Search Results for: employers

January 23, 2018

Global economy faces an immediate reskilling problem in the face of automation, claims Davos report

by Mark Eltringham • AI, News, Workplace

The global economy faces a reskilling crisis with 1.4 million jobs in the US alone vulnerable to disruption from technology and other factors by 2026, according to a new report, Towards a Reskilling Revolution: A Future of Jobs for All, published by the World Economic Forum. The report is an analysis of nearly 1,000 job types across the US economy, encompassing 96 percent of employment in the country. Its aim is to assess the scale of the reskilling task required to protect workforces from an expected wave of automation brought on by the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’. Drawing on this data for the US economy, the report finds that 57 percent of jobs expected to be disrupted belong to women. If called on today to move to another job with skills that match their own, 16 percent of workers would have no opportunities to transition and another 25 percent would have only between one and three matches.

January 17, 2018

Managers’ increasingly long hours behind rise in stress and mental ill health

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

Managers are working an extra 44 days a year over and above their contracted hours, up from 40 days in 2015. These long hours are taking their toll, causing a surge in sick leave amongst managers suffering from stress and mental ill health, claims the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), which is calling on UK employers to provide greater support. Long hours and constant communication are having a detrimental effect on the wellbeing of managers it argues resulting in one in ten managers taking time off for mental health in the last year, and for those who do take time out, it’s for an average of 12 days. Of the 1,037 managers surveyed for the report, the average boss puts in an extra day each week. This is an extra 7.5 hours beyond their contracted weekly hours (44.4 hours actual compared to 37.3 contracted), adding up to an extra 43.8 days over the course of the year. This is up from 39.6 days in 2015. The rising gap between contracted and actual hours of work is in addition to an ‘always on’ digital culture, with 59 percent of managers saying they ‘frequently’ check their emails outside of work – up from 54 percent in 2015.

January 17, 2018

One third of UK professionals suffer from depression or anxiety, and work is a key contributor

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Over a third (35.2 percent) of the nation’s workers are suffering from mental health issues, with four in 10 (42.9 percent) admitting that their job is a key contributor to these feelings. That’s according to a survey from job site CV-Library which claims that for 70.6 percent of those that suffer, their depression or anxiety can sometimes have a negative effect on their working life, while a further 17.9 percent said it always negatively impacts their working life.

January 10, 2018

UK productivity growing at quickest rate for six years

by Mark Eltringham • News

Productivity in Britain is rising at its fastest rate in six years. Output per hour worked rose by 0.9 per cent between July and September of 2017, according to the latest quarterly report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was the biggest increase since 2011, when productivity grew by 1 per cent. The UK has a persistent problem with its productivity. Excluding the UK, G7 GDP per hour worked is 18 per cent higher than in Britain, with productivity in the United States 30 per cent higher, France 31 per cent and Germany 36 per cent. High productivity is considered the key to economic prosperity because it allows companies to produce more goods or services with fewer workers or hours worked. This in turn lets companies pay higher wages without having to raise prices. Many theories have been developed to explain the UK’s chronic low productivity, which are summarised by the Financial Times here (subscription or registration needed).

January 5, 2018

Automation will impact low paid jobs first because of the living wage, report claims

by Mark Eltringham • AI, News, Technology

The development of the living wage coupled with the growing automation of tasks could create a perfect storm that prices a growing number of people out of the jobs markets, a report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies claims. The authors suggest that one of the unintended consequences of the increase of the rate to £8.50 by 2020 could be that people in low paid work could find themselves in competition for jobs with robots and artificial intelligence. The report concludes that there will be a tipping point at which human labour becomes economically unviable, although it does not predict when that will occur.

January 5, 2018

Younger workers helping to drive a more positive perception of UK business

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

There has been a rise in the number of people who believe businesses in the UK have a good reputation, with a significant number of younger people helping to create this positive picture. The research, comparing perceptions of businesses between May and November 2017, reveals 2 in 3 people think UK businesses have a good reputation, up 7 percent in 6 months. The tracker, conducted by the CBI in partnership with global PR agency, Porter Novelli, and research company, Opinium, revealed that the public are more aware of the value business provides in local communities with an increasingly vocal business community emerging in recent months. Importantly, the improvement in business reputation has largely been driven by young people and those in work, with a significant 15 percent rise in positive views among 18-34 year olds. This reinforces the view that younger people are more engaged in the debate about the UK’s future, with the Brexit negotiations and a sharper political debate intensifying the focus on jobs and the economy.

January 5, 2018

Poor management driving nearly half of UK workforce to seek a new job

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

Nearly half of the UK workforce (47 percent) will be looking for a new job in 2018, with nearly 1 in 5 people already actively searching for opportunities, according to new research produced by Investors in People (IIP) in their annual Job Exodus Survey 2018. These findings highlight an improvement in satisfaction across the UK job market according to IIP, representing a fall of 12 percent on last year’s figure, where 59 percent of respondents stated the intention to seek a new job. However, despite the reduction in the proportion of those considering a job move, there are still nearly 1 in 4 unhappy workers.

January 4, 2018

Hard working females under 35 most likely to join January job exodus

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that in the annual January ‘job exodus’, junior employees under the age of 35 years are most likely to leave their current roles, according to new research. However the Qualtrics Employee Pulse – a quarterly survey of more than 4,000 workers – shows that employees that pose the greatest flight risk are most likely to be female, think about work outside of contracted hours, and regularly checking emails on weekends. Of most use to employers, utilising its Experience Management Platform, Qualtrics has identified the top three drivers that will help encourage employees to stay in their jobs in the long-term. These are supporting a work-life balance, allowing employees to try out new tasks and skills in their existing role and ensuring managers are proactive in helping to solve problems or concerns in the workplace.

January 2, 2018

UK commuters spend five times more on rail fares than European counterparts

by Mark Eltringham • News

British commuters face fresh rail fare increases as they return to work today (Tuesday), now spending up to 5 times as much of their salary on season tickets as passengers on the continent, according to new TUC research. Someone on an average salary travelling from Chelmsford to London will have to fork out 13 percent of their pay for season tickets (£381 a month). By contrast, comparable commutes would cost a mere 2 percent of the average salary in France, 3 percent in Italy, 4 percent in Germany, and 5 percent in Spain and Belgium. Meanwhile, the TUC claims that wages are set to grow by only 2.6 percent in 2018, while season tickets will go up by 3.6 percent – over a third faster than wages.

December 22, 2017

Most US employees will work and stay in touch with colleagues during the holiday season

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing

Over Christmas and New Year, 43 percent of US workers say they plan to take a holiday, and of that group, roughly half — or 21 percent of all workers — will completely disconnect from work. Meanwhile, 22 percent of workers will be taking a holiday but checking in with work via email or other means. These findings, from a poll of over 500 people from earlier this month claims that the majority of workers will be connected to their jobs over the holidays — either because they are not taking a vacation at all or because they will check in during their vacation days. US workers are more likely to say they plan to take holiday than they were when Gallup last asked the question, at the beginning of the millennium. The 43 percent of US employees who plan to take a break this holiday season is up from about a third of workers (34 percent) in 2000.

December 22, 2017

Five employment law milestones from the past year we need to remember in 2018

by Lucy Gordon • Comment, Workplace

The past twelve months have been an eventful period for employment law; from the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the rights of EU Nationals working in the UK, to the mounting attention on employee data protection as the GDPR edges ever closer. Issues of Employment Tribunal fees, holiday pay and the gig economy have similarly captivated headlines, and these significant milestones from the past 12 months are set to have a big impact on the challenges facing the sector into 2018. More →

December 20, 2017

CIPD predicts tighter labour market and continued poor productivity next year

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

There is little evidence that the pay squeeze will end soon, with only falling inflation likely to lead to meaningful wage increases next year. This is according to a CIPD analysis, which predicts that 2018 will see pay, productivity and migration top the agenda as the UK looks ahead to its exit from the European Union. It adds that the UK workforce could tighten, and with increased constraints on labour supply, 2018 could be the year that the UK finally runs out of people to fill jobs, despite unemployment levels being unlikely to see much change. There are also indications there will be no improvement in productivity, with continued stagnation in UK productivity, which will remain well below pre-crash levels. In the CIPD’s annual labour market predictions, Ian Brinkley, Acting Chief Economist, anticipates a flattening of employment growth and weak pay growth as the UK continues to struggle with its productivity problem.