August 3, 2016
Third of people have nobody to talk to about stress, claims report 0
A new survey by office products supplier Viking claims that a third of workers suffer from stress and yet have no one to talk to about it. The authors of the study claims that these findings correlate strongly with people’s overall levels of fulfilment at work, with 46 percent of those surveyed saying they had negative thoughts about their job several times a week. When it comes to a person’s working environment, the results showed that office workers were more stressed than those working from home. Factors that contributed to these stress levels included working overtime, not taking enough breaks, having no one to talk to, job satisfaction, pressure to succeed. It’s no surprise that a lack of breaks is causing stress, with half of office workers admitting to taking no breaks at all during the day, excluding lunch. Conversely, a massive 61 percent of people working from home said they took two to three breaks throughout the day.
The legal status of people working in the gig economy must be clarified so that businesses and individuals can thrive, according to a new report from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC). 
Screening sporting events in the workplace may increase productivity, according to research released by employment law specialist Peninsula. In a survey of 894 employees across the UK, 64 percent reported being more productive as being allowed to watch sporting events at work. The survey, which claims to examine how businesses managed employees during the first half of the summer of sports also revealed that 46 percent of employees want clearer policies regarding watching sporting events at work. This related to the fact that employers only showed certain games during Euro2016 and didn’t show any of the Wimbledon tournament. 51 percent of respondents also called for employers to be more flexible during major sporting games allowing them to start late, leave early or swap with colleagues. 24 percent said that a lack of flexibility would encourage their decision to call in sick in order to watch their favourite sporting event.
A new study published to coincide with Smarter Working Day (today, apparently) claims that almost half of UK workers (48 percent) don’t think their current employee benefits package is tailored to their needs. The study of 1,000 UK workers published by payroll lending provider SalaryFinance claims that 38 percent of UK workers currently have access to flexible working although only 26 percent say they prefer the chance of flexible working to financial and psychological wellbeing benefits. Fewer than one in five (19 percent) currently have access to benefits designed to support mental wellbeing, such as counselling services, and only one in four (26 percent) receive financial wellbeing support from their employer. In contrast, one in three (32 percent) receive ad hoc incentives such as free lunches, birthday cakes and duvet days. With 58 percent of people saying that their employer has never asked for feedback on their benefits programme, employers could be falling out of touch with the needs of staff, claims the research.
A rapidly ageing workforce is not just a challenge for Western economies. The government of China, the world’s second largest economy, has announced that it expects its workforce to decline by nearly a quarter (23 percent) between now and 2050 as the population ages and more and more jobs are automated. The Government is now considering raising the retirement age from 59 to 65 ahead of an anticipated sharp decline in the numbers of people of working age after 2030, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. A spokesman for the ministry forecast a fall of 211 million people of working age to 700 million by 2050. China’s demographic challenge is mirrored in many countries but has its own characteristics thanks to its strict and controversial decades-long 
Whether or not you raise an eyebrow every time you hear about the need for employee engagement, there is a growing body of research which links engagement to performance. 
A quarter (25 percent) of British workers would be willing to accept a lower salary in return for better ‘work perks’ a new survey claims. Employment bonuses, such as flexible working, a company car or free food have become increasingly popular over the last few years, which explains why 55 percent of UK workplaces already offer work perks, the survey suggests. Workers in Wales are most likely to accept a lower salary with almost a third saying they would accept a position for less money if it had better perks. The survey was commissioned by 
