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This research stems from the need by organisations to retain their key talent in the context of the change in the psychological contract manifested from the emergence of boundaryless careers. Many organisations have segmented their workforce to develop talent pools of high potential employees to meet the organisation’s current and future critical skills needs. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of inclusion or exclusion in the talent pool on the psychological contract.

The study presents findings from 195 employees from three different organisations, about 50 per cent of whom were in talent pools. Various instruments in the literature were used to measure the psychological contract and the other constructs of organisational citizenship behaviour, trust and turnover intention of employees in the talent pools in comparison to those not in talent pools.

The study shows that being part of the talent pool has a positive impact on the relational psychological contract and organisational commitment but does not necessarily translate into trust and the intention to stay with organisations.

The study was conducted in three large firms with well-developed and entrenched talent management strategies. The results may be different in firms with less formal talent management strategies or those firms that do not use talent pools. Despite these limitations, the study is valuable in showing the differences in relationships between employees recognised as more important and those not recognised in the same way.

Talent strategy should not ignore employees not in talent pools as they have shown that they display an aspiration to build long-term relationships with their employers and could represent a future source of potential. It is recommended that organisations should continue to segment their workforce to determine who should form part of the talent pool.

The results indicate the high complexity in understanding contemporary employment relationships and could be closely related to the previous findings on trust. Despite being identified as potential employees for development into linchpin and pivotal positions in their organisation, these employees were no different to employees not in talent pools when it came to trust and the intention to leave their organisation.

Employees in talent pools and those not in talent pools were similar in their intention to leave their organisations in circumstances where their expectations were not met. This finding is contrary to the expectation and indicates that relational psychological contracts do not have a moderating impact on the intention to leave where expectations are not met.

Examines the subject of the glass ceiling for women managers and empirical research within a Metropolitan District Council. Looks at the causes of, effects of, and solutions to, the glass ceiling for women managers within an organisation in the UK. Concludes that the glass ceiling for women managers is a complex phenomenon. The results of the empirical research show that a glass ceiling for women managers exists within the council. The causes of the glass ceiling are wide ranging including a lack of career counselling and development for women, a lack of management development for women, attitudes of male councillors and managers, the expected role of women in society, conflicts between personal and work life, and the organisational culture within which women work. The effects of the glass ceiling for both the employer and women managers are analysed and solutions to the problem are explored.

Key workers are deemed “essential” for keeping the country going while the rest of us have been resigned to the safety of our homes. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, key workers have become the exalted symbol of the pandemic; although, during pre-pandemic many of these roles were considered “low skilled” and were (and still are) low paid.

The analysis uses newspapers as data sources to discuss occupational prestige and situate it within previous theory.

This social commentary discusses how occupational prestige evolves and devolves during times of social change, and how elevated status, dependent on one's service to the country in the spirit of a “war-time” narrative, is just temporary and fleeting. Prestige is wrapped up in notions of class, income and education, and during the pandemic, “key workers” have become their own sub-group with an almost mythologised status and value, which the authors argue might take the focus away from genuine efforts to improve working conditions (e.g. access to PPE and pay rises etcetera).

The article considers the current value of key workers and how elevated levels of prestige are transitory. The enduring nature of this new status is yet to be seen. More qualitative nuanced research is required around how occupational prestige changes, evolves and devolves and more quantitative research on why and how widespread some of the critical issues might be.

A NEW YEAR is always a time for a glance backwards and forwards, in the library world as in other worlds. If 1937 was not particularly dramatic in events or achievements, it was at least a year which was not unworthy in the library movement. A list of the libraries which came into being appears every year in the Annual Report of the L.A. and we are convinced that the one for the year just ended will be quite sizeable. The opening of a branch library now‐a‐days, as an addition to a large system, or to serve a lately‐populated part of a new area, excites little comment; and that, in itself, is significant and gratifying. People are coming to regard the provision of public libraries as a normal part of urban and even village equipment.

WE wish our readers success and prosperity for 1935. In the pages of our last number was given a brief retrospect of the events of 1934, and there is no advantage in repeating any part of it. Suffice to say, the year was one of the most memorable in the annals of libraries from the point of view of the new buildings which have been erected to serve great places. The year before us will present a full programme of work for all librarians. The major interest will probably be the conference to be held at Manchester in September, when hundreds of librarians will have the opportunity of seeing the building of the largest of British, if not of European, public libraries. We understand, too, that the conference will deal systematically with the efficient library in the modern community, but no doubt fuller information upon this programme will be forthcoming very shortly. The time is not ripe, we fear, for us to expect anything in the shape of a consolidating library aft which shall bring into coherency the scattered library laws of this country. We hope something will be done in the year to improve the examination system of the Library Association, which fails to give satisfaction as it stands at present. We confidently expect that the co‐operation embodied in the Regional Library Bureau will be extended, and as our recent pages have shown, we hope that the National Central Library will be relieved of some of its financial anxieties by direct action upon the part of public libraries and of the Treasury. There are signs that the country is gradually returning to prosperity, and we hope that in any such event libraries will benefit and librarians will receive some attention in the matter of their salaries.

In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.

BOURNEMOUTH fulfilled some of the high expectations of those who attended it. The welcome was cordial, the local arrangements good, as we were entitled to expect from so proved an organizer as Mr. Charles Riddle and from his committee and staff, and, when fine, the town was most attractive. The weather, however, was bad, and too warm at the same time for most of us. One thing that certainly emerged from this experience was the real need to change the time of the conference. Only librarians among similar bodies appear to meet in the summer season. The accountants, engineers and other professional people confer in late May or in June, when they do not compete with holiday‐makers for accommodation and attention. The Council might well consider the re‐arrangement of its year with such a change in view.

THE year 1954 opened more brightly, in some respects, than most previous years. Salaries are better than they used to be, staffs are larger, and hours are shorter. But there is even less room for complacency or even bare satisfaction than there was forty years ago. Then, however poor was the pay and however long the hours, there was every indication that librarianship was gradually becoming recognized as a profession which in time would rank with the great professions. Principles and objectives were clear and were never lost sight of, but librarians and assistants of that day realized that the great professions were dependant, not only on principles but upon absolute mastery of technique; that no lawyer could survive who merely talked grandiloquently about the principles and objectives of his calling; that the medical man endured—and in many instances enjoyed—a severe and lengthy training in technique and practice, and that even when he became a specialist his prime need and principal qualification was absolute mastery and up to date knowledge of technique and practice in his field of specialisation. In the light of that fad a detailed study of library technique became accepted as essential, and a mass of practical and technical literature was studied and mastered by more than one generation. For examination purposes, perhaps more than for any other reason, the present generation of assistants continues that study, but there has been a change of weight. Today we hear frequently that technique is relatively unimportant and that principles and objectives are the vital essentials.