All Opinion articles – Page 20
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OpinionJennifer Smith: Why making flexible working the default could be too rigid
The Labour party has unveiled new plans for making flexible working “a force for good”. This focuses on the right for employees to work flexibly as a default from day one of employment, including flexi-hours and an end to supposed one-sided flexibility that favours employers.While such proposals are extremely relevant ...
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OpinionHayley James: Pensions engagement is becoming an increasingly important issue
The focus on the topic of engagement, meaning informing employees to encourage positive action, in retirement plans has increased recently. Despite the success of auto-enrolment in getting people to save, many are not contributing enough to ensure an adequate income in later life. Additionally, the pension freedoms mean that savers ...
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OpinionDavid Sheppard: How would a single employment status change workplaces?
The Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner MP recently announced various significant reforms to employment law rights if Labour were to win power. The most eye-catching was the abolition of the distinction between employee and worker status, and the creation of a single worker status covering all individuals engaged by employers. ...
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OpinionAmy McGarvey: Why organisations should engage in employer-supported volunteering (ESV)
People choose to volunteer for a variety of reasons. For some it offers the chance to give something back to the community or make a difference to the people around them, for others it provides an opportunity to develop new skills or build on existing experience and knowledge. Research conducted ...
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OpinionGemma Sharp: Volunteering opportunities help to improve employee wellbeing
Over the past 18 months employee wellbeing has played an increasingly prominent role for employers and this is something we have seen translate into the employee volunteering space too. At a time when people are feeling isolated and disconnected, volunteering offers employees the chance to give something back in an ...
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OpinionSam Jardine: Why employers should offer staff mental health support
With Covid-19 (Coronavirus) restrictions easing, employees up and down the country are gearing up again for a return to the office.However, after working from home for months on end and with underlying anxieties surrounding the pandemic understandably still present, our HR team has considered how we can better equip colleagues ...
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OpinionSarah Whitemore: Why should employers consider hybrid working?
Hybrid working is a form of flexible working that allows employees to split their time between the workplace and working remotely. Under hybrid working arrangements, an employee may have set days when they can work from home with the remaining days in the office, or a more flexible model where ...
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OpinionLaura Jackson: How can employees ease back into the workplace?
As Freedom Day' (19 July) has now passed, many employers are beginning to consider long-term plans for their workforce. The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has introduced remarkable shifts in peoples’ lives, including their working styles. It feels like every week the news reports another large corporate announcing plans to introduce hybrid ...
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OpinionCharles Cotton: Is money still the most popular form of employee motivation?
Employees are attracted, retained and engaged by a whole range of financial and non-financial rewards, which change with their personal circumstances. Depending on what life stage they’re at, the financial elements of a reward package may not be the only thing of importance. For instance, people at the beginning of ...
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OpinionNigel Watson: Investing in share schemes
Financial resilience has been defined as the ability to cope financially when faced with a sudden fall in income or unavoidable rise in expenditure. Being financially resilient does not mean having lots of money, it means having a strategy or a plan for coping with whatever life throws at you.Interestingly, ...
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OpinionFiona Macdonald: What impact has the delay in gender pay gap reporting had?
In February 2021, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced that, due to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, enforcement action for failing to comply with the Gender Pay Gap Regulations for the 2020/2021 year would be suspended for six months.This came after enforcement action was suspended for 12 months the ...
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OpinionRebecca Florisson: Reward packages must be tailored to employees' needs post pandemic
As the Government’s guidance to work from home draws to a close, workers are not queuing up to get back into the office. Recent evidence published by the Office for National Statistics in June 2021, shows that the majority of those who worked remotely during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic (85%) ...
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OpinionSarah Casemore: Open discussions are vital for addressing mental health in the workplace
Anyone of us can feel stressed or overwhelmed at any time. But one in six employees in any week can feel symptoms of more common mental health issues resulting in 54% of all lost working days being attributed to stress, anxiety, or depression, according to the Health and Safety Executive's ...
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OpinionKathryn Evans: Can employers ask staff to return to the workplace after restrictions are lifted?
As restrictions lift, many employees who have been working from home will be asked to return to the workplace. The question is, can employers do that?Bluntly, yes, they can. Fundamentally, a person’s place of work is governed by their employment contract. If an employee was stationed in the employer’s premises ...
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OpinionElaine Huttley: What is the impact of hybrid working on employees?
As a result of the global pandemic, organisations are having a major re-think about how they want their workplaces to function long-term. Many are considering introducing hybrid working models, which give staff the option of combining working from home with going into the office. There are clear business benefits to ...
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OpinionPhilippa O’Malley: What future employee engagement issues do employers need to be aware of?
Employee engagement can refer to both the connection that employees feel towards their employer and their work, and how the employer communicates with employees on matters that affect their employment.The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has resulted in some marked changes to the way in which employers engage with their employees. The ...
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OpinionJoanne Waterworth: Family-friendly benefits can help attract and retain key talent
As we move gradually out of restrictions and work together to create our ‘new normal’, we know that many employers are looking at how they can support their staff members in keeping and improving on some of the flexible and family-friendly ways of working that many of us have experienced ...
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OpinionNick Griggs: Adapting to the new ways of working
We are now sitting at a junction, looking at the way we work and how organisations need to adapt, post pandemic. Despite the uncertainty and fast changing environment, decisions need to be made. So making sure you have the insight and framework to do this optimally is vital.As our recent ...
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OpinionJames Delves: Effective communication is vital for boosting employee engagement
The past 18 months have underlined the importance of internal communications. Since the first lockdown started, employers have had to adapt quickly, helping staff to embrace working from home and adopting new technologies seamlessly to help organisations survive these uncertain times.For many of us, it was the most intensive ...
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OpinionKerry Hudson: Employers need to be informed of pregnancies while staff are on furlough
Women on furlough could jeopardise their employee rights if they fail to tell their employers that they are pregnant.Expectant mothers who are on furlough may be tempted not to notify their employers of their pregnancy, possibly because they think they may receive more money on furlough, or because of fears ...