Search Results for: workforce

June 13, 2018

US companies are waking up to the benefits of caring for employee mental health

In 2015, the American Psychological Association chose American Express as the inaugural winner of the Organizational Excellence Award, recognizing successful efforts to integrate psychology and prioritize behavioral health and emotional well-being in the workplace. American Express had an employee assistance program (EAP) for workers dealing with depression and other mental health challenges. The EAP was a telephone-consultation system and only about 4 percent of employees utilized it. After the firm added on-site counselors to meet with employees for free—and rebranded the EAP as part of its “Healthy Living” —the usage rate more than doubled.

June 13, 2018

The CIPD says adoption of people analytics in the UK by HR is still too low

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

Organisations with a strong people analytics culture are much more likely to report strong business performance claims new global research from the CIPD in association with Workday. However, the survey also highlights that the wide scale adoption of people analytics practice is still low and that more needs to be done to improve skills and confidence in the HR function, particularly in the UK which is lagging behind other markets in both capability and confidence. The research also highlights the importance of access to data. It found that access to people data improves outcomes but only 71 percent of HR professionals have access to this data, and just 42 percent of finance professionals do. For those with access to people data, just 22 percent use it daily in their decision-making and almost a quarter (23 percent) use it in decision-making just once a month or less. The research, People Analytics: driving business performance with people data, surveyed 3,852 business professionals globally – including HR and finance professionals – to understand attitudes towards people analytics and how it is being used in organisations.

June 13, 2018

British employees less confident and more stressed over last three years

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

UK employees could be heading for crisis, according to a three-year study by ADP, which has found that three key measures of employee wellbeing – optimism, stress and skills confidence – have taken a hit since 2015. The exact reason for the changes is unclear, however the timings suggest that Brexit may have played a part, along with the rise in new technologies entering the workplace.

June 12, 2018

Lack of emotional intelligence greater impediment to staff engagement than AI

by Sara Bean • AI, News, Technology, Workplace

A new Gallup report reveals the growth of AI is not seen as a disadvantage for employees. The real problem is lack of emotional intelligence in management, with managers failing to move beyond the role of “task manager” and adopt the coaching perspective they need in order to future proof the workforce. The Real Future of Work study interviewed 4,000 working adults in the UK, France, Germany and Spain to understand how employees are being managed and the subsequent impact this might have on the future. Worryingly, one in four UK employees say they only receive performance feedback from their manager once a year or less, a further 20 percent claim it’s only a “few times a year”. Almost one in five (19 percent) UK workers predict technology will increase the risk of losing their job – the highest in the European countries surveyed and more than double those concerned in Spain. When asked how technological changes will influence work in the next three years, seven out of ten workers in the UK felt it will increase their productivity followed by France (66 percent), Spain (51 percent) and Germany (37 percent).

June 12, 2018

Pay rates for senior management reflect longer working hours argues CMI

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

Business Secretary Greg Clark proposed new laws in Parliament yesterday (June 11^th) that new large firms will have to justify their chief executives’ salaries and reveal the gap to their average UK worker. It means that for the first time, UK listed companies with more than 250 UK employees will have to disclose and explain this difference – known as ‘pay ratios’ – every year. However, according to data published today by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and XpertHR, basic salaries for senior managers have fallen in real terms, with inflation overtaking pay increases for the first time in five years. At a time when government are shining a light on executive pay, and linking it via a ratio to workforce pay, separate CMI research has found managers worked an extra 44 days a year last year over and above their contracted hours – up from 40 days extra in 2015. The same research found 59 percent of managers are ‘always on’, frequently checking their emails outside of work and one in 10 had been forced to take sick leave because of stress.

June 11, 2018

Women and younger people are transforming the UK’s freelance economy

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

The workforce is changing as more people swap the security of a 9-to-5 job for the flexibility of freelancing, with key demographics and industries leading the self-employed sector, according to a new study from Instant Offices. ‘Millennials’ and UK workers facing significant lifestyle changes, such as motherhood, or nearing retirement, and are looking for more flexible ways to work. According to the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE), the self-employed sector now includes approximately 4.8 million people, with freelancers comprising 42 percent of that population and 6 percent of the UK workforce as a whole. The IPSE reports that in 2016, freelancers contributed £119 billion to the national economy. This was up from £109 billion in 2015 and experts are predicting that this number will only continue to grow in the years to come.

June 4, 2018

Your happiness at work is not just down to your employer

by Cary Cooper and Ivan Robertson • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

When Google promoted a software engineer named Chade-Meng Tan to the role of “Jolly Good Fellow”, his career – and the entire culture of Silicon Valley – took a sharp turn. Meng, a cheerful employee valued for his motivational qualities, went from developing mobile search tools to spreading happiness across the organisation. Happiness became his job. Google wasn’t the first to hire someone with the sole remit of enforcing employee contentment. In 1999, when Google was still a start-up, French fashion brand Kiabi hired Christine Jutard as its chief happiness officer. She was one of the first to perform the role. But once Google did it, happiness at work became a key metric and other organisations quickly adopted their approach. Three years after Meng’s appointment, fast food giant McDonald’s even promoted Ronald McDonald from brand mascot to CHO.

June 1, 2018

Additional 1.5 million people planning to trade the rat race for the gig economy

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

More than 6 million UK adults are already self-employed or working as a contractor in the so-called gig economy, with a further 6 percent of currently full-time professionals looking to make the transition this year. New research of more than 2,000 UK adults commissioned by WeMa Life claims to reveal how the rise of the gig economy is transforming the UK’s employment landscape, with one in five (19 percent) working adults currently identifying themselves as being a freelancer, sole trader or self-employed. The study found that 71 percent of gig economy workers identified flexibility as the biggest appeal for working on a contractor or temporary basis. Furthermore, having control over the hours and types of jobs undertaken has also empowered a new section of the workforce that were previously unable to access full-time employment – it was uncovered that nearly half (46 percent) of those working in the gig economy do so because they are not in a position to work a full-time job due to other commitments in their life.

May 29, 2018

Are these the UK’s best coworking spaces?

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Property

IPSE, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed, has announced the 12 longlisted finalists for the 2018 Coworking Space of the Year award. The award has been launched to recognise the role coworking spaces play in ‘creating a nurturing, inclusive and stimulating environment for the UK’s thriving 4.8 million-strong self-employed workforce;. The venues were judged on a range of criteria including the quality of facilities and staff, the innovation, creativity and distinctiveness of their venue, the passion and commitment to their members and the freelancing community, and the price and value of its membership packages. Intriguingly, only one is in London.

May 29, 2018

A quarter of people would switch jobs for the chance of flexible working

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

New research from totaljobs claims that more than one in four workers (28 percent) would move jobs if they weren’t allowed to work from home, increasing to nearly half (45 percent) of millennial workers. While two thirds of UK employees (65 percent) can work from home, 35 percent are still not given the option of working remotely. Totaljobs’ research claims that remote working is in the top five most important benefits when looking for a new job, beating perks such as enhanced parental leave, travel allowances and learning and development.

May 25, 2018

Remote working preferred, with just one in ten workers happiest in an office environment

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

One in four workers (28 percent) would move jobs if they weren’t allowed to work from home, increasing to nearly half (45 percent) of millennial workers. Yet while two thirds of UK employees (65 percent) can work from home, 35 percent are still not given the option of working remotely. Totaljobs’ research revealed that remote working is in the top five most important benefits when looking for a new job, beating perks such as enhanced parental leave, travel allowances and learning and development. One in five workers would pick a job that offered remote working over one that did not when deciding on a new role. Given the choice, two fifths (38 percent) of the UK workforce prefer working from home, a figure that rises to 46 percent of 18-34-year olds as opposed to just 31 percent of over 55’s, clearly showing the popularity of remote working options to the millennial workforce. The flexibility that remote working offers is most appreciated by women, with a quarter (24 percent) preferring the option of working from home or in the office compared to 16 percent of men.

May 24, 2018

More than three quarters of British workers have worked whilst genuinely ill in the last year

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Employee services business Personal Group and online doctor service videoDoc have published the findings of a survey of 2,496 UK employees on their attitudes and behaviours around work presenteeism and illness in the workplace. The results indicated some worrying trends with regards to the prioritisation of work over health, with the average British worker having worked more than four days whilst genuinely ill in the last year, and over half of UK employees (52 percent) admitting to delaying seeking medical advice because they didn’t want to take time off work. Of those who did take time off work to see a doctor in the last 12 months, 15.7 percent took unpaid leave to do so, 17.5 percent used their annual leave entitlement and 22.4 percent left work early or arrived late – each of which arguably negatively affect both employee wellbeing and organisational productivity.