March 1, 2023

Employers prioritising long term return on investment in recruitment

Following the ‘hiring frenzy’ of the pandemic, recruitment strategies are focused on total value creation by empowering their teams to learn, grow and be ready for any contingency, according to the 2023 Talent Trends Report from Randstad. The poll of over 900 C-suite and HR leaders in 18 markets focussed on their talent and career development priorities for the year ahead. Now in its 8th year, this year’s report claims that despite an uncertain economic environment, business leaders are focused on driving long-term value and business impact by increasing talent engagement, satisfaction, productivity, and retention, following the ‘hiring frenzy’ of the last two years. (more…)

February 21, 2023

Four day week pilot results are very encouraging indeed, say researchers

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Businesses that adopted a four day working week as part of a pilot programme say they are more profitable and their staff are fitter, happier and more productive, researchers have told MPs. A large majority of companies that took part in the pilot now plan to carry on. The programme, led in the UK by non-profit 4 Day Week Global, the UK’s 4 Day Week Campaign and think-tank Autonomy, involved around 3,000 workers through a six-month trial of a four day week, with no loss of pay. This brings the global campaign’s total number of completed pilot participants to 91 companies and approximately 3,500 employees. (more…)

February 20, 2023

Unlocking the digital frontier: hiring the next generation of tech talent

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Workplace

Any business that is looking to grow its consumer base or expand into new markets is likely to be relying on digital technology to a greater extent than ever before both in their operations and management. This also means that the world of employment, both for workers and enterprises, is necessarily evolving too. An inevitable consequence of this evolution has been that those for whom technology has been an essential part of their life and education — so-called digital natives — are in growing demand. (more…)

February 16, 2023

Flexible working drives productivity and stronger company culture

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News

Future Forum, a consortium launched by Slack with founding partners Boston Consulting Group, MillerKnoll, and MLT has published the latest findings from its global Pulse survey, which suggest that flexible working plays a key role in fostering organisational culture and has a significant positive impact on productivity. According to the poll, flexible workers were 57 percent more likely to say that their company culture has improved over the past two years compared with those required to be on-site five days a week—and they cited flexible working policies as the primary reason their culture is changing for the better. (more…)

February 16, 2023

People will leave jobs that don’t align with their values, author claims

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Pay and benefits are no longer the only critical factors in deciding where to work, with a majority citing their employers’ values (80 percent) and commitment to the environment (76 percent) and social equality (75 percent) as key criteria, claims a survey commissioned by advocate and author Paul Polman. (more…)

February 16, 2023

Employers brace for ‘talent exodus’ as people seek better pay

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Over half (58 percent) of employers in the UK believe that they will lose staff in the next six months as they seek to earn more by moving jobs, according to a new poll. According to the survey by talent services company, Morgan McKinley for its 2023 Salary Guide, 56 percent of employees in the UK are looking to move jobs in the first half of the year, with 49 percent selecting better pay as the primary reason, followed by ‘better career growth and development opportunities’ (17 percent). (more…)

February 14, 2023

UK businesses are out of touch with the real sources of employee stress

by Nick Gold • Comment, Wellbeing

The cost-of-living crisis is driving a wedge between employers and their staff. In a recent research report, we surveyed 500 employers to discover what they believe causes their staff the most stress. Surprisingly, an overwhelming 96 percent did not believe that employee salaries are a major stress factor for staff during the cost-of-living crisis. Instead, they felt major contributors included heavy workloads, long hours, and tight deadlines. (more…)

February 14, 2023

Flexible working has been an ‘unexpected gift’ for employers

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

A survey from CBRE claims that the imposition of more hybrid and flexible working has been an ‘unexpected gift’ for both employers and employees. The poll of 20,000 employees worldwide suggests that flexibility plays an important role for both employee and employer decision making. Other benefits include increased productivity and more innovative thinking. Flexibility about where and when work takes place was particularly important to workers. Around 40 percent of workers both globally and in the UK, noted flexibility as the primary factor in assessing job opportunities, with a company’s commitment to work-life balance another crucial factor. (more…)

February 10, 2023

Working parents are resilient, and a resilient team is good for business

by Erin Eatough • Comment, Wellbeing

Last week, Parent Mental Health Day renewed our focus on working parents and their resilience, the ability to adapt to change, deal with stress, and foster optimism despite difficulty. From a business perspective, resilience is the way that employees recognise and respond to challenges as opportunities to develop rather than as a threat or setback. Resilience is an important skill for us all as we manoeuvre through life’s daily trials and it is particularly important for working parents as we often juggle more responsibilities outside of the workplace. (more…)

February 8, 2023

People are split on whether hybrid working improves or worsens ‘workplace community’

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

People are still undecided on whether remote and hybrid working are having a positive or negative impact on their ‘workplace community’. According to a new poll, 37 per cent of UK employees feel that hybrid work has made it harder to create a workplace community but 41 per cent disagree. These are the findings from O.C. Tanner’s 2023 Global Culture Report which collected and analysed the perspectives of over 36,000 employees, leaders, HR practitioners, and business executives from 20 countries around the world, including 4,653 from the UK. (more…)

February 7, 2023

People who act as a go-between for colleagues more prone to abuse and burnout

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employees who act as brokers, meaning they work as a go-between for coworkers who do not communicate directly, are more likely to burn out and become abusive towards their colleagues, according to new research from ESMT Berlin and published in the journal Organization Science. The research, led by Eric Quintane, associate professor of organizational behaviour at ESMT Berlin, examines the psychological costs of having to sustain communications with coworkers who do not communicate directly with each other. They could be coworkers who are in different units, regions, or time zones, which makes it hard for them to communicate. (more…)

February 6, 2023

Debrett’s unveils etiquette guide for hybrid working

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

Debrett’s, the well-known authority on manners and etiquette, has created a guide to hybrid working etiquette, sponsored by Poly. The guide claims to offer updated advice for the hybrid work era at a time when -it says here – etiquette at work has never been more important. (more…)