Skills and High Performance Work Practices: Employer Skills Surveys (ESS)

The Employer Skills Surveys have been undertaken every 2 years supported by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES). The survey is intended to provide a representative profile of HR practices and high performance work practices across almost all UK sectors. The 2013 survey contained responses from 60,000 companies weighted by company size-band. ERC have matched this data with the Business Structures Database described earlier. The ESS covers:
• Firms’ qualification and skills profile;

• Difficulties with recruitment and skills deployment;

• Over-qualification and mismatch between skills and job requirements;

• Training and staff development activities;

• Team-working and other high performance work practices.