Opinion – Page 7
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OpinionPolly Neate: What employers need to know about the housing emergency
The housing emergency is real. Just ask your colleagues.Right now in the UK, working families are being evicted from their homes. Working people are living in hostels and working parents are going without food just so they can pay the rent. This is the housing emergency. How much do you ...
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OpinionEmma Clark: Breaking the staff menopause taboo
All women will experience the menopause at some point during their life. It can also impact both trans and non-binary people who may not identify as female. Most of those who experience the menopause will do so between the ages of 45 and 55, and between 75% and 80% of ...
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OpinionKaren Plumbley-Jones: Guidance for employers on the furlough scheme end
How many jobs have been saved by the furlough scheme? We won't ever know the answer to that question, but 11.6 million jobs have been supported by the scheme at some point. That equates to roughly 40% of the total UK workforce and we have seen far fewer redundancies than ...
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OpinionDiane Lightfoot: Recruiting and retaining diverse talent requires different thinking
The recent Recruitment and Employment Confederation survey, Labour and skills shortages, published September 2021, found that labour and skills shortages are the key issues currently facing recruiters. The impact on lower-paid industries such as hospitality, construction, transport and social care has been well reported. But it is expected that higher-paying ...
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OpinionJulie Morris and Michelle Last: Should fertility support be a statutory right?
The number of people undergoing fertility treatment in the UK increases steadily each year. In 2019, more than 53,000 patients underwent around 69,000 fertility treatments. While we await the latest data, this upward trend means it is increasingly likely that employers will be faced with requests for work absences from ...
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OpinionAndrew Crudge: Should the menopause be included in the Equality Act?
There is a strong case to add the menopause as a specific protected characteristic under the Equality Act. As it stands, where an employer discriminates against an employee because of issues relating to the menopause, the employee may possibly have grounds to bring a claim for sex, disability or perhaps ...
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OpinionKavitha’s keynote: Hybrid working models are the future
Every week it seems different organisations are revealing details of their new hybrid working models. This week in particular, we’ve reported on a number of UK employers that have introduced such initiatives, as staff return to workplaces.Zoom, for example, has decided to allow employees to have a mixture of remote ...
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OpinionKeely Rushmore: How the change to the furlough scheme will impact employers
The news that a significant proportion of businesses are contemplating redundancies as the furlough scheme winds down is perhaps not a surprise.Based on the new rules set out by the government, employers are now being asked to contribute 20% towards the salaries of those whose wages are being subsidised by ...
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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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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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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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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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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 ...
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OpinionTina Chander: How to use flexible working to combat employee burnout
Burnout - a state of complete exhaustion, physically, mentally and emotionally - is a matter that must be taken seriously. The World Health Organization officially recognises burnout as an issue for employees. Employee burnout is a workplace issue which employers have responsibility to resolve, not an issue for employees to ...
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OpinionMichelle Last: The long-term career risks for mothers working from home
Employers need to be realistic about the effects of increased working from home for working mothers in order to maintain and improve on equality gains achieved pre-Covid-19 (Coronavirus).Government guidance that people should work from home over the last year has enabled many families to reduce their reliance on costly childcare ...
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OpinionKaren Holden: Why aren’t all employees offered paid leave after miscarriages?
When an employee has a miscarriage, they have a number of options in terms of leave. They can be signed off sick by their doctor, however, that may only allow them statutory sick pay, depending on their contract. Unpaid leave may be negotiated, or they may be able to use ...
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OpinionVictoria von Wachter: Employers need to be vigilant of the symptoms of long Covid
Long Covid refers to symptoms of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) that persist for weeks or even months, in excess of 12 weeks according to the health watchdog National Insititute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice). Latest figures suggest that one in five people who test positive for Covid-19 continue to experience symptoms ...
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OpinionStephen Perkins: Informed and thoughtful innovation is needed to keep benefits relevant
In an article published in autumn 2018, The overlooked essentials of employee wellbeing, McKinsey drew attention to what’s an often-overlooked form of ‘reward’ for employees - namely the benefit of giving people more influence over their work life. Flexibility in devolving control from employer to employee was said to foster ...