Working Well Together: A solution to the UK research sector’s wellbeing challenges?
Over the next four weeks, we’ll cover the WWT Charter’s principles, key tensions it addresses, why fundamentals matter in client–agency relationships, and its success stories.
AURA is a membership organisation for clientside researchers in the UK. AURA’s aim is to allow their members to grow their expertise and impact that they have in the organisations they work for.
A core part of AURA’s remit since – at least – 1974 (the date of their oldest agency survey report in the Archive of Market & Social Research) has been finding ways to help their members optimise how they work with external research agencies.
Fast forward to 2024, and AURA launched their most recent initiative in this area – The Working Well Together (WWT) Charter. This Charter lists six principles to guide how clients and agencies work together.
Over the next four weeks, we’ll be unpacking: The WWT Charter’s principles. The tensions that WWT uncovered and how it seeks to solve them. How The WWT Charter serves as a reminder of how important the basics are to successful agency/client relationships. And some of The WWT Charter’s success stories.
But before we do so, let’s explain the background to The WWT Charter, what its principles are and how researchers can commit to it.
The background to The WWT Charter
Between 2019 and 2022, the Market Research Society measured workplace wellbeing in the research sector. In each year of the study, between 83% and 87% of researchers reported experiencing poor mental health (including stress) in the previous year.
Researchers stated the largest drivers of stress as: having too much to do (54%), impending deadlines (47%), risks in projects going wrong (37%) and demands from clients (34%).
AURA saw this and acknowledged three things.
Firstly, that there are many initiatives to support mental wellbeing at work. But also felt that these initiatives didn’t always address some of the research sector’s unique challenges.
Secondly, and arguably most importantly, as Suzzanne Lughart says:
“As researchers or strategists, you look at numbers that don't change. And despite the fact people are doing a lot of good stuff in that space, you think maybe we're not fixing the problem.”
And thirdly, AURA recognised that as the UK’s leading clientside researcher network, they were well positioned to help tackle the sector’s wellbeing challenges.
This led to AURA speaking to their members and the agencies they work with to understand their working experiences. After speaking to 14 clientside research teams from an array of sectors and 15 agencies of varied sizes and areas of expertise, AURA came to a clear conclusion.
Most agency/client projects operated with a high level of mutual respect. But there were pinch points which caused stress, a lack of appreciation and unnecessary workload. And it was these pinch points that The WWT Charter aimed to resolve. With the vision being that doing so would not only solve wellbeing challenges, but also result in stronger agency/client relationships that produce better work.
The WWT Charter’s Principles
The six principles of The WWT Charter are:
We'll respect your time
We’ll commit to open and honest conversations at all times
We’ll leave you to do your best work by managing our side of things well
We’ll treat you as an extended part of our team
We’ll respect your right to disconnect
We’ll commit to proper feedback
Each of these principles contains a set of more granular commitments WWT volunteers agree to. These commitments reflect behaviours which aim to remove and reduce areas of stress that can appear when agencies and clients work together.
How researchers can commit to The WWT Charter
In designing The WWT Charter, AURA also had to acknowledge the realities of different corporate cultures and ways of working. This is why The WWT Charter is a voluntary code. It’s open to all clientside researchers and agencies – regardless of whether they are AURA members or not. With researchers being allowed to either sign-up as individuals or on behalf of their wider team, and a recognition that signatories may not be able to sign up to every one of The WWT Charter’s behaviours from the outset.
Next week
We’ll discuss the tensions that WWT uncovered and how The WWT Charter seeks to solve them.
You can read more about WWT here.
Vue Cinema, The AA, and Lovebrands will be discussing WWT at Quirks London 3:15pm – 3:45pm on Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
Jack Miles
Editor in Chief at Research WorldJack specialises in quantitative research for international clients across an array of sectors. These studies have led him to work with brands such as Jaguar, Navistar and Volvo. His main research interests are brand research and consumer trends, with a focus on quantitative methods and the use of statistics to derive solid strategic planning for clients.
He has a particular focus on developing creative ad-hoc quantitative methods that use a range of data sources. He can also be found writing papers for a range of well-known publications such as Admap, Huffington Post and Research World.
Outside the office, Jack can be found training in martial arts, in which he holds a 3rd degree black belt in Taekwon-do, and partaking in various endurance sports.
