News@the-centre

Young workers distrust their bosses 2/9/10

The level of trust felt by young workers towards their employers is deteriorating, research has shown.

One third of workers aged between 16 and 24 do not believe most or any of what they were told by their employer, compared with one in five who did not last year, a survey of 1,000 workers revealed.

Human resources staff are most likely to trust their bosses, according to recruitment consultants Badenoch & Clark. However, workers in the legal profession are particularly sceptical of their employers.

Associate director Guy Emmerson said: "Without a culture of trust in the workplace, employers will struggle to foster employee engagement and in turn retain their workforce.

"As recruitment activity levels pick up, employers need to consider the strength of their relationship with employees across all levels of the business, or run the risk of staff voting with their feet.

"Younger employees - the so-called Generation Y - have specific expectations of their employers, so encouraging more two-way conversations on business performance will prove vital to increasing levels of trust and gauging job satisfaction.

"Without this it will be become harder to obtain any kind of staff loyalty and in turn retain talented graduates."  

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51% of staff 'favour afternoon nap' 1/9/10

A siesta culture is becoming increasingly popular among Britons, with nearly 51% of sleep deprived people in the country saying they would like to grab a brief nap in the afternoon, according to a survey by Travelodge.

While seven out of 10 British workers said taking a brief sleep helps them increase their productivity by improving their concentration, over half of those polled urged their employers to provide a rest area for them to sleep during break.

The poll of 6,000 people found that the average British worker sleeps for only six hours and 21 minutes a night, instead of the recommended eight hours.

As many as 36% of workers said they find it difficult to get a good sleep at night due to job concerns, while worries about performance at work keep 27% workers awake.

Nearly 12% said financial concerns prevent them from getting a good sleep.

Travelodge recently trialled a 30-minute lunchtime siesta service with classical music at its London City Road branch.  

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Two heads really better than one 31/8/10

A survey has revealed that two heads may indeed be better than one - which will come as welcome news for David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

But the Tory and Lib Dem leaders might also want to pay attention to another survey before they get carried away.

Researchers have said that shared problem solving is only successful when both partners are competent and willing to discuss disagreements.

British and Danish scientists analysed what happens when two people take part in a judgment task and need to pool information.

Volunteers were asked to find a weak smudge on a computer screen while in a laboratory.

If they disagreed about when the signal occurred, they talked together until a joint decision was reached.

The first results showed that joint decisions were more accurate than those made by the better-performing individual alone.

Two further tests confirmed that success depended critically on partners being able to talk the problem over.

But a fourth experiment showed that coalitions can be disastrous when partners are mismatched.

In this case, one of the volunteers was made to appear incompetent by being shown a "noisy" image in which the signal was much harder to see.

This was not known to the other partner, who continued to trust the first volunteer's judgment. Joint decisions were then worse than the decision of the better-performing partner.

In other words, the pair would have been better off if the opinion of the "incompetent" partner had been ignored.

Professor Chris Frith, from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London, one of the researchers whose findings appear in the journal Science, said: "When two people working together can discuss their disagreements, two heads can be better than one. But, when one person is working with flawed information - or perhaps is less able at their job - then this can have a very negative effect on the outcome.

"Being able to work together successfully requires that we know how competent we are. Joint decisions don't work when a member of the team is incompetent, but doesn't know it."

He added: "We know all too well about the catastrophic consequences of consulting 'evidence' of unknown reliability on problems as diverse as the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the possibility of risk free investments." 

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Nissan apprenticeships plan hailed 27/8/10

Nissan's plans to hire an extra 75 apprentices have been applauded by the Government, as a minister reiterated a commitment to create 50,000 more apprenticeships across the country.

John Hayes, the minister for further education, skills and lifelong learning, said plans to create apprenticeships were at the heart of the coalition's policy to train people for work in manufacturing.

He said: "We believe apprenticeships should be at the very centre of our skills policy and the commitment I made publicly I repeated in our meetings today, is that those companies that take on apprenticeships and give opportunities to people will get the backing of the Government,"

The minister, who was visiting the car giant's Sunderland plant to see some of the first Nissan JUKEs roll off the production line, said the coalition had put an extra £150m into the apprenticeships budget.

Nissan, which has invested £57m to produce the JUKE in Britain, was helped by a £6.2m grant from the previous government. 

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Firms admit employing 'on looks' 26/8/10

Looks could count for more than officially admitted in the workplace, after a survey revealed 67% of employers said they would be more inclined to give an attractive person a job.

The research, by recruitment services group HireScores, asked bosses if they would be more likely to hire "a candidate who had equal academic strengths as another, but was better looking".

Two thirds of people polled said they would, with a further 9% admitting that they had hired some staff based purely on the way that they looked.

A third of respondents said they believe attractive people make better employees, saying they were more likely to be confident in the workplace.

The top five factors that were found to affect a candidate's employability were ability to do the job, qualifications, social skills, physical appearance, and hygiene.

Lisette Howlett, managing director of HireScores said: "It's very important to look at all the factors when you're looking to employ someone, regardless of what job it is for. The hiring decision needs to take everything into account, motivation, attitude, short and longer term business needs and whether the candidate has the best ability to do the job."  

Learn about recruitment and selection with the Centre.

Project helps redundancy-risk staff 25/8/10

A scheme is helping prepare workers who may be made redundant to boost their skills.

Individuals and SME's are being offered NVQ Level 4 courses in management, business and administration as well as health and social care as part of The Workforce Skills training project.

The project is aimed at highlighting the importance of having a trained and skilled workforce but also ensures staff who are at risk of redundancy have the skills and qualifications to find other employment should they lose their job.

The project is funded by the West Midlands Councils' and Skills Funding Agency's regional European Social Fund (ESF) programme.

Cllr Phil Atkins, chairman of the West Midlands Councils, said: "This initiative aims to provide support to people whose jobs are at risk, while they are still employed. In doing so we hope to help them to bridge the gap to a new job and a new future."

Delivered by local training provider, Future Training 2000, the initiative is aiming to provide support and training to about 250 local employees in SMEs in Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country.

Riaz Khan, Birmingham and Black Country team manager at POhWER, which provides a range of advocacy services to the public in the region and throughout the UK, said: "The training has proved invaluable to our team, and has really increased the confidence of many of the employees." 

NHS to roll out online skills data 24/8/10

A Skills Passport for Health scheme is set to be rolled out across the NHS after it improved talent management and cut costs in a successful 12-month pilot programme.

Nursing staff at seven English NHS Trusts took part in the trial during the 2009-10 financial year. The employees created an online record of their skills, experience and qualifications which could be used by their current or prospective employers.

The proof-of-concept trial proved popular with workers, research from Skills for Health found, while employers believe the scheme could cut down on the needless duplication of statutory and mandatory training, as well as reducing the number of pre-employment checks needed when workers move between NHS employers.

Nurses said the new system would make it easier for them to demonstrate their suitability for a given post and that an online record would simplify switching jobs. The nurses expressed optimism that the system could help them to plan and manage their careers.

John Rogers, chief executive of Skills for Health, said: "This pilot project has demonstrated that there is a clear 'proof of concept' for a passport for the health sector, and we look forward to working with our partners to develop the concept further" prior to a possible nationwide roll-out." 

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Bid to help workers return to work 23/8/10

New guidance, which aims to help employees on sick leave for a long time make a "timely and lasting" return to work, has been launched.

According to the document - titled Manager Support for Return to Work Following Long Term Sickness Absence - managers can play a key role in supporting workers on long-term sick leave return to work successfully.

It has been created by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in collaboration with the British Occupational Health Research Foundation (BOHRF), Healthy Working Lives and the Health and Safety Executive.

The guidance comes after the recent introduction of 'fit notes' to encourage those on long-term sick leave to make an early return to work.

Ben Willmott, senior public policy adviser, CIPD, said: "Line managers play a crucial role in deciding whether returning to work is part of an individual's recovery and rehabilitation or the catalyst to further breakdown and deterioration.

"Evidence shows that the longer people are off sick the less likely they are to make a successful return to work; with employees only having a fifty per cent chance of going back to work after six months of absence." 

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Junior council staff 'unproductive' 20/8/10

Poor supervision means junior council employees are wasting two-thirds of their working day, according to new research.

Management consultancy Knox D'Arcy, which shadowed managers in the private and local government sectors for the study, said junior local authority staff were only using 32% of their work time productively and council managers only spent an average 15 minutes a day, or 3% of their working day, managing staff.

Private sector companies fared little better in terms of active management, but there was greater individual accountability and performance-related assessment which meant productivity was higher than councils, at an average 44% compared with 32%.

If councils improved productivity to match their private sector counterparts, it would need 500,000 fewer staff to generate the same output and would "significantly offset" planned Government cuts, Knox D'Arcy said.

Report author and Knox D'Arcy principal consultant Paul Weekes said: "Put simply, by matching average private sector staff utilisation levels, local government could increase its productivity by roughly a third.

"Often they were observed busily carrying out administrative tasks, while outside their office their staff were clearly under-utilised; it is crazy to have well-paid managers spending so much time on administration or doing the work of their people when their greatest value would be to spend more time ensuring their staffs' performance is being optimised."

Knox D'Arcy carried out 1,855 surveys of managers and supervisors, including 173 from local government officers.

They also conducted 376 day-long observations, comprised of a minute-by-minute categorisation of how the manager in question spent his time, of which 36 were from local government.  

Is this a common problem in your workplace? Our Supervision skills training can help! Or try any of our management courses.

Crowne Plaza installs grass floors 19/8/10

A chain of upscale hotels has installed grass carpets in its conference rooms in a bid to bring creativity to mundane business meetings.

Hotel brand Crowne Plaza is laying fresh green grass in conference rooms at a number of its hotels across the UK and Ireland.

It is hoped that the new rooms with the unconventional living turf will stimulate creative thinking among business guests.

According to research from InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which owns a variety of brands including Crowne Plaza, 40% of professionals lose focus within the first 20 minutes of a meeting, often as a result of their uninspiring surroundings.

Angela Whitlock, author of Walk on the Grass, said: "Research has shown that by the age of 25, as much as 98% of our creativity has vanished. 

"Crowne Plaza's initiative is perfect because it breaks down the self-imposed rules that prevent us from achieving our full potential.

"The look and feel of the grass is said to remind guests of their childhood and therefore free them of societal barriers that restrict creativity."

The grass-filled meeting rooms are being trialled at the Crowne hotels in London, Glasgow and Dublin.

Eleanor Conroy from Crowne Plaza said: "Meetings should be productive and enjoyable but we all know from experience that some meetings can be less than inspiring." 

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Firms 'deserve cash for interns' 18/8/10

A thinktank claims that the Government should pay employers who offered quality internships to disadvantaged young people if they later find a job after their placement.

Demos believes that there should be a "pay-back" from the Government to firms, especially those helping groups such as young offenders, because the state has made major savings by moving young people from welfare to work.

A report from the group also proposed a nationwide internship network to allow companies to share experiences of working with disadvantaged youngsters.

Employers should be paid if their intern found a stable job within a year of completing any placement, said Demos.

Julia Margo, director of Demos, said: "Internships are about who you know and what you know. You need contacts and qualifications, but they should be seen primarily as a way to learn.

"Getting at-risk young people into internships will go a long way to giving them the opportunities and aspirations open to middle class graduates. We should think of them as a non-graduate talent pool.

"More important than paying people to intern is making sure they learn the skills they need.

"A quality internship that pays only expenses is far more valuable than one that pays people a low wage to do menial jobs." 

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HR tool tackles ageing workforce 17/8/10

An online HR tool designed to prepare employers for an ageing workforce has been launched by a leading employment group.

The Workforce Assessment Tool has been made available for HR managers facing the prospect of a top-heavy workforce dominated by experienced workers coming to the end of their careers, as an ageing population becomes increasingly visible in offices, warehouses and retail outlets across the UK.

The Age and Employment Network (TAEN), which developed the tool, said the 30-minute questionnaire analyses a range of influences including workforce demographics, knowledge retention, training and development opportunities and recruitment policies in order to build a tailored picture of the challenges and opportunities that will arise in the future.

Chris Ball, chief executive of TAEN, said this report will then enable employers to introduce measures in anticipation of fundamental changes to the workplace.

"This tool will help employers relate their workplace policies and practices to salient issues facing organisations and the economy, including demographic change, workforce ageing and shrinkage, and risks arising from skills shortages," he said.

TAEN hopes to emulate the success of a similar tool rolled out in the US, which has been used by some 2,000 employers since its launch. 

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Recruiters report youth skills gap 16/8/10

Most employers are happy with the calibre of young people they recruit, although one in five say their existing workforce lacks skills, according to a survey of nearly 80,000 employers.

The National Employer Skills Survey for England questioned 79,152 employers about their recruitment problems, skills gaps and training practices during the height of last year's recession.

It found that:

Levels of vacancies, including hard-to-fill vacancies and skills shortage vacancies fell sharply, in line with what might be expected during a recession. Levels of skills gaps - where employees are not fully proficient at their jobs - rose from 15% in 2007 to 19% in 2009. The number of employers offering training has remained stable, but the proportion of staff they train fell from 63% in 2007 to 56% last year.

Chris Humphries, chief executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, which commissioned the research, said: "Work experience, apprenticeships and internships are an easy and relatively risk-free way of sampling the calibre of young people.

"I would encourage all employers to provide these, as well as being open-minded enough to make suitable permanent positions available for young people looking for their first job." 

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Plants 'make for healthier workers' 13/8/10

Keeping plants in the workplace can increase productivity and reduce the number of days taken off sick, the horticultural retailer Plants4Life has claimed.

Plants can also enhance the mood of workers and improve their concentration, it added.

A report by the firm also claimed that symptoms typically linked to "sick building syndrome", such as fatigue, coughs and headaches, can be cut by as much as a quarter by employing natural greenery in the workplace.

Its study suggested that plants, which purify air and emit oxygen, reduce the number of workers with headaches by 30%, fatigue by 20%, dry skin on the face by 25% and coughs by 40%.

It also pointed to research in the US which claims that reaction times in staff were speeded up by 12% and blood pressure was reduced because plants were introduced to their workplace.

Research carried out by the CBI bosses organisation, which was published in June, said the average worker in the UK took 6.4 days off sick a year, down from 2007's rate of 6.4 days. 

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Right to train being considered 12/8/10

The future of the right to request time to train at work is being considered by the Government.

From April 6 this year, the legal right for workers in businesses with more than 250 employees to request time to take up relevant training became enshrined in law.

In a bid to reduce burdens on business, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition has announced a review of all regulations. The right to request time to train will be looked at in the consultation in order for opinions to be gathered and will feed into the review.

Employees, businesses and other interested parties are being urged to submit their views on the regulation, by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning Minister, John Hayes, said: "We believe it is important that all regulations are properly scrutinised and we are therefore interested in hearing views on the future of this right and its role in promoting training in the workplace, which I see as vital to our economic success."

This consultation will be shorter than the normal 12 weeks and will close on September 15. The shorter consultation period will allow all representations to be made before the September 17 deadline for submissions to the next meeting of the Reducing Regulation Committee.  

Pretty women denied 'manly jobs' 11/8/10

Being beautiful could be 'detrimental' for women wanting to apply for traditionally masculine jobs, according to a study.

The research, conducted by the University of Colorado Denver Business School in the US has discovered that attractive women are seldom considered when it comes to professions like mechanical engineer, manager of research and development, director of finance and construction supervisor.

However, the study has also found that good looking people are more likely to get bonuses, higher performance evaluations or even higher salaries at their workplaces.

Commenting on the findings, researcher Stefanie Johnson said: "In every other kind of job, attractive women were preferred. This wasn't the case with men which shows that there is still a double standard when it comes to gender."  

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36% of staff 'want performance pay' 10/8/10

Around a third of workers who do not receive performance-related pay reckon they would work better if they were given a share of profits or some type of ownership in the firm for which they work, according to an employment agency survey.

Kelly Services sought the opinions of around 134,000 people in 29 countries to compile its Global Workforce Index. Nearly 6,000 UK workers took part.

The survey found that around one in three of the UK workers questioned said some of their pay is linked to the performance targets of their bosses.

Staff aged 18-47 were found to be more likely to have some kind of performance-based salary than those aged 48-65.

Of those not on performance pay, 36% say they would be more productive in the workplace if their earnings were tacked to performance outcomes.

Kelly Services' Andrew Cook said: "Many employees are actually quite comfortable about some element of their compensation being tied to their individual or group performance. This indicates that many are confident in their ability to perform their jobs well and believe they can share in the rewards of improved workplace productivity." 

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Workers 'want counselling service' 9/8/10

In an effort to handle workplace stress and the effects of the recession, as many as 54% of employees would like to get a confidential counselling service from their employers, a new study has indicated.

The 2010 Attitudes to Counselling and Psychotherapy survey showed around 29% of workers are in need of more emotional support to tackle stress caused by work or personal problems brought to work, or a combination of both. And they would favour receiving help from their employers.

According to about 84% of 1,440 people polled, the economic meltdown has increased the need for counselling and psychotherapy. The research was carried out by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

In addition, some 78% of people think that workplace stress is an acceptable reason to ask for counselling and psychotherapy - compared with only 44% in 2004.

Rick Hughes, BACP Workplace Lead Advisor, said: "Ten years ago there was sometimes a stigma regarding accessing counselling for personal or work-related issues. Today not only do we see an increasing acceptability but also a clear demand from employees for their employers to provide some form of access to counselling services.

"Organisations that provide counselling services for staff overwhelmingly find this translates to a multitude of positive benefits, including reduced absence, lower presenteeism, enhanced employee satisfaction, reduced accidents and improved productivity."  

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Gaming firm's Gambling Act training 6/8/10

William Hill is tackling underage gambling in its retail stores by providing extensive training to its workforce.

Half-day workshops under the Gambling Act (2005) have been held at the company, with a total of 8,118 employees having participated in them. Around 2,000 more staff members will complete the training by the end of October.

Hadyn Bratt, learning and development manager, told People Management: "The main focus of the training is around understanding the three licensing objectives in the Act. These include preventing gambling from being a source of crime and disorder; ensuring gambling is conducted in a fair and open manner and protecting children and vulnerable persons from being exploited by gambling.

"It was designed to increase their knowledge and understanding of the licensing objectives but also to assist team members with the practical application of those objectives in our licensed betting offices."

All members of the retail team, including customer service assistants, shop managers and field-based management teams, are taking part in the training.

Managers misjudging their abilities 5/8/10

The UK's "already struggling" businesses are being hindered by misjudgment from managers who wrongly believe they excel at managing their staff, new research has suggested.

Almost half of the 2,000 bosses quizzed for a poll by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) thought they were excellent at managing their employees, although only 14% said they were born to be a leader.

In a result that"strongly contradicted" their own judgment, just 14% of managers came out as excelling at management, a separate questionnaire designed by the CMI found.

Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the CMI, said: "We're desperately short of good leaders in this country. Just look at how many FTSE 100 companies have sourced chief executives from abroad and how many Premier League football clubs have foreign managers.

"We're crying out for much-needed home-grown leadership talent and it's frustrating that employers are failing to capitalise on the dormant leadership skills that their employees don't yet realise they have.

"Management and leadership skill development has been neglected by employers, government and managers themselves for far too long.

"We need a renewed focus on investment in training and development in this field, both for the current generation and future generations of managers." 

The Centre can teach you the management skills you need: try Management training or Managing people and teams.

Applicant reasons 'must be known' 4/8/10

Employers need to understand applicants' motivations in order for them to appoint culturally fitting and skills-fit people, according to a recruitment expert.

Tom Lovell, managing director of Reed Specialist, said understanding the applicant fully will allow bosses to appoint the best people for the role.

The claim came at the same time as a new report that showed many employees take work home with them because there is not enough time in the day to complete tasks at work. In a survey to mark the 50th anniversary of Reed Specialist Recruitment, most of the 3,000 people questioned admitted they did around 42 minutes of work while at home.

Around a quarter also said the arrived at the office at 7.30am but did not leave until 6pm.

The survey showed the average workers took just 33 minutes break during the day.

Half of those questioned said they could not operate without email, saying it was the biggest change in the world of work during the last half-century.

Two out of five wanted to give up the traditional nine to five working day in favour of less rigid work patterns and a similar number were keen to spend more time working from home, although one in four would not want to be without the office banter.

Tom Lovell, group managing director of Reed Specialist, said: "Advances in technology have led to significant changes in working life, enabling people to have more control over the shape of their careers and ending more traditional, restrictive approaches to working arrangements.

"Employers also really need to understand applicants' motivations so that they can achieve cultural as well as skills-fit when recruiting the best people."

Surgeons: EU law has failed badly 3/8/10

A survey of surgeons has said European laws introduced to improve patient safety have "failed spectacularly".

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) said patients in NHS hospitals across the country are not as safe as they were compared with the same time last year, when the EU regulations were introduced.

And they warned the situation will continue to get worse.

It is the first survey published since the introduction of the European Working Time Regulations (EWTR), which limits doctors to working a 48-hour week.

In total, 980 surgeons were questioned for the report, from all nine surgical specialities, and from across all health authorities in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.

It reveals that 80% of consultant surgeons and two thirds of surgical trainees (66%) say that patient care deteriorated under the directive. This compares with 72% of consultants and 59% of trainees consulted in October 2009.

Two thirds of trainees (65%) say their training time decreased - a quarter more than in October 2009 (41%).

More than a quarter of senior surgeons are no longer able to be involved in all of the key stages of a patient's care (18% in October 2009).

Two thirds of trainees reported a decline in training time in the operating theatre and 61% of consultants report that they are operating without trainee assistance more frequently since the EWTR was introduced.

The RCS said the survey paints a picture of an NHS that, one year on, "is still totally overstretched due to an arbitrary hours regulation".

RCS president John Black said: "The new government have indicated they share our concerns, but there is not a moment to lose in implementing a better system which would enable surgeons to work in teams, with fewer handovers and with the backup of senior colleagues." 

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Longer hours returning to workplace 2/8/10

Following a dramatic reduction in working hours during the economic downturn as companies tried to save money, workers are starting to put in long hours again, research has shown.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said during the two years to spring 2010 there was a shift from full-time to part-time employment as the slump led to more than half a million jobs.

In the same period the number of part-time jobs rose by 330,000 and full-time employment fell by nearly a million, the study found.

The CIPD said there was a fall of 32 million hours worked each week in the UK, as many people opted to work shorter hours to help their employers cut costs to avoid job losses during the recession.

The total number of working hours has now started to increase, indicating a "modest" pick-up in demand for workers in the past year, said the report.

The CIPD said there is now more of a "mixed hours" than long hours culture, with as many people working between 16 and 30 hours a week as were putting in more than 45 hours.

John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the CIPD, said: "But signs of an increase in long hours working since the trough in hours in summer 2009 suggest that the fall in working time during the jobs downturn was a forced detox for Britain's workaholics, most of whom will be eager to start putting in the hours again once the economic recovery gathers steam.

"HR managers mindful of the importance of a sensible work-life balance will need to determine whether a return to long hours working is the best outcome for staff or the organisations that employ them." 

Office pub run 'harms workplace' 30/7/10

The after-work pub run could be having a detrimental effect on the health of the UK workplace, a report has suggested.

While for many the swift half after work represents important bonding time outside the formalities of the office, the long-term implications for the punctuality and overall well being of the UK workplace could be damaging, the report by Aviva said.

Despite the popularity of teambuilding sessions, the humble pub remains the location of choice for workers across the country to gather in a non-work environment, with 57% of business leaders saying most office 'extra-curricular' takes place at the local watering hole.

And while 45% say there is no obligation to drink, only 7% actively discourage it.

Bosses' apparent complacency towards the prospect of the office hangover has been illustrated by the report which found that only 26% say they would be worried about the business impact of workers that are unfit the next day, while only 40% say they would be concerned about setting a dangerous precedent by allowing it to happen.

A minority of bosses, 17%, even said they would raise a wry smile - as long as it was not a regular occurrence.

Dr Doug Wright, principal clinical consultant at Aviva UK Health, said: "In the longer term, employers need to look for other ways to build team spirit to ensure everyone is involved and that unhealthy habits are not sanctioned in the workplace."  

HR 'failing to meet staff needs' 29/07/10

More than half of employees believe human resources (HR) departments fail in addressing their concerns and needs, according to a new book.

The book titled A Decade of LEAD (the Leadership, Employment and Direction survey) has revealed that HR departments, which have become a powerful force in large organisations, do not meet the needs of the majority of employees.

The research, which looked into workplace attitudes in Australia, found that about 40% of employees are of the opinion that HR has a very poor awareness of their issues.

Grant Sexton, the managing director of the Leadership Management Australasia, which commissioned the surveys and compiled the book, said HR departments do not give employees training on soft skills, such as communication, goal-setting and time management.

Mr Sexton said: "So often internal training is determined by a very narrow conception of what the organisation needs rather than what the individual needs."

Research involved analysing data from four big workplace surveys dating to 2003.

More skills needed to boost UK 28/7/10

The skills of millions of people need to be improved to raise the standard of economic productivity, a report by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills has said.

Young people should also be given better opportunities to train for work with the number of apprenticeship programmes increased, the report noted.

The commission's Chris Humphries insisted: "At the moment our economy is still world-class, quite an achievement for such a small island, but we're living on past glories.

"Economic success rests on three legs: skills, jobs and productivity. And we are well below average on the first of these.

"Unless swift and decisive action is taken, we can expect the UK's economy to begin to slide down the international rankings."

A spokesman for the Business Department said: "Our priorities are to build an internationally competitive skills base and ensure we have a skills system that supports people into work and then to progress. We have already created 50,000 new apprenticeship places, and are bringing in a new integrated careers advice service, as well as asking universities to provide information about employability prospects of the degrees they are studying.

"Over the summer we will be consulting with employers, individuals, colleges and training organisations on a future strategy for skills, which will be published in the autumn."  

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Brain scans 'may offer job advice' 27/7/10

People struggling to chose the best career path could benefit from a brain scan to identify their strengths and weaknesses, according to US scientists.

Forty volunteers who were seeking job advice offered their brains for study at the University of California at Irvine, where researchers used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to discover the difference between them.

Scientists discovered structure patterns in the brain that indicated different abilities such as spatial awareness, numerical skills, reasoning speeds and general intelligence.

Checking the results with scores from a collection of traditional mental tests proved the brain scans accurately showed individual mental skills. The team's findings were published online in the journal BMC Research Notes.

Dr Richard Haier, who led the study, said: "A person's pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses is related to their brain structure, so there is a possibility that brain scans could provide unique information that would be helpful for vocational choice.

"Our current results form a basis to investigate this further."

All participants signed up for the experiment through the non-profit Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation, which provides psychometric assessments for vocational guidance.  

Improve your brain power with our training: try Problem solving: tools to enhance your performance; Supervision skills: managing people and teams; or Negotiation skills training.

Employees 'prefer flexible working' 26/7/10

A survey has found that flexible working can help employers retain their staff, thus improving productivity and work-balance.

According to recruitment firm Hays, which conducted a survey of nearly 700 employees, most workers often consider flexible options, such as working from home, while looking for a job.

More than a third of employers in the public sector offered flexible working, while only 18% of private firms encouraged the option.

Charles Logan, director at Hays, said: "Employers and their staff see flexible working policies as a positive move but more needs to be done to make sure these are implemented in the workplace.

"As pay freezes remain in place for many organisations, across both sectors, looking at how to retain your staff and keep them engaged is moving up the agenda.

"Offering simple flexible working options could make the difference between keeping or losing staff at a critical time, when the best employees are needed to drive recovery."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Despite this most private sector employers are still not encouraging flexible working practices. It's about time they caught up with the public sector and offered staff the flexibility at work they so clearly want more of."  

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Londoners given Crossrail skills 23/7/10

A new initiative has been launched to help Londoners benefit from the Crossrail Project.

Some 30,000 jobs will be created by the £16bn rail line, which will run through the centre of the city.

A new skills and employment strategy launched by London Mayor Boris Johnson is aimed at providing local people with the skills needed to take advantage of the opportunities.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "We want Londoners to benefit from this project in every way and that means giving them the chance to learn the skills and benefit from the jobs created by the scheme.

"The skills strategy and various training and apprenticeship schemes will help us give young inhabitants of this great city the chance to build and benefit from Crossrail as a lasting legacy."

Transport minister Theresa Villiers said: "Crossrail will be more than a world-class railway - for tens of thousands of people it could be the route to a successful career."

Crossrail has committed to creating at least 400 apprenticeships through its supply chain and to develop a specialist tunnelling and underground construction academy.  

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Managers back to work feel stressed 22/7/10

Anxiety about work causes a majority of managers returning after a holiday to feel more stressed than when they left, new research has found.

A survey of 2,500 managers by the Institute of Leadership & Management has shown that two out of five managers resuming work after a break felt more stressed than before, while a third responded to emails and took work-related phone calls when on leave.

Most of those questioned complained they returned to work to discover a "deluge" of emails.

The institute has urged managers to limit contact with work while away on a holiday and recommended not opening emails immediately upon their return to the office.

Chief executive Penny de Valk said: "Gone are the days when people cut off contact with work for a fortnight over the summer and made a complete break.

"While technology means that it is easier than ever to work remotely, it also makes it extremely hard to switch off. Uncertain economic times also mean that many UK employers are keeping one eye on their job at all times, when what they really need is time away from the office to rest and re-energise."  

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Prison education review planned  21/07/10

A review of the learning system for offenders in jails and the community will try to make former prisoners more employable, the Government has said.

About two-thirds of prisoners in England and Wales possess literacy levels currently expected of 11-year-olds and official figures show that half of male inmates and 70% of female inmates have no qualifications at all.

Scheduled to release its findings in the autumn as part of wider plans for reform and cost-saving across the sector, the review will involve all groups within the Government who take part in offender learning as well as charity and voluntary organisations.

Prisons Minister Crispin Blunt said: "I welcome this review into offender learning. Prisons are places of punishment but they should also be places of education, work and training.

"Education leading to employment has a key role in helping to reduce re-offending, protecting the public and preventing people from becoming the victims of tomorrow."

Aviation lacking engineers - Cable 20/7/10

Not enough advanced engineers are working in the UK aerospace industry, according to Business Secretary Vince Cable.

The "chronic and terrible shortage" is the industry's biggest worry, he said at Farnborough Airshow.

He refused to say what effect his coalition Government's planned cuts would have on the aerospace industries in the UK.

But he said increasing the number of engineering apprenticeships was one way of undermining the shortage and said the Government would be working to expand these.

Mr Cable said: "There is a chronic shortage of advanced engineers, a terrible shortage. There are different ways of supporting an industry without just injecting cash. One way is through vocational training."

On the question of which areas of aviation and defence the cuts will hit, Mr Cable said: "What we do in the future is very much tied up with the (autumn) spending review. We are in discussions with the Treasury about the scale of the economies we need."  

'Perfect handshake' formula found 19/7/10

Many Britons find performing the perfect handshake to be troubling but scientists have created a formula to simplify the act, it has been revealed.

Seven out of 10 people reported lacking confidence when shaking hands, according to a study for Chevrolet. The company's employees will be provided with a five-step process and given a mathematical formula in a new handshake training guide.

It is estimated the average person shakes hands 15,000 times in a lifetime and the handshake has become a symbol of peace and a vital part of business deals. However, despite the positive connotations, nearly one in five (19%) of people hated the act and said they were unsure of how to do it properly.

Limp wrists, sweaty palms, gripping too hard and lack of eye contact are among the major problems faced.

Professor Geoffrey Beattie, head of psychological sciences at the University of Manchester, devised the equation taking into account 12 key measures - such as vigour, eye contact, hand temperature, positioning and length - needed to convey respect and trust to the recipient.

He said: "The rules for men and women are the same: right hand, a complete grip and a firm squeeze (but not too strong) in a mid-point position between yourself and the other person, a cool and dry palm, approximately three shakes, with a medium level of vigour, held for no longer than two to three seconds, with eye contact kept throughout and a good natural smile with a slow offset with, of course, an appropriate accompanying verbal statement, make up the basic constituent parts for the perfect handshake."  

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Mobiles causing 'numerical amnesia' 16/7/10

"Numerical amnesia" is affecting modern Britons to such a degree that most cannot remember their best friend's phone number, a survey has found.

Modern devices boasting electronic address books have removed the need for people to remember important phone numbers and could be contributing to a form of amnesia that could prove costly in emergency situations, the research by insurance and identity protection firm CPP said.

More than 60% of those surveyed could not recall their friend's mobile phone number from memory, while nearly half (47%) could not remember their wife or partner's number - information that could be vital in the event of an emergency.

A reliance on electronic address books has dulled our short-term memory to the point that four out of five people in the UK are unable to remember a mobile phone number after only five seconds of seeing it, the survey claimed.

Psychologist Glenn Wilson, who considered the findings, said: "As technology gets more sophisticated, our own memories are on the decline as we increasingly rely on information stored on phones and online.

"This can be problematic if people are totally dependent on an external memory store that is lost or becomes temporarily unavailable. It can also affect an individual's mental agility later in life. Like many other skills, memory needs exercising if the capacity is not to be lost."  

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Adults 'fail to understand grammar' 15/7/10

The assumption that all native speakers have a core understanding of grammar has been undermined by a new study.

According to academics at Northumbria University, many native English speakers struggle to understand the basic grammar of the language.

The experts, who observed 50 adults, found that less-educated people have more trouble identifying the meaning of passive sentences than those who have attained higher education achievements.

The participants were showed a series of pictures, with sentences like "the soldier was hit by the sailor".

Most of the adults who left school at 16 made more mistakes in identifying sentences, compared with those who had stayed in education longer.

A lack of experience with grammar could be a reason for the difficulty faced by the less-educated native English speakers.

Better educated speakers have more experience using passive sentences, which occur more frequently in formal written texts.

Researcher Ewa Dabrowska said: "Regardless of educational attainment or dialect we are all supposed to be equally good at grammar, in the sense of being able to use grammatical cues to understand the meaning of sentences.

"Of course some people are more literate, with a larger vocabulary and greater exposure to highly complex literary constructions. Nevertheless, at a fundamental level, everyone in a linguistic community is supposed to share the same core grammar, in the same way that given". 

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Happiness 'improves productivity' 14/7/10

Economists have concluded that there are clear links between workers' happiness and their productivity.

They argue that the research has important implications for politics and business.

A team conducted exercises including a 10-minute film based on comedy routines by a well-known British comedian.

It raised the reported happiness levels of viewers, compared to those who did not see it, or who watched a "placebo" film - a clip depicting patterns of coloured sticks.

Those who reported higher happiness levels after seeing the comedy film showed much higher productivity than the other subjects did.

Another exercise saw students adding a series of five two-digit numbers in 10 minutes. They had to pay an attendance fee and a performance fee based on the number of correct answers.

The Warwick Business School economists noted: "Happier workers, our research found, were 12% more productive. Unhappier workers were 10% less productive."

Subjects who watched the comedy film but did not report higher levels of happiness were unable to demonstrate higher levels of productivity.

The findings led the economists to claim: "The increase in productivity seems to be linked to the increase in happiness, not merely to the watching of the comedy movie per se."

The team was led by Andrew Oswald, a professor of economics at Warwick Business School and a major authority on the link between economics and mental health.

"We find that human happiness has large and positive causal effects on productivity," the team said. "Positive emotions appear to invigorate human beings, while negative emotions have the opposite effect." 

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Top ITV heads face tests for skills 13/7/10

Top managers at ITV will receive psychometric tests to see whether they have the right skills for the job.

The move is part of an overhaul aimed at strengthening the business with a more informed structure. The tests will take in 150 senior managers but staff were reassured that the move does not mean they will need to re-apply for their jobs.

The move was announced to staff this week at the monthly leadership breakfast led by chief executive Adam Crozier, who said the process should be finished by September.

He added: "A key part of the transformation ITV will go through over the next three to five years is the strengthening of our international content business."

Staff will complete three online psychometric tests and take part in a session with a life coach. Senior managers, such as heads of sales and online, drama and senior commissioners will sit down with their line managers and a HR representative to discuss the results. 

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UK's long hours culture highlighted 12/7/10

Businessmen and women have been urged to take proper rest and regular breaks during the day, as it would help them perform at their best.

A study, highlighting the country's long hours culture, showed most executives preferred exercise to having a long lunch, while only about one in four admitted leaving their desks for lunch.

Out of over 230 businessmen and women surveyed, most favoured socialising after work, while only one in five said they managed to switch off, even for 30 minutes a day.

The study - conducted for a book, The Way We're Working Isn't Working - added that as many as 90% of people checked work emails on their holidays, while over 50% admitted they did not take up their full holiday entitlement.

Jean Gomes, chairman of the Energy Project which carried out the research, said: "In our experience, the very top performers across all disciplines employ recovery as the means to achieving the best performance."

The study further showed that most people watched television to relax, while around 50% admitted spending less than two hours a day with family and friends.

Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, said: "At a time when health and morale are already under the spotlight, particularly in the public sector, it's imperative that employers take steps to improve staff engagement levels and be more supportive.

"The most successful workplaces are those where managers actively encourage colleagues to take a break and set a good example by taking one themselves."  

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