Search Results for: diversity

April 5, 2017

Bumpy ride and slow uptake in first two years of shared parental leave rules ⁰

by Sara Bean • Features, Flexible working, Legal news, Workplace

It is two years since the introduction of Shared Parental Leave (SPL), where couples were given the ability to share leave surrounding the arrival of a new addition to their family; and while sharing leave is seen to have a profound beneficial impact for the family, there are still plenty of barriers. According to research from My Family Care, one of the largest is that there is a sense that it involves a big risk with real concerns around the impact on a father’s career if they were to take more than two or three months off. A second report from the charity Working Families found that despite the initial slow take up of new rights, more than half of fathers would use Shared Parental Leave. However, snapshot figures for the first three months of 2016 showed that 3,000 new parents were taking up the new right. If the maternity leave figure is taken as indicative of the number of couples with new babies at the time the new figures are in line with the bottom of the government’s 2013 estimated take-up range – between two and eight per cent of fathers.

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March 28, 2017

Post Brexit UK sets out its case at MIPIM 2017 ⁰

by Anna King • Cities, Features, Property

Cannes-based international real estate fair MIPIM has always been a magnet for cities, determined to extoll their virtues to investors, developers and occupiers, but this year the UK was in charm overdrive. Buoyed no doubt in part by the presence of the UK government’s Department of International Trade (DIT), waving its ‘open for business’ flag for UK PLC, many of the towns and cities that would normally have ploughed their own furrow, instead came together to leverage critical mass. So Bradford and Leeds combined, conurbations across the central belt conjoined on a Midlands pavilion, and so on. Whether it was panic or confidence, the net result was an unusually prominent UK presence, up a quarter on last year. Of course the UK is just one nationality among the 24,200 real estate and city professionals from 100 countries who come together in Cannes every March.

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March 14, 2017

Age remains the biggest obstacle to career progression in Europe ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

European employees feel that age is the biggest factor preventing them from progressing in their career, according to research of nearly 10,000 European working adults by ADP. A fifth of employees name age as their biggest obstacle, followed by favouritism (7 percent), lack of opportunities with current employer (7 percent), qualifications (5 percent), and family needs (5 percent). Age is a particularly cited obstacle in the Netherlands (24 percent), Switzerland (21 percent) and the UK (20 percent). This issue increases as workers get older, with 46 percent of over 55s and 27 percent of those aged 45-54 feeling this way. This situation may reflect the increasing generational diversity of the workforce, as five generations of employees will soon be working side by side. Advancing technologies and more significant age differences in the workforce are likely to be isolating older workers, who may feel outdated by a younger, tech-ready generation.

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March 13, 2017

Female FTSE 100 leaders require more prestigious academic background than men ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

Only 10 percent of Executive Directors on FTSE 100 boards are female compared with 35 percent of Non-Executive Directors and it seems that those who reach this level require a stronger academic pedigree than their male counterparts. According to preliminary findings from The Leadership 10k1 report from Green Park, women leaders in the UK’s biggest firms are three times more likely than male counterparts to have degrees from either Russell Group or Ivy League universities. The research finds that 76 percent of the total employees in top 20 positions across the FTSE 100 who graduated from a Russell Group university are female while 70 percent of leaders who graduated from an Ivy League university are female. Overall, this suggests that women are three times more likely to need a qualification from a prestigious university to gain a board position in the UK than men.

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March 8, 2017

Fall in number of senior business roles held by women in the UK ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

A new report to mark International Women’s Day claims that the proportion of senior business roles held by women in the UK has fallen from 21 percent in 2016 to 19 percent in 2017. The report, based on Grant Thornton’s annual survey of 5,500 businesses in 36 economies, also found that the percentage of businesses in the UK with no women in senior management has also risen from 36 percent in 2016 to 41 percent in 2017. This is still an improvement on other EU countries with a lower proportion of senior roles held by women: Germany (18 percent), UK (19 percent), Greece (20 percent) and Netherlands (20 percent)Globally, the proportion of senior business roles held by women has hit a high of 25 percent. However, the findings suggest that progress is slow, with an increase of only 1 percent compared to 2016. Globally, the proportion of senior business roles held by women increased 1 percent from 2016, but that’s only up 6 percent since start of research 13 years ago, in 2004 (18 percent), showing how little progress has been made over the past decade. The research claims that the countries with the highest proportion of senior roles held by women are Russia (47 percent), Indonesia (46 percent) and Estonia (40 percent). The UK had the fifth lowest proportion of women in senior business roles, with Japan recording the lowest (7 percent) and Argentina second lowest (15 percent). (more…)

February 16, 2017

Germany most popular country for career relocation, despite lack of flexible working ⁰

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

Nearly three quarters of European employees would consider career opportunities abroad, with Germany voted the most desirable place to work claims a new study of nearly 10,000 working adults across Europe. According to research by ADP which looked at how employees feel about the future of work, international competitiveness and talent management, European employees have a strong appetite for international work, as almost three quarters (74 percent) would consider other countries for career opportunities. At 21 percent, Germany tops the list of most popular places to relocate, with the United Kingdom (15 percent) and France (12 percent) in second and third place; with North America surprisingly coming in much further down the list in 12th place. Despite their popularity, Germany, the UK and France aren’t particularly strong in any of the areas measured in the survey, such as skills and development, flexible working options and stress in the workplace.

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January 2, 2017

Britain must future proof itself ahead of a decade of disruption, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Brexit negotiations will ‘fire the starting gun’ on a decade of change for the UK, claims a new report from think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). The study, Future Proof: Britain in the 2020s, sets out the key challenges it claims will shape the UK in the period up to 2030 and the ‘choices that must be made now if these changes are to lead to a fairer and more equal society’. Among the issues covered in the report are the challenges directly related to Brexit, alongside factors such as an ageing population, other demographic changes, the risk to jobs posed by automation, the shift of the globalised economy towards Asia and the enduring problems associated with wage inequalities and the environment.

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December 22, 2016

Getting ahead at work: social class divide, power and office politics ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

A new study from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business has found that class-based inequality in the workplace persists not only because of external factors like bias and glass ceilings, but also because of structural factors that discourage people from lower social classes from seeking positions of power in the first place. The paper, co-authored by Peter Belmi of the Darden School of Business and Kristin Laurin of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, claims that most people believe that getting ahead requires a mixture of pro-social behavior – such as being competent, hard-working, and a team player; and political behaviour – such as being outspoken, flattering, and treating others as “resources”. According to the research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, inequality begins to thrive in the disparity between which groups are actually willing to put both behaviours into practice. Even though everyone derides political angling, it turns out that relatively high-class individuals are still willing to play the game to get ahead. Not so with lower-class individuals.

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December 19, 2016

UK employers predict workforce growth in 2017 along with more inclusive hiring ⁰

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Workplace

Four in ten (41 percent) of firms across the UK will grow their workforce in 2017 but uncertainty about the UK’s future relationship with the EU has shaken overall business confidence in the labour market claims a new report. According to respondents to the 19th CBI/Pertemps Network Group Employment Trends Survey, for the fourth year running, growth in permanent job opportunities will outstrip temporary recruitment. But the balance of those expecting the UK to be a more attractive place to employ people in the next five years has flipped from +16 percent in the 2015 survey to -21 percent in this year’s results. In terms of engagement, over three quarters (76 percent) of respondents reported that a diverse and inclusive workforce is vital or important to the future success of their organisation. They report a range of benefits of inclusive workplace practices including increased skills (73 percent), attraction and retention of staff (60 percent) and engagement levels (46 percent).

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December 16, 2016

Millennials more tuned-in to discrimination at work than other generations ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Millennials have widely divergent experiences and attitudes toward diversity and inclusion within the workplace than older generations, claims a new US-based report. In the research from the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) and Weber Shandwick into the importance that people place on diversity and inclusion (D&I) when considering a new job found that 47 percent of Millennials consider it an important criterion in their job search compared to 33 percent of Gen Xers and 37 percent of Boomers. Nearly six in 10 of all employed Americans (58 percent) report that they see or hear about some form of discrimination and/or bias at their workplace, most frequently racial or ethnic in nature (22 percent). Millennials are significantly more likely than older generations to be attuned to such behaviour at work, and also much more comfortable discussing these issues at work than their older colleagues. The survey also asked respondents why they believe employers emphasise diversity and inclusion in the workplace. All three generations cited “To make it a better place to work” among their top three reasons. Millennials also recognize increased opportunities while reputational benefits and outside pressures are noticed by Gen Xers and Boomers.

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December 7, 2016

Are these the best places to work in 2017? ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace, Workplace design

Recruitment site Glassdoor has announced the winners of its ninth annual Employees’ Choice Awards to find the best places to work in North America and parts of Europe. The Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback, by completing a company review, about their job, work environment and employer over the past year. This year, the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards feature six categories, honouring the Best Places to Work across the UK, US (both large and small companies), Canada, France and Germany. There is one category in the UK: 50 Best Places to Work (honouring employers with 1,000 or more employees). Winners are ranked based on their overall rating achieved during the past year. The top five UK Best Places to Work in 2017 are Expedia, ARM, HomeServeUK, Mott MacDonald and Hays plc

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December 6, 2016

Leading companies around the world show support for LGBT workplace equality ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Record number of major companies and law firms are advancing vital policies and practices to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) workers around the world. This is according to the 2017 Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the US’ largest LGBTQ civil rights organization. This year, a record-breaking 517 businesses earned the CEI’s top score of 100, up from 407 last year. That’s a single-year increase of more than 25 percent — the largest jump in the 15-year history of the United State’s premiere benchmarking tool for LGBT workplace equality. Leadership demonstrated by these businesses, reflect more than a decade of work inside these companies to expand LGBT, and particularly transgender, workplace equality. The Corporate Equality Index (CEI), launched in 2002 to assess LGBT-inclusive policies and practices at Fortune 500 companies, also highlights how corporate leaders are increasingly stepping up to play a leading role in opposing anti-equality legislation. Through their actions, taken as LGBTQ workers and customers have been facing a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures across the US, business leaders are building on their longstanding commitment to expanding workplace equality for LGBTQ people.