September 3, 2019

Governments should respond to needs of older workers

by Mark Eltringham • News, Working lives, Workplace design

While firms are already being asked to do more to support their older workers by organisations like The Centre for Ageing Better, a new OECD report is arguing that it is an issue that Governments are not addressing as well as they might. It claims that the rapidly ageing population of countries around the world means that governments should promote more and better job opportunities for older workers to protect living standards and the sustainability of public finances.

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August 30, 2019

Shaping the workplace of tomorrow

by Richard Glückman • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

The workplace, as we know it, is rapidly evolving and the role of the traditional office is changing. In fact, what current trends are pointing towards is that the whole work culture is shifting, with the employee experience becoming equally important as consumer needs. The new norm of the workplace is being flexible, dynamic, and versatile – yet, more often than not, companies lag behind in providing the right tools to support these trends. We can often see a significant gap between what the workforce needs and what the workplace offers. (more…)

August 27, 2019

Spotting the best features of recruitment websites

by Freddie Steele • Insight promotion, News

The job market can be competitive, even when the UK is experiencing all-time unemployment lows. In fact, the UK’s unemployment rate hasn’t been this good since the mid 1970s. This doesn’t mean that those in search of a job should ease off. There are now more ways than ever before to look for and apply for jobs. The days of searching for jobs on community notice boards are long gone and now we have an agglomeration of job search websites at our disposal. (more…)

August 22, 2019

London demand for tech skills threatens new North-South divide

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Technology, Workplace

A new analysis of the UK’s jobs market by Accenture claims that despite growing opportunities in other cities, London has increasingly greater demand for talent in emerging technologies than ten other UK cities combined. According to the report, there are currently 422,000 UK-based professionals with skills in emerging technologies such as data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, extended reality and quantum computing.

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August 19, 2019

Firms need to place more value on older workers

by Claire Turner • Comment, Wellbeing, Working lives, Workplace

As we live longer lives, it’s inevitable that more of us want to work for longer. It makes good business sense too: with fewer younger people starting work to replace those set to retire in future years, coupled with uncertainty over Brexit and labour shortages, employers can’t afford to lose older workers.

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August 15, 2019

Firms with a balance of men and women outperform male dominated rivals

by Neil Franklin • News

The share performance and other metrics of listed companies with a balance of men and women tend to be better than those of male-dominated rivals, according to a new report from Morgan Stanley. The report is based on Morgan Stanley’s HERS ranking, a new measurement the investment bank has developed to evaluate gender diversity at companies and its impact on performance. It determines the gender diversity of a company by factoring in the percentage of women on boards, in the executive and management team, and in the workforce generally. (more…)

August 7, 2019

Flexible working has increased dramatically in last two decades

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News

The proportion of people with some form of flexible working has increased dramatically in the last two decades. That is according to an analysis of working trends by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo). According to the 1999 Labour Force Survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the percentage of people working flexible hours in the UK was 9.5 percent at that time. Recent statistics from CIPD, however, show that this number has drastically increased, with 54 percent of workers currently having the option of some form of flexibility in their time and place of work. (more…)

August 1, 2019

Working dads say their schedule means missing out on children growing up

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

One in five dads says their working schedule means they are missing out on seeing their children growing up, claims Quinyx. The research highlights the importance of opening up flexible working to all members of the workforce, including working dads and the impact the rigidness of the current system is having on families. 17 percent of working dads say their work schedule makes them feel like they are missing out on seeing their children grow up. (more…)

July 31, 2019

CIPD offers new guidance on non-traditional work roles

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Following the recent government consultation on improving the rights of variable hours workers, the CIPD has published new employer guidance to help ensure that ‘atypical working arrangements’ benefit both the organisation and individuals. The guidance, Atypical Working: A guide to successfully implementing atypical work in your organisation, defines atypical working as practices which include the self-employed, temporary workers, agency staff and people on zero hours contracts.

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July 29, 2019

The tipping point for flexible working arrives

by James Geekie • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

Although people have been talking about flexible working in one way or another for decades – the economist John Maynard Keynes declared in 1930 that technological advances would lead to a 15-hour working week – we may now be at the tipping point where work takes on an entirely different character. (more…)

July 29, 2019

Half of self-employed workforce now over 50

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

The number of over 50s working for themselves made up 46 percent of the UKs entire self-employed workforce in the first three months of 2019, according to new research from jobs and volunteering board Rest Less. There are now 2.27 million over 50s who are self-employed – up from 1.45 million 10 years ago, an increase of 57 percent in a decade. The survey looked at data from the Office of National Statistics to highlight self-employment trends amongst the different demographic groups in the UK. (more…)

July 25, 2019

UK SMEs must leverage tech-friendly culture to secure talent

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Workplace

UK SMEs must create a tech-friendly culture to attract and retain top tech talent, according to a new white paper from Robert Half UK, Recruiting for the future: The challenges for UK SMEs. While remuneration and work–life balance are the top reasons for job moves, SMEs’ ability to offer an innovative culture with high levels of responsibility is central to their ability to secure and retain talent over larger organisations. With the UK talent market suffering from a lack of digital skills, companies across all sectors are locked in a war for talent, competing with one another to hire skilled technology professionals to help their businesses adapt to increased digitalisation. (more…)