When the Work Foundation became established as the Industrial Welfare Association at the end of the First World War in 1919, it set out its core purpose and mission.

Its goals were to:

• study the most pressing employment challenges of the day
• design schemes to support better employee welfare and working conditions for all, and
• build opportunities to exchange views and share experiences through meetings, conferences and communication activities.

One hundred years on, the Work Foundation’s core mission remains the same - to support everyone in the UK to access rewarding and high-quality work and enable businesses to realise the potential of their teams. Of course, the world of work has changed dramatically since then, and as we endure the public health and economic crisis caused by Covid-19, it is once again being transformed before our eyes.

To help us reflect on the longer term changes we have seen, in 2019 we commissioned 4 papers exploring topics aligned to our strategic programme focused on advancing ‘Good Work’. Although written before the current crisis, each provide a range of invaluable perspectives on the challenges facing workers, businesses and policymakers in the UK at the end of the second decade of the 21st Century, and will also help to shape priorities for the Work Foundation’s future work programme in the years to come.

You can access each of these papers as they are published here, together with additional blogs exploring their relevance as policymakers and practitioners grapple with the Covid-19 crisis.

Read the Work Foundation Centenary Provocation Papers here