Blog: Me and my Blackberry are on holiday….
One of the things we often hear from our HR alumni and network is that, however much they’d love to change the way they and their teams or functions ‘do’ HR, they simply don’t have time. The daily dilemma: you may have found a new way to help their clients solve their business problems, but […]
News: UK workers put in £157.2bn of unpaid overtime each year
UK workers are now putting in around £157.2 billion per year in unpaid overtime every year, with two thirds experiencing soaring stress levels as a result. According to a survey conducted by hotel chain Travelodge, one in ten employees are now cramming in the equivalent of an entire week’s extra work on top of their […]
Blog: The crucial role of line managers in beating employee stress
Stress is a big problem within the workplace in the UK and it is not being tackled effectively. Many people are concerned about their jobs and many organisations have to take measures to reduce costs; stress needs to be tackled from the boardroom to ensure that it is a priority. So often it is […]
Blog: Are employers offering fathers enough support?
Research shows many fathers are dissatisfied with the amount of time they spend at work and the amount of time they spend with their children. Some 54% of fathers with children under one feel they are not devoting enough time to them, while 42% of fathers feel they are not able to spend enough time […]
Retention matters: How to support adoptive parents
The Prime Minister set out plans to create a “fairer and faster” adoption process recently in a bid to help more people adopt. But because the aim is to introduce the changes “as soon as possible,” employers must to be ready to deal with a potential rise in the number of adoptive parents wanting to […]
News: NHS “pay cartel” proposes staff pay cuts and longer hours
Thousands of NHS staff in the South West of England could face the sack unless they agree to take pay cuts and work longer hours under a new money-saving scheme. A document leaked to the Sunday Times showed that NHS managers from 19 Trusts in the region have joined forces to form what is being […]
Christina’s Counsel: Help! My boss is creating a long hours culture
The challenge Recently appointed in a relatively new company as its first HR manager, my client has a dilemma. She described with some dismay her fear that the managing director was starting to instil a long hours’ culture in the organisation. No explicit statement existed in this regard, but some behavioural trends, which seemed […]
Expert Voice: How to get your life balance right
When life is busy, or all your energy is focused on something, it’s all too easy to find yourself ‘off balance’ and not paying enough attention to the important areas of your life. Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them: work, family, health, friends and soul […]
Five steps to help staff cope with digital distractions
You’re writing a report when your smartphone rings. Before you’ve had the chance to say hello, another five emails drop into your inbox – all asking you to do something, now. And on top of that, there are text messages, tweets and instant messages, all waiting for you a response. Sound familiar? Well, […]
Christina’s Counsel: How can I make my workplace more family-friendly?
The challenge If you are struggling to get the best people to come and work for you, have a high rate of unexplained absence or believe that your employees aren’t giving their best, not least due to stress because their work and domestic lives conflict, it may be worth reviewing how family-friendly your workplace culture […]
Talking Point: Would you want to live in an ‘anywhere working’ city?
A study last year by the TUC found that employees in the UK spend almost 200 hours a year travelling to and from work. While an average of approximately four hours a week may not sound like a huge amount, it is the equivalent of around five weeks extra work per year. I remember […]
Anywhere Working Week: Helping employees switch off in an ‘always on’ world
Workplace change has never been as rapid as it is today. Globalisation and exponential increases in the use of technology have generated a 24/7 culture, where staff are often expected to work anytime and anywhere. Yet, as anyone working in HR knows, this ‘always-on’ situation is a double-edged sword. Employees today are generally […]
Unpaid overtime saves employers £29.2bn each year
One in five workers regularly work unpaid overtime saving employers a huge £29.2 billion per year, with older workers and long-servers by far the most likely to offer their services for free. According to an analysis of official government figures undertaken by the TUC to mark ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day’, some 5.3 million people […]
Network Rail’s travel time-based redundancy policy branded “unfair and arbitrary”
Unions have branded Network Rail’s decision to make workers redundant if they do not live within 75 minutes of its new offices as “unfair and arbitrary”. The Transport Salaried Staff Association claims that 800 staff from Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire will be affected by the policy, although the owner of the UK’s rail infrastructure […]
Blog: Employee stress equals financial risk
Recognise This! –If employee retention is important enough to list as a substantial risk factor to meeting financial expectations, then it should be important enough to find ways to reduce employee stress. I just read an interesting story in Forbes, which noted that a common phrase included in the risk factors on 10-Q forms for […]
Lowering organisational stress levels
Pressure appears to be endemic in today’s society – and nowhere more so than in the workplace. Indeed, in many companies, it seems to be almost an ethos. As a result, pressure to meet targets, make money and even push for promotion is simply part of day-to-day life for hundreds of thousands of employees up […]
HR headaches ahead as 6 million plan to delay retirement
One in five people in their 50s plan to work for at least 10 years longer than the current state retirement age, creating yet more planning headaches for hard-pressed HR departments. A survey of 1,500 over 50s undertaken by insurance and pensions company LV= revealed that 6.1 million or 28% of the entire age group […]
O2 pilots shift-switching initiative for frazzled working parents
O2 has started piloting a scheme to enable parents working at three of its stores to swap shifts among themselves in order to better meet their childcare needs. The so-called ‘Working Families’ Contract’ enables groups of between two and four working mums and dads to decide between themselves how to cover their shifts over the […]
Employee career-switching to become norm
As career-switching increasingly becomes the rule rather than the exception, employers will need to find ways to adapt to the new reality, a workforce services firm has warned. According to a survey among 2,200 UK workers undertaken by Kelly Services, more than half expect to change careers in the next five years due to […]
Just over half of staff work through their holidays
Just over half of UK staff who are not self-employed work during their holidays, with nearly one in five making a regular habit of it, a study has found. A survey among 2,009 adults undertaken by YouGov on behalf of workplace information and services provider Croner also revealed that young people aged 18 to 24 […]
