Search Results for: workforce

Older workers need more support in the workplace, claims report

Older workers need more support in the workplace, claims report

Longer working lives have become a reality for millions, yet a significant number of older workers feel unsupported in the workplace, according to new findings from Aviva which claim to highlight the need for UK businesses to boost support for their older workforce. Almost two thirds (63 percent) of the 10.2 million over-50s in work – equivalent to 6.4 million people – are planning to retire later than they thought they would 10 years ago. Many of them are extending their working lives due to the rising cost of living (40 percent) and insufficient pension savings (38 percent).

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UK labour and skills shortages set to increase as number of EU nationals fall

UK labour and skills shortages set to increase as number of EU nationals fall

Labour and skills shortages in UK set to increase as number of EU applicants fall

A noticeable fall in the flow of EU nationals into the UK has coincided with a drop in the quantity and suitability of job applicants being reported by employers, the latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook from the CIPD and the Adecco Group has revealed. The data suggests that while the short-term outlook for employment remains strong, labour and skills shortages are finally starting to bite, with evidence that the number of applicants per vacancy has dropped across all roles (low, medium and high-skill) since summer 2017. This strong demand for labour is finally increasing recruitment pressures for employers, exacerbated by a ‘supply shock’ of far fewer EU nationals coming into the UK. According to the latest official data, the number of EU-born workers in the UK increased by just 7,000 between Q1 2017 and Q1 2018, compared with an increase of 148,000 from Q1 2016 to Q1 2017. This represents a fall of 95 percent and has fed into a tightening of the labour market. The report also found that while wage growth for the wider workforce is set to remain at around 2 percent for the foreseeable future, new starters and key staff may be more likely to be getting a salary increase.

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A third of employers report rise in time off as mental health becomes less taboo

A third of employers report rise in time off as mental health becomes less taboo

Around 30 percent of businesses have seen an increase in the number of staff taking time off for mental health reasons, according to a survey conducted by business organisation British Chambers of Commerce, and insurer Aviva. One in three (33 percent) business leaders have also noticed an increase in the length of time that staff are taking off due to mental health issues.

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Youngest workers prefer simple perks such as free coffee, flexi hours and birthday leave

Youngest workers prefer simple perks such as free coffee, flexi hours and birthday leave

Youngest workers prefer simple perks such as free coffee, flexi hours and birthday leaveAs fresh graduates from generation Z, i.e. those born between the mid 1990’s and 2000 are enter the workplace, new research from Perkbox claims that over 1 in 3 (36 percent) admit that the workplace perks are one of the most important deciding factors on whether to accept a new job or not. These post-millennials are also the group most likely (32 percent) to prefer smaller benefits that they can enjoy on a more frequent basis, all-year-round, over one annual event, such as a Christmas party. The top three workplace perks most popular amongst Generation Z included simple benefits, such as receiving a day’s annual leave on your birthday (86 percent), followed by free coffee and hot drinks (85 percent), and flexi-hours (83 percent). Despite this, Generation Z feel less deserving of workplace benefits than co-workers born pre-1995, with fewer than half (38 percent) believing they should benefit from such offerings – which is less than any other age group.

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How will Crossrail impact the office landscape of London and beyond?

How will Crossrail impact the office landscape of London and beyond?

We are now just a few months away from the grand opening of the central section of Crossrail, the 118km long railway line spanning London and the South East which will, once completed, will deliver a direct connection between all of London’s main employment centres; linking Heathrow with Paddington, the West End, the City and Canary Wharf. This ambitious redevelopment plan will bring huge positive change to the City and is estimated to generate over 850,000 new jobs in the Capital, as well as making the lives of those already working in London easier and more efficient.

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Financial stress can impair employee performance and attendance

Financial stress can impair employee performance and attendance

Financial stress can impair employee performance and attendance

Businesses that fail to tackle their employees’ financial stress are more likely to encounter poor work performance, lack of engagement, mental health issues and staff absenteeism, a new report from Neyber has claimed. Since last year, there has been a significant increase in the number of employees affected by financial worries; up from 58 percent to 63 percent, as well as those with less than one month’s savings; up from 24 percent to 32 percent. This stress on individuals is having a severe business impact. One in four employees said they had lost sleep over money troubles in the last year, one in ten said that they couldn’t focus on work and 6 percent said they had had to take time off work. All this adds up to a substantial cost for employers to bear. Neyber has calculated that the lost productivity and increased absence and employee turnover associated with financial stress costs UK companies in the region of £120.7 billion every year.

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New research suggests that the confidence gap between men and women is a myth

New research suggests that the confidence gap between men and women is a myth

The confidence gap between men and women is a myth, according to Laura Guillén, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at ESMT Berlin, because women viewed as self-confident aren’t more likely to get ahead. For women, gaining influence at work is more closely tied to their warmth and caring than the appearance of self-confidence. Laura’s research, in collaboration with Margarita May of IE Business School and Natalia Karelaia of INSEAD, examined high-performing workers in a male-dominated technology company that employs more than 4,000 people worldwide. The research also suggests women are expected to care for others on top of their workload, whilst men are held to a lower standard of key performance indicators.

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Shortage of tech skills and 600,000 job vacancies costing UK economy £63 billion a year

Shortage of tech skills and 600,000 job vacancies costing UK economy £63 billion a year

An estimated 600,000 vacancies in digital technology are costing the country £63 billion a year, according to information provided by techUK in a report on skills shortages published by the Edge Foundation.The second of the education charity’s bulletins on the UK’s skills shortages, shines a spotlight on the tech industry and the devastating economic impact of the government’s failure to encourage young people to study relevant subjects and upskill existing workers. The bulletin, Skills Shortages in the UK Economy, brings together the most current statistics and analysis of skills shortages in the UK which cost the economy £6.3 billion each year in direct costs such as recruitment and temporarily filling gaps, according to the Open University’s 2018 Business Barometer.

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Absenteeism at record low and it may be because people are worried about their jobs

Absenteeism at record low and it may be because people are worried about their jobs

A new report from the Office for National Statistics suggests that the number of sickness days taken by UK workers has almost halved over the past two decades to reach a record low. It dropped from an average of 7.2 days in 1993 to 4.1 days in 2017, and had been steadily falling since 1999. The total days lost for all workers last year was 131.2 million, down from 137.3 million in 2016 and 178.3 million in 1993. Since the recession, sickness absence rates have declined by 0.5 percentage points to 1.9 per cent last year. The reasons are not explored in the report but one possible explanation would be the growing number of people prepared to work when they should really take time off. A May report from the CIPD claims that the number of companies reporting a rise in employees going into work when they were ill had more than tripled since 2010 and warned that organisations should do more to discourage “presenteeism”.

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UK employees no longer incur huge expenses entertaining clients

UK employees no longer incur huge expenses entertaining clients

UK employees no longer incur huge expenses entertaining clients as in decades pastLong corporate lunches were once the cornerstone of the corporate expense account, but new figures show just 13 percent of today’s workforce claim expenses for lunch at a restaurant, compared to 36 percent of those in the 1970s and 37 percent in the 80s. The data, released by Barclaycard, also claims that just 10 percent claim dinner at a restaurant with a client on their expenses. This is less than half the proportion who did so in the 1960s (34 percent), 70s (27 percent) and 80s (28 percent). Employees are also less likely to catch up with clients over drinks, with just seven percent regularly footing the bill for a round – approximately a quarter of the proportion who say they did so in the 1980s (27 percent). The expense management process itself has also become more formal, with a clear shift to self-service – almost two-thirds of today’s employees file their own expense claims compared to just over a third in the 1960s.

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Half of CIOs say Artificial Intelligence will lead to more jobs and improve productivity

Half of CIOs say Artificial Intelligence will lead to more jobs and improve productivity

Half of CIOs say Artificial Intelligence will lead to more jobs and improve productivity

Fears that Artificial Intelligence will destroy the job market are not shared by more than half (51 percent) of UK CIOs who see AI as a job creator. This is more than three times the number who say that it will diminish workers’ job prospects (16 percent). For the survey UK CIOs were asked, ‘Artificial intelligence is changing the way that companies operate and people work. Do you think AI will have a positive or negative impact on job creation and recruitment?’ Their largely positive response closely reflects that of a recent PWC report which predicts AI could create as many jobs as it displaces in the UK over the next 20 years. More →

Barclays to create up to 2,500 jobs at new Glasgow tech hub

Barclays to create up to 2,500 jobs at new Glasgow tech hub

Barclays has announced plans to develop a new campus at Buchanan Wharf, Glasgow, which will provide what it claims is a state-of-the-art workplace for the bank’s functions, technology and operations teams. The aim is to create a working environment that will ‘help the bank deliver outstanding services to customers and clients by fostering innovation and collaboration’.  Barclays has agreed to purchase the campus development from Drum Property Group Ltd and is currently working with them to finalise the design of the new facility as part of the wider Buchanan Wharf development. It is expected that, once completed, the campus will be able to accommodate up to 2,500 additional roles, doubling Barclays’ current workforce in Scotland and making the bank one of Glasgow’s biggest commercial employers.

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