Vicki Belt
Deputy Director
Vicki is Deputy Director of Impact and Engagement at the ERC, and is responsible for communicating and maximising the value of ERC research to stakeholders. She has worked for over a decade at the interface between research and policy, and was previously an Assistant Director at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).
Contact Details
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Biography
Vicki is Deputy Director of Impact and Engagement at the ERC, and is responsible for communicating and maximising the value of ERC research to stakeholders. She has worked for over a decade at the interface between research and policy, and was previously an Assistant Director at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES). Whilst at the UKCES Vicki directed and managed number of flagship research projects, including the UKCES employer surveys, the Sector Skills Insights programme, High Performance Working research, and England’s first National Strategic Skills Audit. She also directed the UKCES’s strategic research partnerships programme. Vicki has over 20 years of experience of research in the employment and skills field, covering both qualitative and quantitative projects. Prior to working at the UKCES Vicki was a Senior Research Adviser at the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA), and before this she was a Lecturer in Management, and a Research Associate at the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Her research interests are in management and leadership, skills policy, and gender and inequality. Vicki holds a PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and is a Fellow of the RSA.
State of Small Business Britain 2020
Published: 21 December 2020
The State of Small Business Britain report is the Enterprise Research Centre’s annual review of trends affecting small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. The review discusses the findings from ERC research and analysis carried out and/or published in 2020, including the first results from our new Business Futures Survey from 2020q4
Workplace mental health and Covid-19: experiences of firms in the Midlands
Published: 4 November 2020
We used depth interviews with business managers from the Midlands Engine area of England to explore the ways in which they and their organisations experienced mental health issues during the Covid-19 lockdown period. We spoke with our participants before and after lockdown. Four key themes emerged from the managers’ narratives. Firstly, the crisis has meant significant changes to the ways that many people experience the workplace and this has led to a number of new triggers for mental health issues. Secondly, mental health issues during and post-lockdown affected some groups of employees more, or in different ways, than others. Often, those affected were different from those who had experienced mental health issues pre-Covid. Thirdly, while stigma is known to discourage people from disclosing mental health issues, employees may be even less likely to admit to mental health issues during and following the crisis and lockdown than before. Fourthly, with increased remote working, it may be more difficult to identify the changes in behaviour that can signal that someone is struggling with mental health issues. Taking account of these insights is important to allow employers, policymakers and mental health practitioners to be aware of potential issues, and to design appropriate interventions. Our findings also have implications for the future research agenda.
Employee well-being, mental health and productivity in Midlands firms: The employer perspective
Published: 22 May 2020
This report focuses on the engagement, attitudes and behaviours of around 1,900 employers across the East and West Midlands to employee well-being and mental health. It also considers the effects of well-being and mental health on organisational performance and productivity. Data for the study was collected through telephone interviews and in-depth case studies in the three months immediately before the Covid-19 virus lockdown. The report therefore provides a pre-Covid-19 baseline which may be a useful comparator in months and years to come, when considering the impacts of the pandemic on employers and employees
