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This special issue brings together a range of policy and research trends regarding COVID-19 Crisis, Work and Employment (CWE). Under the assumption that crises, disasters, emergencies are impediments to the broader Sustainable Development agenda, a rapid bibliometric analysis of CWE literature between 2020 and 2021 was also carried out as an antecedent to highlight emerging contexts and perspectives. As a collection, this special issue draws attention to empirical insights and practical cases from around the world for understanding the way various stakeholders responded to support the economy, employees and others during the COVID-19 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian population is ageing, with around one quarter being 60 years and older, and the proportion is expected to grow in the future. These trends have led to government projections for the number of personal care assistants (PCAs) needed to meet the demands of the ageing population, estimated to be more than double the current workforce by 2050. Consequently, the challenges associated with attracting and retaining PCAs in the aged care sector need to be urgently addressed. This qualitative study is based on a large and distributed residential aged care organisation located in Western Australia. Its focus is on the employment conditions of PCAs, their satisfiers and dissatisfiers, and the human resource management practices which might assist the organisation and its sector to better address PCA concerns, leading to more effective PCA attraction, selection and retention. A number of strategies have been proposed that are intended to help advance policy and debate, including attention to various HRM practices and factors relating to job quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like most management ideologies, New Public Management, is paradoxical in practice. In the case of universities, New Public Sector Management (NPM) practices have led to a core academic workforce that is tightly controlled in conjunction with a peripheral workforce of casual academics paid on hourly contracts. We examine this paradox through the experiences of academic managers responsible for casual academic employment at an Australian university. The line management of casual academics is informally delegated to subject coordinators. We conclude that the management of casual academics not only highlights the contradictions between efficiency and effectiveness in NPM practices, but, given the increased reliance on casual academics, also threatens the future of tenured academics and the ‘idea of a university’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

By the year 2060 Australians aged 65 and over will account for one quarter of the population, one in six Australians will be aged 75 or more, and the 'very old' (over 80 years of age) will also become more numerous. These statistics indicate that there will be increased demands on the residential aged care workforce in the future and associated labour shortages given the consequent increases in demand for personal care worker services. Moreover, personal care workers (PCWs) are reportedly older than the average age of workers in other fields, further exacerbating these problems. Consequently, this study focuses on both the policy and human resource changes required in the residential aged care sector related to both current and future challenges experienced in attracting and retaining Australia's ageing aged care workforce. Proposed changes include far-reaching policy development required to underpin improved employment conditions, salaries, training and career pathways as an imperative to care for elderly Australian citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intention of this special issue is to provide new insights into a range of the challenges facing Australia and some of our regional economic partners that have occurred due to our rapidly ageing populations and workforces. The attraction and retention of older workers have become an imperative for governments, industry managers, unions and others, in order to maximise their contributions and enable integration as well as realise the potential of both older and younger employees in the Australian and Asian labour markets. The five papers in this volume provide some valuable insights into these challenges and suggest ways of addressing them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research to date suggests that career advancement in call centres (CCs) is relatively uncommon with employees often viewing such employment as a stopgap measure before moving on to something better. This study set out to determine whether such scenarios have changed over time since CCs have become more established in their work organisation, information and communication technology (ICT) and management processes. This study particularly focused on training and development initiatives, how employees access training and development, and whether CCs support career development. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, these issues are examined within l0 Australian CCs of varying size from various sectors. Two-thirds of respondents stated that they intended to develop a career in the industry and 7 in 10 reported that they believed there were promotional opportunities emerging in their current organisation. Despite these findings, the evidence also suggests that more needs to be done both to create coherent career paths and to establish structured, accredited training programmes for CC employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue volume is concerned with how technology is changing the nature of work and working conditions while generating new products and new forms of service delivery. The five articles included in this volume cover service work, from the routine and clerical through to highly credentialed and professional work. Although some of the established challenges concerning the impact of Information and Communication Technology OCT) on work and workplaces are evident in the articles, it is also clear that new service delivery processes demand new skills and training to some extent. Overall findings indicate that while ICT competencies are important, they need to be supplemented by the soft skills that are crucial for effective customer interactions and more open work systems with greater autonomy and participation whereby flexible work teams can have a positive impact on job quality outcomes. This introductory article examines technology and the changing nature of work through three strands of interpretation, prior to introducing the five articles in this special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dubai offers an example of the contradictions and tensions surrounding a development model based on migrant labour, foreign investment and a segmented labour market which has led to the exclusion of large segments of the labour force from basic forms of labour standards and protection. Unlike many other developing economies, Dubai does not possess large labour surpluses and a large informal labour market, but instead has constructed its labour market around distinct divisions within the workforce. Consequently, it is argued that, in line with building and developing civil institutions in the Middle East, there are several urgent labour reforms that are required to address the migrant workforce vulnerability and exclusion. This paper outlines the implications of these proposed reforms for human resource management (HRM) in Dubai, offering a framework that encompasses the responses required of strategic international HRM in combination with recommended human resource practices that can assist in reducing worker vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented to articles published in this issue including articles on the influence of personnel management on job quality, on recruitment of migrant workers by labor unions and on the influence of labor unions on temporary employment.

In terms of service work, teams tend to be more prevalent in call centres than in other service industries. While the literature highlights key debates surrounding the use of teams in call centres, most of it is drawn from studies on large call centres that range in size from several hundred to several thousand seats. This article sets out to consider how the functions and experience of teams varies on the basis of call centre size by conducting case studies in three large and three small call centres. Findings indicate that large call centres are more likely to monitor performance on a team basis and use teams as a means of maintaining structural control, while small call centres did not have the capacity to engage in rivalry and competition as a means of establishing team identity. Instead, teams provided social support and were associated with team 'longevity' - a feature that was not apparent in the large call centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, some broad conclusions are presented concerning the global financial crisis (GFC) and change in the Asia Pacific region to date, with a particular focus on change and adjustments to the labour market. In terms of whether the Asia Pacific region is leading the global recovery post-GFC, a number of comparisons are made between the Asia Pacific region, the USA and the European Union that have been prominent in the articles included here in order to answer that question. Lastly, implications for research and practice are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although an extensive literature has been developed on the global financial crisis (GFC) in the USA and Europe, thus far there has been less attention paid to the rest of the world. Consequently, this collection addresses this deficiency by considering the impact of the GFC on selected Asian and Pacific economies. Topics include both macro and micro approaches to labour market adjustment post-GFC. The countries included are Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore. It is concluded that as the GFC is still continuing, so are the issues related to adjustment, vulnerability and the impact on the Asia Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue volume focuses on research into Human Resource Management (HRM) and job quality. Improving job quality is firmly on the public policy agenda in the European Union (EU) and is central to the International Labour Office's (ILO's) decent work agenda. There has been considerable policy debate in the EU concerning job quality and the need to create not only more but also better jobs. This introduction reviews the nature and measurement of job quality and discusses the HRM rationale for improvement. This article assesses workplace programmes that can assist in improving job quality before introducing the issues to be covered in this special edition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past ten years there has been a massive growth in call centres worldwide. Developments in the industry have attracted many researchers, especially in the area of labour process where call centres bring with them continuous production, standardised work and potential for forms of extreme control and monitoring of work. However, the global nature of the industry means that jobs will always be susceptible to outsourced operations. Information and communication technology [ITC] developments, public sector subsidisation of business restructuring and re- location, and the possibility of cheaper operations being offered elsewhere will mean that the industry will undergo ongoing transformation. In call centre development, the information age comes up against the factory age in terms of job design and management strategies, and the local economy comes up against the global economy in terms of the footloose nature of the industry. This paper represents an overview of the research issues associated with call centre development in Australia and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the topic of trust in the workplace. The rationale for the growth of interest in trust is explored, as are the implications for HRM policy makers and researchers. Here, we also outline the main thrust of the eight papers incorporated in this special edition. First, we explore the topic of HRM and trust, before moving to issues relating to trust and workplace change. Next we discuss team dynamics, manager-employee relationships and trust and, finally, the characteristics associated with trust and situational, dispositional and affectual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]