Search Results for: workplace training

October 3, 2018

Nearly half of UK workers do not have skills that match their job, says CIPD

Almost half (49 percent) of UK workers are in jobs they are either under- or over-skilled for, according to new research from the CIPD. Its report ‘Over-skilled and underused: Investigating the untapped potential of UK skills’ surveyed 3,700 UK employees and found that more than a third (37 percent) of workers have the skills to cope with more demanding duties than they currently have. At the opposite end of the scale, one in ten (12 percent) employees said they lacked all the skills needed to carry out their job effectively. This means that as many as half (49 percent) of UK workers could be in the wrong job, based on their skill level. The UK has one of most skilled workforces in the world, with 42 percent of workers qualified to degree level, yet it also has the highest proportion of jobs within the OECD which require no qualifications at all.

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October 2, 2018

Stressed, ignored and knackered – the lot of British workers in 2018

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing

Workers in Britain feel that they are working harder than ever before, new research reveals. The Skills and Employment Survey, a joint project between Cardiff University, University College London and the University of Oxford, has been researching the views of workers since the mid-1980s.

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October 2, 2018

Flexible and part-time workers outperform full-time colleagues

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

A new report from the charity Working Families assessing the flexible, agile, and family-friendly working policy of its employer members claims that flexible and part-time workers appear to outperform their full time colleagues. The 2018 Top Employers for Working Families Benchmark report captures the experience of 630,000 employees across some of the UK’s leading public, private, and third sector organisations. The report was launched to mark the National Work-life Week, Working Families’ annual campaign to encourage employers and employees to talk about wellbeing at work and work-life balance.

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October 1, 2018

Fathers seek more flexible working, but remain concerned about impact on career

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

As more and more women are staying in the workplace after having children – and often full time – parents are demanding greater access to flexible working, but dads are still being held back by old-fashioned policies and fears that their employer will react negatively to requests to work flexibly, according to two new Workingmums.co.uk surveys.

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October 1, 2018

National Work Life Week research reinforces appeal of flexible hours

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

National Work Life Week (1st – 5th October 2018) starts today with the aim of encouraging companies to think about their employees’ wellbeing and happiness. To mark the week new research asked British workers about the things they most want from their work. The YouGov surveyof 2,000 adults, commissioned by the Oxford Open Learning Trust, found that while money is predictably the biggest motivator behind career choice (64 percent), over half of the respondents cited working hours and flexible working as an important factor (55 percent). (more…)

September 27, 2018

We need to take a scientific approach to the potential impact of AI

by Eleni Vasilaki • Comment, Technology

Should we be afraid of artificial intelligence? For me, this is a simple question with an even simpler, two letter answer: no. But not everyone agrees – many people, including the late physicist Stephen Hawking, have raised concerns that the rise of powerful AI systems could spell the end for humanity. Clearly, your view on whether AI will take over the world will depend on whether you think it can develop intelligent behaviour surpassing that of humans – something referred to as “super intelligence”.

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September 25, 2018

Fifth of workers fake physical illness to cover up mental health issues

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A fifth (42 percent) of UK employees call in sick claiming a physical illness, when in reality it’s a mental health issue and just 15 percent would tell their boss the truth about having a mental health issue a new report claims. According to the research from BHSF, over half (56 percent) of employees admitted to suffering from stress, a third from anxiety (36 percent) and a quarter from depression (25 percent). Despite 88 percent of employees suffering from poor mental health admitting that work is either the main cause or a contributing factor, just 15 percent would tell their boss if they were struggling with an issue of this nature. (more…)

September 25, 2018

Around half of workers expect to have multiple careers throughout their working life

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Just under half of UK workers (46 percent) expect to have multiple careers throughout their working life, as opposed to one structured and lifelong career, according to a new report from employee benefits firm Unum and researcher The Future Laboratory. The Future Workforce (registration required) sets out to examine the motivations and priorities of UK workers, to understand how the nation’s workforce will change over the next decade. Insights were drawn from a survey of more than 3,000 UK workers, as well as from interviews with a range of industry experts and business leaders.

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September 24, 2018

Executives understand the importance of big data but have little idea what to do with it

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

When board members in big firms make critical decisions about their organisations, it is almost always behind closed doors. So exactly how and if senior leaders draw on big data factors in their decision-making is largely unexplained. Researchers from Brunel University studied top-level decisions by board managers at 19 organisations in manufacturing, finance, consultancy, IT and air travel. The study, published in the Journal of Business Research looked at how board managers think and act and the mental models and skills they use to weigh up big data. Directors, it suggests, recognise big data’s potential to improve their decision-making. But many admit feeling ill-equipped to do this, whether through their own technical skills or the new type of non-linear thinking needed. (more…)

September 19, 2018

The main challenge of modern working life: finding the place just right to meet ⁰

by Jim Ware • Facilities management, Features, Flexible working, Work&Place, Workplace design

Every physical setting sends distinct signals to meeting participants – signals that set the tone and provide a context for the conversation, even when they are subtle or not in anyone’s conscious awareness. You understand instinctively that the place where a meeting occurs has an impact on the nature of the conversation. Just imagine the difference between a conversation around a large formal conference table with expensive executive chairs and one that takes place in an informal employee lounge, with the participants seated in a circle on soft bean-bag chairs. (more…)

September 18, 2018

Britain should make it easy for high skilled immigrants in the wake of Brexit vote

by Mark Eltringham • News

The UK Government should restrict levels of immigration by low-skilled workers after Brexit, but at the same time make it considerably easier for for medium-skilled and high-skilled workers from around the world, according to a new report from the Migration Advisory Committee. The detailed report was commissioned in July 2017 by Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Its main conclusion is that there is a great deal of hard evidence of the benefit enjoyed by the UK as a result of the migration of highly-skilled migrants and that future policy should reflect this. The study published today, Tuesday, is expected to have a significant effect on the contents of the government’s immigration white paper, due for publication later this year. The report’s conclusions closely match the policy proposals that Home Office officials have outlined to immigration specialists. However, no special preference would be given to EU citizens in the UK’s future immigration system post-Brexit.

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September 18, 2018

Report finds negative impact of gender and age on confidence of managers

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A fifth (20 percent) of female managers admit they would rather be managed by a male colleague and unsurprisingly given that opinion, the same proportion worry their gender hinders people’s confidence in them. The data, commissioned by AVADO also revealed that age played a part in management attitudes, with 68 percent of young leaders (20-24) saying they felt their age hindered colleague’s confidence in them as a manager. However, when asked about who they perceive to make the better managers, respondents said it would be the person who was most qualified to do the job (44 percent. By contrast almost half of men (48 percent) said that they were very confident in their management skills, compared to 30 percent of women.

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