A new report from Aon claims that the so-called gig economy will continue to flourish but many employers are still adjusting to its realities. Using research from HR and gig workers across Europe, the report, Gig Economy: Financial Security or Greater Control, claims that 26 percent of European HR directors believe their workforces will have 51-75 percent of gig workers in five years’ time, while 18 percent of UK HRDs believe 75 percent or more of their workforce will be made up of contractors in 5 years’ time. Nearly all HRDs believe providing health and benefits packages would improve gig worker recruitment (94 percent), engagement (93 percent), productivity (88 percent) and retention (95 percent). More →

Nearly 90 percent of organisations say their success depends on empowering frontline employees to make decisions in real, but only 7 percent offer people the tools they need, according to a new report from  Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by ThoughtSpot. The report, The New Decision Makers: Equipping Frontline Workers For Success, analyses the sentiments of 464 business executives from 16 industry sectors in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.  Only one-fifth of organisations say they currently have a truly empowered and digitally equipped workforce while 86 percent agree their frontline workers need better technology and more insight to be able to make good decisions in the moment. More →

More than half of all strategic decisions made by directors turn out to be wrong according to new research, conducted by PHD student Joep Steffes at Nyenrode Business University. This is due to time constraints, not having all of the information, and bias which often causes directors to make important decisions that are not based on reason but ‘gut’. These decisions, which could be deciding not to enter a new market or to pursue a merger, require more thought than your average decision – a director can’t simply rely on automatic actions, speed, and intuition. More →