September 6, 2016

British workers miss fewer days at work than those in rest of Europe ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Ayming, a business performance consultancy, has released its 8th absenteeism barometer, analysing workplace absenteeism and employee engagement across Europe. The research claims that UK workers missed fewer days at work last year than anywhere else in Europe, with 84 percent of workers at work each day. That compared to 72 percent in the rest of Europe, including 71 percent in France. By gender, the proportion of women in the UK who were at work every day was 88 percent surpassing that of men (83 percent). Employees aged 26-30 had the lowest attendance record – only 71 percent missed no days at work – while employees aged 51-62 had an attendance record of 92 percent.Despite the fact that UK workers took less time off work, British workers had the smallest proportion of happy and motivated employees, at just 23 percent. By contrast, 46 percent of German and 54 percent of Dutch employees regarded themselves as both happy and motivated.

September 6, 2016

Post Brexit business confidence returns but overall uncertainty remains ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Legal news, News, Property

Blink and you’ll miss some news item on Brexit, so here’s just some of the stuff we’ve picked up on the last few days. It’s hard to imagine that any of these stories might be woven into some sort of coherent narrative, especially when the Prime Minister has yet to announce any details or timescales for the UK’s mooted withdrawal from the EU, if not the Single Market. Some of the ifs and buts are laid out in this excellent blog, but the reality is that nobody really knows what will happen and, as the writer suggests, the UK may not have the expertise to deliver a coherent withdrawal anyway. In the meantime, there appears to be some sense that business is returning to normal. The key CIPS/Markit survey of business confidence has bounced back both quickly and strongly and there are other signs that not all is doom and gloom. That said, there are clear signs that overseas partners are spooked amid the uncertainty even though the still low Sterling exchange rate continues to make the UK attractive.

September 6, 2016

Significant rise in the length of the German working week, study finds ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

It’s not just British workers who are experiencing the creep of longer working weeks and in spite of the EU’s Working Time Directive. A report published last week in the German newspaper Zeit based on information supplied by the German Federal Ministry of Labour in the Bundestag found that Germans now work significantly longer hours than they did twenty years ago. According to the report, the number of people in Germany working more than 48 hours per week grew by around a third in the twenty years between 1995 and 2015, up from 1.3 million to 1.7 million. The report found that a growing number of Germans are now working in the evening and at weekends and outside traditional working hours. One in four Germans now work routinely at weekends. The report also found that the number of people in work grew over the period by 2 million to 32 million while the overall German population barely increased at all during the two decades to 2015.

September 5, 2016

Majority of Londoners support greater restrictions on new tall buildings ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Cities, News, Property

Most Londoners think tall buildings should only be built in areas like the City and Canary Wharf, and that there should be limits on how high they can be, according to an IPSOS Mori survey carried out on behalf of the Skyline Campaign. The findings come after Westminster Council controversially gave the green light for a 30 storey tower to be built in Paddington, and show stark differences in the views of Londoners in the inner and outer boroughs about how this new generation of tall buildings is affecting the Capital. The survey of more than 500 Londoners finds almost half (49 percent) of residents of inner London boroughs think that the 270 tall buildings planned, proposed, or under construction in London is too many. This contrasts with 34 percent of people in outer boroughs who say the same. Latest data released after the research was conducted indicates more than 400 new tall buildings are planned, proposed or under construction.

September 5, 2016

Mothers with young children a third less likely to be in work than fathers ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

The growing body of evidence highlighting the challenges faced by working mothers has been broadened with the publication of a new report from the TUC which claims that mothers with young children are a third less likely to be in work than fathers. The TUC found that on average just 64 percent of mothers with children aged 0-4 are in paid work, compared to 93 percent of fathers. The analysis claims that the age of a woman’s youngest child has an influence on whether or not she works. The employment rate for mums increases by 11 percent to 75 percent for women with children at primary school (aged 5-10) and by 17 percent to 81 percent for mothers with secondary school age children (11+). For dads of pre-school children, employment rates are above 90 percent. This suggests that mothers’ work decisions are affected by regional variations in the availability and cost of childcare, transport and housing, and access to good quality flexible and part-time jobs.

September 2, 2016

Institute for Employment Studies launches new Brexit Observatory ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Workplace

The Institute for Employment Studies, a human resources and employment think tank, has launched what it calls a Brexit Observatory, which will aim to track the effects of the UK’s vote to leave the EU on employment levels and issues. According to the IES, the Observatory will ‘provide a space to collate evidence, share relevant research and commentary, track datasets, and link to sources of independent information as the debate continues and the terms of the UK’s departure are revealed. It will build over the following weeks, months and years as events unfold and data surfaces. In addition to content originating from IES, the pages will feature guest blogs and links to external sources.’ The IES says that it hopes the Observatory will stimulate and facilitate debates on key topics, such as the labour market; education and skills; migration (including the impact on the UK’s nursing workforce); the impact on HR; workforce planning and recruitment; employment law; and employee engagement.

September 2, 2016

Learning with a stranger as effective as learning with a close friend or relation ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A partner helps you learn – even if you don’t know them. That is the conclusion of research being presented today by Catherine Crompton from the University of Edinburgh to the annual conference of the British Psychological Society’s Cognitive Psychology Section in Barcelona. In the research for her PhD, Catherine carried out two studies that each paired 48 people and asked them to learn an unfamiliar task. In both studies, half the pairs knew each other and half did not. Both older and younger participants were tested, each paired with a partner of similar age. In the first study, the pairs were asked to arrange abstract tangram shapes in a specific order on a grid. In the second, the pairs were asked to learn a route on a map and then recall it one hour and one week later. The first study showed that the pairs got better at the task with practice, whether or not the pairs had known each other before the study. The effects were the same, regardless of age.

September 2, 2016

Younger people less keen on recycling at work, especially coffee cups ⁰

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

The younger generation have a reputation for being pretty keen on addressing environmental issues, but new data alleges they’re not as open to changing their behaviours. There’s actually a clear generational gap when it comes to attitudes towards recycling at work and it’s the older generation who make more effort, a new survey suggests. It claims that younger people are around 16 percent less likely to recycle at work with just 64 percent of people aged 18-24 prepared to adhere to their employers’ recycling policies. One particular cause of concern is the fact that 2.5 billion coffee cups are thrown away each year, leading the Liberal Democrats to recently call for action to be taken to address the fact that only one in 400 cups are recycled. The survey, which was carried out by commercial waste recycling services provider Direct365, claims that 72 percent of people do actually recycle items at work overall.

September 1, 2016

Android users perceived to be nicer people than iPhone users, research suggests ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Technology, Wellbeing

Our choice of smartphone may provide valuable information about our personalities. That is one of the findings of a doctoral study conducted by Heather Shaw from University of Lincoln’s School of Psychology. She is presenting her work today to the British Psychological Society Social Psychology Section annual conference in Cardiff. Heather and her fellow researchers conducted two studies of personality differences between iPhone and Android smartphone users. In the first study the researchers asked 240 participants to complete a questionnaire about characteristics they associate with users of each smartphone brand. In the second study they tested these stereotypes against actual personality traits of 530 Android and iPhone smartphone users. The results from the first study showed that Android users are perceived to have greater levels of honesty and humility, agreeableness and openness personality traits but are seen as less extroverted than iPhone users.

September 1, 2016

Commuting is making us more stressed and more fat, claims study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

The average UK commuter adds almost 800 calories to their diet every week as a result of their journey to and from work, according to our new report, Health in a Hurry, from the UK’s Royal Society for Public Health. The study of around 1,500 people claims that the average time spent commuting in the UK has increased in recent years to almost an hour a day, and suggests longer commutes are therefore potentially shortening lives. The report highlights the impact of travelling to and from work caused by forms of passive commuting including rail, bus and car. It says that this part of the daily routine has a huge impact on the public’s health and wellbeing with longer commute times associated with increased stress, higher blood pressure and BMI, and reduced time available for health-promoting activities such as cooking, exercising and sleeping. Commuters in London have an average journey of 79 minutes while it is just under 45 minutes for people living in Wales.

September 1, 2016

New report sets out four key challenges for the workforce of the future ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A new report from The Future Laboratory and UBS Wealth Management claims to identify the key factors that will drive workplace change in the near future. According to The Future of the Workforce report, the next two decades will see the way we work completely reshaped by forces such as artificial intelligence and an increasingly multigenerational workforce. The report claims that the entry of more Millennials into the workplace, their differing values to older workers, a growing propensity to turn freelance and the dissolution of the old bonds of loyalty could mean that employers struggle to create a strong culture. The report also claims that there will be a growing emphasis on the provision of wellness programmes, driven partly by growing demand from employees as well as a greater focus on improving productivity from employers. It also suggests that employers need to act to remove any biases they may have to appeal to the values of the new generation of workers.

August 31, 2016

Open and honest communication boosts staff engagement levels ⁰

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employees who feel communication within their organisation is open and honest are nearly 15 times more likely to be engaged, and those who are encouraged to share ideas and opinions are 11 times more likely, claims a survey which suggests that staff want a more human experience, grounded in loyalty, recognition, respect, and honesty. Areas viewed as the best opportunities to differentiate in terms of staff engagement include above-average pay and benefits, a fun place to work, workplace flexibility, a strong fit with individual values, stimulating work, and a spirit of innovation. But according to results of the survey from Aon Hewitt what employees want in a workplace is not what they experience. And these gaps are having an impact on employees’ intent to stay. Of the 52 percent who would leave their current company for another job, 44 percent are actively looking. Opinions about what makes an employer stand out from other companies are similar across generations.