Over a third of adults say they’re unable to afford adult education
The biggest barrier to British adults continuing their education is cost, with more than a third (35%) saying they’re unable to afford to study, while almost a fifth (19%) say they don’t have time. A YouGov survey of 2,109 GB adults commissioned by distance learning provider Oxford Open Learning Trust found that, although 69% of respondents said they could be motivated to learn for any type of new qualification –...
Three ways the health and wellbeing of employees will be at risk, if employers don’t encourage staff to utilise benefits
Employees have avoided medical institutions for fear of contracting Covid-19. This not only results in critical illnesses going undiagnosed, it also means that wider health and wellbeing is also being compromised. Delayed diagnosis can have a serious knock-on effect for a business and its workforce. Employees may require more prolonged or invasive treatment; and businesses may see the frequency and duration of absence increase. It’s...
How To Make The Office Relocation Easier
Moving an entire office of people to another location across town can be every HR manager’s nightmare. Not only do you have to make sure that all of the staff are comfortable with the move and can easily get to and from the new location, but you also need to work on moving your files. Office relocations are never easy and there is always something that goes wrong. So, how do you make the office relocation easier for everyone involved...
Two-thirds of businesses say skills training is crucial to post- COVID business recovery
The UK workforce gained a potential 94.2 million training hours earlier this year as entire sectors came to a standstill. As the total number of hours worked plummeted across the country, research collated by Hays Thrive shows a strong link between businesses who took advantage of these training hours and those who expect to recover quickly post-COVID. This is based on recent ONS data which revealed the total number of hours worked in...
Two-thirds of employees plan to carry over annual leave into next year
Over two-thirds of full-time employees are planning to roll at least one day of annual leave into their next holiday period after a temporary law was passed by the government back in March allowing workers to carry over up to four weeks’ paid holiday. According to personal finance comparison website finder.com, this is equivalent to 20 million UK adults, if all of the workers who intend to carry over holiday are given permission to do...
How tracking absenteeism can help tackle mental health in the workplace post Covid-19
In the run up to World Mental Health Day on 10th October, Adrian Lewis, director at Active Absence is calling on employers to offer better support for staff who may be suffering from mental health issues, which are amplified this year due to Covid-19. Recent analysis by the charity, Centre for Mental Health[i] suggests that at least half a million more people in the UK may experience mental ill health as a result of the global...
The gender feedback gap
Women are missing out on performance feedback and want more It is not just around pay where there is significant gap between the experiences of men and women in the workplace. New research* from performance management specialists, Appraisd, highlights female employees are falling behind when it comes to feedback on their performance. The survey looked at the amount and quality of feedback received from line managers, peers, other...
Keeping teams motivated in an increasingly remote world
In the rapid transition to remote working, the biggest change for most people was not giving up the commute or dressing from the waist up, but how we communicate. In keeping teams motivated through this transition, we need to focus not just on what we communicate, but how: the etiquette and accepted behaviours on these channels. Breakdown of boundaries According to our Digital Etiquette Research, prior to COVID around 43% of...
Back to school and back to work – how businesses can support working parents
Louise Deverell-Smith, Founder of Daisy Chain Typically during Summer, working parents and their employers prepare for a transition towards the holidays when schools break up and children are at home for several weeks. The transition can be difficult with many parents suddenly having to keep their children entertained while managing responsibilities at work. And it can be expensive as well as exhausting. Last year, the Coram Family...
My employee is refusing to social distance at work – what should I do?
advice by Andrew Willis, Head of Legal at Croner With the global pandemic still playing a significant role in people’s lives, unfortunately some individuals are getting complacent when it comes to social distancing and mask-wearing. This means, that even if you’ve set out a perfect plan to make your workplace COVID-secure, it may not matter. The health & safety of your employees is your responsibility, even if they’re the ones...
GDPR and data protection: what do businesses need to know in the age of COVID?
COVID-19 has caused significant impacts across all aspects of society, however many UK businesses have struggled to navigate these changes. The public health emergency has meant that many organisations are facing staff shortages, limited operating capacity, and acute financial pressures impacting their finances and cash flows. For many businesses the continuation of work has been crucial and working from home is now common across a...
Half of businesses plan digital skills spending splurge in 2021
More than half of UK businesses (56 per cent) are planning to increase spending on digital skills training budgets for staff next year, in response to the Covid-19 outbreak, says official research from leading managed IT services provider Transputec, in a survey about businesses’ digital initiatives over the next year. The research also revealed that 53 per cent of businesses are planning to increase their IT infrastructure budget...
Five tips for finding a new job
Lost your job? Here are five tips for finding a new oneTom Pickersgill, CEO of staffing platform Broadstone Think outside the box Understanding where to look may be daunting, especially if you’ve been out of the job market for years. While people have traditionally tended to search through newspapers, call recruiters or scroll through online job boards for employment, online and app-based labour platforms are...
Lockdown Loneliness Hits Young Workers Hard
Despite increased appetite in the UK for remote working practices to continue into the future, the disconnection from the day-to-day social interactions of the workplace and the encroachment of work on our home lives has seen feelings of loneliness and isolation take hold, in a workforce already struggling to adapt to the challenge of the ‘new normal’.1 According to a new survey by leading UK job board Totaljobs, almost...
Tips for Finding Work If You Are Disabled
When looking for a job, you may feel like your disability is holding you back. However, that does not have to be the case, because it is still possible to find a great job that you love. Below, we are going to look at some tips that will help you find a job that ensures your skills are put to good use and not overlooked. Looking and Applying One of the biggest hurdles you might face is not knowing if you will be given an equal...
