Search Results for: workforce

June 26, 2018

UK employers aim to accelerate digital innovation, despite some cultural resistance

by Sara Bean • AI, News, Technology, Workplace

The way to measure an employer’s speed of innovation includes how they find talent, their appraisal process, how employees recommend the organisation they work for to others, and how much employees collaborate, claims a new European study by Cornerstone OnDemand and IDC. “Future Culture: Building a Culture of Innovation in the Age of Digital Transformation” explores the relationship between European organisations’ speed of innovation and talent management, with the research showing that firms with a steady stream of new products and services are more likely to have an ongoing feedback process with employees, rather than an annual performance review, while organisations with a slower rate of innovation often use coaching and mentoring to develop employees.

June 26, 2018

Global employers focus on mobile talent to help support new ways of working

by Sara Bean • Cities, Facilities management, News, Workplace

The digital era, ageing populations, skills shortages, and unpredictable political and economic contexts are persuading multinationals to focus more on mobile talent, new ways of working and assessing the cost of expatriate packages for international employees that are critical to the future of work. This is according to Mercer’s 24th annual Cost of Living Survey which reveals that factors such as instability of housing markets and fluctuating inflation, currencies and prices for goods and services, are impacting the cost of doing business in various cities around the world. UK cities have significantly risen in the ranking this year. More →

June 25, 2018

Younger employees are main source of workplace security breaches

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

More than a third of senior executives believe that younger employees are the “main culprits” for workplace security breaches according to a new study into attitudes to security of the workforce, commissioned by Centrify. The study also claims that these same decision makers are doing very little to allay their own fears with over a third of 18-24 year olds able to access any files on their company network and only one in five having to request permission to access specific files. Less than half (43 percent) have access only to the files that are relevant to their work. The study, conducted by Censuswide, sought the views of 1,000 younger workers (18-24 year olds) and 500 decision makers in UK organisations to discover how security, privacy and online behaviour at work impacts the lives of younger employees and the companies that they work for.

June 21, 2018

Three quarters of employees now expect to work beyond age of 65

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

The proportion of UK employees who say they will work beyond the age of 65 has remained at three-quarters (72 percent) for the second year running, significantly higher than in 2016 (67 percent) and 2015 (61 percent), according to research from Canada Life. Nearly half (47 percent) of those who say they expect to work beyond 65 will be older than 70 before they retire, up from 37 percent in 2017, while almost a fifth (17 percent) expect to be older than 75. Workers aged 35-44 are most likely to say they expect to retire after their 75th birthday (27 percent).

June 19, 2018

We should not be quite so quick to demonise the open plan office

by Nigel Oseland • Facilities management, Features, Furniture, Workplace design

There is a witch hunt on in the workplace. “Open plan” has become a dirty word and the national press are leading the mob in vilifying this so-called scourge. The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail and Business Week have all reported that “we can’t get anything done in an open-plan office” as it affects our concentration, our performance and our health. These news items are all damning, but perhaps not as damming as the Wikipedia entry on open plan which states: “A systematic survey of research upon the effects of open plan offices found frequent negative effects in some traditional workplaces: high levels of noise, stress, conflict, high blood pressure and a high staff turnover… Most people prefer closed offices… there is a dearth of studies confirming positive impacts on productivity from open plan office designs”.

June 19, 2018

Improving employment of older people could boost UK GDP by £180bn

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

GDP could be boosted by around £180 billion a year if the UK could match New Zealand’s employment rates for the over-55s. While employment of older workers has improved in the UK in recent years, it still ranks only 21st out of 35 OECD countries according to new analysis from PwC. The consultancy’s Golden Age Index is a weighted average of indicators – including employment, earnings and training – that reflect the labour market impact of workers aged over 55. Iceland tops the rankings followed by New Zealand and Israel. For the OECD as a whole, there is a potential $3.5 trillion economic prize from matching New Zealand’s employment rates for the over-55s.

June 18, 2018

Employers and government need to work together to address looming Brexit skills gap

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

As the UK continues to navigate a period of uncertainty ahead of its exit from the European Union, new research published by the City & Guilds Group and Emsi claims that nine in 10 employers already struggle to recruit the skilled staff they need. With most industries expected to grow between now and 2024, a significant number of skilled workers will be needed to meet demand. However, People Power, a study based on City & Guilds Group interviewing over 1,000 C-Suite employers in the UK and work with Emsi to undertake extensive economic modelling, has found that two thirds of UK employers think that the skills gaps in their businesses are likely to get worse or remain the same in the next three to five years.

June 13, 2018

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

by Colleen O'Day • Comment, Wellbeing

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.