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RECOMMEND A FRIEND?: Almost nine out of ten workers would not recommend their employer to a friend
RECOMMEND A FRIEND?: Almost nine out of ten workers would not recommend their employer to a friend
In a study by employer brand specialists Chatter Communications, which questioned over 2,000 employees across all levels of experience and from a wide range of sectors and industries, more than eight out of 10 people on an average company’s workforce would not encourage someone to apply for a role where they work.
Nine out of 10 (88 per cent) said they would not be able to explain to someone outside of the company why their employer was good to work for. Those in professional services, media/creative industries or tech positions were slightly more likely to be able to explain why they liked working for their current employer, whilst those in retail, social care, driving roles, hospitality and production positions were least likely.
When questioned about their most recent recruitment experience, the Chatter research revealed that only 33 per cent of people felt the experience was a positive one. Fourteen per cent went so far as to say it was terrible.
Those in healthcare, social care and IT/technology were more likely to have had a positive experience, with between 43 to 46 per cent saying they felt it was handled well by the company. Scientific/R&D roles scored even higher at 53 per cent. Applicants to hospitality or customer service roles were most likely to have had a negative experience, as were those applying for managerial positions.
One in 10 respondents (11 per cent) said they had experienced a negative interview where gender bias was obvious. That broke down into nine per cent of men and 12 per cent of women. Eight per cent of women and five per cent of men have been asked about their plans to have a family in an interview.
A staggering 86 per cent of both men and women believe their workplace is not good at tackling equality, diversity and inclusion.
Paul Ainley, managing director at Chatter, said: “At a time when recruitment is harder than ever, if your existing employees aren’t helping you attract new team members, or are even actively working against you, bringing new talent on board is going to be much tougher. What this research shows is that there is a disconnect between an organisation’s desired employer brand and what the workforce are seeing and feeling. Every organisation has an employer brand – but for those not actively managing it, it just means other parties are writing it for them. We live in a time when all employees are potential spokespeople for your company and word of mouth has never been more powerful.
“Having a strong employer brand can make a huge difference when it comes to not only attracting, but retaining the best people. Given the current financial situation, a lot of companies will need to tighten their belts when it comes to big pay offers – and salary on its own is rarely ever enough. Companies are going to have to look at everything from career and development opportunities and flexible working to having more inclusive cultures in order to stand out from the crowd and be the employer of choice.”
EVRi appoints new chief human resources officer
EVRi appoints new chief human resources officer
Evri, the UK’s largest dedicated parcel company, has appointed Lyn Warren as Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO), as part of its commitment to investing in its people as the business continues to grow and transform.
Lyn will be leading Evri’s people strategy and vision, overseeing every aspect of the company’s workplace and employee activity. She will be focused on developing the current strategy to ensure the business is attracting, retaining, and developing talented people. Lyn brings with her a wealth of experience from over 20 years working in HR and retail, most recently as Retail and People Director at Joules.
Commenting on her new role, Lyn said ‘I’m excited to be joining such a fast growing and innovative business. My main focus will be on making sure this is an amazing, inclusive place to work, and helping and supporting our people to be the best they can be.”
Martijn de Lange, CEO at Evri, said ‘Lyn’s experience and expertise means we now have a full board of experts leading the business. Our people are at the heart of our success and Lyn’s passion for leading and developing our people strategy will play a vital role in our continued growth.”
Violence and harassment at work ‘almost always a pattern’, study finds
Violence and harassment at work ‘almost always a pattern’, study finds
Violence and harassment in the British workplace is rife, after a global safety charity report found that 26% of people have experienced it in their working lifetime – above the global average of 21%. The new report, Safe at Work? Global experiences of violence and harassment, based on Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s World Risk Poll, powered by Gallup, also found that 58% of British respondents who have experienced workplace violence and harassment say this has happened three or more times.
While the report suggests that men are fractionally more likely to report having experienced violence and harassment at work at a global level (22% vs 20% of women), the most vulnerable sub-groups, as identified by the report, are mostly comprised of women.
For example, women with a tertiary education were found to be second most at risk globally, with 29% (or 36% in the UK) reporting experiences of violence and harassment at work. In comparison, 15% of women with primary education only (25% in the UK) reported the same experiences, highlighting a gap between education levels.
Globally, those already affected by discrimination outside of work – for instance gender, ethnicity or disability-based – are twice as likely to experience violence and harassment in the workplace (39% compared to 16%). In the UK, 48% of those who had experienced discrimination on the basis of gender had faced violence and harassment at work.
Suzanne Maybud, an international consultant on gender equality and women’s advancement in the workplace, commented: “While many are aware of violence and harassment in the workplace, the country-specific figures, provided by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, are especially valuable to showcase just how widespread it can be in any given location – and who’s most at risk.
“While certain groups, including university-educated women, showed higher rates of violence and harassment in the workplace, it’s important to remember other vulnerable groups may not feel as empowered to report it, meaning the actual figures could be even higher.
“There’s almost always a pattern to it. That’s why an inclusive, zero-tolerance approach to labour laws must be taken by policymakers. This will enable those suffering from violence or harassment in the workplace to feel comfortable enough to report it – with the knowledge that there will be real consequences for the perpetuators. By taking a strong stance, lawmakers have a real opportunity to engineer cultural change that can then trickle down to the company level and protect all workers.”
Dr Sarah Cumbers, Director of Evidence and Insight at Lloyd’s Register Foundation, added: “The World Risk Poll provides the first global and comparable measure of violence and harassment in the workplace, information which is critical to support serious and targeted action to tackle the issue in countries around the world.
“While some of the countries and groups that report the highest levels of experience may at first glance be surprising, this granular data helps us to understand both where interventions are needed to address a recognised problem, and where further work may be required to raise awareness and encourage greater reporting.”
To compile the global report, 125,000 people across 121 countries were polled about their experiences of workplace violence and harassment. All those interviewed were given a comprehensive definition of ‘violence and harassment’.
More women taking flight and joining the aviation industry
More women taking flight and joining the aviation industry
In 2021, female pilots made up around 64,979 of total FAA-certified pilots, accounting for only 9%, a recent survey showed. Professions like mechanics, maintenance crew member, or flight engineers are not breaching 10% as well. While women still remain a minority in the industry, there has been a slow but steady increase of female aviation professionals.
Compared to 2017, there has been a 52% increase in women pilots – from 42,694 to 64,979 – and a 20% increase in mechanics – from 6,855 to 8,231. Some even predict that in the near future, one in four pilots will be a woman behind the yoke.
“Unfortunately, the road for women in piloting, aviation mechanics or engineering is still a rocky one,” explains Alison Dsouza, Director of Aerviva Aviation Consultancy, a Dubai-based international consultancy, specialisng in aviation recruitment and document management. “A positive is that while there were no drastic changes in the past 10 years or so, there is a notable increase in women aviation professionals overall. In recent years women became more assertive in terms of pursuing their dream career paths in aviation. This is mostly reflected by the growing number of female pilots across the age groups.”
According to a recent survey, India has taken the spot of the leading country when it comes to female pilots worldwide, with roughly 12.4% – twice the global average. Comparatively, in Ireland just 9.9% pilots are female, whilst in UK only 4.7%.
“On the other hand, we see more women pilots being represented in the media and various campaigns set to bring better spotlight on the industry,” stresses Dsouza. “Such projects encourage both young girls that are still at school and working women to pursue their passion. There is no such thing as a male or female profession, so inspiring both young and old is important. And these slow and steady numbers are, too, changing the game – one step at a time.”
Not only airlines, but training organisations are taking action in shining light on the still-small numbers of women in aviation. Several scholarship programs have been initiated that offer fully funded training for a select number of recipients.
While the progress could have a quicker pace, the steadily increasing numbers and stories of women in aviation give hope that bringing more attention on these role models will encourage more women to pursue a career in aviation – be it a pilot, a mechanic, or a ground handler.
LATEST VACANCY: Head of Faculty – Salary: £75k
VACANCY AT ROFFEY PARK INSTITUTE: Head of Faculty – Salary: £75k
Remote working with some travel to Roffey Park Sites
Become part of Roffey Park Institute’s story and make a difference in the world of work by enabling people to flourish! If you have a passion for developing people and organisations, you are an energetic and engaging leader with extensive experience in designing and delivering high-impact learning solutions, Roffey Park Institute want to hear from you!
Details
Purpose of Role:
The overarching purpose of the role of Head of Faculty is to develop, nurture and lead a high-performing Faculty team of Programme Directors who are focussed on, and committed to, exceptional client experience.
Reporting to the Director of Operations, the Head of Faculty is globally accountable for high-quality programming and resource allocation, for delivery across all areas of Roffey Park Institute including:
- OD Consultancy
- Open Programmes
- Tailored Delivery
Key Relationships:
Working closely with the Head of Client Programme Management and the Head of Research, Thought Leadership and Academic Delivery, the Head of Faculty will work collaboratively to develop a strong team, supporting the integrated delivery of RPI Operations. Other relationships include working with the Director of Sales & Marketing and Director of Business Intelligence & Technology.
Key Responsibilities:
Managing and Nurturing the Faculty:
- Setting the KPIs for the Faculty team with the Director of Operations, in line with the organisations strategy
- Developing collective and individual goals for the team
- Fostering a collaborative culture
- Providing honest feedback and agreeing development plans for team members.
Allocating resources to programmes and business development:
- Working with the Sales and Marketing team to identify business development opportunities, ensuring faculty resources for proposal development are provided.
- Working with the Head of Client Programme Management to determine resource demand and support the allocation of faculty and associate resources to programmes
- Managing the workload of Faculty to ensure the optimal performance and wellbeing of the team.
Fostering the Associate community:
- Identifying the gaps within our Associate pool and taking action to address their concerns
- Ensuring an active, vibrant and engaging Associate pool that is relevant and current, to meet our client’s needs
- Ensuring robust Associate on-boarding and off-boarding processes are in place, arranging regular meetings of the Nominations Committee to consider new Associates
Leading by example in your own area of specialism:
- Having a broad knowledge across all delivery areas to provide support and guidance to the team
- Actively delivering programmes to maintain current practice
- Thought leadership and learning:
- Encouraging and participating in events and activities that profile RPI’s thought leadership
- Fostering a learning culture across the Faculty and Associate pools through the development of communities of practice and associated learning events.
Benefits
Life Insurance
Private Medical Insurance
36 days annual leave
Annualised Hours
About you:
As an energetic and engaging individual, you will have significant experience in team management and leadership. A credible and influential communicator with extensive experience of designing and delivering creative and impactful development solutions, you are able to analyse complex problems and think systemically.
With excellent project management skills, technology proficiency and quality orientation, you are resilient and able to reflect self critically.
Ideally, with a Masters qualification in a relevant discipline and a coaching qualification, you can demonstrate your practical experience in Organisational Design and Development, Human Resources, People Management or Learning & Development
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10th February 2023
Employees report increase in suicidal thoughts, reveals new workplace wellbeing report
Employees report increase in suicidal thoughts, reveals new workplace wellbeing report from Champion Health
A study of 4,170 employees has revealed that the amount of professionals experiencing moderate to high levels of stress has increased, affecting 76% of our workforce, a year-on-year increase of 13%. Worryingly, workers experiencing suicidal thoughts has also increased from 8% to 9%.
Data released recently by global workplace wellbeing provider Champion Health gives an insight into the health and wellbeing of the working population between January 2022 and October 2022.
Financial worries are reported as the leading cause for stress outside of work, cited by 37%, a 23% increase on last year’s report whilst perceived workload features as the highest cause of stress in work (73%).
The data, which has been published in Champion Health’s annual report also revealed that:
- 60% of employees feel anxious with 56% experiencing low mood
- Females are 22% more likely to feel anxious (65% female compared to 53% male)
- Younger workers are most likely to experience anxiety and depression (67% of 16–24-year-olds experience symptoms of anxiety with 61% reporting symptoms of depression and 66% of 25–34-year-olds reporting symptoms of anxiety and 60% claim symptoms of depression)
- Poor mental health negatively affects the performance of 1 in 5 employees
- 81% say that they feel tired and 71% rate their sleep as ‘average’ or ‘worse’
- Over 50% of employees rate their productivity as ‘average’ ‘below average’ or ‘low’ with 61% reporting tiredness impacts productivity
- The survey showed that people feel most energised to work at 10.21am and are least energised at 3.31pm.
In addition, team culture and feeling supported at work positively correlates with mental wellbeing and productivity. Those who report ‘feeling part of a team’ experience greater positive mental wellbeing and feel more productive.
Whilst the findings point to a decline in our workers health, it’s not all doom and gloom as 98% of employees feel motivated to improve their wellbeing. 42% cite they’d like to boost their energy levels, closely followed by 41% reporting they’d like to lose weight. When asked what the barriers are to making health changes, 47% report willpower as the biggest barrier followed by 43% stating they face a lack of time.
Harry Bliss, CEO and co-founder of Champion Health, says that while the findings are worrying there is a positive in the amount of employees reporting they feel motivated to improve their wellbeing and that business leaders have an opportunity to improve workplace culture and support employees to thrive.
Bliss comments: “It’s no surprise that the last few years have been extremely tough on employees, and I’m really concerned about the findings of this report. The fact that workers experiencing suicidal thoughts has increased is terrifying; whilst a 1% increase from last year to 9% may seem low on the face of it, it isn’t, this means that in a workforce of 1,000 staff, 90 will be having thoughts about taking their own lives which could have a devastating impact.
“Leaders need to step up and support their workforce, it is not only the moral thing to do but this research shows poor mental health, stress, and fatigue is increasingly affecting productivity, so it is also within the best interests of businesses.
“Companies can help turn this dangerous pattern around by making employee wellbeing a priority; and doing so goes beyond having much happier employees. It will enable employers to retain great people who are motivated to complete brilliant work, day in, day out.”