Smarter Working Research
Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA)

In 2006 CFE were commissioned by the SSDA to conduct a review of products and services that support organisations in implementing smarter working - the process whereby employers utilise high performance working (HPW) practices to increase workforce performance and thereby increase their productivity. Whilst there is considerable evidence of the effectiveness of high performance working practices, relatively little attention has been paid to the means available to businesses seeking to implement them.

The overall aim of the project was to conduct a review of all products and services that currently exist or were being developed (within and beyond the Skills for Business network), to support small and medium-sized businesses in implementing HPW practices. In order to map all available HPW products and services, evidence was gathered via several sources: 

  • existing research literature to develop robust definitions understandable to interview respondents;
  • consultations with national stakeholders to gain a strategic view of the market for HPW products and services;
  • surveying the public intermediary network, tapping their social networks in order to identify generic HPW product and service providers;
  • surveying Sector Skills Councils as intermediaries to map sector-specific HPW product and service provision through their networks; and
  • surveying providers identified through intermediaries, to map their specific product and service offers.
As part of this review, telephone and face-to-face interviews were conducted with a range of Sector Skills Councils contacts, alongside a detailed survey carried out of the SSCs partners (e.g. Business Links, Regional Development Agencies).

CFE produced a situational analysis of the provision available to support smarter working practices and a series of actionable recommendations for the network to pursue their goal of raising the adoption of HPW practices in the UK.