December 1, 2021

Longer lives significantly contributing to European economies, new reports claims

A series of reports published by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) highlights the economic opportunities of longer lives across Europe. According to the reports, older people’s contributions across the European region are significant, and growing. The reports call for countries to better support older people’s economic contributions, particularly through greater investment in preventative health measures that support healthy ageing – the authors call for governments to invest at least 6 percent of their health budgets on these interventions, such as vaccines, screenings, early detection and management of disease. (more…)

November 30, 2021

Pandemic-driven shifts have made the workforce smaller, younger and more female

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working lives

The pandemic has not led to mass unemployment as many feared, but has instead driven wider shifts that have increased employment among younger women, but pushed many men and older workers out of the labour market altogether, according to new research. (more…)

November 18, 2021

Time to stop playing around with the issue of workplace sustainability

by Joanna Knight • Environment, Facilities management, Features, JK, Workplace design

The so-called green agenda, sustainability and climate change have finally hit centre stage. Various announcements are being made by UK Government and numerous high profile figures are crying a call to action to implement carbon reduction plans now. Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman William Russell, stated at the Annual Lord Mayor Gresham Lecture early in 2021: “Climate change is a bigger threat to the world than COVID-19.” He called on the financial and professional services sector to take urgent action to tackle climate change and ensure sustainability is at the heart of every financial decision. (more…)

November 16, 2021

Employers expect ‘hard-to-fill’ vacancies to increase in the next six months

by Jayne Smith • Business, Jobs, News

Almost half (47 percent) of employers report having vacancies that are hard-to-fill, and more than one in four (27 percent) expect the number of vacancies that are difficult to fill to increase in the next six months. This is a key finding of the latest quarterly CIPD Labour Market Outlook (LMO) which surveyed more than 1,000 employers across all sectors of the economy. Employers were surveyed about their hiring, pay and redundancy intentions for the last quarter of 2021 in September, just as the furlough scheme was ending. (more…)

November 15, 2021

Social mobility is restricted by lack of confidence and support in careers

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

A new report from Totaljobs and the Social Mobility Foundation claims that the social mobility of millions of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds is hampered by a lack of confidence in choice of career and lower levels of support from families and friends. Of those that started their first job in the last two years, only 50 percent from lower socioeconomic backgrounds said they were confident about eventually being able to do the job they want. This contrasts with the 71 percent of those from more privileged, professional backgrounds. This gap has widened since the pandemic. (more…)

October 25, 2021

The power of science can help companies create better menopause policies

by Gosia Bowling • Comment, Wellbeing

According to research, nearly 8 out of 10 menopausal women are in work, at a time when many are likely to move into top leadership positions. Despite the challenges and difficulties faced by those experiencing menopause in the workplace, it remains largely invisible, undiscussed, and unsupported. That’s why it’s important for businesses create menopause-friendly workplaces using the principles of behavioural science and health psychology. (more…)

October 20, 2021

Risk of generational progress grinding to a halt unless young job seekers can level up too

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture

A new report highlights a combination of regional disparities in access to jobs for young people, a shrinking youth labour market and an unequal recovery. This could result in young people being ill-equipped to meet the future demands of the labour market, further compounding skills shortages currently faced by employers. (more…)

October 1, 2021

Age discrimination impacts job prospects of millions of over 50s

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working culture, Working lives

A total of 2.99 million recent job seekers over 50 (52 percent) believe their age has made employers less likely to hire them, according to a new report from Legal & General Retail Retirement (LGRR) and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). (more…)

September 23, 2021

One in five employers have changed employees’ terms and conditions since pandemic onset

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

One in five employers (22 percent) have made changes to employees’ terms and conditions of employment between March 2020 and July 2021, according to new research from the CIPD. The most common changes were to location of work (49 percent), followed by hours of work (47 percent) and pay levels (44 percent), redundancy/terms pay (22 percent) and access to enhanced contractual entitlements/incentives (20 percent). (more…)

September 22, 2021

Flexible working rights consultation welcomed by CIPD

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

The CIPD has welcomed a new consultation from the UK Government on making flexible working requests a day one right. The CIPD launched its #FlexFrom1st campaign in February, calling for all employees to have the immediate right to request flexible working. Under the proposed legislation, companies would be obliged to explain their reasons if it is then refused. The plan would also oblige employers to respond to such requests more quickly, and is being billed as a major reshaping of the way people work in a post-pandemic world, making flexible work the default. (more…)

September 20, 2021

The four day week won’t necessarily help us cope with workplace stress

by Abigail Marks • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Scotland is to become the latest nation to trial a four-day working week, after the SNP government announced it was setting up a £10 million fund to enable some office businesses to cut workers’ hours without reducing their pay. Similar trials are underway in Ireland and Spain, following on from trials in Iceland several years ago. Some firms have also been experimenting with a four day week, while other nations such as Japan are encouraging their employers to think about it too. (more…)

September 17, 2021

Over a third of UK adults have suffered discrimination at work

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture, Workplace

New research into workplace discrimination, commissioned by CIPHR, claims just how widespread employment bias is in the UK. On average, one in six people (16 percent) report having suffered ageism, one in ten (10 percent) say they have been the subject of gender-based discrimination (12 percent of women and 7 percent of men), and around one in twelve feel that they have been on the receiving end of prejudicial treatment because of a disability, their race or sexual orientation (9 percent, 9 percent and 8 percent respectively), at some point in their careers. (more…)