Search Results for: stress

February 28, 2018

Workplace health and wellbeing initiatives do not go far enough say staff

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

Employers’ efforts in the US to improve staff health and wellbeing are falling short of employees’ expectations, claims a new report. Nearly two-thirds of employees (65 percent) in a report from Willis Towers Watson agree that managing their health is a top priority, but while the majority of employers (56 percent) believe their wellbeing programmes have encouraged employees to live a healthier lifestyle, only 32 percent of employees agree. Eighty-seven percent of employers who participated in the 22nd annual Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey say increasing employee engagement in health and well-being is a top priority and the research warns that employees in poor health are twice as likely to be disengaged at work and take almost three times as many days off as employees who are in very good health. Employers can improve health behaviour through designing the workplace environment to make it easier for employees to stay fit, eat well, breathe fresh air and address stress adds the report.

February 22, 2018

Report calls for better understanding of the future risks of tech to workplace wellbeing

by Sara Bean • AI, News, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

In a workplace dominated by insecurity, gig work and intelligent machines we need to improve our understanding of their potential impact on health, safety and wellbeing claims a new report. Future risk: Impact of work on employee health, safety and wellbeing, commissioned by the British Safety Council from RobertsonCooper researchers argues that the public debate on the future of work has centred so far on the likely shape of the workplace and its implications for both employers and employees. There has been far less focus on what this might mean for workers’ health, safety and wellbeing, with discussions centring on the present, rather than preparing us for the challenges of the future. Yet, the impact of automation on the workplace will be more fundamental than is commonly understood, with 11 million jobs predicted to be lost in the next 20 years in the UK. As we are already seeing with some ‘gig’ working, it may undermine such basic human needs as social identity, economic security and a sense of belonging. The report reviews the existing literature on this subject and makes a number of recommendations.

February 19, 2018

The key to tackling future economic challenges is to harness the ageing workforce

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

Providing American seniors with better work incentives and opportunities will be crucial for the United States to meet the challenges of its rapidly ageing population. By 2028, more than one in five Americans will be aged 65 and over, up from fewer than one in six today, according to a new OECD report. Working Better with Age and Fighting Unequal Ageing in the United States finds that employment rates among older workers in the United States are above the average across OECD countries. In 2016, 62 percent of all 55-64 year olds were employed compared with the OECD average of 59 percent. However, employment rates are much lower among the ageing workforce. Early retirement is prevalent among workers from vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds, often occurring as soon as Social Security benefits become available at age 62. Poverty among seniors is a challenge: more than 20 percent of peopled aged 65 and over have incomes below the relative poverty line – defined as half of the median disposable household income – compared with the OECD average of less than 13 percent.

February 16, 2018

Poor management blamed for low levels of productivity amongst UK workforce

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A third of workers (32 percent) regularly struggle to be productive in their job, and one in six (16 percent) blame their manager – claims a new survey from ADP. This puts bad management ahead of inefficient systems and processes (15 percent) and staff shortages (13 percent) as the biggest drain on productivity in the UK workplace. The UK has been grappling with low productivity levels for a number of years, consistently placed behind other leading economies, such as Germany and the US in official productivity tables. While recent ONS figures suggested a recovery is underway, reporting the biggest jump in productivity levels for six years, the ADP findings suggests that UK PLC isn’t out of the woods just yet. Barriers to productivity also vary significantly based on age, with over 55s the most affected by bad management (20 percent), while 16 to 24-year olds are more affected by social media (22 percent) distractions from colleagues (21 percent) and stress (18 percent).

February 7, 2018

Overwhelming workloads tip the scales on work-life balance for UK employees

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Almost half of UK workers (47 percent) spend the majority of their time feeling overwhelmed by their workloads, while 85 percent say that work is causing them stress, according to research from employee experience business Qualtrics. The Qualtrics Employee Pulse is a quarterly survey of more than 4,000 employees which claims to highlight the impact of burgeoning workloads on today’s workforce and reveals better support from businesses is needed to ensure the mental wellbeing of staff.

February 5, 2018

Developing a cultured nose for what makes workplace design great

by Steve Brewer • Comment, Workplace design

Workplace people are at risk of obsessing about productivity. The idea of what is or is not effective and even the notion of wellbeing, has almost been done to death. We overthink stuff. As Neil Usher might say, there are a few bandwagons people are leaping on a little too eagerly. So, let’s keep it simple. Yes, we need a ‘space’ to work in (or just do stuff), but mostly we need a reason for using it in the first place. One thing most people agree on – even the media and flinty-eyed consultants – is that we need a motivation, a reason to do the things asked of us and a belief or intrinsic connection to do those ‘things’ well.

January 29, 2018

New RSA report highlights increasingly precarious and diverse nature of work

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Britain is dividing into seven new classes of worker as the gig economy grows, according to think-tank the RSA (the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). Striving, Thriving or Just About Surviving has been published to coincide with the launch of the RSA’s Future Work Centre, following RSA chief executive Matthew Taylor’s employment review for Theresa May last year. The report warns of a 30:40:30 society: while around 30 percent live comfortably, economic insecurity is “the new normal” with 40 percent just managing and a bottom 30 percent not managing to get by.

January 29, 2018

Self-employed work an extra month each year compared to full time employees

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

One in seven British people work an additional month every year, according to a new survey of 1,000 self-employed workers. The report claims that the self-employed work on average an additional 14 hours per week, compared to permanent roles. The survey, commissioned by online accounting firm Crunch also claims that January is the most stressful time of the year for a third (31 percent) of self-employed workers. The report claims that two thirds (66 percent) of respondents find it difficult to switch off and get to sleep because of work stress, with 72 percent saying financial concerns keep them awake at night, and over one in ten (15 percent) saying it is due to business deadlines, such as the looming self-assessment tax deadline on 31st January.

January 26, 2018

If you are flourishing under a psychopath boss, it may be because you are a psychopath too

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

It’s still perfectly possible to flourish under a psychopath boss, provided you are one too, according to new research that found the people best placed to cope with a psychopathic manager are those who are psychopaths too; largely because they are not as upset at the bad treatment. In the workplace, employees respond differently to abusive management styles, in part due to their varying levels of psychopathy, according to a new study from the University of Notre Dame. Certain types of psychopaths actually benefit and flourish under abusive bosses, according to Are ‘Bad’ Employees Happier Under Bad Bosses? Differing Effects of Abusive Supervision on Low and High Primary Psychopathy Employees. The study is published in the Journal of Business Ethics by Charlice Hurst, assistant professor of management in Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.

January 24, 2018

Business in the community aims to improve the quality of work for lowest-paid staff

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Financial concerns are increasingly affecting the performance of workers across the UK, with one in eight UK workers (3.7 million) now living in poverty. According to the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, a quarter of the UK workforce are, to some extent, experiencing financial insecurity. One in five employees (21 percent) report that they are just about managing financially, while a further 5 percent say they are finding things difficult. Aside from the undue stress this causes families, this can also have significant repercussions for employers, in terms of recruitment, retention and productivity. This has prompted Business in the Community, (BITC) with support from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, to make the case for all employers to improve the quality of work for their lowest-paid staff. Its new campaign, Good Work for All draws on best practice from forward-thinking organisations including Starbucks, Royal Mail and Sodexo, and over a third of BITC members have reported taking company-wide action on low-paid work with successful outcomes.

January 23, 2018

UK in 8th place for global talent competitiveness but gender equality lags behind

by Sara Bean • Cities, Legal news, News, Workplace

The UK has been ranked as the eighth best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, but while its ability to leverage diversity for talent competitiveness is boosted by its global knowledge skills – the UK is undermined by its weaker performance on tolerance and gender equality. According to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index GTCI) produced by the Adecco Group, with international business school INSEAD and Tata Communications, the UK has a particularly strong pool of global knowledge skills, a variable for which it is ranked third in the index boosted further by its strong regulatory, market and business landscape. But this is undermined by its internal openness, where it still lags behind, especially when it comes to gender equality. The report also suggests that although Article 50 was triggered in 2017, the ongoing negotiations and continuing lack of clarity over the UK’s position once it leaves the European Union in 2019, means the impact of Brexit is not yet clear.

January 19, 2018

Working families at breaking point as parents buckle under the strain of overwork, claims study

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

The UK’s working parents are struggling to cope with the strain of overwork – and deliberately stalling and downshifting their careers to reverse the negative impact it is having on family life, according to a new study. The 2018 Modern Families Index, published today by work life charity Working Families and Bright Horizons, reveals the stress of the modern workplace is pushing parents to breaking point, creating a ‘parenthood penalty’. According to the study, many parents are obliged to work far over their contracted hours due to increasingly intense workloads or because they feel it is expected of them.