At a glance: reward and benefits headlines this week 30 July – 5 August 2021
Here are the headlines you might have missed between 30 Jul-5 August 2021.
Employers believe the way we work has changed forever
Workplace Insight: After more than a year of remote working, the majority of UK workers are well-versed in office-free employment. We’ve had plenty of time to think about how the experience has affected our working habits. Read Story.
Umbrella companies must be banned to eradicate exploitative work practices, urges TUC
HR Review: The TUC calls for umbrella companies to be banned after findings show these companies are increasingly being used in the labour market. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) have criticised the work practices linked with umbrella companies, leading to the union body calling for umbrella companies to be banned. Read Story.
FCA puts pressure on firms to increase number of female directors
HR Review: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have proposed implementing new rules which would see firms pushed to increase the percentage of female board directors to at least 40 per cent. A consultation launched by the FCA would hold companies responsible for ensuring that almost half of their board directors (40 per cent) are female. Read Story.
Two-fifths of employees not consulted over returning to workplace, polls finds
People Management: The survey by CIPHR, which asked over 1,000 UK workers about their attitudes towards the return to their ‘usual’ (pre-pandemic) workplace, found that 39 per cent of workers said they had not been consulted about their return to the workplace. Read Story.
Cash plan market statistics – revised 2020 sector figures
Corporate Adviser: Cash plans have stood up well to the pandemic, with the number of workers covered through corporate arrangements, combining both corporate-paid and voluntary-paid through corporate schemes up by 3.7 per cent through 2020, based on data from providers who have supplied consecutive years’ figures. However there has been significant market movement. Read Story.
Two-thirds will continue wearing face masks at work
Occupational Health & Welleing Plus: More than two-thirds of employees plan to continue wearing face masks at work to limit the spread of Covid-19, despite mask-wearing no longer being a legal requirement in some settings. Some 67% said they would choose to keep wearing face coverings in the workplace, the survey by software firm CIPHR found. Read Story.
Businesses can choose to have ‘no jab, no job’ policies, says minister
People Management: Companies are allowed to introduce a requirement for members of staff to be vaccinated before returning to the workplace, a minister has suggested, but there would be no new government legislation creating a vaccine mandate. When asked on Sky News whether he thought it was a good idea that people be double vaccinated before they go back to the workplace, transport minister Grant Shapps said: “Yes I think it’s a good idea and yes some companies are going to require it.” Read Story.
Majority of people would cycle to work if their employer offered better facilities
Workplace Insight: Employers should be doing more to encourage staff to start commuting into the office by bicycle, suggests research from Graham Coffey & Co.Solicitors. Read Story.
Northern workplaces back long-term hybrid working
HR Magazine: Hybrid working is set to become a permanent feature of northern workplaces in the future, research from the Work Foundation and Newcastle University Business School has found. Over a quarter (31.5%) of workers across the North of England are still remote working even after the easing of lockdown restrictions. This is a significant shift in working patterns given a lot of work in the North centres around manufacturing and on-site roles. Read Story.
Employees prefer to communicate via video calls
HR Magazine: Video calling has become the go-to method for conducting meetings during lockdown, but new research by HR magazine finds employees want to continue communicating via video post-pandemic. Over half (54%) of HR magazine readers said video calls have become their preferred method of communication since outbreak of pandemic. Read Story.
Over 1 million UK vacancies as pingdemic causes staff shortages
HR Review: The UK’s ‘pingdemic’ has exacerbated staff shortages, with over 72,000 UK job ads marked as ‘urgent’. New research from Adzuna has found that between 19th-25th July, there were 1,116,454 advertised job vacancies, making it the 11th consecutive week of over 1 million open jobs. Read Story.
One in three people on furlough are aged 50 or older
HR Review: These findings come as employer contributions have now risen to 20 per cent in the month of August. New research by Rest Less, a digital community and advocate for the over 50s, finds that a third of all employees still on furlough are aged 50 or over. Read Story.
Employers must urge staff to use their annual leave, says Acas
HR Review: Acas findings reveal that two-fifths of staff are taking less time off now than prior to the pandemic, with the public body encouraging staff to use up their holiday. New findings by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) shows almost two-fifths (39 per cent) of UK staff have taken less paid time off since the pandemic began. Read Story.
Retraining staff is necessary in light of furlough redundancies, say BCC
HR Review: The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) have called on the Government to extend skills retraining in light of potential furlough redundancies. New research by the BCC warns of redundancies which could be set to take place over the following months, leading to calls of more skills training for staff. Read Story.
End of furlough poses risk to over half a million jobs
HR Review: Although the furlough scheme is set to end in September, new research has found that 660,000 furloughed jobs are still likely to need the initiative. Analysis from the NEF has discovered that thousands of positions could be at risk of becoming redundant or seeing a fall in pay and hours once the furlough scheme ends. Read Story.
Employees lack guidance in sickness support
HR Magazine: A fifth (19%) of UK employees do not know how their employer would support them if they had to take time off work due to ill-health or an injury. Research from GRiD, the industry body for the group risk sector, found 16% also think that their employer would provide them with no support and 9% said they would only receive Statutory Sick Pay of £96.35 per week. Read Story.
Firms see poor employee mental health as growing threat to business
Corporate Adviser: Deteriorating employee mental health and cybersecurity issues are seen as two of the biggest risks facing firms in the year ahead, according to a new report from Mercer Marsh Benefits. This report found that changing working conditions, due to the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in the ability of organisations to respond to risks associated with their workforces. Firms see poor employee mental health as growing threat to business. Read Story.
Employers under-using data insights – Buck/REBA research
Corporate Adviser: Just one in three employers are applying the data and insights gathered from their benefits platforms to tailor their offerings for staff, according to research from Buck, yet 53 per cent say increasing personalised benefits would help their employees. Read Story.
Young workers to benefit from return to office, Sunak states
HR Review: Rishi Sunak wishes to see young people return to the office, believing that a return to work will be “valuable”. Speaking to LinkedIn News, Mr Sunak discussed his doubts about whether his career would have been as successful had he began his career virtually. Read Story.
Pandemic has increased the need for strong digital skills, report UK workers
HR Review: New research highlights the importance of staff harbouring strong digital skills – although data shows a concerning gap between the skills employees think they possess and ones which are actually of value to businesses. A new study by Alteryx, an analytics automation company, warns that staff are becoming over-confident, being largely unaware of the data skills they don’t yet know. Read Story.
Gen Z hit hardest by economic impact of COVID-19
HR Review: A new study has revealed that the youngest cohort in the workforce has been hardest hit by the economic impact of COVID-19. The research by the ADP Research Institute, People at Work 2021: A Global Workforce View, found that half of 18 to 24-year-olds, or ‘generation Z’, have been impacted professionally by COVID-19. Read Story.
One in four firms will continue to allow working from home, poll finds
People Management: One in four businesses have said they intend to allow their staff to work from home at least some of the time, a poll has found. The YouGov survey of 1,061 business leaders found 24 per cent would allow all their workers to work from home at least one day a week once the last of the coronavirus restrictions had been lifted. Another 18 per cent said they would do this for most of their workers. Read Story.
Nearly 200 firms named and shamed for minimum wage underpayment
People Management: Nearly 200 firms have been named and shamed by the government for failing to pay the minimum wage, as experts call for less shaming and more support to help firms identify and pay the correct amount. The government has published a list of 191 companies, including Pret a Manger, John Lewis and The Body Shop, who all at some point broke minimum wage law between 2011 and 2018. Read Story.
Breastfeeding still taboo in the workplace
HR Magazine: Less than half (43%) of UK employers are comfortable with breastfeeding at work, according to new research by HR consultancy Peninsula. Nearly all (95%) UK bosses said they run an inclusive workplace, but only 22% offer a designated area for employees to breastfeed. The research found attitudes towards breastfeeding in the workplace could make nursing employees feel isolated and unwelcome. Read Story.
Employers are failing to support mental health, study finds
HR Review: According to new research, the pressure to put on a brave face, or ‘Pleasanteeism’, is masking mental health challenges in the workplace. A new report from Lime has found that over half (51 percent) of UK workers agree that they feel under pressure to put on a brave face in front of colleagues. Read Story.
Firms are neglecting key parts of remote recruitment strategies that help attract and retain key talent
Incentive & Motivation: According to Omnipresent, an Employer of Record that helps organisations employ people globally, firms are largely unprepared for the barriers they encounter when hiring employees in remote locations – particularly when hiring overseas. Read Story.
62% would stay in savings scheme if enrolled
Employee Benefits: More than six in 10 employees would stay in a savings scheme if their employer automatically put them in one, according to new data. The research, which was undertaken by workplace pension and savings provider Cushon, found that this number increased to 69% if the employer contributed too. While 22% are not sure what they would do, only around one in 10 would definitely leave the scheme. Read Story.
Negative perceptions of remote work persist among both managers and workers
Workplace Insight: New research from the US based Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) claims that there are widespread, persistent negative perceptions of remote work amongst line managers who are likely to express a preference for local work. Read Story.