At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 26 November - 2 December 2021
Here are the headlines you might have missed between 26 November-2 December 2021.
Brits reluctant to pull a sickie during pandemic
HR Review: British workers took the seventh lowest number of sick days in Europe last year, according to new research that identifies the countries who are most and least notorious for pulling a sickie. With the cold winter months right around the corner and Covid infection rates on the rise, many are predicting a challenging few months ahead. Read Story.
Employers need to rethink productivity and wellbeing
HR Review: Employers need to change how they engage staff to protect their future workforce, says a performance learning expert. Around 85 percent of Gen Z workers told Redware they were questioning their career choice because of an increase in burnout. Read Story.
Digital wellbeing growing focus for employers – Mercer
Healthcare & Protection: Employers are focusing their wellbeing programmes on supporting staff digital wellbeing, particularly around mental health issues. Organisations are also using wellbeing to drive culture within their workforces, according to research from Mercer Marsh benefits. Read Story.
Be flexible or lose young workers, businesses warned
Facilitate Magazine: Companies that do not adapt to flexible working will lose out on new talent by failing to attract younger workers, according to research. The Future World of Work report by tech finance firm Sonovate concludes that people aged 18-30 are driving a major shift in flexible working and the popularity of ‘portfolio’ careers. In a survey of 4,500 people including 500 small and medium-sized business owners across sectors, 66 per cent of those polled said that they felt younger people had a strong desire to work flexibly. Read Story.
April 2022 statutory maternity, paternity and sick pay rates published
Personnel Today: The government has published the proposed statutory rates for maternity pay, paternity pay, shared parental pay, adoption pay, parental bereavement pay and sick pay from April 2022. The current weekly rate of statutory maternity pay is £151.97, or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings if this figure is less than the statutory rate. Read Story.
Give women remote jobs to keep them in work
HR Review: The workforce is smaller but more female, according to a think tank report. The Resolution Foundation found fewer men than last year are in work aged 25-44 with more women taking up the mantle. They now make up 48 percent of all workers. It also found the number of working mothers has gone up by 6 percent. Read Story.
Encouraging greater willpower will reduce productivity impact of lack of sleep
Personnel Today: Employees’ productivity suffers on days with a lack of sleep, but this can be mitigated if they change their mindset, according to a study. Researchers at Trinity Business School in Dublin found that a lack of sleep reduces one’s willpower and motivational resources, which can have a negative effect on work performance. However, they found that the effects on performance can be mitigated when employees changed their state of mind. Read Story.
79% of UK staff have gone through burnout
Employee Benefits: More than three-quarters (79%) of UK workers have experienced burnout, with 35% reporting high or extreme levels, according to new research. Human capital management technology business Ceridian’s annual 2022 Pulse of talent report surveyed 1,156 UK members of staff in organisations with at least 100 employees, revealing that the vast majority have struggled with burnout, while 58% are either actively seeking or open to new employment. Read Story.
Guidance on employing disabled workers published
HR Magazine: The Business Disability Forum yesterday (November 29) launched its Disability Essentials range of resources, hoping to provide answers to businesses’ key questions. The free resources offer essential guidance for organisations, including on attracting and recruiting disabled talent, good management practice and managing workplace adjustments. Read Story.
UK employees have ‘concerns’ about washrooms
Facilitate Magazine: Independent research has found that the majority of employees have concerns about using a workplace washroom and reveals the improvements that they would like their employers to make. YouGov’s UK employee research, commissioned by national washroom service provider Elis, found that 47 per cent of employees are concerned that the toilets will be dirty, 45 per cent that there will be insufficient toilet paper, 45 per cent that the washroom itself will be unhygienic or dirty and 44 per cent that the washroom will smell unpleasant. Read Story.
Third of UK employees have worked while unwell since start of pandemic, study finds
People Management: More than a third of employees have worked while unwell since the onset of the pandemic, research has found, fuelling calls for businesses to do more to tackle presenteeism. A poll of 2,000 UK adults by Canada Life found 35 per cent said they had worked while unwell over the last 18 months, increasing to nearly half (46 per cent) among those aged 18 to 34. Read Story.
Pandemic-driven shifts have made the workforce smaller, younger and more female
Workplace Insight: The pandemic has not led to mass unemployment as many feared, but has instead driven wider shifts that have increased employment among younger women, but pushed many men and older workers out of the labour market altogether, according to new research. Read Story.
Older employees require physical support more than mental support
Corporate Adviser: The primary concern for employers regarding baby boomers in the workplace is their physical health and wellbeing, according to Grid research. According to the research, employers believe baby boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964 (aged 57-75), have the least amount of stress and anxiety in their work, home, and financial lives. Read Story.
Almost half of policyholders fail to disclose mental health problems
Corporate Adviser: Almost a third of UK adults have experienced mental health issues since the start of the Covid pandemic, but less than half of these people have sought help from their insurer to alleviate these problems. This research, by Scottish Widows suggests there is still confusion about what can, or should, be said to an insurer when it comes to disclosing both physical and mental health conditions. Read Story.
Over a million UK SMEs worry productivity has dropped – Canada Life research
Corporate Adviser: A fifth of SME business leaders, equivalent to over a million small business bosses, are worried that their employees’ productivity has fallen over the past 18 months, research from Canada Life has found. The findings have raised concerns about productivity and presenteeism. According to the study, employers’ primary concerns regarding allowing employees to work from home were distractions at home (19 per cent), internet connectivity (19 per cent), a drop in productivity (19 per cent), technology challenges such as IT issues (18 per cent), and a drop in motivation (18 per cent). (18 per cent). Read Story.
Groups call for change to menopause support in the workplace
Corporate Adviser: Leading employer organisations have called on the government to appoint a menopause ambassador as part of a series of recommendations in a new report titled ‘Menopause and Employment’. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the British Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, UK Hospitality, Business in the Community, Andy Briggs the UK government business champion for older workers and the ageing society and CEO of Phoenix Group, all collaborated on the report. Read Story.
Fit notes need improving- Howden research
Corporate Adviser: Fit notes still require improvement a decade after their introduction, according to a Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing study. Howden polled 181 senior human resources, finance, and payroll experts and discovered that more than three-quarters (77 per cent) were looking for improvements to the advice provided on fit notes. Read Story
Only 14% of London workers now fully remote, suggests survey
Facilitate Magazine: Research carried out by Momentive (formerly SurveyMonkey) suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic has not caused the end of ‘city life’. The report indicates that a third (36 per cent) of the capital's workforce is currently working on a hybrid basis with just 14 per cent working remotely on a full-time basis. Read Story.
Expats want more mental health support but are not getting it – Cigna
Healthcare & Protection: While expats enjoy higher wellbeing than local employees, their stress levels are on the rise due to concerns about their finances, according to research from Cigna. It also revealed that since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, expat employees were more likely to want to return home than local workers were to go on international assignments. Read Story.
Just half of Brits say their workplace takes bullying seriously, report finds
People Management: Half of UK workers say their workplace does not take reports of bullying seriously, research has found, as experts urge firms to create work cultures where staff feel safe to disclose incidents. The poll of 2,000 UK adults, by Bolt Burdon Kemp, found that only 50 per cent felt complaints of bullying, discrimination or harassment were taken seriously, with 54 per cent saying they would feel comfortable making a complaint. Read Story.
43% of staff do not feel financially on track
Employee Benefits: New study findings have revealed that more than two in five employees (43%) do not feel like they are financially on track to live the life they want in the future. Research from Aviva’s report Evolving in the age of ambiguity, which is the third instalment of a two-year study into the changing workplace, explored the influence of good financial wellbeing on individuals and businesses. Read Story.
Keeping People Connected is HR’s Biggest Challenge
Incentive & Motivation: The greatest hybrid working challenge for HR professionals and business leaders is keeping employees connected to each other and the company on an emotional level. This was reported by two-thirds (66 per cent) of the 300 HR professionals and business leaders who were surveyed for ‘The State of Employee Engagement 2021’ Report commissioned by employee engagement expert, WorkBuzz. Read Story.
Learning and Development Disconnect Between Women in Tech and Employers
Incentive & Motivation: Skillsoft (NYSE: SKIL), a global leader in corporate digital learning, today released new research exploring the current state of women in tech including the challenges and barriers to inclusion they face and how employers can better support them. Findings from Skillsoft’s 2021 Women in Tech Report reveal that while female employees have gained hard-fought ground in the workplace, a large gap still exists when it comes to opportunities for professional development and career advancement. Read Story.
Long Covid sufferer numbers up by 100,000
Healthcare & Protection: The number of people suffering symptoms associated with long Covid in the UK has increased by a further 100,000. The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data covering the period to the end of October 2021 revealed 1.2 million people have been suffering long Covid symptoms for more than four weeks. Read Story.
Only a third of firms accept day-one flexible working requests, CIPD finds
People Management: Only a third of businesses are accepting day-one requests for flexible working, the CIPD has revealed, as calls continue for the implementation of a right to request from the start of a role. A survey of more than 1,000 employers, conducted for the professional body by YouGov, found that despite almost three in five (57 per cent) businesses agreeing that the right to request flexible working should be present from the first day of employment, just 36 per cent of businesses currently accept them. Read Story.
UK employees health demands on returning to the workplace
Workplace Insight: As the new Covid-19 variant, omicron, threatens to spread across the globe, research from Infogrid, claims that people who have not had their Covid-19 vaccination have become a major barrier to employees wanting to return to the physical office. Over half (57 percent) of UK employees who attend or expect to return to the physical workplace said they are worried about encountering people at work who are not vaccinated. Read Story.
Seven in ten HR managers support greater flexible working in their workplace
Workplace Insight: Seven in 10 (70 percent) of UK HR managers now say flexible working could work for their business – claims a new TUC poll. Half (49 percent) of UK HR managers polled said that greater flexible working could work for their business as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, building on the one in five (21 percent) who say that their business already enabled significant flexible working before the pandemic. Read Story.
Covid: health and safety rules for pregnant women ‘not fit for purpose’
Personnel Today: More than a third of pregnant women fear losing their jobs over Covid safety concerns, according to a survey. Maternity Action, which claims that health and safety rules for pregnant women in the workplace are “not fit for purpose”, found that 36% of women who were pregnant during the pandemic said they felt worried about losing their job if they took time off or asked their employer to do more to protect them from Covid. Read Story.
51% of employees want greener pensions
Employee Benefits: Half of employees (51%) want to know that their pension scheme is invested in environmentally and socially sustainable organisations, a new study has found. The research from Cushon showed that, broken down by generation, 60% of millenials are keen to have greener pension investments. Read Story.