Search Results for: financial

Governments must do more to prepare people for the future of work

Governments must do more to prepare people for the future of work

Governments need to overhaul their approach to employment and jobs to reduce further social and economic tensions, according to a new report from the OECD which explores the future of work. Without rapid action, many people, particularly the low skilled, will be left behind in the fast-changing world of work. The OECD Employment Outlook 2019 is part of the OECD’s Future of Work initiative and the “I am the Future of Work” campaign, which aims to make the future of work better for all, helping to transform learning and social protection systems and reduce inequalities between people and across regions.

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Great expectations at work causing stress and rise in mental ill health

Great expectations at work causing stress and rise in mental ill health

Employees feel expectations at work are playing an integral role in diminishing their mental health a new report suggests, which includes increasing pressures to work outside of office hours, through annual leave and even on sick days. Westfield Health’s inaugural Wellbeing Index, which claims to shine a spotlight on stress, found 61 percent of HR professionals identified mental health related issues as the main reasons for absences within their workforces, with over half (51 percent) noticing an overall increase in sick days. ‘Leavism’ – working outside of contracted hours and on annual leave days – is also prevalent throughout the British workforce, with 67 percent in HR saying it’s a very real issue for them.

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Flexible working seen as top workplace benefit by workers

Flexible working seen as top workplace benefit by workers

A survey of 1,000 UK workers by corporate gift suppliers Adler claims to identify the top benefits workers want to see offered as standard by their employer. Flexible working topped the list with half of respondents (48 percent) saying it should be offered as standard by UK companies.

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Ancient Greek wisdom for the leadership crisis of the 21st Century

Ancient Greek wisdom for the leadership crisis of the 21st Century

What makes a good leader? This question confronts us at every election and with every domestic and international policy decision. As a professor of classical languages and literature for more than 30 years, I marvel at our insistence on addressing this question as if it were brand new. Centuries ago, myths helped the Greeks learn to reject tyrannical authority and identify the qualities of good leadership. As I write in my book Enraged, the same myths that long predate the world’s very first democracy have lessons for us today – just as they did for the ancient Greeks centuries ago. (more…)

Vast majority of stress not caused by work but home life

Vast majority of stress not caused by work but home life

 

Stress can be caused by numerous factors, but work often isn’t the main culprit, according to a report from The Health Insurance Group. The company runs regular forums for their staff to discuss their mental wellbeing, and life outside work consistently ranks as the biggest cause of stress. As businesses look to support the mental wellbeing of their staff, it’s important they recognise that support needs to extend to home life too – not just work. (more…)

Black and other minority workers more likely to be in insecure work, claims TUC

Black and other minority workers more likely to be in insecure work, claims TUC

Black and minority ethnic workers are far more likely to be trapped in temporary and insecure work, according to a new TUC analysis published to mark the start of its annual Black Workers Conference. The analysis claims  to show how BME workers are faring worse than white workers in the jobs market. (more…)

Manchester is the number one tech location outside of London

Manchester is the number one tech location outside of London

Neo Manchester hosts a number of tech businessesThe UK’s regional cities are competing harder than ever with London to become the location of choice for the tech sector. According to CBRE’s report ‘Tech Cities:  Exploring tech hotspots in the UK regions’ Manchester ranks number one amongst the top 10 UK tech location outside of London, but Scotland features highly with Glasgow and Edinburgh in second and third position respectively. Birmingham has risen three places, from seventh to fourth position but smaller conurbations such as such as Reading, Oxford, Cambridge, Southampton, Brighton and Bracknell also feature, based on their concentrations of tech employment, tech businesses and high education levels. More cities are competing for the very top spots in the ranking

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Signs that somebody is about to quit are there nine months in advance

Signs that somebody is about to quit are there nine months in advance

The first signs that an employee is considering quitting appear clearly nine months before they actually depart, with declining loyalty as a key indicator, claims a study called The 9-month warning: understanding why people quit—before it’s too late (registration) from Peakon. Based on more than 33 million employee survey responses across 125 countries, the study also claims that the key factors that drive a person to quit include unchallenging work, the inability to discuss pay and no clear path for career/personal growth. In most cases, people quit because of poor managers, not because of colleagues or company culture, the study suggests. (more…)

Navigating organisations through digital transformation

Navigating organisations through digital transformation

It’s hard to escape the digital disruption that is reshaping not only the world we live in, but the fundamental way that businesses operate. Greater levels of data exchange and automation are creating new layers of innovation, shifting functional workflows to agile systems. And to prosper in this upheaval, leaders must look at how they can support their company’s ability to adapt and identify new opportunities to embrace these changes.

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Overhaul of shared parental leave is already overdue, claims TUC

Overhaul of shared parental leave is already overdue, claims TUC

Father and son walk on beach showing need for shared parental leaveThe TUC is calling for an overhaul of shared parental leave legislation just four years after its introduction. Last year only 9,200 new parents took shared parental leave – just 1 percent of those eligible to do so. The TUC believes take-up is low because the scheme is so low-paid (£145.18 per week) making it unaffordable for most fathers. It claims that large numbers of dads in insecure work, such as agency workers and those on zero-hours contracts, are not eligible for it. And currently men and women who are self-employed don’t get any shared leave rights at all. (more…)

London, Paris and Stockholm lead ranks of European coworking hotspots

London, Paris and Stockholm lead ranks of European coworking hotspots

Epicenter Coworking Space in StockholmLondon, Paris and Stockholm are among the major cities featured in a new research report from Cushman & Wakefield (registration) into the coworking and flexible office sectors, which pinpoints future demand and the next likely growth hotspots across Europe. According to the report, coworking’s rapid expansion in recent years has quickly disrupted global office markets. The report charts the current state of the sector, the emergence of flexible working space across continental Europe and where future growth will occur. (more…)

Procurement fraud rampant in UK businesses

Procurement fraud rampant in UK businesses

smartphone with procurement appProcurement fraud is widespread in the UK and the country lags behind many countries in its detection capabilities, new research from SAS claims. British companies, on average, lose significantly more money to procurement fraud, and the country is far more reliant on ineffective manual detection techniques than other nations.Procurement fraud occurs when employees and suppliers behave fraudulently during the contract bidding process or over the course of the contract. This can range from employees colluding with their preferred vendor to give unfair advantage during procurement, to suppliers submitting multiple invoices for a single item. While procurement fraud is a serious crime that carries a jail sentence in many countries, perpetrators are often willing to take the risk for personal revenge or financial gain. (more…)