A new study from tech recruiter CWJobs claims to identify what it calls the ‘staggering level’ of ageism that IT and tech workers face at work. From seemingly innocuous comments to being overlooked for promotion in favour of younger colleagues, a worrying number of the UK’s tech-sector employees are facing daily hurdles to prove they’re not yet a career ‘dinosaur’. Well over a third (41 percent) of IT and tech-sector workers said they have observed age discrimination in the workplace, compared to 27 percent average across other UK industries.  It’s no surprise then that 61 percent of workers in the sector answered ‘yes’ when asked if, in the tech industry employees experience prejudice when considered to be older, the highest of any UK sector. More →

As 2020 approaches, HR leaders are focused on five key measures to continue driving business outcomes, according to a report from Gartner. The priorities include: building critical skills and competencies, strengthening the current and future leadership bench, incorporating organisational design and change management, driving digital business transformation, and enhancing employee experience. More →

Following the recent Gartner study describing the unpreparedness of the HR function for the future of work, another report is exhorting managers to step things up. According to the KPMG International global Future of HR survey, close to 3 in 5 (57 percent) Human Resources executives believe that if their function doesn’t modernise its approach to understanding and planning for the future needs of the workforce, it will rapidly become irrelevant within the modern organisation. More →

New research published today by City & Guilds Group claims that the UK risks being left behind as employers across the world race to upskill their workers. As digitalisation and fluctuating economies transform the skills needed in the workplace today, employees are less confident than their bosses that they’ll have skills they need for the future. The study, conducted by City & Guilds Group business Kineo, surveyed 6500 employees and 1300 employers across 13 international markets. It found that employers in developing countries with rapidly emerging economies are among the most likely to ramp up investment in upskilling their workforce in the near future, compared to developed economies such as the UK.

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Fewer than one-fifth of HR leaders believe that performance management is effective at achieving its primary objective, according to a report from Gartner (registration). Though companies have been prioritising performance management improvements for years, 81 percent of HR leaders are still making changes and experimenting with their organisation’s efforts, according to the report. Most efforts to fix the issues are centred on reducing effort with the survey claiming that two-thirds of HR leaders focused on making processes either easier or less time consuming. However, reducing the effort managers and employees must put into the systems has significant negative effects. More →

Although the stuttering resolution of the Brexit issue has had a mixed impact on the economy so far, a new study claims that the effects can be discerned in the jobs market. The number of vacancies has dropped below 1 million for the first time in over four years, after losing a total of 132,201 jobs in the past 12 months according to the latest research from job search engine Adzuna.co.uk. The Energy, Oil and Gas industry has seen just over a third of jobs wiped from the job market in the past 12 months as Brexit uncertainty continues to unsettle the job market. Domestic work has seen an equal number of jobs lost in the past 12 months (34 percent). More →