Studies of care workers frequently reveal relatively high levels of job satisfaction despite poor employment conditions. The rewarding nature of care work, altruistic motivations and gendered social norms have all been used to explain why subjective job satisfaction is high despite poor pay and...

This paper explores changes in employment policies and practices that are typically associated with the classical `model' of the internal labour market. Drawing on documentary information and interviews with managers in four large organisations in the UK, the evidence suggests that many of the...

The public sector workforce in the UK faces a number of challenges and pressures that are leading to an increasing fragmentation of employment. This paper reports evidence of one such pressure faced by nursing staff in the NHS-the recruitment of a new grade of unqualified nurse, the `health care...