About Neil Franklin

Neil Franklin is Insight's news editor

Posts by Neil Franklin:

Always on work cultures commonplace and harmful

Always on work cultures commonplace and harmful

Just under a third (29 percent) of employees agree with the idea that their workplace has an always on culture, but new research from Microsoft UK suggests that many more are adopting unhealthy ways of working that are having a profound impact on their wellbeing and personal lives. More →

Caring responsibilities mean 1 in 5 mid-life people quit jobs

Caring responsibilities mean 1 in 5 mid-life people quit jobs

Supercarers offer a range of caring servicesOver 2.6 million employees aged 45 and over expect that they will have to leave their jobs in order to care for a relative or partner, according to new research from Aviva. This equates to one in five (19 percent) employees in this age group. Many mid-life employees are opting to take on their relatives’ caring duties themselves as a means of minimising care bills, but this decision is coming at the expense of their career. More →

Workplaces should slow down and flex to improve wellbeing

Workplaces should slow down and flex to improve wellbeing

workplaces of the futureBy 2030 we will see dramatic change as office design creates hyper-flexible, human-centric workplaces to inspire new levels of productivity, according to the Workplace Futures report by Nespresso Professional and The Future Laboratory. This implies a fundamental shift not only in how offices look, but –more importantly -in the purpose they serve. More →

Flexible working is good for business, study claims

Flexible working is good for business, study claims

flexible working clocksThe overwhelming majority of Scottish business leaders who already offer staff some form of flexible working say it has had a positive impact on their business. The research, conducted by YouGov for Family Friendly Working Scotland, claims employers surveyed reported benefits to the business including increased productivity among workers (37 percent) and better staff retention (40 percent). Almost a third (30 percent) reported fewer staff were off sick, while other benefits included increased profit (17 percent) and better employee mental health and wellbeing (40 percent). More →

People switch their focus to work life balance at age 45

People switch their focus to work life balance at age 45

work life balanceMore than three in five UK adults (61 percent) favour work life balance over a high salary, according to a new study from Hitachi Personal Finance. The report also claims that it is those aged 45 and upwards who are most likely to seek out a better overall quality of life at the expense of other job priorities, with 82 percent of workers aged over 45 saying they would always opt for a better life balance over a high salary, given the choice, compared with 49 percent of under 45s. More →

The daily drag of poor workplace tech experience

The daily drag of poor workplace tech experience

workplace techA new analysis of data from 1.6 million employees generated by Nexthink suggests that companies could do better in terms of the experience of workplace tech they offer to workers. The Digital Experience Score data claims that while most companies understand the importance of providing the best experiences with IT for their employees they struggle to quantify it and so can’t always identify and address problems. The challenge is particularly evident for larger corporations.

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Wellbeing issues dog growing number of men unable to find work

Wellbeing issues dog growing number of men unable to find work

wellbeing issues for unemployed menA new IZA World of Labor report suggests that the number of prime-age males who exist outside the labour force is increasing worldwide. The report claims that this development goes hand in hand with a decrease in wellbeing for the men themselves driven by higher levels of stress and has a wide range of economic and social consequences. More →

Automation now attracts workers to jobs

Automation now attracts workers to jobs

A new report is urging employers to promote their investment in automation and technology when recruiting to avoid missing out on top talent. The What Workers Want 2019 Report (registration), released by Hays, claims that although 70 percent of organisations are investing in automation, nearly a quarter (24 percent) of employers do not currently promote their investment when recruiting. More →

People spend under half their time doing their actual job

People spend under half their time doing their actual job

People are only spending around 40 percent of each day doing the things they are paid to do. This means that UK businesses are missing the opportunity to tap into underused potential, due to unproductive activities and misapplied technologies, according to the new 2020 State of Work report (registration) by Workfront. More →

The subtle ways managers sabotage their own teams

The subtle ways managers sabotage their own teams

A new survey new research from The Predictive Index found that psychological safety is a leading factor in employee dissatisfaction with management. While there are overt ways managers undermine their own employees’s feelings of safety with practices such as bad-mouthing people or displaying favouritism, the 2019 People Management Report (registration) also reveals the subtle ways managers sabotage their teams, ultimately causing employees to quit or disengage. More →

Workplace perks peak as workers see them mainly as gimmicks

Workplace perks peak as workers see them mainly as gimmicks

workplace perks peakNew research from travel app provider Seatfrog claims that workers are looking for more than just fun or unusual workplace perks to brag about to their friends when starting a job. While on-site table tennis, a free bar and unlimited snacks has become commonplace in the war to attract talent, especially in the technology sector, around three in five of the 2,000 people surveyed dismiss perks as nothing short of a gimmick.  More →

UK organisations falling behind on AI

UK organisations falling behind on AI

Image from Microsoft AI reportUK organisations risk falling behind global competitors unless they act now to accelerate their use of AI technology, according to a new report unveiled today by Microsoft UK. The report claims that organisations currently using AI are now outperforming those that are not by 11.5 percent – a boost that, in the face of unprecedented economic and political uncertainty, UK businesses can ill-afford to pass up, the authors suggest. More →