Digital transformation and flexible workforce will help drive growth, say senior managers

Digital transformation and flexible workforce will help drive growth, say senior managers 0

by • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Implementing new technologies over the next 12 months is of primary importance for  senior managers, with nearly two-fifths of finance directors saying digital transformation is one of their greatest priorities. Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, chief financial officers (CFOs) are focusing on increasing profitability (41 percent) and driving overall company growth (39 percent) in the year ahead, according to research from, Robert Half Management Resources which claims that CFOs and finance directors (FDs) will assume more responsibility for balancing traditional financial responsibilities with developing business strategy. The use of temporary and interim professionals also looks set to continue with a third of CFOs and FDs planning to use temporary staff for business transformation projects to either fill vacated positions or support active expansion. In the long-term, 31 percent of finance executives plan to actively add new permanent positions to implement the company’s digitisation and automation efforts over the next 12 months.

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MPs criticise the Government’s response to gender pay gap recommendations

MPs criticise the Government’s response to gender pay gap recommendations 0

by • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

MPs criticise the Government's response to gender pay gap recommendations

If the Government will fail to achieve its goal of eliminating the gender pay gap in a generation if it continues to ignore the evidence which it is being given, a cross-party committee of MPs has said. The Women and Equalities Committee is disappointed with the Government’s response to a series of recommendations it put forward last March, which it says shows that the Government is not effectively tackling the structural causes of the gender pay gap. While the Government’s recognises the business case for reducing the gender pay gap and acknowledges structural factors contributing to the pay gap, including women doing jobs for which they are overqualified, concentration in part-time work, and being penalised for taking time out of work to raise children; it rejects most of the Committee’s seventeen evidence-based recommendations for addressing these issues. Instead it highlights gender pay gap reporting, as “key to accelerating progress,” and maintains that current policies on Shared Parental Leave, flexible working, and supporting women back into work are adequate.

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We need to rethink everything we know about self-employment and the gig economy

We need to rethink everything we know about self-employment and the gig economy 0

by • Flexible working, News

The rise in self-employment is being led by workers in relatively ‘privileged’ high-skilled, higher-paying sectors such as advertising and banking rather than the gig economy. Their considerable tax advantages over employees, rather than new technology and the gig economy, are central to the rapid growth in self-employment, according to a new analysis published by the Resolution Foundation. Self-employed workers in the larger but slower growing ‘precarious’ sectors that have dominated the recent public debate, enjoy a much lower tax advantages over employees but still miss out on important pay and employment rights. The analysis shows that 60 per cent of the growth in self-employment since 2009 has been in ‘privileged’ sectors, despite them making up just 40 per cent of the self-employed. The fastest growing sectors have been advertising (100 per cent growth), public administration (90 per cent), and banking (60 per cent). The remaining 40 per cent of the growth in self-employment has come in more ‘precarious’ sectors, such as construction and cleaning. The Foundation notes that despite the focus on Uber in recent years, the sector that includes taxis is actually only up 7 per cent since 2009, a third of the 22 per cent growth in self-employment up as a whole.

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Always on culture of work is literally killing people

Always on culture of work is literally killing people 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Workers in the City of London are often more stressed about work when at home than in the office, claims a new peer reviewed study published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.  The study of workers at some of London’s major banks suggests that more than half find they are more stressed when trying to balance their home and professional lives with the result that they are more at risk of cardiovascular disease. The stress levels of participants were measured using wrist monitors and found that there are significant spikes in heart rates when people interrupt their domestic lives with work. The authors conclude that the culture of always on working is literally killing people.

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HR set to be the powerhouse of business in the open economy of 2020

HR set to be the powerhouse of business in the open economy of 2020 0

by • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

A new report commissioned by Samsung claims that by 2020, the impact that changes in society and technology will have upon the future of the workplace will elevate Human Resources (HR) to a powerful new role. The arrival of what Samsung calls the open economy will create a new environment in which a breed of ultra-flexible freelancers will prosper. Their arrival will present great opportunities for those organisations that embrace them but there will be significant challenges as well. Automation will be increasingly prevalent, but human skills will also rise in value as whole new job categories will be created around creativity, human judgement and intuition capabilities –positioning HR at the forefront of dealing with the significant industry changes. Emerging technology and artificial intelligence will undoubtedly create great change in many industries but it will also release human workers from mundane and repetitive tasks, liberating a workforce where human judgement and expertise becomes the centre of any organisation’s human resources.

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Employees demand end to rigid structures and siloed working practises

Employees demand end to rigid structures and siloed working practises 0

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Employees demand less rigid structures and siloed working practisesEmployees would like more freedom and flexibility at work with over half believing that the structure and culture of their workplaces are holding them back from doing their job more effectively (55 percent and 53 percent respectively). That’s according to new research from ILM, which has launched a new report calling for workplaces across the UK to foster a more collaborative culture in order to boost business success. The research found that more than a third (34 percent) of UK employees felt they worked in a regulated and controlled structure. When asked how they’d like to change their company culture, the top answer was more freedom and flexibility (35 percent) followed by more innovation and creativity (32 percent). Three quarters (74 percent) of employees say they would like more freedom at work. Although employers tend to agree with the need for teams to have more freedom, with two in five (40 percent) saying they’d like a more flexible culture, more would prefer to champion innovation and creativity (46 percent), indicating a disconnect between the way that businesses and their people are keen to work.

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Germany most popular country for career relocation, despite lack of flexible working

Germany most popular country for career relocation, despite lack of flexible working 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Nearly three quarters of European employees would consider career opportunities abroad, with Germany voted the most desirable place to work claims a new study of nearly 10,000 working adults across Europe. According to research by ADP which looked at how employees feel about the future of work, international competitiveness and talent management, European employees have a strong appetite for international work, as almost three quarters (74 percent) would consider other countries for career opportunities. At 21 percent, Germany tops the list of most popular places to relocate, with the United Kingdom (15 percent) and France (12 percent) in second and third place; with North America surprisingly coming in much further down the list in 12th place. Despite their popularity, Germany, the UK and France aren’t particularly strong in any of the areas measured in the survey, such as skills and development, flexible working options and stress in the workplace.

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Millennials now less likely to give up job security, but still want flexible work

Millennials now less likely to give up job security, but still want flexible work 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Millennials less likely to leave security of their jobs, but still want flexible work

Millennials are less likely to leave the security of their jobs this year as the events of 2016; terror attacks in Europe, Brexit, and a contentious US presidential election appear to have rattled their confidence. This is according to Deloitte’s sixth annual Millennial Survey of nearly 8,000 millennials from 30 countries, which found that the “loyalty gap” between those who saw themselves leaving their companies within two years and those who anticipated staying beyond five years has moved from 17 percentage points last year to seven points. The desire for security is also apparent in the finding that, while millennials perceive across-the-board advantages of working as freelancers or consultants, nearly two-thirds said they prefer full-time employment. Those in highly flexible organizations appear to be much more loyal to their employers and are two-and-a-half times more likely to believe that flexible working practices have a positive impact on financial performance than those in more restrictive organizations. Three-quarters of those offered flexible working opportunities say they trust colleagues to respect it, and 78 percent feel trusted by their line managers.

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Level of wellbeing higher for those who ‘wind-down’ into retirement

Level of wellbeing higher for those who ‘wind-down’ into retirement 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

New research into the effect of retirement on wellbeing commissioned by The What Works Centre for Wellbeing claims that those who gradually reduce their working time with more flexible hours improve their levels of wellbeing. The study looked at all existing research and found that part-time working towards the end of our careers improves life satisfaction. It advises that employers should support older workers to ‘wind-down’ into retirement with bridging jobs or reduce their working hours to avoid poor wellbeing, a new international study reveals. However, the research highlights that this depends on whether employees had control over when they retired, rather than being forced out through ill health or restructuring. If people take up bridging jobs because of financial strain, their wellbeing drops. Even after accounting for income and health, wellbeing is higher for those who have control over the timing or plan for their retirement, and voluntary retirees derive greater pleasure from free time in retirement. On the contrary, wellbeing is lower for those who are involuntarily retired, especially due to health reasons.

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Gender pay gap for Millennials is closing, but for the wrong reasons

Gender pay gap for Millennials is closing, but for the wrong reasons 0

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Gender pay gap for Millennials is closing, but for the wrong reasons

Millennial men are earning less than Generation Y did in their earlier careers reflecting a shift towards young men doing low paid work traditionally carried out by women. In his Grigor McClelland lecture on 21st century inequality to Manchester Business School yesterday, Resolution Foundation Director Torsten Bell drew on upcoming research for the Foundation’s Intergenerational Commission on the labour market prospects for younger generations, which highlights the stark gender differences on inter-generational progress on pay. According to the data, Millennial men have earned less than Generation X men in every year between the ages of 22 and 30, resulting in a cumulative pay deficit during their 20s of £12,500. In contrast millennial women have experienced neither generational pay progress or decline. This has narrowed the gender pay gap for millennials, but for the wrong reasons, a shift towards lower-skilled jobs, often part-time, which have stunted the pay progress of young men.

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Take up of flexible space confirms London’s status as a global coworking pioneer

Take up of flexible space confirms London’s status as a global coworking pioneer 0

by • Flexible working, News, Property

The ‘gig economy’ continues to drive London’s thriving flexible workplace sector which accounted for 8.8 percent of total office take-up in 2016, according to a new study from Cushman & Wakefield. The report claims that the pace of development will continue for the foreseeable future, not least because of the number of corporate occupiers taking on coworking space. Flexible office space accounted for more than 4.5m sq ft of take up in London over the past five years as the capital has cemented its place as the leading global market for coworking, according to the research. In 2016, flexible office take-up amounted to 842,888 sq ft across Central London, representing 8.8 percent of total take-up – slightly above the five-year average of 8.4 percent.

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Employers urged to create age friendly workplaces to help retain older workers

Employers urged to create age friendly workplaces to help retain older workers 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employers urged create age friendly workplaces to help retain older workers

Employers should provide full and equal access to flexible working arrangements, occupational health support and appropriate workplace adaptations to help older workers to manage health conditions at work. This is according to a new report from the Centre for Ageing Better, Fulfilling work: what do older workers value about work and why? which identifies the characteristics of work that are important to people aged 50 and over, and explores actions employers can take to attract and retain them. Understanding what older workers want is the first step in helping employers, policy makers and others create age-friendly workplaces. By 2020, one in three workers will be over 50 but while the employment rate for all working age adults remains at a record high of nearly 75%, for people over 60, this falls to around 50%. and there are currently 12 million people heading towards an insufficient retirement income. Ageing Better commissioned the Institute of Employment Studies to carry out the study as to ways of helping people stay at work and the report finds that health is the most important factor affecting older workers’ decisions to continue in work, ahead of job satisfaction and job quality.

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