Search Results for: working lives

Half of gig workers earn below the minimum wage

Half of gig workers earn below the minimum wage

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

More than half of gig workers in the UK are paid below the minimum wage, a new study claimsAs the cost of living continues to spiral, a new report shows more than half of gig economy workers in the UK are paid below the minimum wage. The study, led by the University of Bristol, found 52 percent of gig workers doing jobs ranging from data entry to food delivery were earning below the minimum wage. On average respondents were earning £8.97 per hour – around 15 percent below the current UK minimum wage, which rose to £10.42 this month. More than three-quarters (76 percent) of survey respondents also experienced work-related insecurity and anxiety. More →

Majority of employees see themselves as cogs in corporate machinery

Majority of employees see themselves as cogs in corporate machinery

by • News, Workplace

A significant majority (85 percent) of employees feel like they are just a cog in the machinery of their organisation and 43 percent have no idea how their performance contributes to business success, according to a new survey of employee experience and expectations. According to the new study [registration] from Oracle, HR leaders are struggling to keep up with changing employee expectations and this can have dire consequences for businesses. The survey of 1,000 employees and HR leaders across the United Kingdom (UK) found that despite current economic uncertainty, worker expectations are higher than ever, and HR leaders need help to get the employee experience right or risk losing profits and market share. More →

The need for reimagination in an age of uncertainty

The need for reimagination in an age of uncertainty

by • Comment, Everything Omni

Since we are now very much in the age of uncertainty being the new certainty, with all the old playbooks out the window and no cookie cutter approach in the ways we work, since one size doesn’t fit all – what the hell do we do?Since we are now very much in the age of uncertainty being the new certainty, with all the old playbooks out the window and no cookie cutter approach in the ways we work, since one size doesn’t fit all – what the hell do we do? Curl up in a ball and die? Go into panic mode and go around shouting ‘We’re doomed! We’re doomed’ manically? Or just ostrich the problem and hope it all goes away or at least reverts back to how it was before? More →

The UK workplace sector reacts to the Spring Budget 2023

The UK workplace sector reacts to the Spring Budget 2023

by • Environment, News, Property, Workplace

The workplace sector in the UK has been reacting to the announcements in the Spring budgetToday the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt presented his Spring Budget to the House of Commons. In it he announced what her referred to as his ‘four pillars’ of industrial and productivity strategy, namely: ‘Enterprise’, ‘Employment’, ‘Education’, and ‘Everywhere’. Perhaps the headline element of this announcement was the creation of twelve new investment zones across the UK as well as incentives for older workers to return to the country’s patchy workforce. This includes£63m for programmes to encourage retirees over 50 back to work, “returnerships” and ‘skills boot camps’. Another headline for the workplace sector was the offer of improved childcare arrangements, especially for the parents of very young children, who will see 30 hours of free childcare expanded to include one and two-year-olds. More →

Four day week pilot results are very encouraging indeed, say researchers

Four day week pilot results are very encouraging indeed, say researchers

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Businesses that adopted a four day week as part of a pilot programme say they are more profitable and their staff are fitter, happier and more productiveBusinesses that adopted a four day working week as part of a pilot programme say they are more profitable and their staff are fitter, happier and more productive, researchers have told MPs. A large majority of companies that took part in the pilot now plan to carry on. The programme, led in the UK by non-profit 4 Day Week Global, the UK’s 4 Day Week Campaign and think-tank Autonomy,  involved around 3,000 workers through a six-month trial of a four day week, with no loss of pay. This brings the global campaign’s total number of completed pilot participants to 91 companies and approximately 3,500 employees. More →

Third of firms expect the four-day week to become a reality ‘for most’ in the next ten years

Third of firms expect the four-day week to become a reality ‘for most’ in the next ten years

by • News, Workplace

A man walking a dog to illustrate the four day week giving people more controlA third of respondent organisations (34 percent) to a CIPD poll think the four-day week will become a reality in the UK for most workers within the next ten years. However, only a small minority of firms have moved towards the four-day week to date by reducing hours without reducing pay for their employees, or plan to do this over the next three years. One in ten (10 percent) organisations report they have reduced working hours without reducing pay for the whole or a significant part of their workforce over the last five years, although of these, under half of employers (42 percent) did so as a result of the furlough scheme. More →

The UK is entering a new unstable period of employment relations

The UK is entering a new unstable period of employment relations

by • News, Workplace

employment relationsA new study from the CIPD shows that a tight labour market, combined with a cost-of-living crisis and falling wages, could fuel further industrial action in the coming months. The CIPD is urging employers to engage with their recognised employee representatives and trade unions to avoid issues escalating to strike action. The data, gathered in January 2022, offered  what the CIPD says is a stark warning for what has now become a reality – that a lack of engagement with employee representatives will lead to worse employment relations and possible strike action. More →

The perfect storm shouldn’t force us to jump aboard the wrong ship

The perfect storm shouldn’t force us to jump aboard the wrong ship

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design

For all the millions of words written and gabbed about work and its future over the past couple of years, one of the few things we can say with any certainty is that we still don’t know which parts of it all are short-term responses to events, and which are permanent long-term shifts.

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People are searching for better work, not just more pay

People are searching for better work, not just more pay

by • News, Workplace

better workNew research from the CIPD claims that more than 6.5 million people in the UK expect to quit their job in the next 12 months, with those reporting the poorest job quality the most likely to have itchy feet. Better pay and benefits are the main motivator to leave, but people are also looking for increased job satisfaction and better work life balance.   In response, the CIPD is calling for employers to not treat pay increases as a ‘silver bullet’ for attracting and retaining staff, but instead look at overall job quality by being more creative with job design and people management practices. More →

Strategic workforce planning blocked by lack of data and defined employee responsibilities

Strategic workforce planning blocked by lack of data and defined employee responsibilities

by • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

strategic workforce planningPoor data quality and a lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities within the organisation are amongst the key challenges management faces when implementing vital strategic workforce planning (SWP), according to new academic research. The researchers also claim that a lack of methodology to execute a strategic workforce plan and the lack of support across all organisational units of the firm were contributing to a slower and less efficient strategic workforce planning. More →

A third of workers think their jobs are at risk from automation

A third of workers think their jobs are at risk from automation

by • News, Technology

automationA new poll claims that one in three (37 percent) employees consider their current job to be at risk from automation and digital transformation. HR software provider CIPHR has compiled a list of the occupations that are the most and least likely to be replaced by technology or machines, based on the results of a survey of more than 1,000 UK workers: www.ciphr.com/jobs-at-risk-from-automation. Survey respondents were asked to rate the likelihood that their own occupation could become automated in the future, due to advances in smart technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and robotics. More →

The metaverse will shape the future of work. Here’s how

The metaverse will shape the future of work. Here’s how

by • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

future of work and the metaverseAlthough the term ‘metaverse’ was coined in 1992 by science fiction novelist Neal Stephenson, it has only just entered the mainstream lexicon after Facebook changed its name to Meta to reflect its strategic focus on making this sci fi vision a reality. Given that there is no singular definition of what a metaverse is, and there will be many competing metaverses transforming our experience of social media, electronic commerce and how we collaborate and transact online, it is important that leaders start to understand the profound ways in which this new technological paradigm is set to radically impact on the future of work. More →

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