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The CIPD Good Work Index is an annual benchmark of good work or job quality in the UK. It measures a wide range of aspects of job quality, including employment essentials, such as pay and contracts, the day-to-day realities of work as experienced by workers themselves, and the impacts on people’s health and wellbeing. This survey report is based on the fourth annual UK Working Lives survey, which draws on a representative sample of UK workers. The CIPD Good Work Index measures a wide range of aspects of job quality, including employment essentials, such as pay and contracts, the day-to-day realities of work as experienced by workers themselves, and the impacts on people’s health and wellbeing. This year’s survey was conducted nearly 12 months on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and gives a snapshot of the experiences of workers during this time. Since the last full annual survey, the global economy has experienced its greatest shock in over a generation. Alongside a major contraction in economic activity, the COVID-19 crisis has ushered in an unprecedented policy response. Cumulatively, the UK Government’s furlough scheme – the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) – has supported over 11 million jobs since its launch in March 2020. This survey offers important insights into workers’ experiences during this crisis – including those on furlough and those working from home. The report also examines the extent to which the experiences of those deemed to be key workers during this crisis has differed from that of the general workforce.

International workers are a growing category of employees in the hospitality industry of peripheral regions of the United Kingdom. The retention and skills shortages of the industry are significant factors in facilitating this increase. Thus, international workers are an important new source of labour for the hospitality industry, but providing an appropriate working, developmental and living environment for these employees is a challenge for the sector. While labour migration in the hospitality sector is by no means a new phenomenon within major urban centres in Australia, Europe and north America, recent trends in Ireland as well as in Scotland and the English Lake District point to the recruitment of international workers to positions in peripheral locations, representing a significant new development in work but also social relations and integration terms. Little is known, however, about the background (educational, professional, demographic) of people choosing to move to Northern Ireland, the Lake District and Scotland to take up work in the hospitality industry. This paper sets out to answer some of the “unknowns” - including nationality, other demographic characteristics, educational, employment; economic background and motivation in choosing to work in the hospitality sectors of these three locations. The paper draws on data collected through in-depth surveys of migrant workers in hotels in these peripheral locations. The findings focus on issues of recruitment and selection of international workers; their work-related and social integration within the workforce and the wider community; aspirations for training and development among international employees; and insights into the futures that migrant workers see for themselves.