At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 26 April - 2 May 2019
The headlines you might have missed between 26 April – 2 May.
More than a third use unconscious bias training to encourage racial equality at work
Employee Benefits: More than a third (36%) of respondents have introduced unconscious bias training in order to encourage racial equality at their organisation. Read Story.
Symptoms of mental ill-health ‘getting more severe’ for a third of employees
People Management: A third of workers suffering from mental ill-health felt their condition worsened over the past 12 months, research has revealed. Read Story.
Stress damaging accountants’ social lives
Economia: Almost a third (31%) of accountancy professionals admit to being stressed on a daily basis, while only 2% say they’re completely free of stress, according to the Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association (CABA). Read Story.
'Always on culture' causing 'workplace mental health crisis'
Cover magazine: Stress, anxiety and depression have been cited as the top reasons for work absences by a recent report. Westfield Health's inaugural Wellbeing Index found that 67% of HR managers are concerned by ‘leavism' - working outside of contracted hours and on annual leave days - and 61% identified mental health issues as the main reasons for absences within their workforce. Read Story.
Employers care more about saving costs than wellbeing, according to majority of workers
Workplace Insight: Three of every five UK employees believe that their employer cares more about saving money than the wellbeing of their workforce, according to the latest research report from workspace efficiency company Cloudbooking. Read Story.
Workplace stress drives up disability discrimination claims by more than a third, employment law experts say
The Telegraph: Workplace stress drives up disability discrimination claims by more than a third, employment law experts suggest. The number of disability discrimination claims at Employment Tribunals has risen by 37%, from 4,770 in 2017 to 6,550 in 2018. Read Story.
Employers are not giving staff a chance to lift productivity, says Deloitte
The Times: Bosses need to engage and train their staff better to help to solve the nation’s chronic productivity problems and prepare their companies for the future, research has suggested. Read Story.
Employers should work harder to engage LGBT+ allies, say experts
People Management: Organisations must work to encourage, support and empower their LGBT+ members of staff and recognise the business case for inclusive cultures in order to drive genuinely diverse workplaces, experts have told delegates at the 2019 Stonewall Workplace Conference. Read Story.
BAME equality held back by toxic cultures
HR Magazine: Reducing bias towards BAME employees will not be possible without addressing toxic cultures at work said Wilf Sullivan, race equality officer at the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Read Story.
Overeducation blights careers across UK
Personnel Today: New data released by the Office for National Statistics has shown that almost a third of graduates have more education than is required for their job. Read Story.
Majority of organisations fail to offer menopause support
Workplace Insight: Forth With Life, a company that provides blood sample analysis and bio-marker tracking to promote and support health and wellbeing, recently undertook a survey exploring the existence and effectiveness of menopause support options available in the workplace. Read Story.
Around 439,000 employees paid less than their entitled hourly minimum wage in April 2018
Employee Benefits: Approximately 439,000 employees were paid less than the hourly minimum wage in April 2018, according to research by independent body the Low Pay Commission (LPC). Read Story.
Low productivity jobs continue to drive employment growth
Modern Diplomacy EU: Employment is rising in OECD countries but most jobs continue to be created in relatively low-productivity, low-wage activities, says a new OECD report. Read Story.
NHS England expands employment scheme for mental health patients
Health Insurance Daily: NHS England is expanding a scheme designed to help patients with serious mental health problems find employment. The voluntary scheme, known as Individual Placement and Support (IPS), is being rolled out to 28 new local NHS areas, meaning eight out of 10 parts of England will have access to the programme. Read Story.
Record number of people accessing pension funds
Corporate Adviser: Latest HMRC figures show that more than half a million people withdrew money from their pension fund last year – the highest number since pension freedom rules were introduced. Read Story.
AE costs government additional £1bn in pension tax relief
Corporate Adviser: The cost to the government of pensions tax relief was £38.4bn in the 2017/18 tax year, according to latest figures published by HMRC. Read Story.
Employee anxiety peaks despite government’s pledge to uphold workers’ rights post-Brexit
Workplace Insight: Despite the government’s pledge to keep and strengthen workers’ rights in a post-Brexit world, research from the CIPD has revealed that over a quarter (26 percent) of British employees have expressed job anxiety. Read Story.
Less than half of staff think managers would spot their mental health problems, despite two in three managers feeling confident promoting wellbeing
Politics Home: Nearly half of employees (45 per cent) feel that their manager would be able to spot if they were having problems with their mental health, research by the mental health charity reveals today. Read Story.
What annoys staff most at work?
HR Grapevine: New research by Yell has found that the ‘wrong’ office temperature tops the list as the biggest workplace annoyance – and costs UK workers 16 minutes in lost productivity per day. Read Story.
One in three say their employer won’t consider culture improvements
Personnel Today: A third of staff think their employer is “stuck in its ways” and won’t consider how to improve its culture – which could lead to increased staff turnover, it has been claimed. Read Story.
Good workforce planning can unlock AI’s potential, says CIPD
Personnel Today: Artificial intelligence has the potential to create “better, more fulfilling” jobs for employees if it is implemented properly, according to a new report by the CIPD and PA Consulting. Read Story.
Poor choice of music in workplace seriously impacts performance
The HR Director: Research shows that 10.39 minutes of productivity are lost per worker every single day, by Brits who are distracted by irritated by their colleagues choice of music in the workplace. Read Story.
Office workers hygiene habits revealed
London Loves Business: UK office cleaning company SMC Premier surveyed over 5,000 UK office workers about their hygiene habits at work. The results revealed a disturbing statistic that only 61% of respondents wash their hands properly with warm water and soap after going to the toilet. Read Story.
More millennials are saving
London Loves Business: Over the last few years, various studies have appeared to confirm a troubling pattern, millennials don’t save, they don’t care about their financial futures and they don’t know how much money they need to live on. But research published today by Revolut shows this simply isn’t true. Read Story.
Tech workers would leave company for better work-life balance
Fresh Business Thinking: With vacancies outweighing skilled talent in the UK’s tech industry, firms are fighting to win the cream of the crop to fill an estimated 600,000 vacancies. Read Story.
Corporate Britain drops the ball on worker directors in favour of government cop outs
The Independent: A new survey shows that Theresa May's "world leading" package of corporate reforms have failed employees and resulted only in world leading excuse making on the part of British companies. Read Story.
Grid claims stats: 5,595 people returned to work
Corporate Adviser: The group risk industry paid out a new high of £1.68bn in claims in 2018, a £64.5m increase on 2017, and helped 5,595 people back to work after a period of sick leave. Read Story.
More than one in 10 workers ‘too scared’ to ask for a pay rise
People Management: The majority of employees in the UK are not confident enough to ask their employer for a pay rise, including more than one in 10 who are simply too scared to speak up, a new survey has found. Read Story.
Government must act on maternity discrimination or risk more redundancies, say MPs
People Management: The government must develop a detailed, ambitious plan to tackle maternity discrimination or risk a further rise in pregnant women and mothers being forced out of work, according to MPs. Read Story.
Gone are the days when ‘seasonal loan tickets’ and ‘cycle to work’ schemes worked to attract talent
HR News: Research carried out by Perkbox, Europe’s fastest growing employee experience platform and TalentPool, the UK’s leading talent matching platform, has uncovered an interesting trend in employer recruitment techniques. Read Story.
Three quarters struggle with mental health issues following an accident
Health Insurance Daily: Almost three quarters (72%) of people who were injured in an accident that was not their fault experienced a mental health issue following the incident, a poll reveals. Read Story.
Half of baby boomers want additional employee benefits
Health Insurance Daily: Baby boomers represent the biggest opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve satisfaction and attract new staff by offering a range of competitive benefits, a survey suggests. Read Story.
The truth about why people leave their jobs – and why it’s not what most employers think
Onrec: More than a quarter of British workers (27 per cent) have lied to their bosses when they leave their job – and that figure rises to 40 per cent for younger workers (aged 18 to 34), 36 per cent for LGBT workers, 37 per cent for those from an ethnic minority background and 43 per cent for workers with a long-term health condition. Read Story.