Search Results for: stress

May 25, 2016

An out of hours email ban and why we all need the ‘right to disconnect’ ⁰

by Adrian Lewis • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, Work&Place, Workplace

The recent announcement from President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party that they plan to give French employees the “right to disconnect” by pushing through measures for an email ban out of hours has been the subject of great debate. Although many commentators have argued the need for employers to encourage people to ‘switch off’ when they aren’t in work, to date there have been no legal guidelines on this specific issue, despite several negative reports about modern technology blurring the boundaries between home and work, which some claim is creating a stress epidemic. In the UK, the Working Time Regulations specify that no worker should work more than 48 hours per week. However, there has been no case law as to whether or not checking work emails outside working hours would fall within this limit – and many UK staff check and respond to work emails outside work hours, even on holidays.

May 23, 2016

Employers ignore ways that flexible working has eclipsed traditional office life ⁰

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

A significant proportion of businesses are still not giving their employees the support they need to work remotely and flexibly, despite the fact that 72 percent of UK office workers now believe the traditional fixed workplace is no longer relevant. For the vast majority the traditional nine-to-five is already a thing of the past, with nearly two thirds (62 percent) of people already using some form of flexible working at least one day per week. On average UK workers spend 2.5 days each week working remotely. The findings claimed by ‘The End of Nine-to-Five’ report commissioned by TeamViewer suggest that, despite the increased demands and expectations of employees, nearly 2 in 5 (37 percent) UK office workers said that their company’s IT department do not encourage remote working and do not make it easy. This figure went up as the size of the organisation increased, rising to 44 percent for companies with over 500 employees.

May 20, 2016

Quarter of UK workers would choose home working over pay rise ⁰

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

We reported earlier this week that flexible working has gone mainstream, with over a third of organisations now offering some kind of flexible working arrangement. The question is whether these flexible workers are more productive, as some employers persist in perceiving a flexible working request as a means of ‘shirking from home.’ Now new research to mark National work from home day, shows that 48 percent of workers are happier when they can work from home and nearly a third (32 percent) of British workers ‘feel more productive’ when they do so. The study by the Institute of Inertia, a partnership between comparethemarket.com and the University of Sheffield, found that nearly a quarter (24 percent or 7.5 million) of British workers would rather work from home one day a week than receive a pay rise, while seven million admit they suffer from ‘procrastination or inertia issues’ when working in an office.

May 18, 2016

Younger working mothers bear the brunt of maternity discrimination ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

As we’ve discussed before, when female workers have children their career prospects and salaries begin to slip. Having kids young and ramping up your career in your late 30s isn’t an option either as many working mothers find it difficult to secure flexible and well paid work with good career prospects while still in the early years of their career. This is one of the reasons why the average age of mothers in this country is now 34 and rather more controversially, why companies such as Apple and Facebook are offering women the chance to have their eggs frozen. More disturbingly though, research by the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found young mothers are significantly more likely to experience pregnancy and maternity discrimination, with six times as many under 25 year olds than average reporting being dismissed from their jobs after they tell their employer they are pregnant.

May 16, 2016

Major survey aims to change approach to mental health at work ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

To mark the first day of Mental Health Awareness Week, (16-22 May 2016) the most comprehensive survey on workplace mental wellbeing has been announced. The National Employee Mental Wellbeing Survey is designed to herald a step change in how businesses approach mental health in the workplace. Mental ill health is the leading cause of sickness absence in the UK and is on the increase. 15.2 million days of sickness absence in 2013 were caused by everyday conditions such as stress anxiety or depression – a dramatic increase from 11.8 million days in 2010. Business in the Community which is launching the survey with support from Mind, CIPD, the Institute of Leadership and Management, The Work Foundation, Maudsley Learning at Work and Mental Health First Aid; aims to use the results to help identify solutions to improve mental health at work. A new interactive toolkit to help employers take positive actions to build a culture that champions good mental health also being launched today.

May 12, 2016

Third of those with mental ill health don’t tell anyone at work ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

As our story on levels of unreported stress in UK workplaces revealed yesterday, work is one of the greatest triggers for stress, depression and anxiety, which is why employers are constantly being reminded to look out for and address the causes of mental ill health. However, although it is often work that contributes to stress related problems, the stigma surrounding mental illness means too many people are reluctant to admit to struggling with mental ill health to managers or colleagues. A study commissioned by AXA PPP healthcare has revealed that a third of individuals (34 per cent) living with mental ill health who are in work say they are not open about their mental health condition in the workplace. Over half (52 per cent) of those living with mental ill health who didn’t seek support straightaway say this was because they didn’t want to admit that they needed it.

April 27, 2016

Lack of pay and support prevents ill or injured UK workers taking time off ⁰

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

More than half of ill or injured property and construction workers still go into work because they can’t afford to take time off, a new survey on 2000 employees within the UK has revealed. The data gathered by First4lawyers on the run up to Brexit on EU employment law and sick pay has revealed how European countries treat their sick or injured workers. The results show that while a UK worker off work for a month would only receive 15 percent of their monthly wage – those in Germany receive 100 percent. This lack of pay forces many UK workers back into the workplace, but nearly three quarters (71 percent) also say they are scared to have time off work because they fear their employers opinion of them; 30 percent say their boss acts different toward them after asking for time off sick, and more than 1 in 3 say their employer does not support them during this time.

April 25, 2016

Staff wellness programmes must target mental ill health and obesity ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employers see mental health, obesity and high blood pressure as the areas most likely to impact on their employees’ wellbeing over the next few years. This is according to new research by AXA PPP healthcare, which found that three quarters of decision makers (75 per cent) agreed that employers should proactively support their employees to manage their health and wellbeing and why 77 per cent of employers said their company currently has a health and wellbeing strategy in place. The decision makers polled by the healthcare company are concerned that mental health (51 per cent), obesity/high body mass index (44 per cent) and high blood pressure (30 per cent) will be the biggest challenges to employee health over the next five years with the key to better health in the workplace in that period being improved ease of access (46 per cent) and increased availability (46 per cent) of preventive health services for employees.

April 21, 2016

Employees squander a month each year checking email outside of work ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

A study published today by enterprise service management firm Samanage, confirms that US employees are spending a significant amount of time checking email after hours. What is perhaps more surprising is the amount of time they spend on this. The report claims that a significant proportion of workers are spending far more time emailing outside the office than they do taking vacation. Among the 1,500 US adults surveyed in the Email Overload Survey, more than one in three (35.2 percent) check email at least one hour a day outside of work hours, totaling more than 30 days of extra work per year. Given the average US worker receives 10 days of vacation annually, employees are spending triple that amount of time emailing after work hours. It’s also clear that Americans have a hard time putting down their mobile device and stepping away from email as respondents reported checking their work email instead of sleeping or eating.

April 19, 2016

‘Only’ a third of employees take part in corporate wellbeing programmes ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Although the vast majority of employers (89 percent) say that the wellbeing of employees is important to them, participation in corporate mandated health programmes remains ‘low’ with only 38 percent of employees worldwide participating in any wellbeing activity or health-related management programmes in the last year, according to research from insurers Willis Towers Watson. In addition, 41 percent of European employers say they lack the budget and resources to deliver an effective programme. The research claims that the top five health related issues of most concern in Europe are stress (74 percent), sedentary lifestyles (45 percent), presenteeism (33 percent), obesity (32 percent) and nutrition (31 percent). In response to these issues, organisations have initiated a range of programmes, the most common of which are onsite vaccinations (62 percent), diet and exercise (61 percent), health risk assessments (58 percent) and biometric screening (53 percent).

April 18, 2016

Workplace Trends talk + Productivity + Flexible working in London ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Furniture, Newsletter, Workplace, Workplace design

In this week’s Newsletter Mark Eltringham with the Hitchhikers guide to the workplace – his talk at the Workplace Trends Conference; Darren Bilsborough’s concerns around commuting and productivity; and Paul Goodchild suggests that as office continues to evolve so too do the materials used within it. Why work friendships can contribute to a lack of creative diversity in the office; women could be damaging their careers by taking competition too seriously; and stress and sitting are draining productivity in the UK. The development of the fourth industrial revolution; the CIPD on increasing the uptake of flexible working in the Capital and IFMA and RICS work together to help shape a single FM career path. Download our Insight Briefing, produced in partnership with Connection, on how the boundless office can be freed from the shackles of time and place and access the latest issue of Work&Place. Visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

April 14, 2016

Londoners work less flexibly than elsewhere, despite longer commutes ⁰

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

Londoners are less likely to work flexibly than the rest of the UK, despite having much longer commuting times. This is according to the results of new research by the CIPD which found that many Londoners are travelling for the equivalent of at least one full working day in a ‘typical’ week. They spend an average of 47 minutes travelling to work each way compared to the national average of 31 minutes, and their average travel to work time increases to 56 minutes each way, if you consider a combination of both employees who live in London and those that commute into the capital from outside the M25. The data also reveals that flexible workers in London are more satisfied with their jobs, feel under less pressure and have better work-life balance than those who don’t work flexibly. In its policy programme, Opportunity through work: A manifesto for London, the CIPD is calling for a campaign to increase the uptake of flexible working in the Capital.