At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 12 - 18 November 2021
Here are the headlines you might have missed between 12- 18 November 2021.
50% of staff would give up more salary for benefits
Employee Benefits: New data has revealed that one in two workers admitted that they would sacrifice more of their basic salary to get a personalised employee benefits package. Research from MetLife’s Re:me report found 65% rank higher pay as the most important part of a role, followed by job security (62%), and two in five (39%) would stay in a job if their employer demonstrated more care for their mental wellbeing. Read Story.
New Acas guidance promises to help make fire and rehire a last resort
HR Magazine: Workplace expert Acas has published new guidance encouraging employers to explore all options before resorting to fire and rehire tactics when changing employee contracts. The guidance responds to a reported surge in firms attempting to fire then rehire employees on lesser terms since the outbreak of the pandemic. Read Story.
Toxic workplace culture impacting the mental health of almost half of workforce
Workplace Insight: Two in five employees across the UK have experienced problematic behaviour, such as bullying, harassment or discrimination at work; with 42 percent confirming toxic workplace culture has impacted their mental health, according to research from Culture Shift. Read Story.
Social mobility is restricted by lack of confidence and support in careers
Workplace Insight: A new report from Totaljobs and the Social Mobility Foundation claims that the social mobility of millions of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds is hampered by a lack of confidence in choice of career and lower levels of support from families and friends. Read Story.
A third of pension schemes have set targets to reduce climate risk
Corporate Adviser: A third of pension schemes have set or are in the process of setting targets to reduce their exposure to climate-related risk, according to the ACA’s 2021 pension trends survey. According to the report, despite one-third of pension schemes setting targets to reduce climate risk, there is a growing divide in pension scheme attitudes toward it. Read Story.
Women who work remotely will damage their careers, says Bank of England’s economist
HR Review: Catherine Mann, an Economist for the Bank of England, has shared her view that women who choose to work remotely will harm their career. Ms. Mann stated that online communication platforms were unable to make up for the spontaneous office conversations which could allow staff to be recognised and advance in their careers. Read Story.
“Name and shame firms breaking minimum wage law”
HR Review: Publicly naming and shaming firms who are underpaying staff is effective but more needs to be done to prevent this practice. A report by the Resolution Foundation shows that the Government’s “naming and shaming” of businesses failing to adhere to Minimum Wage Laws does act as a deterrent. Read Story.
‘Real’ Living Wage increases to £9.90 an hour
Personnel Today: The ‘real’ Living Wage, the voluntary rate calculated based on what people need to live on, has increased to £9.90 an hour across the UK and £11.05 an hour in London. The rate is paid by employers who have voluntarily signed up to be certified by the Living Wage Foundation. It is not to be confused with the national living wage – the legal minimum hourly rate that employers must pay staff aged 23 and over – which is currently £8.91 an hour but will rise to £9.50 in April 2022. Read Story.
Invest in leadership and learning to tackle productivity puzzle
Personnel Today: Focusing on the 'long tail' of unproductive companies will not make enough difference, according to the think tank. The UK needs to invest in its economy, promote better leadership and improve learning if it is to tackle its productivity issues, according to researchers. The Business Time report by the Resolution Foundation in conjunction with the Centre for Economic Performance accuses policymakers of focusing on output at low productivity organisations, rather than economy-wide strategies. Read Story.
Self-isolation could be scrapped in March, reports suggest
Personnel Today: The leaked document suggests free lateral flow tests would no longer be available after March. Self-isolation rules for people who test positive for Covid-19 are set to be scrapped in March, according to government documents that have been leaked to the press. Legal powers that enforce a mandatory 10 day period of self-isolation are set to expire in March 2022, and a strategy document prepared by the UK Health Security Agency, which was leaked to the Mail on Sunday, suggests they will not be renewed. Read Story.
57% of employers agree with NMW rise
Employee Benefits: Poll - almost six in 10 (57%) organisations agree with the new national minimum wage (NMW) rate that was announced in the Autumn Budget last month (October). According to Employee Benefits’ latest research, 29% believed that the increase should have been more and 9% think it should have been less of a rise. Meanwhile, 6% are of the opinion that it should not have gone up at all. Read Story.
39% of employers say men wait to discuss health
Employee Benefits: Two-fifths (39%) of employers admitted that their male employees wait until a health problem becomes severe before talking to their line manager or HR department. Digital health platform Peppy spoke to 504 HR decision makers and discovered that 37% said that one of the main issues when trying to manage men’s health issues in the workplace is their unwillingness to seek help. Read Story.
47% of staff worry about their work-life balance
Employee Benefits: New research has revealed that almost half (47%) of employees are worried about maintaining a work-life balance after returning to the office. Software and service business Advanced spoke to 1,058 employees in decision making roles working in UK organisations in the UK for its 2021 Workforce trends survey, and found that nearly one in three said they would like to see their boss trial a four-day working week. Read Story.
Number of employees on payrolls grew after furlough ended
Personnel Today: Fears about mass redundancies following the end of furlough have not materialised, official figures suggest, as the number of employees on company payrolls increased and the employment rate grew in the autumn. The latest labour market figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that there were 160,000 more employees on company payrolls in October 2021 than the previous month, taking the total to 29.3 million. Read Story.
Women need to save £185k more for retirement than men
Corporate Adviser: Women will require £100,000 more than men to bridge the savings gap, an additional £50,000 to cover longer life expectancy, and an extra £35,000 to cover associated care, according to Scottish Widows. Read Story.
Majority of UK office workers demand more team-building events, new survey reveals
HR World: New research shows that 82% of UK employees want their workplace to hold more regular team building events, in order to boost work satisfaction, a new survey shows. The study, conducted by Just Eat for Business, investigated UK employee and employer attitudes towards social lunch breaks and workplace bonding. Read Story.
Three-quarters of UK professionals feel employers should do more to promote self-care in the workplace
HR World: With men’s mental health month in November, a new survey reveals that a whopping 74.2% of workers feel that employers should do more to promote self-care in the workplace. The study, from CV-Library, which surveyed over 1,300 UK professionals, also reveals that 1 in 4 (23.4%) professionals do not feel comfortable doing acts of self-care at work, with a further 25% stating that a lack of understanding from their boss was the reason. Read Story.
40% of UK senior leaders say their organisation is failing to focus on Diversity and Inclusion
HR World: A new report suggests that 58% of UK senior employees believe the main focus of their organisation is business growth and development, not D&I. The survey showed that less than half (40%) of respondents believed that improving D&I is a business priority over the next 12 months. Read Story.
22 million UK workers seek change
HR World: Two thirds of UK workers plan to make changes to their careers in the next 12 months, according to a new study. The research from Aviva's annual 'How We Live' report is an increase of five percentage points, compared to the previous study compiled in February 2021, and indicates that 22 million workers are seeking some sort of change. Read Story.
Beware health, risk and tax implications of workers moving abroad – Aon
Healthcare & Protection: Aon is warning that organisations must be aware of the workplace benefits implications of employees choosing to work away from their home nation as remote working grows. The firm emphasised that group risk and healthcare benefits could be particularly tricky to navigate along with pensions and tax issues. Read Story.
HSE launches new work mental health campaign
Facilitate Magazine: The Health and Safety Executive has launched a national campaign to help businesses recognise the signs of work-related stress and make tackling issues routine. Work-related stress and poor mental health risk becoming a health and safety crisis for Great Britain’s workplaces, the regulator has warned. Read Story.
Post-pandemic surge in demand for sustainable business travel
Workplace Insight: New research from Trainline Partner Solutions (TPS) claims Covid-19 will usher in a new era of sustainable business travel. The vast majority of business travellers (75 percent) want to reduce their reliance on air travel for business because of the impact it has on the environment. Read Story.
Five million UK employees considering ditching home-working due to rising energy bills
Workplace Insight: Despite having to get up earlier, commute, and the heightened risk of Covid-19 transmission in the office, almost five million UK employees are considering ditching working from home this winter, due to concerns around rising energy costs. Read Story.
Unhappy staff have no problem leaving job within 6 months
HR Review: Businesses need to recognise a healthy work environment is important for both productivity and success, say experts. Almost a hundred thousand employees were interviewed by the talent assessment platform, Thomas. It found staff being unhappy as the main cause of people leaving permanent jobs within six months. Read Story.
Pay gap reporting is failing women as pay gap widens
HR Magazine: Today is Equal Pay Day, the date calculated by the Fawcett Society that marks the point in the year where women (on average), stop earning relative to men because of the gender pay gap. And thanks to the gender pay gap rising from 10.6% to 11.9% between 2020-21, Equal Pay Day actually arrives two days earlier than last year. Read Story.
Workplaces need to invest in Diversity & Inclusion says CBI President
HR Review: Despite greater calls for equality, senior business leader say their companies focus more on business development than diversity. The Advanced Business Trends Report 2021/22 which talked to 1,000 senior managers in the UK, found less than half (40 percent) of respondents believed that improving D&I is a business priority over the next 12 months. Read Story.
Companies risk mass exodus as more than half of young professionals feel ‘burnt out’
Workplace Insight: More than half of young professionals (those aged 16-34), feel burnt out right now, according to new research exploring experiences of burnout pre and post pandemic from people analytics company, Visier. Read Story.
Women make up half of workforce but only one third of management positions, says report
Facilitate Magazine: Women make up nearly half (43 per cent) of the global workforce, but only a quarter (27 per cent) of management positions and a third (31 per cent) of supervisor roles, according to a report by ethical trade membership firm Sedex published on Equal Pay Day. Read Story.
Senior leaders need to encourage women to ask for pay rises say experts
HR Review: A lack of salary transparency is causing a disadvantage to women, says research released today on Equal Pay Day. Only one in four full-time employees in the UK strongly agree their workplace is transparent about pay, says research from Glassdoor. Many more women admit they don’t feel comfortable discussing their salary with management. Read Story.
Soaring cost of living prompts calls for financial support for employees
HR Magazine: Yesterday’s eye-watering inflation figures – showing the biggest rise in the cost of living for nearly 10 years – have seen renewed calls for employers to do more to support the financial wellbeing of their staff. The consumer prices index now stands at 4.2%. This is up from the 3.1% recorded in the year to September and is more than twice what the Bank of England was targeting. It means the average employee will be more than £1,000 worse off each year, according to the Resolution Foundation. Read Story.
54% of young staff would quit over no hybrid working
Employee Benefits: More than half (54%) of employees aged 18-34 years old said they would likely quit if the organisation they work for stopped offering remote or hybrid working, according to a new survey. Employee benefits provider Unum UK conducted research into attitudes to work and employee support in order to find out if employers helped their workforce navigate the challenges of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic and if they were rewarded with staff loyalty and happiness at work. Read Story.