Search Results for: risk

Firms remain optimistic despite political uncertainty, Brexit and automation

Firms remain optimistic despite political uncertainty, Brexit and automation 0

by • News, Technology, Workplace

Britain’s start-up businesses are more optimistic about the future than those in the US, Europe and Asia, despite the uncertainties caused by Brexit, according to research by EY. According to the company’s Growth Barometer, half of UK businesses less than five years old expected to grow by more than 11 per cent this year. Almost a quarter were forecasting growth of more than 26 per cent. The findings are based on a survey of 2,340 middle market executives across 30 countries, reveal that in spite of geopolitical tensions, including Brexit, increasing populism, the rise of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) and skilled talent shortages, 89 percent of executives see today’s uncertainty as grounds for growth opportunities. What’s more, 14 percent of all companies surveyed have current year growth ambitions of more than 16 percent.

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Coworking and the current French revolution in the workplace

Coworking and the current French revolution in the workplace 0

by • Case studies, Cities, Features, Flexible working, Workplace design

In France, we might have been the first to behead a King and hold a revolution, or to stand on barricades and die for ideals of justice and equality, but when it comes to change – especially in large organisations– we always seem to lag behind. You could blame it on a number of factors: a cultural bias towards tradition, the legacy of an interventionist and ever-present state, spawning bureaucratic models of large state-owned corporations, the everlasting grasp of the elites stifling innovation and the ability to “think outside the box”… Whatever this may be, the debate around remote working – a type of work organisation which allows employees to work regularly away from the office – in France has always been articulated around the preconception that France was behind. And that while its Anglo-Saxon or Nordic European neighbours displayed a boastful 30 percent of the working population as remote workers, France struggled to reach a meagre 9 to 10 percent in 2010.

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More women in the boardroom worldwide, but progress remains slow

More women in the boardroom worldwide, but progress remains slow 0

by • News, Workplace

Women are still largely under-represented on corporate boards worldwide, despite continued efforts to improve boardroom gender diversity, according to the fifth edition of Deloitte Global’s Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective publication explores the efforts of 64 countries to promote boardroom gender diversity. The report claims that women hold just 15 percent of board seats worldwide. These numbers show only modest progress from the 2015 edition of the report. In the UK, there are no quotas in place for women on boards, but 20 percent of board seats and 3 percent of board chair positions are held by women. Among companies that make up the FTSE 100, 26.2 per cent of board seats are held by women, more than double the 12.5 per cent recorded as recently as 2011. In that year, 21 FTSE 100 companies had all-male boards. That has now been reduced to zero, the Deloitte study shows.

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Taking action on climate change will boost economic growth, claims report

Taking action on climate change will boost economic growth, claims report 0

by • Environment, News

Integrating measures to tackle climate change into regular economic policy will have a positive impact on economic growth over the medium and long term, according to a new OECD report prepared in the context of the German Presidency of the G20. Investing in Climate, Investing in Growth claims that bringing together the growth and climate agendas, rather than treating climate as a separate issue, could add 1 percent to average economic output in G20 countries by 2021 and lift 2050 output by up to 2.8 percent. If the economic benefits of avoiding climate change impacts such as coastal flooding or storm damage are factored in, the net increase to 2050 GDP would be nearly 5 percent.

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Third of office workers in the UK not taking the required amount of exercise

Third of office workers in the UK not taking the required amount of exercise 0

by • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Third of office workers in the UK not taking the required amount of exercise

A third (35 percent) of UK office workers fail to get the National Health Service recommended exercise quota of 150 minutes per week,  a new survey commissioned by Pure Gym to mark Global Employee Health and Fitness Month (GEHFM), has revealed. According to the NHS website, it’s advised that adults between the ages of 19-64 should take part in at least two and a half hours of moderate exercise each week. However, approximately one in three office employees in the UK are currently falling short of these guidelines, with just over two thirds (73 percent) citing work pressures as a key contributing factor to this deficit. Top reasons noted for this lack of activity include, stress at work (17 percent), long commuting hours (15 percent) and insufficient lunch breaks (14 percent), with over a third (38 percent) of office workers attributing their exercise short fall to work related tiredness and fatigue.

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Over a quarter of workplace absences are down to psychological conditions

Over a quarter of workplace absences are down to psychological conditions 0

by • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Quarter of workplace absences are down to psychological conditionsHR professionals will, on average, oversee 15 staff with mental health conditions each year, according to new analysis from consultancy, the Clear Company, which also claims that mental health in the workplace as the second biggest challenge facing employers in the next five years, with respondents stating that over a quarter (26 percent) of workplace absences were down to psychological conditions. The UK Workplace Wellbeing Survey did find that employers are already putting interventions in place to support staff, with 81 percent offering line manager training (around recognising stress within the workplace), 75 percent offering occupational health support, 72 percent offering employee assistance programmes and a further 62 percent offering separate counselling support.However, according to a recent study by Legal & General, less than 10 per cent of employees feel comfortable disclosing mental health conditions to their employer – meaning that HR may face a challenge in identifying and supporting these individuals adequately.

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People who work from home more likely to sustain injuries than those based in offices

People who work from home more likely to sustain injuries than those based in offices 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

work from home

Today is National Work from Home Day, held to promote the benefits of home working, which includes having more time to take exercise and eating more healthily; but new research suggests home workers might risk doing more harm than good if too little attention is paid to ergonomics. The data from Bupa found that over half of those who work from home (51 percent) have sustained injuries, aches and pains as a result of their working environment with the most common being backache and neck pain, which is 10 per cent more likely than those working in a ‘traditional’ workplace. Not having the right work set-up at home could be the cause, as one in four (25 percent) home-workers do not have a dedicated workspace at home, half (50 percent) of admit to hunching over while working and 40 per cent regularly work from their bed or sofa. All of these factors increase the risk of musculoskeletal injury, with the most common problems being backache (24 percent) and neck-ache (20 percent).

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A mixed forecast for the accountancy profession: Brexit highs and digital lows

A mixed forecast for the accountancy profession: Brexit highs and digital lows 0

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

The accountancy profession is facing an uncertain future in the traditional sense. The question of automation is on everyone’s minds, as are the complexities of Brexit. On the one hand, news from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) suggests accountants will be in high demand during the Brexit process, on the other, gloomy reports of job automation suggest accountants will be one of the professions hardest hit in Britain’s long-term future. The implications of Brexit are yet to be uncovered. Clearly, Brexit will be a complex process and businesses will undoubtedly require the strategic insight and rigour of the accountancy profession. We have accepted that exiting the EU will likely be a complicated drawn-out process. The effects on business will be bound up in complex trade deals, government policies and the ratification of EU laws affecting business in the UK.

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Pay levels are falling but job market remains robust, despite Brexit relocation plans

Pay levels are falling but job market remains robust, despite Brexit relocation plans 0

by • News, Public Sector, Workplace

The UK economy is about to be hit by a fall in basic pay awards and real wages warns the CIPD, which has found that employers’ median basic pay expectations in the 12 months to March 2018 have fallen to 1 percent compared to 1.5 percent three months ago, which is lower than at any time during the past three and a half years. The findings from the latest CIPD/The Adecco Group Labour Market Outlook survey are consistent with recent Labour Market Outlook reports, which have indicated a slowing in the rate of basic pay growth, and with official labour market data. The report also found that 12 percent of private sector firms say the UK’s decision to leave the European Union has led them to consider relocating some or all of their business operations abroad. Popular relocation destinations include the Republic of Ireland (18 percent), Germany (17 percent) and France (13 percent).

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CIPD calls for range of measures for British workforce ahead of General Election

CIPD calls for range of measures for British workforce ahead of General Election 0

by • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

The next Government needs to put ‘good work’ at the heart of its thinking in order to improve the economy, boost individual welfare and prosperity – creating the conditions for good work in organisations across the country, says the CIPD ahead of the General Election. In its ‘Manifesto for Work’ the CIPD is calling for publication of pay ratios, additional rights for zero-hours workers and increased investment in adult skills. The manifesto’s package of aim to address the systemic problems in the UK economy by focusing on the positive influence the world of work can have on productivity and wellbeing. As well as an overhaul of the UK Corporate Governance Code, the CIPD is also calling on the next Government to protect and raise awareness of employment rights, make skills the centerpiece of their industrial strategy and take steps to improve gender diversity in the boardroom. It also calls for organisations to focus more on greater organisational transparency so that businesses are more accountable for incorporating the principles of good work across their organisations.

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Employers struggling to fill vacancies as Brexit impacts on candidate availability

Employers struggling to fill vacancies as Brexit impacts on candidate availability 0

by • Legal news, News, Workplace

If UK businesses are to remain competitive whoever wins the election on 8 June needs to invest in skills and career advice, as Brexit uncertainty means people are hesitating to move jobs, while there may be barriers in future to hiring workers from abroad; according to the latest research into the UK jobs market by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC). The jobs market experienced the steepest drop in candidate availability for 16 months in April while demand for permanent and short-term staff remained high. Although growth in permanent starting salaries edged down to a four-month low in April, it remained sharp overall and stronger than the series average. Meanwhile, hourly pay rates for short-term staff increased at the sharpest pace in 2017 so far. Vacancies continued to rise markedly in April for both permanent and temporary/contract staff. This was despite growth in demand for both types of staff softening slightly since the previous month.

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Scotland needs to develop new skills as era of automation threatens half of jobs

Scotland needs to develop new skills as era of automation threatens half of jobs 0

by • News, Technology, Workplace

Urgent reform is needed to deal with the rise of automation, which threatens half of Scottish jobs, a leading think-tank has warned. The stark warning comes in a new report from IPPR Scotland, supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. Scotland’s Skills 2030 outlines the need to reskill Scotland’s workforce for the world of work in 2030. The study claims that 46 percent of jobs in Scotland – or 1.2 million – are at high risk of automation up to 2030 and beyond. It suggests that Scotland’s skills system needs to “retrofit” the workforce with the skills to be ready for technological change – 2.5 million adults in Scotland today (or 78 percent) will still be of working in 2030, report adds.

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