About Jayne Smith

Posts by Jayne Smith:

Employers shift focus to wellbeing and employee benefits

Employers shift focus to wellbeing and employee benefits

wellbeingNew 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 →

Business ethics and morality have their limitations, new analysis suggests

Business ethics and morality have their limitations, new analysis suggests

business ethics

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 →

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

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

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 →

Renewable energy should make up half of all supply by 2030

Renewable energy should make up half of all supply by 2030

renewable energyThe 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 →

Age discrimination now begins for tech workers at 29

Age discrimination now begins for tech workers at 29

A new study from tech recruiter CWJobs claims to identify what it calls the ‘staggering level’ of ageism that IT and tech workers face at work. From seemingly innocuous comments to being overlooked for promotion in favour of younger colleagues, a worrying number of the UK’s tech-sector employees are facing daily hurdles to prove they’re not yet a career ‘dinosaur’. Well over a third (41 percent) of IT and tech-sector workers said they have observed age discrimination in the workplace, compared to 27 percent average across other UK industries.  It’s no surprise then that 61 percent of workers in the sector answered ‘yes’ when asked if, in the tech industry employees experience prejudice when considered to be older, the highest of any UK sector. More →

The menopause and other female health issues should be addressed in better ways

The menopause and other female health issues should be addressed in better ways

the menopause affects women at workFrom menstruation to menopause, the challenges that come with being a woman at work is causing reoccurring career breaks, which are costing UK businesses, according to a new report from Bupa. As many as 11 million women have had to take a long-term leave of absence at some point during their working life, from their late teens to their early seventies. More →

Designers may be ignoring leadership style in quest for productive workplaces

Designers may be ignoring leadership style in quest for productive workplaces

productive workplacesLeadership styles are not considered in the design process for productive workplaces despite the majority of organisations agreeing they have a major impact on productivity. These are the latest findings in report authored by Leeson Medhurst, Director of 36 Workplace, The United Workplace (TUW) and WORKTECH Academy.  Productivity – linking Workplace Design to Leadership (registration) is the next chapter in a research conversation presented and discussed at WORKTECH London this week. The new report builds on “The Puzzle of Productivity: What enhances workplace performance?” that pointed to leadership as the major factor influencing workplace productivity. More →

UK could receive £83 billion GDP boost by halving regional productivity gap

UK could receive £83 billion GDP boost by halving regional productivity gap

UK productivityUK GDP could be boosted by 4 percent – or £83 billion – if local areas with below-average productivity levels could make up half of the gap, according to PwC’s latest UK Economic Outlook. The report examines UK regional productivity, revealing wide variations in domestic productivity per job, as well as from an international perspective. PwC concludes that UK output per worker is around 10-15 percent behind Germany, France and Sweden and more than 30 percent behind the US. More →

Three quarters of young workers have faced mental health challenges

Three quarters of young workers have faced mental health challenges

mental healthOver three-quarters (77 percent) of young workers in the UK have experienced mental health challenges, Accenture research suggests. In addition, nearly half (48 percent) of younger workers (aged 18-30) say they have experienced suicidal thoughts, but in organisations that are providing the right support, young workers were 37 percent less likely to have recent experience of a mental ill health challenge. More →

Gulf between the values of businesses and those of employees

Gulf between the values of businesses and those of employees

organisational valuesA new study from The Institute of Leadership & Management claims there is a significant gulf between the organisational values held by UK businesses and the personal values of their workers, and highlights the different values considered important to men and women, younger and older workers and between sectors. More →

Women may be struggling to climb career ladder because of their beliefs about competition

Women may be struggling to climb career ladder because of their beliefs about competition

Women might be less likely than men to go for opportunities in competitive workplaces because they don’t see as much of an upside to competition as men do, research by UCL School of Management and London Business School reveals. Women are on average less competitive than men. This gender difference has been explained largely by external factors such as the different evolutionary and social pressures men and women experience. Extending our current understanding of the gender difference in competitiveness, Dr. Sun Young Lee and Dr. Selin Kesebir reveal beliefs about competition as one source of the gender differences in competitive attitudes and behaviours. More →

People game hiring processes they know are carried out by an AI

People game hiring processes they know are carried out by an AI

people try game AI in hiring processNew research into job-seeker attitudes to digitisation, automation and AI in the recruitment process claims to reveal how job-seekers are cheating recruitment technology platforms, to better their chances of landing a job. Seven in ten (67 percent) job seekers admitted to deliberately using optimisation strategies to improve their chances of getting a job. The study, Hiring Humans vs. Recruitment Robots, from recruitment software provider TribePad canvassed the views of over 1,000 employees and job seekers in the UK. The report’s key claim is that, as technology continues to permeate the recruitment and HR industry, job-seekers are looking for ways to game the systems. More →