Professor Mark Williams

Profile

Roles:

• Professor of Human Resource Management
• REF Lead for the School of Business and Management 
• Member of the Department of People and Organisations
• Member of the Computational and Quantitative Methods Research Cluster
• Member of the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity

Biography:

Mark Williams is a Professor of Human Resource Management in the School of Business and Management.

Mark is a quantitative social scientist researching inequalities in working conditions in the United Kingdom.

Much of his research has been on charting disparities across occupations and social classes. This research demonstrated that the sort of job you do has become more important for the conditions you will experience at work over the past few decades.

His more recent research has been charting disparities within occupations and social classes according to the person doing the job, particularly their socio-economic background, but also their sex or ethnicity.

His research has spanned disparities in pay, payment systems, zero-hours contracts, autonomy, as well as overall job quality and job attitudes. His research and advisory work has informed measurement tools used by organisations and government to track socio-economic inequalities in working conditions.

Mark joined QMUL in 2019. Prior to QMUL, he held posts at the University of Surrey and the London School of Economics. He undertook his undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral training at the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford.

Teaching

I deliver courses with a strong focus on data and analytics relating to my research specialisms and professional experience, typically involving the analysis of pay gaps, progression, and workforce diversity according to ascriptive characteristics (e.g., sex, ethnicity, and socio-economic background). I emphasise the critical issues of soundness of concepts, measurement, and data quality. I also focus on the analysis of working conditions more broadly (e.g., job control, job demands, prospective opportunities, etc.).

Undergraduate

BUSM110 Human Resource Management

External:

External Examiner, University of Exeter Business School

Research

Research Interests:

• Social stratification
• Pay
• Job quality
• Measurement of socio-economic background, social class, occupations, and working conditions

My chief research contributions have been (i) mapping disparities in the quality of jobs across occupations and social classes; and (ii) improving our understanding in and promoting better measurement, classification, and data collection in relation to (i) (e.g., developing/validating socio-economic background indicators, NS-SEC, occupational classifications, and working conditions scales).

A recent project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, explored some of these themes, and is summarised in Mapping Good Work (open access).

My latest project—Making Socio-Economic Inequalities at Work Visible—is developing improved tools to gauge socio-economic background in workplaces (website coming soon). The project is jointly funded by Queen Mary University of London and the Economic and Social Research Council.

Centre and Group Membership:

• Member of the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity (CRED)
• Member of the Computational and Quantitative Methods (CQM) Research Cluster

Grants, Contracts and Awards

I have been Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on research grants and contracts gratefully received from numerous organisations including the UKRI/ESRC, Norwegian Research Council, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Department for Business and Trade, Department of Health and Social Care, British Academy, and trade unions, amounting to several millions of pounds in total.

Editorships and External Memberships:

Outside of QMUL, I am an Associate Editor at the British Journal of Industrial Relations, an Academic Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a member of the British Sociological Association, a member of the ESRC Peer Review College, an Affiliated Member of the Future of Work Research Centre at the University of Surrey, and I previously served terms on the Associate Editorial and Editorial Boards at Work, Employment and Society and on the Editorial Board at Human Relations.

Publications

• Williams, M., J. Gifford, and M. Koumenta (2025). ‘Social Class Origin and Job Quality Among Higher Managerial and Professional Occupations in the United Kingdom’. Sociology, forthcoming.
• Zhou, Y., M. Zou, and M. Williams (2024). ‘Is There a Mid-Career Crisis? An Investigation of the Relationship Between Age and Job Satisfaction Across Occupations Based on Four Large UK Datasets’, Socio-Economic Review, forthcoming.
• Williams, M., S. Wang, and M. Koumenta (2024). ‘Ethnicity disparities in job control in the United Kingdom’. Industrial Relations Journal, 55(1): 33-53.
• Zhou, Y., M. Zou, and M. Williams (2024). ‘Downward occupational mobility and job satisfaction: When does it hurt less?’, European Sociological Review, 40(5): 838-852.
• Zou, M., Y. Zhou, and M. Williams (2024). ‘In search of the ‘buffering effect’ in the job demands–control model: The role of teamwork, HRM practices, and occupations’, Economic and Industrial Democracy, 45(1): 6-28.
• Williams, M. (2024). Analysis of Pay Trends in the Civil Service. London: Public and Commercial Services Union.
• Williams, M., J. Gifford, and Y. Zhou (2022). ‘Social stratification in meaningful work: Occupational class disparities in the United Kingdom’, British Journal of Sociology, 73(3): 536-553.
• Koumenta, M. and M. Williams (2022). ‘Tougher licensing requirements and quality outcomes: driving instructors in the United Kingdom’ in M. Koumenta and M. Kleiner (Eds.) Grease Or Grit? International Case Studies of Occupational Licensing and Its Effects on Efficiency and Quality. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
• Woodhams, C., M. Williams, J. Dacre, I. Parnerkar, and M. Sharma (2021). ‘A retrospective observational study of ethnicity-gender pay gaps among hospital and community health service doctors in England’, British Medical Journal Open, 11(12): e051043.
• Zhou, Y., M. Zou, C-H. Wu, and M. Williams (2021). ‘When is the grass greener on the other side? A longitudinal study of the joint effect of occupational mobility and personality on the honeymoon‐hangover experience during job change’, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 42(4): 551–566.
• Williams, M., Y. Zhou, and M. Zou (2021). ‘Differentiation in pay for performance within organizations: An occupational perspective’, International Journal of Manpower, 42(4): 537-555.
•  Williams, M., Y. Zhou, and M. Zou (2020). Mapping Good Work: The Quality of Working Life Across the Occupational Structure. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
• Williams, M. (2020). Mapping Good Work: Policy Briefing. Bristol University Press/Transforming Society.
•  Williams, M. (2020). A ‘Good Work recovery’ is key to unlocking Britain’s productive potential. Bristol University Press/Transforming Society.
• Williams, M., Y. Zhou, and M. Zou (2020). ‘The rise in pay for performance among higher managerial and professional occupations in Britain’, Work, Employment and Society, 34(4): 604-625.
• Williams, M. and M. Koumenta (2020). ‘Occupational closure and job quality: The case of occupational licensing in Britain’, Human Relations, 73(5): 711-736.
• Williams, M., Y. Zhou, and M. Zou (2020). The CIPD Good Work Index. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
• Williams, M. (2020). Coronavirus class divide – the jobs most at risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19. The Conversation.
• Woodhams, C., M. Williams, I. Laliotis, et al. (2020). Independent Review of the Gender Pay Gap in Medicine in England. London: Department of Health and Social Care.
• Koumenta, M. and M. Williams (2019). ‘An Anatomy of zero-hours contracts in the United Kingdom’, Industrial Relations Journal, 50(1): 20-40.
• Williams, M. (2019). Gender Analysis of Pay and Employment in the Civil Service. London: Public and Commercial Services Union.
• Williams, M. (2019). Civil Service Pay Trends. London: Public and Commercial Services Union.
• Williams, M., Y. Zhou, and M. Zou (2019). Differentiation in Pay for Performance Within Organizations: An Occupational Perspective. AOM Annual Meeting Proceedings Boston.
• Williams, M. and T. Bol (2018). ‘Occupations and the wage structure: The role of occupational tasks in Britain’, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 53: 16-25.
• Williams, M. (2018). ‘Understanding the efficacy of financial participation across Europe: The role of country-level factors’, Economic and Industrial Democracy, 39(2):195–227.
• Williams, M. and E. Gardiner (2018). ‘The power of personality at work: Core self-evaluations and earnings in the United Kingdom’, Human Resource Management Journal, 28(1): 45–60.
• Chen, Y. and M. Williams (2018). ‘Subjective Social status in transitioning China: Trends and determinants’, Social Science Quarterly, 99(1): 406–422.
• Koumenta, M. and M. Williams (2018). Regulatory Effects of Occupational Licensing on Driving Instructors in the UK, European Commission.
• Williams, M. (2018). Field of work determines pay, and increasingly so. Work In Progress, American Sociological Association.
• Williams, M. (2017). ‘Occupational stratification in contemporary Britain: Occupational Class and the wage structure in the wake of the Great Recession’, Sociology, 51(6): 1299-1317.
• Zhou, Y., M. Zou, M. Williams, and V. Tabvuma (2017). ‘Is the grass greener on the other side? A longitudinal study of the impact of occupation change on employee job satisfaction’, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 99: 66–78.
• Williams, M. (2017). ‘An old model of social class? Job characteristics and the NS-SEC schema’, Work, Employment and Society, 31(1): 153-165.
• Hodder, A., M. Williams, J. Kelly, and N. McCarthy (2017). ‘Does strike action stimulate union membership growth?’ British Journal of Industrial Relations, 55(1): 165–186.
• Booth, J., D. Lup, and M. Williams (2017). ‘Union membership, free-riders, and charitable giving in the United States’, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 70(4): 835-864.
• Williams, M. and Y. Zhou (2017). Paying for performance in Britain: Does the type of job matter? CIPD ARC.
• Williams, M. (2017). Civil Service Pay Trends 2007 to 2016. London: Public and Commercial Services Union.
• Williams, M. (2016). ‘What Do Unions No Longer Do? Book Review’, Work, Employment and Society, 30(1): 202-204.
• Chen, Y. and M. Williams (2016). ‘Subjective wellbeing in the New China’, British Journal of Sociology, 67(4): 719-746.
• Koumenta, M. and M. Williams (2016). An Anatomy of Zero-Hours Contracts in the United Kingdom. CIPD ARC.
• Williams, M. and E. Gardiner (2016). The Power of Personality in the New Economy: Core Self-Evaluations and Earnings in the United Kingdom. CIPD ARC.
• Williams, M. (2013). ‘Occupations and British wage inequality, 1970s-2000s’, European Sociological Review, 29(4): 841-857.
• Booth, J. and M. Williams (2013). ‘Union members are more likely to give to charity, and to give more when they do’, LSE American Politics and Policy Blog.
• Williams, M. (2012). ‘British wage inequality: what occupation you have has never mattered so much’, LSE British Politics and Policy Blog.
• Gallie, D., M. Williams, and H. Inanc (2009). The Vulnerability of the Unskilled Across Europe.
• Williams, M. (2009). How Does the Workplace Affect the Quality of Employment? London: Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

Supervision

Areas of Supervision Expertise:

I am interested in hearing from potential doctoral researchers who would like to carry out quantitative research in the broad area of the quality of employment (e.g., pay, hours, job insecurity, job control, wellbeing, etc.).

I am especially interested in hearing about projects making use of nationally representative survey or administrative data to explore disparities in this area (e.g., by socio-economic background, occupation, class, ethnicity, age, or sex, etc.).

My expertise is on the United Kingdom and China, but I am happy to consider proposals concerning Anglophone or European countries, and potentially, countries in East/South-East Asia too.

Note the University offers a variety of scholarships for doctoral study.

Please get in touch with me directly if you would like to discuss an idea or a proposal.

Please note I will not consider proposals (as first supervisor) that are removed from my main substantive and geographical areas of interest, or are majority qualitative.

Current Doctoral Students:

1st Supervisor

• Rebecca Florisson, ‘Path dependence in career mobility: The effect of precarious early work experience on career trajectories over the life course’ (with Dr Maria Koumenta).
• Lan Lu, ‘The impact of China's increasing work overtime problem on Chinese employees’ (with Dr Maria Koumenta).

2nd Supervisor

• Nabiyla Risfa Izzati, ‘Gender Bias within Gig Economy: Exploring Women Experience in the On-Demand Work in Indonesia’ (with Dr Maria Adamson).

Joint Supervisor

• Bing Liang, ‘Underemployment/overemployment, job quality, and subjective well-being’ (with Dr Patrizia Kokot-Blamey).

Public Engagement

I am currently an Exert Adviser at the Social Mobility Commission and a member of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s College of Experts. Previously, I have held similar roles or advised various other government departments in the UK (e.g., ONS, DB&T, Cabinet Office, and the DH&SC) and internationally (e.g., European Commission). I have also provided expert advice to numerous employers, professional bodies, think-tanks, and trade unions.

My research has been cited by most national newspapers/broadcasters, in various policy documents (e.g., pay review bodies), and I have even been personally named by Members of Parliament in House of Commons debates on a few of occasions in reference to my research.