'I welcome the launch of The Work Foundation. This new body is building on the 80 years of work of its predecessor - bringing all sides of working organisations together to find the best ways of improving both economic performance and the quality of working life'
Former Prime Minister, Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, Working Capital, 2002
The Work Foundation builds on the legacy of The Industrial Society, out of which we were born in 2002. For more than 80 years The Industrial Society campaigned to improve the quality of working life, emphasising practical training interventions that organisations could adopt to do that.
The Work Foundation continues that tradition as an independent campaigning charity but around a different business model. We develop ideas and knowledge about successful workplaces and organisations from our own body of research. We seek to disseminate this information through our focus on dedicated advocacy, while developing practical consultancy interventions. We no longer offer standardised training; instead, we offer customised solutions to the problems of organisational change — holding fast to the belief that ‘Good Work’ is the foundation of productive and satisfying work.
Our change of name in April 2002 was the culmination of a two-year process in which The Industrial Society had been transforming itself, so that a new organisation has emerged from the old, built around a new business model based on research, advocacy and consultancy and a closer relationship with our partners, offering them special access to our thinking and services. This business model is driven by the desire to raise both UK economic performance and the humanity of our workplaces, this is what The Industrial Society was founded to do in 1918. It hands the baton on to The Work Foundation in 2002.