Search Results for: pay ratio

March 28, 2022

Corporate jargon is damaging your business

Between the stressful daily commute, the awkward small talk by the coffee machine and the endless hours of face-to-face meetings, there are many things that are unfortunately slowly creeping back into our daily lives as we gradually start heading back to office life. One thing in particular that we have all been dreading is the feeling of utter bewilderment and exasperation when colleagues spout buzzwords and phrases like ‘paradigm shift’, ‘low hanging fruit’, and ‘thinking outside the box’. Corporate jargon is everywhere and we’ve all succumbed to using it at some point in our professional lives, whether it was to ‘leverage a results-driven approach’, ‘give 110%’ to ‘make sure the juice is worth the squeeze’, or ‘circle back’ on an email or conversation. (more…)

March 22, 2022

KI furniture brings versatility and a sense of heritage to PwC’s new Belfast office

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Works Magazine

PwC, the global professional services provider, has made a significant investment in the city of Belfast by relocating its offices to Merchant Square. The move to the city centre comes from a desire to not only support the growth of the company, but to signal its confidence in the area and encourage other businesses to take a similar initiative. The new workplace is spread across 200,000 sq ft over nine floors and provides the regional hub for around 3,000 employees. The building is an amalgamation of three existing structures with a dramatic feature staircase linking floors four, five and six. The hope is that the new office will help to increase employee numbers over the next few years, meaning the design needed to have versatility as well as longevity. To meet both of these requirements, a wide range of KI furniture was specified by the lead interior designer, BDP. (more…)

March 11, 2022

Four day week now more attractive thanks to pandemic

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

The COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and shift to remote working has had a significant impact on organisations’ attitudes towards a shorter working week, new research from Henley Business School has revealed. The longitudinal study found that 65 percent of UK businesses surveyed are now implementing a four-day working week for some, or all, of their staff, compared with 50 percent who answered a similar survey carried out by Henley in 2019. (more…)

March 3, 2022

Britain’s workplace wellbeing champions crowned at national awards

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The organisations and businesses leading the way in promoting their employees’ wellbeing have been honoured in a brand new awards series. The Great British Workplace Wellbeing Awards were founded last year by the Great British Entrepreneur Awards team and industry specialists Wellity Global to recognise the inspiring response of employers across the UK to the ongoing wellbeing and mental health crisis amongst the working population. (more…)

March 3, 2022

Bereaved employees feel added pressure of job insecurity

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Empathy, a platform helping families navigate the journey they face after losing a loved one, today released the first edition of its annual Cost of Dying Report (registration). The report reveals results from a new survey exploring the real cost of dying in the US and the impact on bereaved employees. The report includes a foreword from Goldman Sachs, as well as reflections from experts in the end-of-life space including David Kessler, Chief Empathy Officer at Empathy & Grief Expert, BJ Miller, MD, Compassion Advisor at Empathy & Co-Founder of Mettle Health, and Shoshanna Ungerleider, MD, Founder of the End Well Foundation. (more…)

March 2, 2022

Quarter of young people don’t want to work for firms with unsustainable practices

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News

Almost a quarter (24 percent) of Gen Z employees (18 to 24-year-olds) would not work at a business that profits from unsustainable practices, according to a a new poll from PLAY. Among British employees more broadly, two-thirds surveyed (68 percent) felt it was important for the company they work for to be committed to acting sustainably, and nearly half (44 percent) want businesses to demonstrate the initiatives or goals that will make the entire business more sustainable (not just one part of the business). However, pay remains the most attractive job feature for most surveyed, inlcuding young people. (more…)

February 23, 2022

Flexible working takes a back seat to salary as inflation bites

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, Jobs, News, Workplace

Salary is now the most important factor (40 percent) for those looking to make a move as cost-of-living crisis squeezes budgets, claims a new survey from Michael Page. In a week in which UK wage growth was shown to still lag behind the cost of living, the poll suggests that salary is now the number one priority for workers, with flexible working seen as less important. The survey of 2,000 UK office workers claims that over a quarter (28 percent) are currently on the hunt for a new job, rising to 43 percent among those aged 18-34. This points to hopeful times ahead for businesses seeking talent, with recent ONS figures showing that open job vacancies hit a record 1.3m between November and January. (more…)

February 22, 2022

A third of businesses plan to scrap self-isolation for workers

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Workplace

New research suggests that many British employers won’t require staff who test positive for Covid-19 to self-isolate at home now that the remaining legal restrictions have been lifted. A poll of 250 business owners, CEOs and senior managers, by HR software provider CIPHR, claims that less than half (48 percent) are planning to keep staff with Covid at home and away from the workplace. One in five (21 percent) of those surveyed are still unsure how they’ll deal with the imminent easing of self-isolation restrictions for positive or asymptomatic people. (more…)

February 20, 2022

How to convey company culture instantly while hiring

by Nicky Garcea • Jobs, News, Workplace

Thirty-eight million American workers left their jobs last year. While better pay and more flexible working conditions typically top the list of reasons for leaving an employer, workers need a bit more than that to seal the deal. To be sure, in a recent Cappfinity /YouGov survey, 80 percent of job seekers said it’s important to understand a company culture before accepting an offer. Company culture, in fact, has played a key role in the pushing and pulling of workers from and to jobs. Some job seekers are motivated by the escape from a toxic work environment. Others are looking for companies that have figured out how to support more social interaction across teams. If you can’t authentically convey your own company’s culture to job candidates, they won’t be able to determine whether the job is right for them. (more…)

February 20, 2022

Firms will need to build bridges with employees as they adapt to hybrid working

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

As we enter a new phase of working life following the short term changes made to cope with the pandemic, the three key priorities for the 1,300 employers surveyed by the Benefits & Human Resources Consulting operation of Gallagher for its 2021/2022 State of the Sector report (registration) are: the need to re-engage their teams around purpose, strategy and values (53 percent); the need to adapt communication channels to engage the workforce better as they move to newly implemented models of hybrid working (39 percent); and the need to enhance people manager communications (31 percent). (more…)

February 15, 2022

Despite the talk of the Great Resignation, most people actually enjoy their jobs

by Neil Franklin • Jobs, News, Workplace

While many people may be busy considering their career options as part of the ‘Great Resignation’, a new poll claims that the majority of Brits actually enjoy their jobs. According to data from HR software provider CIPHR around two-thirds (65 percent) of the 1,031 employees polled said they either love or like their current jobs (19 percent and 46 percent respectively). CIPHR took the findings of how people feel about their jobs and grouped people with related job titles together (using the Office for National Statistics’ standard occupational classifications) to compile a list of the UK’s best-loved – and also least-liked – occupations: www.ciphr.com/uks-favourite-jobs. (more…)

February 3, 2022

Working from home fuels concerns for energy consumption

by Sara Bean • Environment, Features, Flexible working

Back in February 2020, consulting firm WSP UK published some interesting research that revealed those working from home during the summer saved around 400kg of carbon emissions, the equivalent of 5 percent of a typical British commuter’s annual carbon footprint. The catch was that it was just a seasonal benefit. If an average employee worked at home all year round, they would produce 2.5 tonnes of carbon per year – around 80 percent more than an office worker. This is because, during the winter, most heating systems in Britain heat the whole house, which produces far more carbon emissions than would be produced from the commute. (more…)