Search Results for: working lives

Caring responsibilities disproportionately impact women’s lives and careers

Caring responsibilities disproportionately impact women’s lives and careers

caringNearly six out of ten women (58 percent) say caring responsibilities have stopped them applying for promotion or a new job, and one in five (19 percent) have left a job because it was too hard to balance work and care, according to wide-ranging research by Ipsos and Business in the Community (BITC). Whilst 35 percent of all adults, and 44 percent per cent of working adults, have caring responsibilities, the research found that they are not spread equally. Women account for 85 percent of sole carers for children and 65 percent of sole carers for older adults. More people from ethnic minority backgrounds (42 percent) have caring responsibilities than from white backgrounds. More →

Hybrid working means we have to make the most of our time in the office

Hybrid working means we have to make the most of our time in the office

hybrid workingThe covid-19 pandemic has drastically affected every aspect of our lives, whether it be in a personal, societal, or professional sense. One of the biggest changes to come from the pandemic is the impact it has had on workplaces, and what we now know our working world to be, including the advent for the first time of widespread hybrid working. Long gone are the days of long commutes, long days in the office and set working hours. More →

Flexible working models best for mental health of parents, research claims

Flexible working models best for mental health of parents, research claims

flexible working and mental healthEmployees who are able to split their working time between home and a formal workplace are 40 percent less likely to experience mental health difficulties, new research has shown. Wellbeing charity stem4 surveyed 1038 working parents and carers across the UK to mark Parent Mental Health Day (27th January). It suggests that four in ten overall (39 percent) were experiencing problems – most commonly stress (62 percent), depression (54 percent) and anxiety (50 percent). More →

Hybrid working? Let’s put on a show

Hybrid working? Let’s put on a show

hybrid working performanceI’m currently rereading Art Kleiner’s masterful book The Age of Heretics which describes the history of ground-breaking thought in management in the 20th Century and the lessons we forget. It remains a relevant book for the new era of ‘hybrid working’ because the book draws a distinction between two fundamental schools of thought in management theory. One of these sees management as a numbers game in which people are inherently problematic and so must be directed what to do based on data and routines of desirable activity and behaviour. And the other sees people as well meaning, capable and adaptable with managers there to facilitate and channel their abilities and help them develop. More →

Majority of UK workers would consider quitting their job if hybrid working was axed

Majority of UK workers would consider quitting their job if hybrid working was axed

hybridMore than half (51 percent) of UK workers who currently have the choice to mix remote and office working would consider leaving their company if this hybrid option was removed, according to new research released by Microsoft in conjunction with YouGov (fieldwork undertaken 7th – 15th October 2021).
More →

Hybrid working success relies on three key factors

Hybrid working success relies on three key factors

hybrid workingOrganisations must focus on equipping people managers, who are the stewards of sustainable performance, with the right skillsets to ensure they and their teams succeed in the hybrid working world, according to Gartner, Inc. To achieve this, Gartner recommends organisations pursue three tactics to ensure managers are prepared to lead their teams in this setting. More →

Portfolio careers, side-gigs and flexible working are priorities for the UK’s next generation of workers

Portfolio careers, side-gigs and flexible working are priorities for the UK’s next generation of workers

workersA flexible work culture is a key consideration for the majority of young workers when choosing a job, with over half (53 percent) of 18-34-year-olds claiming that talented young people won’t join companies that are inflexible about the way their people choose to work. More →

Hybrid working could save the NHS more than £4 billion per year

Hybrid working could save the NHS more than £4 billion per year

hybrid workingHybrid working could save the NHS more than £4 billion per year by giving workers more time to look after themselves and their families, according to a new study by Virgin Media O2 Business and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). More →

Hybrid working is both a challenge and opportunity for comms firms

Hybrid working is both a challenge and opportunity for comms firms

hybrid working and commsHuge swathes of workers have been returning to the office in recent weeks – many for the first time in almost two years. A significant number of companies, however, will never return to the pre-pandemic ‘normal’ of a five-day office week and will instead integrate hybrid working permanently. According to the CIPD, 40 percent of employers expect more than half their workforce to regularly work from home after the pandemic has ended.  More →

Lives at risk due to lack of first aiders in the office, warns St John Ambulance

Lives at risk due to lack of first aiders in the office, warns St John Ambulance

first aidersThe health charity claims that, in the last fortnight, less than half (49 percent) of the 2,000 UK workers surveyed believed there was a designated first aider in their workplace. More →

Almost half of working mothers feel they are held back from promotion

Almost half of working mothers feel they are held back from promotion

workingNew polling, carried out to mark the start of National Work Life Week (Oct 11–15), highlights a wide gulf in how working mothers, parents and carers are managing to balance their work and home lives as we come out of the pandemic. Outdated cultures and practices still hold sway in many workplaces around the UK. More →

Working from home: how far we’ve come and where we might be headed

Working from home: how far we’ve come and where we might be headed

working from home furnitureWe’ve all learnt a great deal about working from home over the past eighteen months. We’ve seen how for some, it can be incredibly beneficial to employees, enabling them to better balance their work and personal lives and can also benefit the company, enabling business as usual during the Covid-19 pandemic, even improving efficiency. It’s also prompted some important conversations about mental health that simply hadn’t been had, normalising the challenges that we all face, especially during lockdowns. More →