard work and diligence to develop them as substantial sources of happiness. [Post "Do we know what makes us happy?" ].
• Our need to perform as a nation - our rapidly changing competitive environment is causing us to push our children to perform better so that they can be prepared for the future. Children are now being tested nationally on a regular basis. This is resulting in an excessive focus on performing well in the classroom and giving rise to increased stress levels in our children. Children are no longer left to "organically" develop into well adjusted children through play and social interactions - they are being forced to fit into a "good child" mould.
• The future is more uncertain for our children - our children are seeing a lot of changes going on in the world and they do not feel supported or prepared to meet this future. This can cause high levels of stress.
• Parents are working more and are tired when they are not - the economy is causing parents to be working longer hours in order to perform at work. As well as parents having less time for their children because of work, parents are also not able to provide quality time to children because they are tired when they get back from work. In my research with life coaches I found that one of the key reasons that people people seek life coaching support is because work has taken over their life and they are tired all the time. [Post "Life coaching perspective on work empowerment" ].
• Parents are struggling to parent well - the programme "Honey we're killing the kids" demonstrates that we as a culture have a lot of bad family habits that are having a negative impact on our children. As our lives have become faster and more time constrained, the habits that encouraged cohesive family development are being put aside for activities that are quick and easy. [Post "Kris Murrin - Honey we're killing the kids" ].
• Community support is decreasing - children are less likely to participate with the wider community because of the concerns of their safety. Families are contributing less to their local communities because they have less time available and they do not prioritise community activities. Also, technology is making children more solitary creatures as they spend time with the computer rather than real life people.
• Our children are not well understood - the younger generation is significantly different from previous generations - yet we still try to treat them the same. We do not appreciate the strengths and the gifts of this new generation and this is resulting in alienation because society is not ready for them.

What is currently being done?

• Good Childhood Inquiry - the Children's Society launched its 2 year Good Childhood Inquiry to coincide with the release of the unicef report. This inquiry will determine what makes a good childhood today and provide a children / family focus advise to policy developers. [Post "Children's Society - Good Childhood Inquiry" ]
• Other childhood inquiries - The conservative party has launched an Inquiry into the Quality of British Childhood which is being run by a high profile working group. The group will report back with the results of the inquiry at the end of 2007. Demos has also launched a Families and Health Care Programme that will be predominately look at the care of young people in the community.[Post "Current Young People Inquiries - Quality of British Childhood" ].
• Happiness curriculum in Schools - The headmaster of Wellington College, Anthony Seldon, has pioneered the inclusion of happiness education into his college's curriculum. This education is based on the work done by positive psychologists. [Post "Anthony Seldon - Happiness Curriculum at Wellington College" ].
• Other positive psychology projects - The Young Foundation has launched a local well-being project with 3 local authorities covering positive parenting and developing emotional resilience young people. The Centre for Confidence and Well-being in Scotland is looking at several projects that work at keeping the confidence and motivation of young people high. [Post "Summary of Young People Projects" ].
• Policy development - the conservative party is advocating the principle of family friendly policy development. [Post "Conservative Party & Well-Being" ].

3. Happiness and Well-being at Work

How are we currently doing?

Work surveys: According to work surveys in general, the majority of us feel fairly happy at work...for example the August 2006 survey by Standard Life showed that most people consider themselves to be reasonably happy at work.  [Post "Work Surveys" ] .

Engagement: However, a key indicator of being happy (according to positive psychology) is the level of "engagement" that people have:

Engagement..being in "flow" (being "absorbed") with what we are doing

The CIPD's research on engagement [ Post "CIPD - Work Engagement" ] showed that only 30% of employees are engaged in their work.

The opportunity: This indicates that even though people are fairly happy at work, there is still a significant opportunity for them to be happier at work which will show up in their level of engagement.

Overall view of employment

The following organisations provide a good view of employment and the work environment:

• The Institute of Employability Studies provides an apolitical view of employment serving both the private sector and the public sector. The institute focuses in knowledge and practical experience in: employment, training policy, operation of labour markets, human resource planning and development. [Post "Institute of Employment Studies" ].
• The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development  serves the HR community and development practitioners. They help their members to work effectively with human capacity and capability in the organisations that they serve. [Post "CIPD - Work Engagement" ].
• The Work Foundation brings together all sides of the working organisation (not just HR) working to improve both economic performance and quality of life. The purpose of The Work Foundation is to promote the quest for good work. [Post "Work Foundation - Good Work" ].

What is happening....work meets the family and society

Corporate Social Responsibility - CSR means that businesses take into account their economic, social and environment impacts. This includes looking into the impact that they have on employees, employee families and communities. The government is working to demonstrate through their Responsible Competitive Index that businesses that take part in CSR activities have improved competitiveness. There are no significant CSR government programmes for well-being of employees (apart from: HWWB, Flexible working from the 2002 Employment Act, the CSR project "Rights at Work" being led by DWP) - it is felt that it should be clear to businesses that there is a solid business case for happy, healthy and productive employees.  [Post "Government CSR, well-being and the workplace" ].

Work-Life Balance - The UK is a nation of workaholics - we work longer hours than the Europeans and we are less productive. Longer hours means that we have less time to spend with our families and that we are often tired when we do spend time with our families, However, the number of hours that we are working is falling. The Evening Standard (14th May 2007) article "Long hours falling as men restore work-life balance" shows that the number of men working in private sector organisations working more than 45 hours a week has fallen from 41% in 1997 to 31% in 2007. It is thought that better work-life balance could actually boost productivity and help create stronger families. The Work Foundation has started up the Employers and Work-Life Balance organisation which helps employers to develop and improve their sustainable work-life strategies.

Work Flexibility - More and more workers prefer to have flexible working because it allows them to both meet their work commitments and manage their family lives. Flexible working also improves the productivity of individuals - research by CIPD has shown that those members of the workforce who are the most engaged in their work have more access to flexible working than those who less engaged. Furthermore, flexible working is not a separate issue from work-life balance - it is a key part of work-life balance as stated by Unison's Work-Life Balance Campaign:

"Unison believes that all workers should have a right to work that does not damage their freedom to pursue activities outside the workplace. This means making work more sensitive. Arranging work more effectively and organising it more intelligently."

Work is Good for You - The government has taken the stance that work is good for you and is a large source of happiness and wellbeing in our lives. Also the changing demographics means that essential for the overall economy that a larger percentage of those of working age are at work rather than being away from work due to illness. They have launched the Health, Work and Well-Being (HWWB) programme to help employees reduce health related work problems in the first place and to bring them back quicker to work if they do fall ill (as working will help the employees recuperation process). However, Unison have a differing view:

New Labour sees "work" as the panacea to may work problems...it believes that work is the means equality of opportunity (personal, familial, societal salvation) will be delivered...the work focus means that more and more time is being spent at work...two thirds of employees feel working hours undermine family life.

"Good Work" is what is required - Richard Reeves (in "The voice of co-owned businesses")  believes that we are concentrating too much on "work-life" balance..."The biggest challenge facing us is not overwork but BETTER WORK...bad work is a blight on civilization...it wastes time, humanity and hope....work is not merely an economic necessity but something that will enhance your life". [Post "Richard Reeves - Happy Mondays" ].

I have tried to pull together what is meant by good work in my posts:

• Happiness & good work part 1 - exploring unhappiness & sickness, happiness & engagement, simple definition of good work
• Happiness & good work part 2 - exploring the key factors of good work ( work-life balance, healthy & fitness, reasonable workloads, tools for the trade, good management, supportive culture).

My key conclusion is that is what makes good work is a combination factors rather than just concentrating on one issue (eg work-life balance). Also, just as important as employers creating great workplaces is employees being empowered to create great work for themselves - it is not all down to employers.

Happiness meets the free market!

Employee engagement is the next competitive advantage - as the business landscape becomes more global and competitive, more and more businesses are realising that they need their work force to be more engaged. Engaged employees, as well as being more productive, are more creative, innovative and more prepared to go the extra mile to help their organisations achieve their strategic objectives. CIPD in their report "How Engaged are British Workers" looked at the most productive workers and determined what factors that they had in common (work-life balance, flexible contracts, opportunity to impact on the management, leadership commitment, fairness & transparency of the organisation). [Post "CIPD - Employee Engagement" ].

Engaged employees are motivated - the foundation has recently piloted with Energize Solutions and UEL a prototype pilot for its graduate employability programme [see post "Prototype Pilots - An Amazing Tool" ]. In this pilot I came across some interesting numbers covering levels of motivation and levels of productivity [source: Michael Cox and Michael E. Rock, Seven Pillars of Leadership(Research quoted in Liberating the Corporate Soul by Richard Barrett)]:

• Difference in productivity between high motivation and average motivation
  • Low task complexity - 52%
  • Medium task complexity - 85%
  • High task complexity - 127%
• Difference in productivity between least motivated and most motivated
  • Low task complexity - 300%
  • Medium task complexity - 1200%
  • High task complexity - too large to measure!!

Very happy employees are engaged - positive psychology defines engagement as being a key aspect of happiness (along with positive emotion and meaning)....this means that highly engaged employees are also very happy [see post "The basics of positive psychology" ]. This provides a fairly robust business case for organisations to ensure that their workforce is happy and healthy (although I have found several articles that say that the amount that needs to be make a workforce happy may actually outweigh the £££ benefits).

Alex Kjerulf (Chief Happiness Officer) has made a great post ("Happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster") to demonstrate that a person being happy at work is considerably more productive than a person who is not so happy using using productivity enhancement tools (e.g time management tools).

What is being done to create happiness and well-being at work?

• Work Initiatives Summary - The post "Summary of Work Projects - Positive Psychology, Happiness & Well-Being" details the initiatives that I have found to support happiness and well-being at work by:
  • The government
  • The employers
  • Positive psychology practitioners
• Best Companies to Work For - The Sunday Times run a yearly "100 best places to work for" - these are the pioneering organisation who take the well-being of their staff as important and have put structures and processes in place that create empowerment in the workplace.
• Supporting organisations - private sector companies are also setting up to support organisations to create empowering workplaces (list to be added to):
  • I-Opener - see post "I-Opener - Happiness at Work"
  • Stanton Marris - see post "Stanton Marris - Energy Consultants"

4. Politics of Happiness and Well-Being

Post still in progress....

Posted by: Hina Patel

Policy Development - The Issues from the CIF Politics of Well-being Debate....Happiness Conference Research

Creating Clarity - The amazing power of research!

At the start of my research on happiness and well-being I came across the series of blogs that had been posted on The Guardian's cif (comments is free) in connection with the 21st February 2007 "The Politics of Well-Being" debate initiated by Oliver James. When I first looked through the posts on 18th March, I have to say that I didn't really understand much of what was being said. Now, one and half months later, as I am wrapping up the research phase for the foundation's happiness and well-being conference, I felt the need to revisit the original posts that I reviewed. And to my surprise, I find that I actually understand what is being said with a depth of clarity that I never thought that I would be able to achieve at the start of my research!

Summary of key points from the "The Politics of Well-Being" posts

So here is a summary of key points from the cif posts that I have re-reviewed - some have been posted by the fellow debtors (Derek Draper, Richard Layard, Neal Lawson, James Parnell, Tim Loughton, Sue Palmer) - the rest have been posted by other interested parties.

Pat Kane - "Not Wellbeing, but Wellbecoming"

• We are shifting away from discussions about work, prosperity and consumption
• We are moving towards high levels of "behaviour meddling and social prescription" to enforce well-being
• The concept that any work being good for well-being needs to be challenged
• The government seems to believe that citizens do not know their own best interests
• How can we happy when a large proportion of us are serving through our work "the domestic and hedonistic agendas" of another section of the population
• We have a workaholic culture - parents are neglecting childcare in favour of jobs
• The best role that policy makers can give is is "the support of resources to help us to navigate our deeply complex societies"
• "Support our autonomy, don't prescribe our happiness"

Derek Draper - "The Road to Wellbeing" - "The Road to Happiness"

• We are in unchartered waters
• 1 in 6 people are having signs of mental illness - there is a growing awareness of the prevalence of mental illness
• We have an explosion of worry about our cultural and ethical values
• We have a new generation of politicians prepared to talk about emotional wellbeing - but do our politicians have more to contribute than their words?
• What do measurements of happiness actually mean?
• The role of government - a "wellbeing test" should be applied to all policy decisions
• Wellbeing is analogous to the environment but it is 20 years behind - this issue heralds a sea-change in British politics discourse

Libby Brooks - "Donations to Clarity" - "Joy Divisions"

• The wellbeing conversation is disparate - there will need to more focus to keep the conversation going in a productive way
• We need more clarity about what wellbeing is. Is it happiness? Is it a lack of depression?
• "An examination of our nation's mental health, and in particular the pressing concerns of the mental health of children and adolescents, should not translate into a belief that our lives ought to be continuously, blandly joyous."
• Relationships are important to wellbeing - but we must not discount the part played in happiness by the capacity to be alone
• "An understanding of what we expect of happiness, and where we locate it, is crucial"

Tim Loughton - "Money is Not the Root of All Evil"

• "Money is only part of our nation's poor mental health not the root cause of it, the unequal distribution of it even less"
• We need to see the importance of work / life balance - we need to bring forth family friendly economics
• "We need to acknowledge the commercial logic of investing in a happy and therefore more productive, stable workforce. This is where the politics of wellbeing can propagate on the most fertile ground"
• "We need to let our children grow organically into well rounded and socially interactive members of society"

Mark Vernon - "That's What Friends are For"

• Provides an exploration from a Greek perspective which looks at the importance of friendship
• To be human is to be part of society
• Friendships cultivate creativity and compassion - and is a vital counterbalance to impersonal democratic values of justice and equality
• People's wellbeing would rocket if they spent one fifth of their time in the pursuit of friendship (as children do)
• Government should encourage programmes that support people to nurture their friendships

James Parnell - "Money or Your Life"

• The efficiency of our economy is not a dictator of our policy
• The New Labour has shown that a fairer society means a more prosperous economy
• Inequality is being reduced, but there is an increasing anxiety about our wellbeing
• "We are the first generations to have to cope with the challenges presented by the emancipation of womens, the explosion of consumer choice, the opportunities and insecurities of globalisation, the democratisation of information."
• The sate is not the main source of happiness - individuals are - but politics does affect how easy it is for people to be happy
• We need to reduce avoidable misery (unemployment, crime, poor health)
• The Department of Health are promoting well-being through work and are piloting new approaches to tackling depression and anxiety
• We need to empower people autonomy to produce their idea of a good life - we need to empower them to make good choices
• What more can be done to make childhood more stable and happy?
• What is the government doing to directly increase the quality of life?
• We need to have a steady growth of economy to keep the current level of happiness flat (rather than falling)
• Individuals are the ultimate arbitrators of well-being

Neil Clark - "Wanted: and Erich Fromm Party"

• "A healthy economy is only possible at the expense of unhealthy human beings"...Dr Erich Fromm
• In the past decade we have an unprecedented period of economic growth, but collective mental health has declined sharply
• We cannot look for short term fixes (eg CBT)
• "We are encouraged to view all human contacts as expendable, to be 'traded-in' whenever we can get a better deal. Hire and fire rules do not just apply in the business world but in our personal lives too. And we wonder why we are so unhappy."
• The can be no improvement in our collective health unless society changes from the "having" mode of existence to the "being" mode of existence
• Brainwashing used by advertising needs to be prohibited
• What would you look for - a healthy economy or healthy human beings?

Madeleine Bunting - "The Nasty Country"

• The social consensus about what we value and why seem to have fragmented
• We have become a nasty country - we are more preoccupied with our individual concerns and less with those of the community
• Are politicians to blame for this social regression?
• How does the Benthamite principle of the "greatest happiness of the greatest number" translate into politics?
• Oliver James and Richard Layard are challenging the entrenched tradition of materialism of the labour part
• The politics of wellbeing is not cheap and nor is it easily measurable (see Denmark as an example)
• "The British seem  mechanistic, obsessed with procedure and distrustful of each other. The costs in terms of social recession are beginning to become clearer."

Richard Layard - "A Lead Supporting Role"

• Our society has become far too competitive and orientated towards personal success
• The unicef report shows that we are not a kind nation
• There is a need to create a more individualistic culture - more energy in schooling needs to be devoted to the development of empathy and self-understanding
• The Nice guidelines recommend that high quality therapy needs to be made available to people in distress - psychological therapy needs to be more widely available on the NHS

Posted by: Hina Patel

Policy Development - Well-Being Indexes...Happiness Conference Research

This posts details a summary of the well-being index development initiatives that I have found during my research.

Local Level - Development Agencies

East Midlands Development Agency (Emda) are leading the development of a well-being index with the other 8 regional agencies. Emda is looking at the well-being indicator in terms of both personal well-being and community well-being. The pursuit of happiness is the linchpin of Emda's economic strategy for 2006-2020.

National Level - Sustainable Development Agenda

The SDRN (Sustainable Development Research Network) is developing a national well-being indicator. This indicator is part of the set of indicators being developed for the sustainability agenda by defra and the Sustainable Development Commission.

Global Level

NEF Happy Planet Index - this index is a new measure, launched in July 2006, of global progress. This index determines the environmental efficiency with which countries provide long and happy lives by combing environmental impact with well-being.

World Map of Happiness - this is a global projection of subjective well-being that has been developed by Leicester University (Adrian White).

Posted by: Hina Patel

Policy Development - Well-Being Working Groups...Happiness Conference Research

There are two working groups looking at well-being and policy development:

• Current Government - Whitehall Wellbeing Working Group
• Conservative Party - Quality of Life Challenge Organisation Wellbeing Working Group

Whitehall Wellbeing Working Group (W3G)

W3G is a committee of civil servants that has been founded to:

• Pull together all the other government well-being initiatives
• Determine how policies can make people happier
• Develop a national measure for well-being

What they are doing:

• The Whitehall Well-being Working Group have produced a report summarizing the results of the Sustainable Development Unit investigation into the use of well-being concepts in policy making and appraisal.The report is based on a series of interviews with Whitehall departments, the Environment Agency and the Audit Commission, and topics covered include:
  • Use of well-being concepts in policy:
  • current approach and rationale;
  • strengths and weaknesses of current approaches;
  • and benefits and barriers for use of well-being concepts in the future.
  • Measuring well-being (current and planned).
  • Research (current and planned).

In general, it was found that the term well-being is widely used but not specifically defined.  Summary details of findings are given in the report.

• Also Defra has been specifically looking into:
  • Review of evidence on the influences on personal well-being and its application to policy making - There is a substantial body of research identifying factors that influence or are associated with individual well-being across populations. A range of concepts or components of well-being are covered by research, e.g. some studies have focussed on well-being as expressed through life satisfaction, others have looked at psychological well-being and others at objective measures based on administrative data such as income and health. This project reviews evidence of the causative factors associated with various concepts or components of well-being with a view to establishing the strength of the evidence, and to answer the question: “What are the main drivers of well-being: how far do these differ between, or coincide for, different definitions of well-being and why?” The research includes a brief assessment of the potential for different concepts of well-being to inform policy making in specific policy domains, and the scope for applying concepts or components of well-being in a consistent way across a range of policy areas
  • Exploration of the relationship between sustainable development and well-being - The UK’s shared framework for sustainable development, “One future – different paths”, sets out principles that the UK Government, the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government, and the Northern Ireland Administration have agreed will help to achieve sustainable development and will form the basis for policy in the UK. The UK strategy, Securing the Future, recognises that to be sustainable a policy must respect all five of the principles while acknowledging that trade-offs may need to be made between them. This project is a think-piece that explores the relationship between well-being and sustainable development. It identifies a relevant concepts and components of well-being, and assess the extent to which an increased focus on each would contribute to the objectives of sustainable development, how an increased focus on well-being could inform decisions about trade-offs, and to what extent such a focus could be in conflict with specific sustainable development goals.

See related fff post on "Happiness, Well-being and the Government"

Quality of Life Challenge Organisation - Wellbeing Working Group

The wellbeing group is one of the 8 working groups in the Quality of Life Policy Group - it is currently headed by Ali Miraj:

How best to improve the quality of life of all people should be the central question for any government? Whilst the debate over how terms such as General Wellbeing (GWB), and Happiness should be defined and then enhanced has been taking place within academic circles for some time, it has yet to become an integral part of the policymaking process. This must change.The Wellbeing Working Group is aiming for a new approach to solving the challenges our society faces.

The issues that the well being group are covering include:

1. Work and economic issues
2. Freedom and local democracy
3. Mental health and happiness
4. Identity and belonging
5. Environment and community
6. Consumption, downshifting, materialism

More about The Quality of Life Policy Group

The Quality for Life Policy Group  is made up of 200 experts from pressure groups, NGOs, academia and government.

David Cameron established the Quality of Life Policy Group to investigate every aspect of the quality of life agenda: transport and housing; urban planning and the quality of public space; pollution, waste, biodiversity and the countryside; energy and climate change.

The Policy Group will provide an independent input into the Conservative Party in July 2007. Individuals taking part in this consultation and policy development process are doing so on a non-partisan basis. It is our intention that our findings will provide the Conservatives with the best possible information and ideas on the issues relating to quality of life.

These are complex issues, and all interrelated. For example, it is impossible to think about the countryside without considering urban planning; and the number of houses we build has a direct impact on our use of limited water supplies.

By grouping these issues together we will develop a robust, considered set of proposals which will genuinely improve everyone's Quality of Life.

Also see related fff post on "Conservative Party and Well-Being"

Posted by: Hina Patel