Search Results for: working lives

New advice issued to small businesses on health and wellbeing in the workplace

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Although the majority (60 percent) of the UK’s private sector workforce are employed by small businesses; advice and support for employers and individuals in supporting health and wellbeing at work has generally focused on large companies. This is the impetus behind a new campaign launched by The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) which focuses on the wellbeing of small business owners and employees. Alongside Public Health England and other organisations, such as the mental health charity, Mind, FSB has also developed Wellbeing in Small Business: a short guide, which aims to provide ideas people can adopt to improve their health and wellbeing. It includes advice on how to start conversations about stress, mental health and wellbeing, tackling loneliness, managing flexible working arrangements, networking, fitness groups and improving the physical environment.

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Economic gains from digitisation, robotics and AI must benefit workers says TUC

Economic gains from digitisation, robotics and AI must benefit workers says TUC

by • AI, News, Technology, Workplace

In the same week that Gartner offered some useful insights into the building blocks for a successful digital workplace, the TUC has published its views on the impact of digitisation, arguing that the economic gains from digitisation, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) should be used to benefit working people. This would include reversing policies to raise the state pension age. The report Shaping Our Digital Future explores how the next technological revolution will impact on jobs and wages. Previous waves of technological change have not led to an overall loss of jobs, but have disrupted the types of job people do. And with the most recent wave of industrial change, rewards from higher productivity have gone predominantly to business owners, rather than being shared across the workforce through better wages and working conditions.

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Report sets out building blocks of a successful digital workplace strategy

by • News, Technology, Workplace design

Digital workplace developments often lose their way, or fail, due to a fragmented approach that prioritises a few technology ‘fixes’ over business strategy, according to analysts at Gartner. To combat this, ‘digital workplace leaders’ in public sector organisations need to employ a framework to ensure their digital workplace initiatives address eight critical components required for a successful implementation, according to Gartner. The report (paywall) sets out what it claims are the eight critical components — “building blocks” — that application leaders need when planning, directing and evolving digital workplace programs:

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Being on a temporary or zero-hours contract is bad for your wellbeing, especially if you’re young

Being on a temporary or zero-hours contract is bad for your wellbeing, especially if you’re young

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Two major new studies claim to show the impact of temporary or insecure work on the wellbeing of people, especially younger workers. Research into the lives of 7,700 people from the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) suggests that young adults who are employed on zero-hours contracts are less likely to be in good health, and are at higher risk of poor mental health than workers with stable jobs. Meanwhile, an analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Business in the Community suggests that younger workers (born since 1982) in part-time and temporary work – or who are underemployed and/or overqualified – are more likely to experience poorer mental health and wellbeing, compared to younger workers in more permanent and secure work.

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Mayor launches initiative to enhance the design of Londons buildings and spaces

Mayor launches initiative to enhance the design of Londons buildings and spaces 0

by • Architecture, Cities, News, Property, Workplace design

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has this week launched his Good Growth by Design programme to ‘enhance the design of buildings and neighbourhoods for all Londoners’. In a speech at the London School of Economics, the Mayor spoke of his vision for the future of London as the city’s population heads towards 10 million people. In what is claimed to be his first major intervention on this topic, the Mayor is calling on London’s architectural, design and built environment professions to help realise his vision of London as a city that is socially and economically inclusive as well as environmentally sustainable. According to the Mayor’s office, the Good Growth programme will leave a legacy of world-class buildings, outstanding public realm and large-scale regeneration for Londoners of the future.

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Acts of kindness create a virtuous circle in the workplace

Acts of kindness create a virtuous circle in the workplace 0

by • News, Wellbeing

acts of kindness

This is the very definition of a Friday story. The results of a research project, published in the American Psychological Association journal Emotion suggests that the small kindnesses we show to others at work tend to propagate across an organisation. For the study, a group of researchers from the University of California told workers at Coca Cola’s Madrid headquarters that they were taking part in a piece of research to measure their levels of happiness, job satisfaction, relationships with colleagues (good and bad) and their positive and negative experiences of other people’s behaviour as well as an assessment of their own behaviour over a period of four weeks.

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Flexible and family friendly workplaces across the UK named in charity’s awards

Flexible and family friendly workplaces across the UK named in charity’s awards 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Britain’s most family friendly and flexible employers have been recognised in this year’s Top Employers for Working Families Awards. Now in their 8th year, the annual Top Employers for Working Families Special Awards from the UK’s work life balance charity cover 11 categories across a range of work life policies and practices. Four new sector-specific awards are being introduced this year for the private, public and third sectors; as well as a category for small employers. Sarah Jackson OBE, chief executive of Working Families, said: “In many ways, flexible working and family friendly working have never been more part of the bloodstream of British business. We had a record-breaking number of entries this year, showcasing a wealth of exciting approaches to creating agility in the workplace. Congratulations to all this year’s Top Employers for Working Families award winners, singled out because they offer leading flexible workplaces that support the grain of their employees’ lives. I look forward to working with them to make work work, for people, families and the economy, so that families thrive and business prospers.”

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Over half of employers believe strong workplace friendships increase productivity

Over half of employers believe strong workplace friendships increase productivity 0

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Nearly three quarters (70 percent) of employers say it’s healthy for employees to have someone to confide in at work, according to new research, but it claims, 1 in 4 employees would consider leaving the company if their friend left. The totaljobs research which featured responses from over 4,000 employees and 103 employers on the latest trends in workplace relationships and office politics found that two thirds (65 percent) of UK workers are finding ‘work spouses’ in the office – that one person who they are very close. Although over half of employers (56 percent) say strong work friendships increase productivity and 60 percent of work spouses say their relationship means ‘they look forward to going into work’, which can help improve staff retention, 1 in 4 (23 percent) say if their friend left, they would consider leaving themselves. Nearly one in 10 (7 percent) go as far as to say that their work spouse leaving the company would be ‘like a bereavement’.

It is perhaps no surprise that work socials are encouraged by employers. Three-quarters of employers organise social events, with the most common including the Christmas party (92 percent); meals out (56 percent); celebrating company milestones (contract wins, hitting targets – 53 percent); and drinks (47 percent). A massive 89 percent of employers provide coffee and tea facilities, while 67 percent provide a kitchen with a sitting area and 47 percent provide breakout areas to encourage more conversation.

A significant 60 percent of employers encourage employees to socialise out of work, while in most social events are regularly organised by teams independently – 42 percent monthly and 40 percent quarterly.

A line was drawn in terms of seniority however, with only 24 percent of employers believing it is appropriate for management to be friends with people more junior than them.

John Salt, Director at totaljobs, said: “It is certainly revealing that so many employees relate to having a ‘work spouse’ and someone they feel they can confide in above others. Our research shows employers recognise the value of strong work relationships, with many already offering social events. The key is to accept work spouse relationships and encourage broader team cohesion. The two do not need to be mutually exclusive: get the balance right, and employers will reap the benefits of a happier, more productive, team.”

The research also showed that work relationships are often formed out of facing adversity in the workplace. Half of those (50 percent) with a work spouse admit to being frustrated in their job, compared to only a third (33 percent) who say they are satisfied, suggesting a spouse may be viewed as some with whom frustrations can be shared.

Social Media Etiquette

Social media has led to a blurring of the lines in terms of people’s personal and professional lives. 42 percent admitted they communicate with their work spouse via social media outside the office. Facebook is by far the leading social network, with 83 percent saying they add colleagues who are at their level on Facebook, compared to 32 percent who would add them on LinkedIn, 24 percent who would follow them on Instagram, and 19 percent who would message their work spouse out of office hours.

Workplace communication expert Judi James has worked with totaljobs to identify the different types of workplace friendships.  She comments, “The notion of having a ‘work spouse’ in the office is clearly a growing phenomenon. British people are notoriously hard workers, often working long hours in stressful environments so it is no surprise to see that they find a colleague with whom they can share their frustrations and celebrate their successes.

“Whilst this is perfectly healthy, it can be helpful for workers to understand how these relationships can come to be viewed and how to prepare for the inevitability of their work marriage being broken up when one party heads for pastures new. That’s why I have worked with totaljobs to create this guide to enable people to understand what type of relationship they have.”

Automation and data need radically new systems of governance according to scientists

Automation and data need radically new systems of governance according to scientists 0

by • AI, News, Technology

automationThe current framework for governing automation and the management and use of data cannot keep pace with technological advances, according to a new report by the Royal Society and the British Academy. The report calls for the establishment of a new, independent body to steward an overall framework that can safeguard public confidence and ensure that the potential benefits of data use such as improved public services, better healthcare and business innovation are fully realised. The two National Academies convened leading figures from the Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences to undertake a detailed review of the current governance landscape for data usage and management. Data Management and Use: Governance in the 21st Century found that data usage, data collection and management are increasingly intertwined, and new ways of using data make it difficult to define which data is sensitive.  It found that, while the current governance architecture provides a lot of what is needed to deal with these challenges, there are clear gaps and too many silos, such that tensions between how individual and collective benefits and risks are negotiated are not always identified and addressed in a transparent and inclusive way.

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The mere presence of a smartphone causes people to suffer brain drain

The mere presence of a smartphone causes people to suffer brain drain 0

by • News, Technology, Wellbeing

You may think it’s enough to mute or put away your smartphone when trying to carry out some focused work, but a new academic study suggests that the mere presence of a smartphone reduces our ability to concentrate. The study of over 500 subjects was carried out by researchers at the University of Texas and published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, found that the brain suffers from the unconscious potential to browse, play games and communicate. Even when hidden in drawer or bag, the existence of a smartphone reduces people’s ability to carry out even relatively simple cognitive tasks.

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The self employed have to rely on each other as government offers almost no support

The self employed have to rely on each other as government offers almost no support 0

by • Flexible working, News

The self employed are turning to one another for business and financial support, according to new analysis by the RSA think-tank. Commissioned by the Federation of Small Business (FSB) to examine how self-employed workers might manage the risks they face, the RSA report claims that growing numbers of workers are turning to collective sick-pay funds to manage ill health, cash pooling schemes to deal with late payments and micro-loan services to plug gaps in bank finance.  The RSA’s report, The Self Organising Self Employed concludes that, to date, both the state and the market have struggled to keep pace with the rising numbers of the self employed. Although successive governments have been vocal in their admiration of people who strike it out alone, holding up their attributes as ‘self-starters’ and ‘strivers’, this had led to a ‘non-interventionist, hands-off policy agenda, with the self employed broadly left to their own devices’.

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Workers spend less time on social media and non-work technology in a bid to restore work life balance

Workers spend less time on social media and non-work technology in a bid to restore work life balance 0

by • News, Technology

According to a new survey by job site CV-Library, over two thirds of workers (67.4 percent) don’t use social media whilst at work, and of those that do, the majority (45 percent) will only do so for up to 15 minutes. The study surveyed 1,200 workers on their opinions around technology in the workplace, and whether it is a distraction or an enabler to professionals. Interestingly, the survey claims that despite 56.1 percent admitting that they use smart phones while they’re at work, the majority (79.8 percent) do not use technology to do personal tasks during work hours. Many 0f the respondents cite the desire for a better work life balance as the main reason for their behaviour.

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