September 3, 2018
Commuters could save an hour a week by changing their working hours
Commuters could speed up their journeys by up to 10 miles per hour by starting and finishing work just one hour later or making other changes to their working hours, according to new Government research. The study by Highways England was carried out on a 9-mile-stretch of the M62 which links the M6 near Warrington to the M60 near Manchester. The route is used by 120,000 drivers every day and construction work is currently taking place to upgrade it to a smart motorway, increasing its capacity by a third. Commuters had previously faced speeds of just 36 miles per hour between 5pm and 6pm when almost 9,000 drivers take to the short section of motorway on their way home from work.
Employers in the UK need to improve working conditions, as the UK’s workforce pride is trailing behind other European countries, a new report claims. The survey from Cornerstone OnDemand and IDC found just a 48 percent approval rating by UK workers, with just 52 percent of respondents “completely agreeing” that they are proud to work for their organisation – a steep drop compared to countries such as Italy (59 percent) and Norway (66 percent). While UK work satisfaction is falling behind the rest of Europe, it is however ranking higher for employer recommendations. Almost half (47 percent) of Brits “completely agree” that they would recommend their current employer to others, versus 43 percent in Sweden and 41 percent of respondents in the Benelux regions. When it comes to employer attractiveness, only 47 percent of UK respondents “completely agree” that their organisation is an attractive place to work, in comparison to 51 percent of Spanish respondents and 56 percent of Finnish respondents. So while the UK is ahead in some criteria, the findings suggest there’s work to be done if British employers want an improved result.
The latest generation of workplace recruits, the so-called Gen Z graduates, are more likely to stay in their first role if flexible working and mentoring is on offer, new research claims. According to graduate jobs board Milkround, while over half (55 percent) of new graduates’ plan to stay in their first role for less than two years, 76 percent can be encouraged to stay longer with training/mentorship and 63 percent with flexible hours. They are also ambitious and have high expectations, with 65 percent believing they will work in their dream industry. This impacts what is expected of employers and could hold the key to encouraging this new generation to stay in roles longer. This change in expectations begins before they start their new role – 68 percent of graduates are calling for more detailed job descriptions and 57 percent would like to have an open line of communication with their line manager from the moment they accept a job.
We reported 
Young people leaving education and looking for work may be missing out on potential employment opportunities by failing to consider Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the advantages they offer, new research from Santander UK claims. ‘Gen Z’ and Millennials do not believe SMEs offer the same job security or salary as large businesses, meaning just a third (35 percent) of young people leaving education in 2018 want to work for smaller employer, and an even smaller proportion, just one in six (18 percent), want to work for a start-up or micro business. The most popular career aspirations for Generation Z and Millennials are to work for a large firm (51 percent), the public sector (51 percent) or a global multinational (49 percent), because of a perceived lack of job security (56 percent). There is also the belief that SMEs offer a lower salary (46 percent) and fewer opportunities for progression than large companies (33 percent). Yet the majority (70 percent) of SMEs are actively recruiting for entry level roles, whether that be graduates (43 percent), further education leavers (36 percent) or school leavers (35 percent).
London has joined 18 other cities around the world, including Paris, New York and Tokyo, in a landmark commitment to make all new buildings operate at net zero carbon by 2030. Regulations and planning policy will also target existing buildings to make them net-zero carbon by 2050. Net zero carbon buildings are buildings which reduce all energy use as far as technically possible, with remaining demand met through renewables. The commitment has been orchestrated by C40 cities, a global group of major cities committed to delivering on the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement at the local level. As city authorities do not have direct control over all the buildings in their area, the commitment includes a pledge to work together with the private sector as well as state and regional governments to drive the transformation. This pledge from cities is part of the World Green Building Council’s 
The new corporate governance code that comes into play early next year includes directives on how companies engage with their staff, but it is a voluntary code which will allow businesses to opt out if they wish. Now a new report suggests there is currently is a high level of mistrust towards senior UK managers, with just 16 percent trusting this group, according to the study. This is despite the fact that according to the research, carried out by Virtual College the majority (95 percent) of senior managers in UK businesses believe that their employees trust them. Employees rated their trust in different roles in the following order; co-workers – 57 percent, managers – 45 percent, team members – 42 percent and senior management – 16 percent. Trust in senior management was found to be considerably lower than trust in other positions such as middle management. The sectors that trusted senior management the least included; utilities (3 percent), legal (8 percent) and government services (8.7 percent).
The repercussions of a no-deal Brexit are being 
The majority of UK employees check their work emails while on holiday despite the fact that their employers do not want or expect them to keep in touch, new YouGov research has revealed. It seems the majority (60 percent) of those who use email for work check their inboxes while on holiday. One in four (25 percent) check ‘very often’, one in five (19 percent) check ‘sometimes’, and one in six (16 percent) check ‘rarely’. Just four in ten (40 percent) say they never look at their emails. This is despite the fact that eight in ten workers (80 percent) would prefer to ‘completely switch off’ when they’re on holiday, rather than stay on top of what’s going on in the office. The exception is those who check their emails ‘very often’. Half of this group (47 percent) say they’d rather stay on top of what’s going on at work, with the other half (50 percent) happy to stay out of work issues while on vacation. The research suggests however that fewer than one in six think their managers care whether they stay in touch or not.
