August 18, 2017
Board buy-in is key to closing employment gap for disabled people in workplace
There continues to be a significant gap between the employment rate of disabled people and the rest of the population; according to the Office for National Statistics, just 49 percent of disabled people of working age are in employment. This is why getting genuine buy-in from the top is key to improving levels of disability disclosure and helping to facilitate requests for workplace adjustments. That was the conclusion of a recent round table hosted by the Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative (RIDI) which also found that while some HR and diversity specialists are sceptical about the level of support available from senior leadership teams, once the topic is brought to the attention of the board, the response is often overwhelmingly positive. Practical ways in which leaders can bolster disability initiatives shared at the event include; identifying disability champions within the business who can communicate their own stories, implementing unconscious bias training, instigating & reverse-mentoring initiatives where senior managers are partnered with disabled colleagues and leading by example by being open about their own disabilities.
An increase in the number of UK-born employees leaving the UK’s workforce, either through retirement or emigration is coinciding with a shrinking pool of younger workers, which a fall in immigration can no longer fill, a new report warns. An analysis of the UK’s workforce showed that the UK’s workforce grew in 2016-2017 only because of an increase in EU and non-EU workers. 
Nearly three quarters of employers in a recent poll say retaining female talent in the workforce is the most important issue in HR in 2017, as changes to childcare funding could impact on the recruitment and retention of working mothers. The research, which was carried out by My Family Care and recruitment firm Hydrogen, found that most employers thought that flexible working and supporting working parents and carers was important to them but strikingly, nearly three quarters (70 percent) rate the issue of retaining female talent after parental leave as the most important issue. However, 60 percent of HR professionals said their company provided no form of coaching or training support for their employees going through the parental transition. When it comes to the success of their family friendly initiatives, flexible working proved to be the most successful, followed by their Childcare Voucher Scheme and then enhanced maternity or Shared Parental pay.
Nearly three quarters (71 percent) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) say that staff absenteeism is having a big impact on profitability suggests a new survey from Moorepay. The research found that many UK SMEs are experiencing higher than average absenteeism in their business. According to the Office for National Statistics, the average number of sick days for a UK employee is 
Organisations are taking serious security risks by allowing employees to access workplace IT systems remotely while on their summer holiday, a telecoms company has warned. According to research by the corporate IT and cyber-security arm of Deutsche Telekom, nearly a third of employees (31 percent) use free Wi-Fi hotspots, and nearly a quarter (24 percent) use them for work-related emails and documents. These are a big danger area as they are insecure and easy for hackers to clone (getting access to all email and web traffic, including any work documents and passwords). It also warns that 28 percent of employees email work documents to and from their personal email, despite this creating numerous security problems. Ten percent use free USB charging points at airports and stations; and these ports can be used to transfer viruses and malware to unsuspecting users. The blame cannot solely be placed on the employees though, as just 28 percent of employees have never in their working career had any cyber security training to protect themselves and their employer.
Three quarters (75 percent) of businesses expect to increase the number of high-skilled roles over the coming years, but 61 percent fear that there will be a lack of sufficiently skilled people to fill them. This is according to the 2017 CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey which highlighted that 62 percent see strong competition for candidates with appropriate qualifications as the most widespread cause of skills shortage, followed by a lack of candidates with appropriate qualifications (55 percent). According to the report, while the Brexit debate generates plenty of heat, ‘it’s the white heat of technological change that will mean huge change to the jobs of 2030’. Add that to the obvious question about what skills we’ll need to ‘home grow’ in the absence of free labour movement, and the skills gap is brought into sharper relief argues the report.
