Search Results for: stress

July 8, 2016

Progress for women in executive roles remains disappointingly slow ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

As the news breaks that the UK is to have a female Prime Minister by the Autumn, it emerges that progress for women among executive ranks and in the executive pipeline remains slow. According to the latest Female FTSE Report, by academics at Cranfield School of Management, City University London and Queen Mary University London, while the percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards has increased to 26 percent and to 20.4 percent on the FTSE 250 boards this year, the rate of progress has slowed since the Davies closing report in October 2015. As a result board turnover rates have decreased and the percentage of new appointments going to women over the past six months is only 24.7 percent, the lowest since September 2011. This is short of the increase required to meet the 33 percent board target by 2020 as set out in the Davies report, requiring FTSE 350 board to have 27 percent by the end of 2016.

July 6, 2016

Which aspects of workplace design are most important to personal wellbeing? ⁰

by Marc Bird • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

There is no doubt that the UK’s office based knowledge industry is facing a crisis in the form of a ‘wellbeing deficit’. Both the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have reported record levels of absenteeism, with the latter attributing 23.3 million lost working days to work-related ill-health, such as depression, stress, anxiety and musculoskeletal disorders. A great deal is already known about the causes of the key issues of employee stress and demotivation, but more work needs to be done to establish how organisations can meet their corporate goals with regard to these issues, whilst still engaging, motivating and nurturing their workforce. A significant body of published research has identified that a sense of ‘personal control’ can have a hugely positive impact on employee wellbeing, but how can we engender that control when it comes to creating a productive working environment?

June 22, 2016

One in six business leaders don’t link staff wellbeing with organisational success ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

You can take this story however you like, but a new YouGov survey of attitudes amongst British business leaders claims that just one in six (17 percent) believe that fostering a healthy work-life balance for employees is not important for their organisation. The research also found that 15 percent of organisations in the UK don’t place any focus on the mental health and wellbeing of employees. Furthermore, three in ten (31 percent) say that their company does not do anything to actively promote mental well-being in the workplace. However, there is a clear difference in approach based on size of the organisation involved. Small businesses (44 percent) surveyed are far more likely to admit they don’t do anything, compared to medium (29 percent) and large (15 percent) businesses. This all still means that the majority of firms are actively interested in their employees’ wellbeing, but the proportion of those who aren’t may raise an eyebrow.

June 17, 2016

Women’s long hours working linked to alarming increases in serious illness ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Knowledge, Wellbeing, Workplace

Women who put in long hours for the sake of their careers may pay a heavy price including life-threatening illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer. Work weeks that averaged 60 hours or more over three decades appear to triple the risk of diabetes, cancer, heart trouble and arthritis for women, according to new research from Ohio State University and published in The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The risk begins to climb when women put in more than 40 hours and takes a decidedly bad turn above 50 hours, researchers found. Men with tough work schedules appeared to fare much better, found researchers who analysed data from interviews with almost 7,500 people who were part of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. More scheduling flexibility and on-the-job health coaching, screening and support could go a long way toward reducing the chances employees become sick or die as a result of chronic conditions, according to the report.

June 9, 2016

Job seekers say telecommuting is most desired form of flexible work ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

According to research from Flexjobs, telecommuting has grown 103 percent since 2005 and approximately eighty to ninety percent of the workforce would like to telework at least part-time. Work-life balance (81 percent), family (56 percent), time savings (56 percent), and commute stress (48 percent) are the top reasons people seek flexible work arrangements. Millennials would put flexible working ahead of professional development training, company reputation and a sense of purpose when looking for a job. FlexJobs recently analysed the remote job listings of over 40,000 companies to determine which companies have been recruiting for the most telecommuting positions in recent months. Healthcare, technology and education were the most well-represented industries. The remote job listings at these companies are equally diverse, such as business analyst, product manager, developer, teacher, director of communications and market researcher.

June 7, 2016

Office best place for productivity, subject to wellness, tech and design ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

An increasing number of employees may be opting for telecommuting and on-demand workspaces, but 66 percent of American employees consider the office as the most productive place to get work done. Thirty-six percent say it’s the most inspiring place to work as well, more than any other location. But as workers spend more time in the office, the onus falls on employers to keep their employees healthy, productive and inspired. According to The Staples Business Advantage Workplace Index, 70 percent of US office workers and managers report working more than 40 hours a week, many of whom say they’re working longer hours simply to catch up on work they couldn’t tackle during an eight hour day. And that workload is taking a toll, with 64 percent of respondents saying their workplace has contributed to stress, nearly half feeling so overworked they’re motivated to look for another job and 13 percent having taken a workplace stress-related leave of absence.

June 7, 2016

Senior management input required to promote workplace wellbeing ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Just a third of American workers say they regularly participate in health promotions provided by their employer, despite the prevalence of workplace wellness programmes. According to the American Psychological Association a key part of the solution is increasing senior leadership support. In the APA’s 2016 Work and Well-Being Survey, less than half of working Americans (44 percent) reported that the climate in their organisation supports employee well-being, and 1 in 3 admitted to being chronically stressed on the job. However, nearly three-fourths (73 percent) of employees with senior managers who show support through involvement and commitment to well-being initiatives said their organisation helps employees develop a healthy lifestyle, compared with just 11 percent who work in an organisation without leadership support. Among all employees surveyed, 33 percent said they typically feel tense or stressed out during the workday, and only 41 percent said their employer helps workers develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

June 6, 2016

Only a third of employers have policies to support working carers ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

As baby boomers and Gen X age, more of the working population are responsible for the care of elderly relatives, with some being part of the ‘sandwich generation’, balancing work while caring for older family members and their own children. Yet according to a new survey published today by CIPD/Westfield Health just a third of employers (34 percent) have a formal, written policy or an informal, verbal policy in place to support working carers in their workplace . The report also finds that just 13 percent of organisations offer line manager training to support working carers, which is concerning given the key role line managers play in providing flexibility and support to people with caring responsibilities. With estimates suggesting that 3 in 5 people will end up caring for someone at some point in their lives, employers are being urged to put mechanisms in place to empower and support working carers, before they lose out on key talent; while those employers that do support working carers believe it’s made a positive difference to their culture.

June 6, 2016

Pressure at work ties majority of UK workers to their desks for lunch ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Many UK workers are under so much pressure they can’t escape their workplace for lunch, with almost three in five employees regularly eating at their desk. This could be having a detrimental long-term effect on the health of millions of workers across the UK. The results of a survey, commissioned by the National Charity Partnership, a collaboration between Diabetes UK, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Tesco, found that office workers say heavy workloads (32 per cent), workplace culture (14 per cent) and stress (13 per cent) are to blame for not getting away from their desks for a walk at lunchtime. Despite more than nine in ten employees reporting that being outside makes them feel healthier or more positive, more than half of workers who were questioned (52 per cent) never leave their office for lunch. Almost one in four (24 per cent) say they regularly work through their break.

May 25, 2016

Limited budgets greatest challenge to wellness programmes at work ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Sixty-five per cent of respondents in a new survey across Europe, the Middle East and Africa claim that stress and mental health are the health and wellness issues they are most concerned about. Fifty-three per cent say that employees’ physical health is the biggest issue, while unhealthy lifestyles are judged to be the biggest issue by 49 percent. However, according to the study from Aon, only 32 percent of employers have emotional or psychological health programmes in place and 69 percent say limited budgets are their biggest challenge. While 93 percent of employers see a correlation between health and employee performance, just 13 percent of respondents measure outcomes of health strategies. The findings pinpoint areas for improvement and make recommendations to increase health benefits take-up, improve measurement on the impact of health initiatives and to maximise the return on investment that firms make in employee health.

May 25, 2016

An out of hours email ban and why we all need the ‘right to disconnect’ ⁰

by Adrian Lewis • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, Work&Place, Workplace

The recent announcement from President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party that they plan to give French employees the “right to disconnect” by pushing through measures for an email ban out of hours has been the subject of great debate. Although many commentators have argued the need for employers to encourage people to ‘switch off’ when they aren’t in work, to date there have been no legal guidelines on this specific issue, despite several negative reports about modern technology blurring the boundaries between home and work, which some claim is creating a stress epidemic. In the UK, the Working Time Regulations specify that no worker should work more than 48 hours per week. However, there has been no case law as to whether or not checking work emails outside working hours would fall within this limit – and many UK staff check and respond to work emails outside work hours, even on holidays.

May 23, 2016

Employers ignore ways that flexible working has eclipsed traditional office life ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace

A significant proportion of businesses are still not giving their employees the support they need to work remotely and flexibly, despite the fact that 72 percent of UK office workers now believe the traditional fixed workplace is no longer relevant. For the vast majority the traditional nine-to-five is already a thing of the past, with nearly two thirds (62 percent) of people already using some form of flexible working at least one day per week. On average UK workers spend 2.5 days each week working remotely. The findings claimed by ‘The End of Nine-to-Five’ report commissioned by TeamViewer suggest that, despite the increased demands and expectations of employees, nearly 2 in 5 (37 percent) UK office workers said that their company’s IT department do not encourage remote working and do not make it easy. This figure went up as the size of the organisation increased, rising to 44 percent for companies with over 500 employees.