November 16, 2017
Impostor syndrome could be holding back workers and senior executives
Impostor syndrome (where we feel like we are ‘faking it’ at the job we are doing) could be holding back many senior executives from realising their potential – according to new research from Dropbox on the state of teamwork within businesses in the UK. The research, which marks the launch of a new study, conducted in conjunction with philosophers at The School of Life reveals that 80 percent of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and 81 percent of Managing Directors say they sometimes feel ‘out of their depth’ and as if they are ‘struggling’ in their role. The research investigates behaviours in business that are limiting to great teamwork. Being averse to disagreeing with others – often seen as a typically British trait – is identified as a key issue holding back teams within British business. The data also claims that two thirds of British workers (69 percent) say that they aren’t comfortable disagreeing with others at work.
Two in five employees have pulled a sickie in the last year and half, and a million have pulled more than eight, with stress, ‘couldn’t be bothered working’ and hangovers the top reasons for absence, a new report claims. According to research conducted by Citation, 41 percent of employees confessed to pulling at least one sickie in the last year, and 18 to 24-year-olds were markedly more likely to pull a sickie than any other age group, with just under two thirds (6 percent) admitting to doing so. Just 12 percent of employees aged 65+ said they had lied about an illness in the last year. Men are twice as likely as women to pull a sickie because they are hungover, and women are almost 10 percent more likely pull a sickie because they are feeling stressed.
Most private sector workers are still not pushing for pay rises, despite falling real wages and low unemployment, according to the latest quarterly CIPD/The Adecco Group Labour Market Outlook survey. Only a quarter (24 percent) of employers in the private sector say they are under some or significant pressure to raise wages from the majority of their workforce, while almost four in ten private sector firms (38 percent) say they face no pressure at all to raise wages. The most common reason given by private sector employers (23 percent) for the lack of pressure to raise wages is a recognition among workers that the business cannot afford more generous pay increases, underlining the productivity challenge many firms face. The survey of more than 2,000 UK employers shows a slightly higher proportion of private sector employers (36 percent) cite either some or significant pay pressure to raise wages for certain roles, particularly among high and middle-skilled jobs.
There are ongoing dual narratives in UK economy caused by the 2016 Brexit vote, the latest Morgan McKinley October Employment Monitor suggests. On the one hand, a new report by Colliers International dubbed London Europe’s top economic City. On the other hand, institutions are stubbornly stuck in limbo, and the fear of major jobs losses looms thick in the sky, keeping hiring low. “The economic tug of war that Brexit kicked off means we still have no idea quite where we’ll land,” said Hakan Enver, Operations Director, Morgan McKinley Financial Services. October was the lowest jobs month of 2017, a possible indication that the closing months of the year will be especially quiet. Job seekers increased by 6 percent month-on-month, but were down just under 40 percent year-on-year. The trajectories are in line with the overall dual trends of 2017. Jobs available were down 14 percent month-on-month and 20 percent year-on-year. Given the underlying health of the economy, Brexit looks to be the main culprit for the job market attrition.
Office rents have begun to slip across Central London, and the chief reasons could be uncertainty around the outcome of the Brexit talks and the UK seemingly missing out on the rising level of global trade, suggests Cluttons’ London Office Market Bulletin Autumn 2017. While the report highlights that many locations in Central London have seen headline office rents hold steady for the better part of two years, rent free periods have been moving out in order to sustain this, but now appear to be at a critical tipping point, level, which is driving some landlords to consider alternative incentives, such as delayed completions. Freddie Pritchard-Smith, Head of commercial office agency at Cluttons said: “Many firms remain nervous about making a long-term commitment to more space, choosing either flexible overflow space or to reconfigure within their existing office. The exception to this of course remains the serviced office and TMT sectors, who have helped transactional levels in the West End to surpass 4 million sq ft already this year, which is paradoxical to the falling rental conditions.”
Over half (52 percent) of people who work remotely feel their colleagues don’t treat them equally, claims a new study. Working remotely has become a highly sought-after job perk and having the flexibility to live and work where you please, regardless of corporate headquarters, often draws people to take one job over another. But a survey from VitalSmarts produced by David Maxfield and Joseph Grenny, authors of the bestsellers Crucial conversations and Crucial Accountability, found that remote employees have a significantly harder time with a number of workplace challenges than their onsite colleagues. 67 percent of remote employees complained that colleagues didn’t fight for their priorities compared 59 percent of onsite employees. 41 percent of remote employees believed colleagues say bad things about them behind their back compared to 31 percent of onsite employees and 64 percent of remote employees had changes made to a project without warning vs. 58 percent of onsite employees. Over a third (35 percent) of remote employees thought colleagues were lobbying against them vs. 26 percent of onsite employees.
Despite recent figures indicating that work productivity is down in Britain, the UK remains a highly attractive country for employers and employees based on a combination of talent, location, quality of life and cost, according to the latest edition of Colliers International’s European Cities of Influence report. The analysis of 50 major European economic cities for employers saw London retain its top position, with all other UK cities in the analysis featuring in the top 20 (Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol and Glasgow).The report finds that quality of life factors are important to accelerate business and attract talent with the research revealing that the nature of workplace strategy is evolving so rapidly that keeping up — let alone staying ahead of the curve — can be a challenge. Employers are now focused on creating a workplace that can attract and retain talent by incorporating co-working and collaborative facilities, flexible working options and ingraining a healthy mindset. With the onus on keeping employees happy and productive, the design and utilization of the workplace is helping to accelerate business productivity more than ever before.
Banking and finance companies within the FTSE 100 have increased gender and ethnic diversity at board level, but there remains a question over whether minorities can break through the glass ceiling, as many of the top roles in banking and finance companies (Chair, CEO & CFO) remain a closed shop for ethnic minority and female leaders. This is according to a new study from Green Park which claims the leadership pipeline, supplying the highest tier of management in FTSE 100 banking and finance companies, now features the highest level of ethnic minority talent in four years, including 15 percent of professionals with a non-white background compared with 5 percent of leadership pipelines for FTSE 100 companies overall and 6.5 percent in 2014. The banking and finance sector has also met the target set by Lord Davies that 25 percent of board members should be female. However, this has been updated by the Hampton-Alexander Review to a target of 33 percent by 2020, which suggests that banking and finance companies will still need to do more to increase the proportion of female leaders in their leadership pipelines.
November 10, 2017
Warnings of widening gender pay gap as women are hit hardest by low pay
by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace
It is Equal Pay Day today (Friday 10th November) – the day in the year which is marked in the calendar as the one where women start to work for free, and the campaigning charity the Fawcett Society has warned that the pay gap is actually widening for some groups of women and will now take 100 years to close, based on the current rate of change. Research by the Living Wage Foundation published to mark the day has also revealed women are hit hardest by low pay in the UK. Women make up nearly two thirds (62 percent) of workers currently struggling to make ends meet on less than the real Living Wage claims the Foundation, which amounts to 3.4 million women compared to 2.1 million men. Nearly 1/3 of all UK working women (26 percent) are still earning less than the Living Wage, compared to just 16 percent of all working men. And this trend has been the case since 2011, when KPMG and the Living Wage Foundation launched its annual Living Wage report.
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