March 5, 2020

UK outpaced by other nations when it comes to women in work

Despite holding firm in 16th place, the UK is being outpaced by greater improvements in female employment prospects in other OECD countries, according to PWC’s latest Women in Work Index, which analyses female economic empowerment across 33 OECD countries. While the UK performs above the OECD average and is second only to Canada when compared to other G7 economies, its position has barely budged since 2000 when it stood in 17th position, despite improving its performance across all five indicators. More →

March 5, 2020

Increasing diversity is key to improving workplace productivity

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture

The latest research from recruitment agency Robert Half UK, claims that the majority of businesses are pursuing workplace culture improvements during the first half of the year. Increasing diversity and inclusion is a top priority for over a quarter of business leaders, as companies seek to improve workplace culture in a competitive hiring market. More →

March 4, 2020

Workers would swap jobs to escape an unpleasant workspace

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Workplace design

Almost half of employees in the UK would be willing to leave their job because of an unappealing office, according to a new survey of almost 1,000 UK office workers. The research, carried out by Matthews & Goodman, claims that 44 percent of workers would ‘definitely’ look for a new job because of an unpleasant workspace. In addition, a further 45 percent said it ‘might’ encourage them to look around for a new job. More →

March 3, 2020

Attitudes to risk of climate change are shifting dramatically

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

Britons suggest climate change is one of the most important issues facing the country in the next 20 years, claims research led by Cardiff University. A wide-ranging survey examining social attitudes to the risks and impacts of climate change suggested the issue was now second only to Brexit for the British public. The survey, carried out by a team of researchers from Cardiff University and Climate Outreach, also highlighted rising public concern about storms, flooding and, in particular, heatwaves, and suggested strong support for policies to address these. More →

March 3, 2020

Too afraid to raise a workplace issue?

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

Over half of American workers feel they have no one to turn to with a workplace issue, claims new research. The survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Bambee asked 2,000 employed Americans about their thoughts toward human resources departments and who they would go to if they had an issue in the workplace. Thirty-two percent of those surveyed without a human resources department or representative said they don’t know who they would go to with questions or concerns — or wouldn’t go to anyone at all. More →

March 3, 2020

Accountants call for IR35 to be scrapped

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

Accountants are wary about the impact that the government’s IR35 off-payroll tax reforms will have on the UK’s contracting industry and would like to see them repealed altogether, a new survey claims. According to research by FreeAgent, an accounting software provider, 95 percent of UK accountants believe that the reforms will have a negative impact on the UK’s contracting industry when they are implemented in April this year and call for them to be scrapped.

• 84 percent call for private sector “off-payroll” reforms to be abolished
• 95 percent believe IR35 will negatively impact UK’s contracting industry More →

January 28, 2020

Failure to put employees at heart of data strategy costs UK firms £10bn in lost productivity

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology

A new report from Qlik and Accenture, titled “The Human Impact of Data Literacy” and conducted on behalf of The Data Literacy Project, claims that while most organisations understand the incredible opportunity of data, a gap has emerged between organisations’ aspirations to be data-driven and their employees’ ability to create business value with data. The report argues that data is a ‘gold mine’ that can fuel a culture of innovation and growth as part of a data strategy. However, when employees struggle to make sense of data, productivity and business value can be affected.

January 20, 2020

UK based workers are amongst least likely to take sick days in Europe

by Jayne Smith • News

According to time and attendance data from 2019 compiled by Mitrefinch, 53 percent more sick days were taken in January in the UK compared to all other months of the year. However, the data also suggests that UK based workers took just 4.4 days leave for sickness last year, the fourth lowest in Europe. More →

January 16, 2020

Employers shift focus to wellbeing and employee benefits

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing

New research from Aon claims that employers have increased their strategic focus on both emotional and financial wellbeing programmes, while physical wellbeing programmes have remained largely static. Aon’s UK Benefits & Trends 2020 Survey (registration) shows that 51 percent of employers now have financial wellbeing strategies in place, up from 21 percent three years ago, while 68 percent have emotional wellbeing strategies, up from 41 percent. These were the least developed pillars of employee wellbeing when Aon asked organisations in its 2017 UK Health Survey. More →

January 16, 2020

Business ethics and morality have their limitations, new analysis suggests

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

Morality has its limitations in the business domain, according to a new analysis of available research by Dr Hannes Leroy from Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) Erasmus University and his co-authors. This is despite the fact that there is a widespread belief that morality and business ethics matter in the way organisations act, although there is also a concomitant belief that there is a general lack of attention to morality in the world of leadership. This appears to be true regardless of industry, firm size, or the status and level of a leader in a company. More →

January 15, 2020

Energy demand in offices should be cut by 60 percent, report claims

by Jayne Smith • Environment, Facilities management, News

Following a consultation exercise with industry and an analysis of the projected zero carbon energy capacity of the UK, UKGBC is recommending that the offices sector should reduce energy demand by an average of 60 percent by 2050 to help the UK achieve net zero. More →

January 15, 2020

Renewable energy should make up half of all supply by 2030

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

The share of renewables in global power should more than double by 2030 as part of a ‘decade of action’ to advance global energy transformation, achieve sustainable development goals and a pathway to climate safety, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Renewable electricity should supply 57 per cent of global power by the end of the decade, up from 26 per cent today. More →