June 21, 2022

Flexible working options can support women in the workplace

by Dr Gabriella Rosen Kellerman • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

As of May 2022, more than one hundred years after the passage of the Sex Disqualification Removal Act – legislation which opened the workplace equally to women – more than half of the UK’s female professionals are at risk of leaving their jobs. As a recent study showed, 52 percent of women in the UK say they are either considering leaving or have already left a role due to lack of flexibility. The widespread nature of this “Flexidus” is chilling. The pandemic has already set back women’s participation in the workforce back 22 years behind men. How can businesses respond with the flexible working choices that many women are seeking? More →

June 20, 2022

People are searching for better work, not just more pay

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

New 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 →

June 14, 2022

Loneliness might hold back hybrid working productivity gains

by Gosia Bowling • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Loneliness is defined as the difficult emotion we experience when our need for meaningful social contact and relationships is not met, and it’s something we’ve all had experience of. Nearly half of the UK population have reported feeling lonely at times, with other research showing that 39 percent say their wellbeing was negatively impacted because they were lonely too. Why people feel lonely can be attributed to many reasons. Humans have a deep need for attention, warmth, and attachment to others. When such relationships end, or if someone finds themselves in an abusive or emotionally non-existent relationship, this can lead to elevated levels of loneliness. More →

June 10, 2022

Young people should optimise the time they spend in the office

by Gemma Dale • Features, Flexible working

During the pandemic, around 100 million people in Europe switched to working from home – nearly half of them for the first time. This shift was rapid, with employees quickly noticing the benefits of remote work. These can include freedom from commuting, more time for personal wellbeing and increased productivity. As we move on from pandemic restrictions, we’ve seen a strong, global demand for more flexible forms of working, particularly to retain an element of remote work. While some employees want to work from home permanently, most want what’s coming to be regarded as the best of both worlds: hybrid working. Only a minority of workers now want to return to the office full time. More →

June 9, 2022

Work-life balance more important than pay for two thirds of people

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Rising inflation and the UK’s cost-of-living crisis have put a lot of pressure on employers to increase wages and starting salaries this year, but a new survey suggests that there’s something that employees value more than pay – work-life balance. HR and payroll software provider CIPHR polled over 1,000 UK workers to find out which job aspects matter most to them. Based on the results, over two-thirds (70 percent of women and 65 percent of men) see work-life balance – albeit a term that can mean different things to different people – as being more important than their pay and employee benefits combined (selected by 60 percent of women and 57 percent of men). More →

June 8, 2022

Burnout doesn’t have to be the inevitable outcome of proving your value at work

by Dr Sahar Yousef • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace

Research from Asana shows that three quarters (75 percent) of UK knowledge workers experienced burnout in 2021. Perhaps even more concerning is that over a third (36 percent) of workers believe burnout is inevitable to career success. This worrying and unsustainable trend shows that for many employees, constantly checking email, working weekends, and burning out seems to be the best way to show their value at work. More →

May 31, 2022

Over-50s urged to return to work to deal with staff shortages

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

The British Chambers of Commerce has said employers and the Government need to work together to bring older people back into the workforce. According to ONS data, around 500,000 older people have left the workforce in recent years, many of them prompted to do so by the pandemic. The number of over-50s who aren’t working or currently looking for work rose by 493,000 between October 2019 and December 2021. According to the Office for National Statistics, one in five did so due to stress or other mental health concerns. More →

May 23, 2022

Younger workers want flexible working, but are sceptical of remote

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

While remote and flexible working roles continue to grow in almost all countries, 20-24 year olds are the age group making the fewest applications to fully remote roles, claims a new poll from LinkedIn. LinkedIn analysed the labour market for career starters in the U.S., U.K, France and Germany – including job applications and hiring data – to understand which sectors offer the most opportunity for Gen Z job-seekers and employers looking to attract them. More →

May 18, 2022

‘Return to office’ remains a divisive issue

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology

According to a survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Citrix Systems, employees remain divided on how they want to work going forward. Based on the poll: the majority enjoy the flexibility they’ve been given to work from anywhere and are willing to leave jobs to maintain it. Of the 6,500 workers polled in ten countries, 57 percent prefer hybrid work, and 69 percent will ditch their current positions if it isn’t an option and they are asked to return to office based working. More →

May 17, 2022

Lack of flexible working could drive half of women out of current roles

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

New research from LinkedIn claims to highlight a potential impending ‘flexidus’ amongst women in the UK workforce, with 52 percent saying they’ve considered leaving, or have left, their role due to a lack of flexibility. According to the research, a perceived lack of flexibility at work is having a significant impact on women’s careers. Of the women who have left a job because of a lack of flexible working, more than one in five (21 percent) say their career progression has been hindered, and 25 percent decided to take a career break as a result. More →

May 12, 2022

ESG ambitions should top organisational agendas

by Siobhan Byrnes • Comment, Environment, Wellbeing

When the idea of ESG (environmental, social and governance credentials) first surfaced nearly two decades ago in a 2005 United Nations report, it was just an acronym businesses were trying to understand and get to grips with. But in the last few years, ESG strategies have gathered steam – it has become integral to C-Suite strategy and business purpose, and is a deal-breaker not just for investors but also for those considering new roles. In fact, a recent report revealed that job-seekers are turning down job offers by companies showcasing weak ESG credentials, a sure sign of the importance of substantive ESG policies for potential talent. Most of the larger conglomerates (if not all) have set targets to reach net-zero by a set date – ranging from as early as 2025 to anywhere within the next two decades. But is this going far enough for employees, stakeholders, future talent, and more broadly, for society? More →

May 5, 2022

Flat organisations are handing out inflated job titles to hang on to staff

by Dan Huckle • Comment, Workplace

We’ve seen more talk of the glass ceiling in recent years than for some time, and part of the explanation is the way we’re creating false career ladders within businesses which don’t need to be there and don’t really lead anywhere. We are seeing companies trying to retain people in a time of skills shortages and one of the ways they are going about it is to accelerate ‘promotions’ within organisations for individuals to encourage them to stay. And some of these promotions do not involve much more than the creation of inflated job titles. More →