Working Lives Northern Ireland

Working Lives Northern Ireland is the CIPD’s first dedicated report on job quality in Northern Ireland. Analysing seven dimensions of good work, the report provides insight on a range of issues from workforce health and wellbeing, through job autonomy and complexity, to skills and career development, with a view to informing public policy interventions and improved people practice.

Policy-makers, employers and people professionals across Northern Ireland need to act if they are to improve job quality for the whole of the workforce – not only aiming for more jobs, but better jobs. Working Lives Northern Ireland is a tool to support them in this work.

Download the report below

Key findings

COVID-19

• Employee preferences point to a hybrid future for those who can work from home. However, almost a third (32%) of all employees work in jobs that can’t be done from home.
• Key workers report worse job quality across many indicators, although they score better on questions around meaningful work.
• Homeworkers have seen some benefits, but also drawbacks, with those working fully from home reporting poorer relationships with colleagues and a more negative impact of work on health.

Pay and benefits

• There is correlation between life and job satisfaction and pay levels.
• 37% of all Northern Irish employees feel they are not getting paid appropriately, rising to 50% for the lowest earners.
• Public sector employees report much more generous employer pension contributions compared with private sector employees.

Contracts

• We see a link between job security and pay, with those on higher salaries reporting higher levels of job security.
• 12% of all employees say they would like to work more hours than they currently do.
• Those in the lowest occupational groups are reporting the highest levels of underemployment.

Work-life balance

• Nearly a third (31%) of all employees say they find it hard to relax in their personal time because of their job.
• There are significant gaps in the availability of formal flexible working arrangements across Northern Ireland.
• Employees who work flexibly report higher job satisfaction, are more likely to be motivated by their organisation’s purpose and have better skills development opportunities.

Job design and nature of work

• 40% of all employees report their workload as too high in a normal week.
• 12% of those working fully from home say they don’t have a suitable space to do their job effectively.
• Skills and career development opportunities are significantly lower for those in lower-paid jobs, as well as older workers.

Relationships at work

• We find better relationships with colleagues for those working from home only some of the time and those not working from home at all compared with those working fully from home.
• Nearly a fifth (18%) of employees feel their boss would hold it against them if they made a mistake.
• 26% of all employees experienced at least one type of conflict at work, with 15% saying they experienced two or more types.

Voice and representation

• Over a fifth (21%) of employees say they have no voice channel at work at all.
• The availability of voice channels differs significantly by organisation size.
• Employees who work flexibly rate their managers significantly better than those not working flexibly, underlining the importance of good management to enabling flexible work.

Health and wellbeing

• Nearly a third (31%) of employees feel their work impacts negatively on their mental health, with 28% reporting negative impacts on their physical health.
• A worrying 45% of all employees report going to work despite not being well enough to do so. This is even higher for those with adult caring responsibilities (61%), with disabilities (64%) and for key workers (52%).
• Nearly a third (31%) of employees always or often feel exhausted at work, with 28% saying they feel under excessive pressure.