Search Results for: health

May 19, 2017

Inventing the Future: techUK launches 2017 manifesto ⁰

techUK, the association that represents a large part of the UK’s technology sector, has published a new manifesto ahead of the General Election which it claims ‘sets out a bold and ambitious vision for the next Government to create a modern and dynamic digital economy that works for everyone’. The organisation has set out a series of recommendation that aim to show how Britain can remain at the forefront of global tech innovation while it navigates Brexit and other forces. Its objectives include: boosting the UK’s productivity; harnessing digital transformation to build a smarter state; creating new jobs and a new skilled, adaptable workforce; and protecting and empowering people in a digital age.

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May 19, 2017

People who work from home more likely to sustain injuries than those based in offices ⁰

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

Today is National Work from Home Day, held to promote the benefits of home working, which includes having more time to take exercise and eating more healthily; but new research suggests home workers might risk doing more harm than good if too little attention is paid to ergonomics. The data from Bupa found that over half of those who work from home (51 percent) have sustained injuries, aches and pains as a result of their working environment with the most common being backache and neck pain, which is 10 per cent more likely than those working in a ‘traditional’ workplace. Not having the right work set-up at home could be the cause, as one in four (25 percent) home-workers do not have a dedicated workspace at home, half (50 percent) of admit to hunching over while working and 40 per cent regularly work from their bed or sofa. All of these factors increase the risk of musculoskeletal injury, with the most common problems being backache (24 percent) and neck-ache (20 percent).

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May 18, 2017

Sickness causing germs at the office desk mainly due to poor personal hygiene ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The number of sick days taken by office workers could be reduced if companies implemented a better cleaning routine and staff improved their personal hygiene, finds a new academic study. The workplace is ranked as one of the unhealthiest places you’re likely to inhabit on a daily basis, says Dr Lisa Ackerley, hygiene expert and visiting professor at the University of Salford, whose study revealed that the main cause of germs at the desk and keyboard is poor personal hygiene, with nearly 50 percent of office workers responding to her survey admitting they do not wash their hands after going to the toilet. Your hands and the surfaces you touch, including your office chair are germ motorways, she warns. Crumbs and spills encourage the growth of bacteria that can lead to stomach bugs, coughs, flu and even food poisoning. Bacteria and viruses that people bring back from the toilet multiply on the hard work surfaces of the desk and chair and remain infectious for 24 hours. (more…)

May 17, 2017

Yes, facilities management press, your bum does look big in that ⁰

by Simon Heath • Comment, Facilities management

I suspect we’ve all got one of those friends. Needy. Constantly seeking validation. Of a new partner. Of a new outfit. Of their choices for all aspects of their life. If the industry media and chatterati are to be believed, facilities management is becoming just such a friend. Handwringing articles asking how FM can best demonstrate the value it brings. In actual fact, the sector seems to be in robust good health. It benefits whatever way the market moves. New buildings means new work. Fewer new buildings means more attention required on ageing stock. Fadism and bandwagon jumping mean there’s constant changes to be made. All grist to the mill of the hardworking facilities management professional at the coalface.

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May 17, 2017

UK employees three times more likely to work when ill than to pull a sickie ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Seven in ten UK employees – equivalent to 18 million nationally – have gone to work feeling unwell when they should have taken the day off, while less than a quarter (23 percent) say they have taken a day off work sick when they were not actually unwell, indicating that UK employees are three times more likely to go to work unwell than they are to ‘pull a sickie,’ a new report claims. The fourth edition of the Aviva Working Lives Report, which examines the attitudes and experiences of employers and employees on issues affecting the present and future of the UK workplace – also carries a wake-up call to businesses, as more than two in five (43 percent) employees feel their employer puts the results of the company ahead of their health and wellbeing as more than two in five (41 percent) say their work will pile up if they are off sick.

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May 16, 2017

Workplace reforms become a key element in the election debate ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Legal news, News

The workplace has become one of the key battlegrounds in the UK general election debate, as the main political parties seek to court mainstream opinion and with the imminent publication of the Taylor Review into the gig economy. The Labour Party will today announce in its manifesto a commitment to provide 30 hours of free childcare for all two to four-year-olds, covering 1.3 million children. Yesterday, the Conservatives announced that employees will be offered the right to take up to a year off work to care for family members with illness or disability as well as commitments to introducing statutory child bereavement leave and the right to request time off work for training. There are also expected to be other announcements into the workings of the gig economy with new rules to extend maternity and sickness pay to workers who are currently classed as self-employed.

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May 12, 2017

A quarter of people have taken time off work with stress but blamed it on physical illness ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

New research from Aviva claims that there is a ‘startling’ number of people in the UK who are suffering from stress but who are hiding it from their employers. A quarter of 2,000 people (25 percent) surveyed admitted taking a day off work with stress but then blaming it on a physical illness. Based on the current number of people working in the UK, it indicates that almost eight million people are suffering from stress without their employer’s knowledge. Aviva’s research also claims that a third of people (33 percent) have taken a day off work with stress at some stage in their career. 25-34 year olds were the most likely to have taken time off (46 percent) with those aged over 55 seemingly the least likely to need time away from work (25 percent). More than half of men (53 percent) who had taken a day off work with stress at some stage in their career said they had done so in the last year, compared to a third of women (34 percent).

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May 11, 2017

Three quarters of people expect to work beyond the age of 65, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

For all the talk about the growing number of Millennials at work, most of the interesting stuff about workplace demographics appears to be happening at the other end of the age scale. A record number of employees now expect to work past the official retirement age and many expect to work up to the age of 85, according to a new study by Canada Life. It claims that 73 percent of UK employees will work past the age of 65, up from 67 percent in 2016 and 61 percent in 2015. More than a third (37 percent) of these could be older than 70 before they retire and 10 percent expect to be at least the age of 85 when they retire, if they can retire at all. Younger workers are particularly likely to expect to work past the age of 65, rising to more than four in five (84 percent) of 25-34 year olds. Many expect to be unable to afford to retire but a growing number will continue to work because they want to.

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May 11, 2017

Wellbeing strategies more commonplace in UK, but employees aren’t benefitting ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

A new study from consultancy Barnett Waddingham based on the firm’s UK Workplace Wellbeing Index claims that despite wellbeing strategies becoming more common practice in UK companies, the benefits are not yet reaching employees. According to the report, nearly three quarters of firms who responded to the study claim they already have introduced a strategy or are in the process of implementing one. However, 60 percent of participating organisations report their employee wellbeing as between moderate and very low. According to the study organisations need to ask themselves if they are providing the benefits and interventions that are most effective for their employees. The research shows that the top five widely offered benefits (rated by effectiveness) are flexible working or home working, carer support, health assessments, line manager training and cancer screening. However, those most commonly utilised are flexible working, line manager training, carer support, home working and occupational health.

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May 3, 2017

Wiring your brain to the Internet? What could possibly go wrong? ⁰

by Christopher Markou • Comment, Technology, Wellbeing

Neuralink – which is “developing ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers” – is probably a bad idea. If you understand the science behind it, and that’s what you wanted to hear, you can stop reading. But this is an absurdly simple narrative to spin about Neuralink and an unhelpful attitude to have when it comes to understanding the role of technology in the world around us, and what we might do about it. It’s easy to be cynical about everything Silicon Valley does, but sometimes it comes up with something so compelling, fascinating and confounding it cannot be dismissed; or embraced uncritically. Putting aside the hyperbole and hand-wringing that usually follows announcements like this, Neuralink is a massive idea. It may fundamentally alter how we conceive of what it means to be human and how we communicate and interact with our fellow humans (and non-humans). It might even represent the next step in human evolution.

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May 3, 2017

Employee freedom and self-regulation is the key to successful home working ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace

The lazy assumption that employees who work from home are invariably shirking work is gradually dissipating, as flexible working becomes part of accepted working practice. Now new research suggests that to really get the best from their home workers, employers need to treat them as responsible adults who can actually be trusted. A new study, conducted by Nick van der Meulen of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) has revealed that job performance in working from home is driven by employee self-regulation and decision-making freedom rather than previous beliefs that it was achieved through managerial or peer control. In fact, any suggestion of shirking is erased by the evidence of a positive relationship between the extent of telework and number of hours worked. On average, full-time teleworkers perform just as well as those who do no telework at all — even under conditions of infrequent communication with the manager, low peer performance monitoring, and no outcome reward systems.

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April 28, 2017

Presenteeism can have as negative an impact on the workplace as absenteeism ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employees coming into work when sick are contributing to a rising trend of ‘presenteeism’ across the UK, with more than half (52 percent) of UK workers admitting to going to work when their performance is negatively affected by work-related health issues, a new survey claims. A third (34 percent) of workers have even considered moving jobs due to the negative impact of their work environment on their health – the highest percentage across Europe. The report from Fellowes, published to coincide with World Day for Safety and Health at Work, argues when a worker is present but not able to perform their function properly, it compromises their productivity. With most employees continuing to work at sub-par levels rather than taking days off to recover, this also prolongs the effect of illness. Subsequently, businesses are experiencing a detrimental knock-on impact on the quality and volume of work produced, with a further impact on overall business performance.