November 24, 2020

Work really has become much harder during the pandemic

by Eva Selenko • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

The pandemic has seriously altered how we work. According to statistics published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in September 2020, US$35 trillion (£26 trillion) has been lost globally in labour income. There has also been an estimated loss of 17 percent of working hours worldwide since 2019, with young people and women being hit hardest. And many of those still in jobs are working under very different conditions. More →

November 19, 2020

Covid-19 is levelling the playing field for disabled workers

by Ruby Gullon • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

As many of us cope with yet another lockdown, optimism is easy to misplace but, for disabled workers, this could result in monumental change for future employment. On the month commencing the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act and the run-up to International Day of Disabled Persons, could this be the final push for change? As we swing in and out of remote-working, whether you love it or loathe it, one thing is abundantly clear – it can be done. Something that the 2 billion people currently living with disabilities have always known. Life can be accessible anywhere if you put your mind to it. More →

November 17, 2020

Top priority for HR leaders in 2021: building critical skills

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture

Gartner, Inc.’s 2021 HR Priorities Survey of more than 750 HR leaders claims that 68 percent of respondents cited building critical skills and competencies as their number one priority in 2021. The survey, conducted from June through August 2020, claims the other top HR priorities for 2021 are: organisational design and change management (46 percent), current and future leadership bench (44 percent), the future of work (32 percent) and employee experience (28 percent). More →

November 16, 2020

Millions will struggle to access the Government’s new Lifetime Skills Guarantee

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working lives

New analysis published by the Work Foundation and Totaljobs claims that millions of low paid workers will struggle to access the Government’s new Lifetime Skills Guarantee (LSG) when it is launched next year amidst a growing jobs challenge. More →

November 9, 2020

More stability in sight for employment but three in ten employers still planning redundancies

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working lives

The pace of deterioration in UK job prospects is starting to slow this autumn due to very modest improvements in planned recruitment activity and a slight decrease in employers’ intentions to make redundancies. This is according to the latest quarterly CIPD/the Adecco Group Labour Market Outlook (LMO) survey – involving more than 1000 employers and covering all sectors of the economy. More →

November 9, 2020

Now is the time for employers to think differently about who they hire

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture

As COVID-19 has forced businesses to change where and how they work this year, the learning disability charity Mencap is now calling on employers to think differently about WHO they employ. The pandemic has highlighted the invaluable contribution people with a learning disability and/ or autism can make as hardworking and valued employees. More →

November 3, 2020

Employees are twice as motivated and productive if they’re resilient

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

Aon plc, has released new research that highlights the impact on employee motivation and productivity if they are resilient. The data, gained across five European countries, including the UK, claims that employees are nearly twice as likely to be motivated and therefore productive, if they are resilient. More →

October 20, 2020

Remote work and the risks of employee surveillance

by Joe Aiston and Alexander Barnett • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

There has been a gradual shift towards increased flexible and remote work patterns in the last few years. The COVID-19 pandemic has created the perfect storm to force organisations to further consider their working practices, with all but essential physical roles usually involving an element of homeworking – nearly half of people in employment in the UK did some work at home in April 2020, according to the ONS. Many businesses are expecting to operate a largely remote workforce for the foreseeable future. The fear of declining productivity and concerns for people wellbeing has encouraged many employers to increase their employee monitoring arrangements. More →

September 30, 2020

Career priorities transformed by COVID-19 as workers seek more ethical jobs

by Jayne Smith • News, Working lives

Covid-19 has shifted UK worker career priorities with professionals turning towards more socially-conscious employers including the Environment Agency and Oxfam, according to a survey of more than 23,000 people, by Universum. More →

September 28, 2020

One way businesses can help employees get back to the office

by Freddie Steele • Company news

One of the many unprecedented things about 2020 is the way that the global COVID-19 pandemic has led to millions of workers around the world staying away from their office or workplace. Either through furlough schemes or temporary ‘working from home’ measures, many people across the job spectrum have had to adapt to a new way of doing things. More →

September 17, 2020

Lockdown loneliness strikes remote workers

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

A new survey by UK job board Totaljobs, claims that despite increased appetite in the UK for remote working practices to continue into the future, the disconnection from the day-to-day social interactions of the workplace and the encroachment of work on our home lives has seen feelings of loneliness and isolation take hold, in a workforce already struggling to adapt to the challenge of the ‘new normal’. More →

September 11, 2020

The mental health consequences of COVID grow increasingly clear

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

The number of self-employed people saying they have “poor” or “very poor” mental health has increased from 6 percent to 26 percent since the beginning of the pandemic (a 300 percent rise), claims new research by IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed). The number saying they had “good” or “excellent” mental health has also dropped significantly since the beginning of the pandemic – from two-thirds (68 percent) to just over a third (39 percent). This was most severe among women (a drop of 54 percent) and young freelancers aged 16-34 (a drop of 49 percent). More →