Search Results for: training

New Acas guidance on preventing pregnancy and maternity discrimination at work

by • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Acas has published new guidance to help employers create supportive workplaces for women during pregnancy and maternity leave. The employment advisory service says it received more than 14,000 calls last year about pregnancy and maternity issues, an increase of almost 10 percent on the previous year. The guidance offers employers advice on how to comply with the Equalities Act, which protects employees against pregnancy and maternity discrimination including how employees on maternity leave should be made aware of opportunities for promotion and training; pregnancy related absences must not be included in an employee’s absence record; and employees must not be dismissed or made redundant for any issue related to pregnancy or maternity leave or maternity pay.

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Fresh advice on tackling sexual harassment at work published by Acas

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

In response to the proliferation of high profile cases of abuse over the past few weeks which has drawn attention to sexual harassment in a variety of settings – workplace experts Acas publishes fresh advice today (19th November) aimed at both employers and employees that outlines what kind of workplace behaviours could be considered sexual harassment and how to report it. Acas’ new advice includes examples of how sexual harassment can happen at work such as; written or verbal comments of a sexual nature such as remarks about a colleague’s appearance, questions about their sex life or offensive jokes; displaying pornographic or explicit images; sending or forwarding on emails that contains content of a sexual nature; unwanted physical contact and touching; and sexual assault. The advice states that organisations and businesses should be clear to workers about what sorts of behaviours are unacceptable and would be considered sexual harassment.

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Millions of unemployed over 50s struggle more than young people for jobs

by • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

New data published today shows that the over 50 age group experience an ‘unemployment trap’ – meaning they are more likely to be out of work than younger age groups, and once unemployed they struggle more than younger jobseekers to get back into employment. Currently almost a third of 50-64 year olds in the UK are not in work – some 3.3 million people. Within this, 29 percent are recorded as ‘economically inactive’ – not engaged in the labour market in any way – which is more than twice the rate of those aged 35-49 (13 percent). It is estimated that around one million of the over 50s who are out of work left employment involuntarily due to issues such as ill health, caring responsibilities or redundancy. Some 38 percent of unemployed over 50s have been out of work for over a year, compared to 19 percent of 18-24 year olds and the Centre for Ageing Better claims that employment support is failing this age group.

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Best practice in flexible working and gender diversity honoured at awards presentation

by • Flexible working, News

Workingmums.co.uk has announced the winners of its eighth annual Top Employer Awards, celebrating the leading companies in gender diversity and flexible working. The Awards were presented at a ceremony at London’s Soho Hotel on 7th November where the keynote speaker was Ann Francke, CEO of the Chartered Management Institute. Winner of the Overall Top Employer Award was Lloyds Banking Group. The judges felt it was ‘a beacon for other employers with regard to its agile hiring programme which was a root and branch attempt to normalise different ways of working from recruitment onwards. It was a strong performer across all the categories and had made a major step forward in embedding a flexible culture.’

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Time to address the missed opportunities and wasted resources of the modern workplace

by • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Rapidly changing work and workplaces. Productivity languishing below optimum levels. Staff engagement well below where it should be. Ongoing recruitment and retention challenges. All this has been building over the last couple of years; it would appear that organisations have never had it so tough. There have been plenty of tough times before, of course, but we have been witnessing something of a ‘perfect storm’ in recent months, where a whole range of issues and developments, as well as advancements and opportunities, have come together to push these challenges up the management agenda. But there are things we can do to make the workplace a better experience for everybody.

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Growing need for a flexible workplace creates fresh challenges for employers

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace, Workplace design

Many businesses are misaligned with their people, with nearly half of employees not understanding their company’s strategic objectives, according to new research published by The Ludic Group, which claims that the changing nature of workforces and the growing need for a flexible workplace are creating fresh challenges for communication, collaboration and engagement. The research suggests that the impact of technology is causing digital chaos, with businesses struggling to get the communications balance right. With the number of channels and tools increasing almost half of people (44 percent) want to hear more from employers. Perhaps surprisingly, one in five (20 percent) individuals said that their firm has not used any tools or techniques to communicate with them. This lack of communication results in people being disconnected from the business strategy, with only half of individuals (50 percent) reported fully aligned with their company’s objectives and 44 percent not knowing or understanding what these are. Alongside this, people increasingly want to design their own working experience and expect more flexibility from their employers.

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Employees are investing their own time and money to remain competitive in the changing workplace

Employees are investing their own time and money to remain competitive in the changing workplace

by • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Capgemini and LinkedIn have published a new global report exploring the ‘digital talent gap’, which analyses the demand and supply of talent with specific digital skills and the availability of digital roles across multiple industries and countries. The report, The Digital Talent Gap—Are Companies Doing Enough? claims to reveal the concerns felt by employees when assessing their own digital skills and the lack of training resources currently available to them within their workplace. Highlights include the fact that nearly 50 percent of employees, rising to close to 60 percent for what the report calls digitally talented employees are investing their own money and additional time beyond office hours to develop digital skills on their own. Capgemini surveyed 753 employees and 501 executives at the director level or above, at large companies with reported revenue of more than $500 million for FY 2016 and more than 1,000 employees. The survey took place from June to July 2017, and covered nine countries – France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States and seven industry sectors.

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Calls for commercial property sector to have a greater focus on customer experience

Calls for commercial property sector to have a greater focus on customer experience

by • News, Property, Workplace design

The UK commercial property industry is undergoing a fundamental shift towards a more customer centric approach, with an increasingly greater emphasis being placed on delivering outstanding customer service to occupiers. This is the key finding of a new report from The British Council for Offices (BCO) entitled ‘Office Service Standards and Customer Experience: a best practice guide’. While for those who hold a very traditional landlord occupier relationship this change in thinking, attitude and operation may feel revolutionary, the report argues we are already seeing the industry evolve across the board. It claims that this is accelerated by new ‘property sector disruptors’, who are driving a shift in the relationship between property owners and corporate occupiers. To ensure they are keeping pace with their changing requirements and aspirations, property owners and managers are increasingly realising the need to invest in building strong relationships with their occupiers

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Employees want organisations to speed up transformation into a digital workplace

Employees want organisations to speed up transformation into a digital workplace

by • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Majority of people want their organisation to transform into a digital workplaceHalf of employees feel their organisation doesn’t have the right tech skills and nearly half in a recent survey (44 percent) feel their organisation isn’t transforming into a digital led company fast enough, claims a survey by Sungard Availability Services. Digital workplace transformation has been a big talking point in recent months, yet 38 percent in a survey of over 2,000 IT decision makers and employees believe their organisation isn’t committed to digital transformation; with 36 percent not getting the training for the tools. It’s apparent that digital transformation is highly thought of in the work place and impacts employee retention with 36 percent of employees open to leaving their current job for a more digitally-progressive company. Over 50 percent believe career progression is better at digitally led companies and 69 percent say digital tools would help them to do their job better. Said Chris Ducker, Senior Director Global Proposition Strategy: “Digital is compulsory, not only to stay competitive in the market, but also to attract and retain key staff” See the full survey here.

UK improves opportunities for young workers, but faces longer term challenges from automation

UK improves opportunities for young workers, but faces longer term challenges from automation

by • News, Workplace

The UK could boost GDP by £43 billion if it reduces the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) to match Germany, the best performing EU country. This is equivalent to a GDP increase of around £7,500 per 18-24 year old, according to estimates in PwC’s latest Young Workers Index. This year, the UK reached its highest position since the Index began in 2006, climbing to 18th out of 35 OECD countries from 20th last year. The UK’s improvement reflects lower youth unemployment and NEET rates as the economic recovery from the financial crisis has continued, but it still lags behind many other OECD countries, with Switzerland, Iceland and Germany leading the pack.

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New guides on mental wellbeing mark World Mental Health Day

New guides on mental wellbeing mark World Mental Health Day

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Two new guides to help employers manage mental health in the workplace has been launched today by Acas and by The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Hundreds of thousands of workers experience mental health problems during the course of a year, yet a recent report by Business in the Community found only 11 per cent of people questioned felt able to disclose a mental wellbeing issue to their line manager while half of line managers said they would welcome training on the issue. With the theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day, set by the World Federation for Mental Health, being mental health in the workplace; the Royal College of Psychiatrists has produced a pack of mental health information for employers and employees covering the most common range of conditions such as depression, anxiety, and sleeping problems.

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We (still) need to talk about mental health in the workplace

We (still) need to talk about mental health in the workplace

by • Comment, Wellbeing

In recent years we have made huge strides in moving discussions around mental health into the public arena. Celebrities such as Cara Delevingne, Ryan Reynolds, Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt have all come forward to share personal stories of their struggle with mental health problems.  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry have also championed mental health awareness through the Heads Together campaign, a charity that aims to help people feel more comfortable with their everyday mental wellbeing and offer practical tools to help support their friends and family. The campaign rose to prominence in the media as the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon Charity of the Year.

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