Search Results for: employment

What effect will the Employment Bill have on hybrid working?

What effect will the Employment Bill have on hybrid working?

hybrid workingThe long-awaited Employment Bill may be published later this year. The draft Bill, first introduced in the Queen’s speech in 2019, was put on hold and repeatedly delayed due to the impact of COVID-19. There is some confusion around what the change to flexible working will entail should the Employment Bill come into force. In the Queen’s speech, as set out in the Conservative’s manifesto earlier that year, it was announced that the proposal was to make flexible working the default position unless an employer had a ‘good reason’ not to allow it. This proposal would have been a radical change in favour of employees as flexible working would become an automatic right – thereby weakening an employer’s ability to push back on hybrid working requests. More →

Three quarters of young people worldwide lack skills needed for employment

Three quarters of young people worldwide lack skills needed for employment

skillsNearly three quarters of young people aged 15 to 24 in 92 countries with available data are off-track to acquire the skills needed for employment, according to a new report published today by the Education Commission and UNICEF to coincide with World Youth Skills Day. Recovering learning: Are children and youth on track in skills development? features analyses on development in early childhood, and among children of primary school age and youth. The data highlight low levels of skill among children and young people across all age groups, with young people in low-income countries the least likely to have those required to thrive, particularly in future employment opportunities, decent work, and entrepreneurship. More →

The UK is entering a new unstable period of employment relations

The UK is entering a new unstable period of employment relations

employment relationsA new study from the CIPD shows that a tight labour market, combined with a cost-of-living crisis and falling wages, could fuel further industrial action in the coming months. The CIPD is urging employers to engage with their recognised employee representatives and trade unions to avoid issues escalating to strike action. The data, gathered in January 2022, offered  what the CIPD says is a stark warning for what has now become a reality – that a lack of engagement with employee representatives will lead to worse employment relations and possible strike action. More →

The truth about motivation, engagement and the employment of motivated idiots

The truth about motivation, engagement and the employment of motivated idiots

motivated idiotsThe current obsession with engagement and motivation is evident every time you read the business media these days. This is understandable in many ways, not least because it seems true that firms and employees are often working in an atmosphere of mistrust. But one thing that is often noticeable when a profession such as HR gets itself into a debate of this nature is the gap that can exist between practitioners and everybody else offering a view. So while academics can talk about definitions and suppliers seek to apply their solutions to the issue, it is often down to those who work at the sharp end to dish up the truth, however unpalatable or cynical that can seem to be. More →

Employment opportunities denied to people from low socioeconomic backgrounds

Employment opportunities denied to people from low socioeconomic backgrounds

employment opportunitiesOver 50 percent of UK job seekers from low socioeconomic backgrounds miss out on employment opportunities, claims a study of over 2,200 people. The survey (registration), from EdTec startup Forage suggests that employers must refine their social mobility initiatives to achieve a fair recruitment process for all. More →

Work becoming more secure but more action needed to enforce employment rights

Work becoming more secure but more action needed to enforce employment rights

employmentA new report ‘Has work become less secure?’ from the CIPD claims that, overall, employment in the UK has actually become more secure on most measures over the last decade – despite the impact of the pandemic. Compared with 2010, there are proportionally fewer people today working variable hours, working part-time involuntarily, or wanting to work more hours. More →

More hybrid working to bring 3.8 million Brits into employment

More hybrid working to bring 3.8 million Brits into employment

hybrid workingHybrid working could bring nearly four million people “locked out” from work such as parents, carers and disabled people into the workforce and enable part-time workers to work more hours adding £48.3bn to the UK economy each year, according to a new study by Virgin Media O2 Business and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). More →

Unemployment for those with learning disabilities reaches record high

Unemployment for those with learning disabilities reaches record high

disabilitiesThe number of supported adults with learning disabilities in paid employment fell by 87 percent in some areas during the pandemic, according to the latest PHE data. In some local authorities in England, just 0.4 percent of people with learning disabilities are in paid employment. More →

Public concerned about risk of unemployment, day to day living costs, and economic growth

Public concerned about risk of unemployment, day to day living costs, and economic growth

publicA large majority of the public are concerned about rising unemployment (82 percent), day to day living costs (80 percent), and low economic growth (77 percent), according to a PwC survey of 2,000 people across the UK. Pandemics and other health crises (84 percent), cyber crime (82 percent), and climate change (81 percent) were other key concerns according to the research, which looks at the UK public’s attitude to risk.
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Government must recognise role of managers in halting unemployment crisis

Government must recognise role of managers in halting unemployment crisis

GovernmentA shift to remote working in the pandemic has made starting a new job even more challenging and the Government must recognise the vital role managers have to play as it works to ensure the success of its £2.6 billion job drive. More →

‘Now is The Time’ – Tackling the disability employment gap

‘Now is The Time’ – Tackling the disability employment gap

now is the timeThe CSJ Disability Commission has published “Now Is The Time”, its new report suggesting how the Prime Minister can keep his promise and deliver a truly transformative strategy to greatly improve the employment prospects of disabled people throughout the UK. More →

Employment intentions at their strongest in a year

Employment intentions at their strongest in a year

employmentUK employers are reporting their strongest employment intentions in a year, the latest CIPD/Adecco Labour Market Outlook claims. The survey’s net employment intentions figure, which measures the difference between the proportion of employers expecting to add jobs and those planning to cut positions, rose to +11 this quarter – its highest in a year. This compares to -1 in the previous quarter. More →