Search Results for: workforce

April 12, 2018

Poor company culture is costing the UK economy £23.6 billion per year

A new report claims that a third of people (34 percent) who leave their job, do so because of perceived poor company culture. The report, authored by breatheHR claims the associated cost of bad company culture is around £23.6 billion per year. The survey of 2,500 people analysed in The Culture Economy, also suggests that well over half of SME leaders (60 percent) consider company culture as a ‘nice to have’ in their business.This mindset has a number of knock-on effects. According to the Chartered Management Institute, effective leadership could improve Britain’s productivity by 23 percent. However, with over half (53 percent) of employees surveyed who distrust their senior management, thinking their bosses ‘didn’t appear to know what they were doing’, there is some work to be done.

April 11, 2018

Quarter of workers say job negatively affects their mental health and a third feel overworked

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

One in four workers (25 percent) feel their job negatively affects their mental health, while nearly a third (30 percent) say their workload is too high, according to a brand new report from the CIPD, the UK Working Lives survey. Although the survey found that two-thirds of workers (64 percent) were satisfied with their job overall, one in ten (11 percent) report regularly feeling miserable at work. More than a quarter (28 percent) of senior leaders say that they find it difficult to fulfil personal commitments because of their job, while over a quarter (27 percent) say that their job does not offer good opportunities to develop their skills, jumping to two in five (43 percent) among unskilled and casual workers. Focusing on the three main groups in the labour market, those at the lower levels are far less likely to have access to skills and training, those in middle management feeling significantly squeezed by their workload and those at the top find it difficult to maintain a work/life balance.

April 10, 2018

British employers are failing to prepare staff for automation

by Mark Eltringham • AI, News, Technology

UK employees aren’t being equipped with the skills required by an automated workplace, according to a new study from ADP. The findings suggest that despite a third (32 percent) of workers believing their job will be automated within 10 years and one in ten (10 percent) predicting it will happen in two, half of those affected (49 percent) say their employer isn’t preparing to train or reskill them for the new world of work. ADP surveyed 1,300 UK working adults across the country as part of The Workforce View in Europe 2018, which gives a snapshot of employees’ views about their jobs, workplace and career plans. The report claims that thousands of workers are worried about the prospect of mass automation and how this will impact their own career prospects if they aren’t prepared with the right skills.

April 9, 2018

How the UK car industry is driving the future of workplace design

by Paul Dunn • Comment, Workplace design

The British car industry has grabbed numerous headlines since the Brexit referendum due declining car sales and the uncertainty of its economic and regulatory prospects. In spite of these mounting concerns, the industry continues to invest in the design of its workplaces, not only by creating inviting and engaging places to work, but also by integrating automotive approaches to design and construction into the work environment. As a result, these workplaces don’t just help car companies to stay competitive; they also provide new ideas for all sectors eager to build smarter and more efficient places to work.

April 6, 2018

Women are happier and more engaged at work than men, despite the gender pay gap

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

Following the deadline for organisations to publish their gender pay this week, it came as little surprise to find that almost eight in 10 organisations pay men more than women. The debate over the reasons why will continue, but new research now claims that women remain happier and more committed at work than men, despite this disparity. Employee benefits provider Personal Group’s Gender Happiness Gap research shows that contrary to, and perhaps in spite of the fact that the Gender Pay Gap tends to favour men, happiness at work tends to fall in favour of female staff, with men much less happy in the workplace than their female counterparts. Whilst 77 percent of PAYE female employees are happy at work at least some of the time, the figure is only 66 percent for men. This means that one in three men are rarely or never happy at work. The case is similar when looking at the total workforce: 45 percent of female staff stated that they’re happy most of the time at work, versus only 38 percent of male staff. Amongst women, the 30-49-year-old age group is the unhappiest age group, which may be due to juggling family life alongside working commitments.

April 2, 2018

Take up of shared parental leave is held back by cultural inertia

by Paul Kelly • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

A recent report by the House of Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee, Fathers and the workplace, has brought into sharp focus the problems fathers have juggling participation in family life with their employment obligations. We are moving away from the traditional gender stereotypes of the father being the breadwinner and the mother being responsible for childcare. Today, many families have two parents in either full or part-time work, with dual income households being far more common now than just 30 years ago. The pace of technological change and the growing gig economy have both contributed significantly to this shift in working patterns. As a result, some of the UK’s laws are becoming outdated, as many laws were formulated on the assumption that it would usually be the woman within a family who would have responsibility for childcare.

March 30, 2018

CIPD to co-chair Government’s flexible working task force

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

The CIPD has been invited to co-chair the UK Government’s new Flexible Working Task Force. The task force has been established by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to promote wider understanding and implementation of inclusive flexible work and working practices, bringing together policy-makers, employer groups, Unions and employee representative groups, research groups and professional bodies. More →

March 30, 2018

Employers should not write off older female workers quite so readily

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

An ageing population and changes to the default state pension age mean employers need to better prepare for the needs of older women in the workplace, according to a study by Anglia Ruskin University published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). With more and more women aged between 50 and 65 now employed, the research reviewed published literature to look into the experience of those workers and how their needs might change in the future.

March 29, 2018

Stress and mental health growing priority at board level but bosses struggle to support staff

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Two new reports published today reflect increasing concerns about stress and mental ill health at work and a lack of understanding by many organisations in how to combat the problem. A new study by Bupa claims that mental health is now a priority at board level for almost two-thirds (65 percent) of businesses, rising to 72 percent among large corporates, while mental health is now a bigger issue than physical illness among employees for nearly a third (29 percent) of businesses. Yet while an overwhelming majority (96 percent) of businesses want to help support their people, many (57 percent) do not know how to best support employees with these challenges. Two in five (39 percent) admit that awareness and understanding of mental health issues is still low across their organisation. These findings are echoed in a report carried out by Perkbox that claims work is by far the most common cause of stress (59 percent). Yet almost one in two (45 percent) of British businesses do not offer anything to help alleviate this, despite the fact that 1 in 4 (25 percent) struggle to be as productive at work when stressed.

March 28, 2018

Call for more internship opportunities to help employers close skills gap

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

It should come as little surprise that graduates who have undertaken an internship are more likely to have honed the skills businesses needs, one of the main findings of the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) annual Development Survey, which launches today (28 March 2018) at the ISE Student Development Conference. The report found that 63 percent of employers believed graduates who had undertaken work experience had the required soft skills, yet less than half (48 percent) thought this of graduates in general. According to the report the five most common graduate skills gaps are; managing up (5 percent of employers believed graduates had this skill); dealing with conflict (12 percent); negotiating/influencing (17 percent); commercial awareness (23 percent and resilience (31 percent). This is why closing skills gaps is a priority for businesses with 74 percent of employers taking specific actions to tackle the issue in 2017. Changes to recruitment and on-the-job training were the most common actions and 16 percent of organisations improved their internship development programmes specifically to close skills gaps.

March 28, 2018

Poor numeracy thought to account for an estimated £3.2 billion annual cost to businesses

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Almost one in two working age adults currently lack numeracy skills and this skills gap is estimated to cost businesses £3.2bn annually, with a cost to the UK economy of up to £20.2billiona year. This is why charity National Numeracy has joined together with founder supporter, KPMG, to establish the first ever UK National Numeracy Day – created to drive a change in recognition of the importance of numbers, as well as improve employee careers. The day, which takes place on the 16th May will be designed to celebrate numbers, and aims to help individuals to check their numeracy levels, and provide free tools to support improvement amongst those who could benefit. Businesses are being called on to get involved in a variety of ways; from becoming an official supporter, to encouraging employees, suppliers and the local community to check their numeracy levels using the free online numeracy assessment tool.

March 27, 2018

Greater attention must be paid to office design to attract younger talent

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Lighting, News, Workplace, Workplace design

Over a fifth (21 percent) of 18-24 year olds admit that they have rejected a potential employer because of the poor design of the office or lack of amenities available, while 34 percent in the same age group would be willing to commute for a maximum of one hour each way to an office that is considered perfect – compared to 22 percent of 45-54 year olds. The research, commissioned by Mindspace, found that 16 percent of 18-24 year olds have actually left a job because of how poorly designed the office was in one of their previous roles. Overall, nearly a third (31 percent), of workers are bored with their current office environment and feel uninspired at work, with 28 percent of workers describing their place of work outdated and dull. The research also found that while most workers had access to amenities such as a kitchen (72 percent), meeting rooms (66 percent) and free tea & coffee (53 percent), what UK office workers desire the most to improve morale is more natural light, air conditioning and improved interior lighting.