Vast majority of stress not caused by work but home life

Vast majority of stress not caused by work but home life

 

Stress can be caused by numerous factors, but work often isn’t the main culprit, according to a report from The Health Insurance Group. The company runs regular forums for their staff to discuss their mental wellbeing, and life outside work consistently ranks as the biggest cause of stress. As businesses look to support the mental wellbeing of their staff, it’s important they recognise that support needs to extend to home life too – not just work. More →

Work-life balance and workload are the biggest drivers of stress

Half of today’s workers are stressed by their job with one in five (17 percent) finding their work very stressful, according to new global research from LinkedIn. The research showed that millennial workers are more concerned than their seniors about having a sense of purpose and belonging in the workplace, but overall they’re the generation that’s least stressed at work. Both Gen X and the Baby Boomer generation proved to be more stressed at work, with a fifth (19 percent) of Gen X finding work very stressful. The data showed that the top five cause of stress at work are work/life balance and workload; confidence in job future; a sense of purpose and direction; colleagues and work politics; and access to tools to do your job.

More →

Uncertain times demand a new approach to strategic people management

Uncertain times demand a new approach to strategic people management

A street scene of workers in LondonIs the management of people in organisations today really about growing the long-term value of an employers’ most important asset in an increasing uncertain and skills-short labour market? Or is it more to do with continuing to drive costs down and shareholder returns up; and meeting the bare minimum standards required by legislation? The Institute for Employment’s (IES) latest research, carried out in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), looks at the reality of people management and comes up with some generally positive findings and conclusions. More →

UK employees work £3.2 billion in unpaid overtime every week

UK employees work £3.2 billion in unpaid overtime every week

Three workers discuss a project around a tableThe UK is the unpaid overtime capital of Europe. This is according to new research by ADP (registration), which has found that employees are giving away an average of £5,038 of their time every year, amounting to £164.8 billion annually across the working population. The study of over 1,400 UK employees reveals that two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents regularly work longer than their contracted hours, with respondents averaging 6.3 hours unpaid per week. However, for more than a fifth (22 percent) of employees, this rises to at least 10 hours per week – twice as many as in other European countries, including Germany and France (10 percent and 12 percent respectively). More →

Black and other minority workers more likely to be in insecure work, claims TUC

Black and other minority workers more likely to be in insecure work, claims TUC

Black and minority ethnic workers are far more likely to be trapped in temporary and insecure work, according to a new TUC analysis published to mark the start of its annual Black Workers Conference. The analysis claims  to show how BME workers are faring worse than white workers in the jobs market. More →

Rise of grey entrepreneurs: 1 in 10 Brits would like to start their own business in retirement

Rise of grey entrepreneurs: 1 in 10 Brits would like to start their own business in retirement

Aviva’s Retirement Reality Report claims that for some people retirement is a time when they would like to travel (47 percent), take up a new hobby or continue with old ones (29 percent). However, many think retirement is also a good time to start their own business. That’s according to a survey of 2,010 UK employed adults, aged 22-65 years, conducted on behalf of Aviva by Censuswide. More →

Signs that somebody is about to quit are there nine months in advance

Signs that somebody is about to quit are there nine months in advance

The first signs that an employee is considering quitting appear clearly nine months before they actually depart, with declining loyalty as a key indicator, claims a study called The 9-month warning: understanding why people quit—before it’s too late (registration) from Peakon. Based on more than 33 million employee survey responses across 125 countries, the study also claims that the key factors that drive a person to quit include unchallenging work, the inability to discuss pay and no clear path for career/personal growth. In most cases, people quit because of poor managers, not because of colleagues or company culture, the study suggests. More →

Are these the best countries for parental leave worldwide?

Are these the best countries for parental leave worldwide?

Following the TUC’s recent call for an overhaul of shared parental leave rights, a new interactive study created by Red Letter Days claims to display just how many babies are born every minute in 169 countries and what each has to offer its citizens when they become a parent, such as maternity and paternity leave as well as outlining the benefits of having both maternity and paternity leave in place. Estonia tops the list as one of the best countries for maternity leave, offering 62 weeks for new mums, while the United States remains at the bottom with zero weeks of guaranteed leave. More →

Insecure managers can cause huge damage to their organisations

Insecure managers can cause huge damage to their organisations

Insecure managers have negative effect on workplace performanceInsecure managers who worry that their performance could be undermined by competent subordinates can end up ostracising talented employees they feel are a threat to their own position. According to an paper published in The International Journal of Human Resource Management by Professor Kirk Chang of the University of Salford Business School and his research team, managers whose negativity towards staff they see as threats can go on to cause huge damage to their organisations. Professor Chang, an expert in human resource management, said: “While the competence of subordinates is considered desirable in the workplace, it may create challenges in managing people in organisations.”

More →

CIPD warns stress related absence is a growing problem for UK workplaces

CIPD warns stress related absence is a growing problem for UK workplaces

CIPD warns stress related absence is a growing problem in UK workplaces

Heavy workloads and poor management styles are behind the increase of nearly two-fifths (37 percent) in stress-related absences over the past year, according to a new report from the CIPD and Simplyhealth. Respondents say having heavy workloads (62 percent), which can be attributed to poor management, is the top cause of stress-related absence. The second biggest contributing factor is management style which has risen from 32 percent to 43 percent in the last year. The annual Health and Well-Being at Work Survey Report found that more than four-fifths (83 percent) of respondents have observed ‘presenteeism’ (going to work when ill) in their organisation and a quarter (25 percent) say the problem has got worse since the previous year.

More →

Ten employment law changes to look out for in the rest of 2019

Ten employment law changes to look out for in the rest of 2019

A row of legal booksThis year is set to be a busy year for HR and employment law. From post-Brexit immigration rule changes and gender pay gap reporting, to age discrimination at work, employers are faced with amended employment laws and new deadlines for their organisation to meet. These are ten important areas of the law that HR professionals and business owners need to be aware of. More →

Digital inclusion empowers women but does not lead to better jobs

Digital inclusion empowers women but does not lead to better jobs

A woman in a pair of smart glassesAll European regulatory frameworks cite technology as a key factor in promoting competitiveness and innovation, and right alongside it is its greatest tool, the population’s digital inclusion. Digital inclusion makes it possible to develop human capital able to adapt to labour market challenges and contributes to ensuring equal opportunities in terms of accessing online resources related to work, education and social participation. Is this inclusion, however, sufficient in itself to ensure improved economic status and equality? According to the results of a study produced by Lídia Arroyo, a researcher at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya IN3 GenTIC research group, the answer is no. More →