December 14, 2016

Lack of free childcare dissuades workers from shared parental leave ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Just 5 percent of new fathers and 8 percent of new mothers have opted for Shared Parental Leave (SPL) since its introduction in April 2015 a new report claims. Just one organisation in five (21 percent) said they had received requests from male employees to take up SPL since April 2015 and in two-thirds (67 percent) of organisations with mothers eligible for SPL, none have opted in. This low take-up of (SPL) and the lack of affordable childcare options for parents with 0-2 year-olds are both major problems that need to be addressed to support working parents more effectively, according to ‘Labour Market Outlook: Focus on Working Parents’ from the CIPD. The survey of over 1,000 HR professionals also suggests that the lack of free childcare for 0-2 year-olds could be having a negative impact on women returning to work after maternity leave.

December 12, 2016

Can an organisation simply buy employee motivation? ⁰

by Matias Rodsevich • Comment, Workplace

It’s the end of the year and like in most companies it’s probably time to start calculating and reassessing your employee’s compensation. But can you actually use money to motivate and retain your employees? A study by Willis Towers Watson found that only 20 percent of employers in North America actually believe merit pay is effective in driving high performance. Traditionally money was seen as the main incentive used to motivate employees. Higher productivity results in higher salaries and bonuses. For companies, it’s been used as the main tool to attract, retain and engage their people. Today we’ve learned that the key to motivation is much more complex than that.

December 9, 2016

Baby boomers better off at work but their wellbeing must be managed ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A new report on the state of the public’s health and wellbeing, ‘Baby Boomers: Fit for the Future’, by Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England, advises that good quality work is good for baby boomers’ health and that employers have a role to play by helping their staff to remain healthy enough to stay in employment. According to the report on those aged between 50 and 70, there is an increasing body of evidence that for most people ‘good work’ is good for personal health, organisational productivity and economic prosperity. It also advises since many people define themselves and their position in society in terms of their job, staying in employment is also a significant contributor to self-esteem. The report also finds there is promising evidence that the continued social engagement that some people find in employment may defer the onset of cognitive decline and the risk of dementia.

December 8, 2016

Presenteeism culture in the US means sick staff spread colds and virus at work ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

In the United States where taking a sick day is frowned upon heavily and where the annual number of holiday days are around half of that of the UK, going to work when you’re ill is almost a mark of dedication. However, for the unfortunate colleagues of those who display such martyred behaviours, trying to avoid cold and flu in the workplace has reached desperate levels, as nearly half of people in a recent survey would give up a vacation day to a sick worker to ensure they don’t bring illness to the workplace. According to the seventh annual cold and flu season survey from Staples, while the workforce is keenly aware of the dangers as well as prevention tactics surrounding seasonal illness, personal accountability remains low, with nearly 80 percent of employees still going to work sick. This is despite the fact that employers increasingly appreciate that a sick employee at home is much preferable than one who has struggled into work.

December 8, 2016

Half of UK firms will hold Christmas parties but just a fifth offer bonuses or extra time off ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

We’re entering the office party season now so it’s time for the usual flurry of Christmas related research. We kick off the season with this from XpertHR which claims that the majority of companies it has polled will host company-wide parties (50.8 percent) or departmental Christmas lunches (47.2 percent), but there will be fewer Christmas gifts, bonuses awarded or additional time off for employees this year. Employers plan to spend an average of £93.33 and a median of £50 per employee on their Christmas celebrations – a figure which hasn’t changed significantly since the last time XpertHR conducted this survey in 2012/13, when the median spend was £42.82. However, fewer than one in five organisations (17.9 percent) will be offering employee gifts this year compared to 21.1 percent in 2012/2013 and just 18 employers will award Christmas bonuses, with no increases planned compared with last year.

December 7, 2016

Are these the best places to work in 2017? ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace, Workplace design

Recruitment site Glassdoor has announced the winners of its ninth annual Employees’ Choice Awards to find the best places to work in North America and parts of Europe. The Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback, by completing a company review, about their job, work environment and employer over the past year. This year, the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards feature six categories, honouring the Best Places to Work across the UK, US (both large and small companies), Canada, France and Germany. There is one category in the UK: 50 Best Places to Work (honouring employers with 1,000 or more employees). Winners are ranked based on their overall rating achieved during the past year. The top five UK Best Places to Work in 2017 are Expedia, ARM, HomeServeUK, Mott MacDonald and Hays plc

December 7, 2016

Business as usual for recruitment and retention in post-Brexit Britain … for now ⁰

by Oliver Watson • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, Workplace

On 24 June 2016 Britain voted for Brexit. The shock (and narrow) victory caused country-wide concern among the 48 percent of the voting public that favoured remain – apprehension seemingly justified by the immediate weakening of the pound, Cameron’s resignation and the start of ongoing political in-fighting. Speculation over job losses and potential hiring freezes added to a general sense of uncertainty, leaving some UK workers fearing their job security. Since then however, recruitment experts have somewhat softened their predictions for the UK job market as recent reports of month-on-month vacancy growth and record high employment rates have served to inspire confidence. Five months on, how has job applicant sentiment changed in the UK since the EU referendum vote? And what does this mean for businesses hiring in post-Brexit vote Britain? As part of our ongoing tracking of candidate confidence levels in the job market and their career prospects we analysed the responses of almost 28,000 job applicants across the UK and Republic of Ireland – from all ages, experiences and sector disciplines – to gauge how perspectives might have changed pre- and post-Brexit.

December 6, 2016

Sleep deprivation hits workplace health and productivity harder than we thought ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Politicians and corporate bosses who seems to pride themselves on being able to function on less than six hours of sleep a night are sending out the wrong message to the workforce, as recent research suggests that a lack of sleep among UK workers is costing the economy up to £40 billion a year, 1.86 per cent of the country’s GDP. According to researchers at the not-for-profit research organisation RAND Europe, sleep deprivation leads to a higher mortality risk and lower productivity levels among the workforce, which, when combined, has a significant impact on a nation’s economy. A person who sleeps on average less than six hours a night has a 13 per cent higher mortality risk than someone sleeping between seven and nine hours, researchers found, while those sleeping between six and seven hours a day have a 7 per cent higher mortality risk. The report, Why Sleep Matters – The Economic Costs of Insufficient Sleep, describes sleeping between seven and nine hours per night as the “healthy daily sleep range”.

December 6, 2016

The Work Foundation launches Commission on Good Work ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Company news, Workplace, Workplace design

The Work Foundation, part of Lancaster University, has launched a new Commission on Good Work. The commission will seek answers to key questions such as ‘why is a focus on good work so important now?’, ‘what does good work mean in a modern economy?’ and ‘how do we achieve good work?’ The initiative was launched by Work Foundation Director Lesley Giles who invited stakeholders from businesses, trade unions, professional bodies, and the public and voluntary sectors to be part of a ‘Good Work Taskforce.’ Supporting the launch were Sir Charlie Mayfield (John Lewis Partnership), Dame Fiona Kendrick (Nestle),Douglas McCormick (Sweett Group), Mark Keese (OECD), Gail Cartmail (Unite), Peter Cheese CIPD, Scott Johnson (a small business owner) and Professor Paul Sparrow (Lancaster University Management School).

December 6, 2016

Leading companies around the world show support for LGBT workplace equality ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Record number of major companies and law firms are advancing vital policies and practices to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) workers around the world. This is according to the 2017 Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the US’ largest LGBTQ civil rights organization. This year, a record-breaking 517 businesses earned the CEI’s top score of 100, up from 407 last year. That’s a single-year increase of more than 25 percent — the largest jump in the 15-year history of the United State’s premiere benchmarking tool for LGBT workplace equality. Leadership demonstrated by these businesses, reflect more than a decade of work inside these companies to expand LGBT, and particularly transgender, workplace equality. The Corporate Equality Index (CEI), launched in 2002 to assess LGBT-inclusive policies and practices at Fortune 500 companies, also highlights how corporate leaders are increasingly stepping up to play a leading role in opposing anti-equality legislation. Through their actions, taken as LGBTQ workers and customers have been facing a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures across the US, business leaders are building on their longstanding commitment to expanding workplace equality for LGBTQ people.

December 5, 2016

The strange future of work + New edition of Work&Place + Workplace irritations ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Legal news, Newsletter, Technology, Wellbeing, Work&Place, Workplace, Workplace design

In this week’s Newsletter; Mark Eltringham dissects the current obsession with engagement and motivation; and from the Winter 2016 issue of Work&Place which is now available to view online; discusses the future of work and place in the 21^st century. We discover why creativity in the workplace is a prime engagement tool; that 85 percent of employers believe workplace automation will create more jobs than it will replace; however, in the now, technology issues cause the most lost time for SMEs. One in three lawyers would not feel comfortable even beginning the conversation about flexible working with their employer; a fifth of employees are distressed by political discussions in the workplace and employers urged to develop strategies to help retain older workers. Download our new Briefing, produced in partnership with Boss Design on the link between culture and workplace strategy and design; visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

December 2, 2016

Fifth of employees are negatively affected by political talk in the office ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

It’s been a tumultuous year for political change, and in the UK, none more so than that of whether to stay or leave the European Union. We were still getting over the reactions to Brexit when Donald Trump secured the Presidential election. These events have made political discussions in the workplace near inescapable. But talking politics with colleagues can lead to all sorts of problems, particularly when there is a disagreement in political points of view. Probably more than any other year, the political results during 2016 have been increasingly divisive, with political discourse raised to an entirely new level of fractiousness and disagreement; leaving employees feeling stressed, more isolated from their colleagues, and less productive as a result. Unsurprisingly then, a survey of 1,000 employees conducted by HR and employment law specialist Peninsula claims that 1 in 5 employees are negatively affected by political talk in the workplace. The survey also discovered that 65 percent of employees avoid talking politics at work and 32 percent of employees reported that workplace hostility has increased because of political discussions at work.