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Employers must consider the risk of kidnap and ransom for worldwide staff
Employers must consider the risk of kidnap and ransom for worldwide staff
Poverty, under-resourced law enforcement, and a resurgence of travel since the pandemic together make for an expected spike in kidnap and ransom cases worldwide, according to expert predictions revealed by Towergate Health & Protection. Employers must be aware of the risks to be able to mitigate against them and provide support to overseas (and UK) employees.
Kidnap and ransom are not necessarily about the worst-case scenario of being taken hostage. It could be the threat of extortion, being forcibly taken to a cash machine to withdraw money, or virtual kidnap, where perpetrators falsely claim they have taken an international traveller hostage to coerce others into paying a ransom.
Sarah Dennis, head of international, Towergate Health & Protection, says: “There are many forms of kidnap and ransom, and it probably happens more often than many employers would think. Companies with overseas employees must make sure their staff are supported.”
There is the risk of exposure to kidnap and ransom in every country, including the UK, but for employees working abroad, it becomes a greater risk. While there is no set age or gender that is more at risk, there are areas of the world where the probability of kidnap and ransom is much higher, including Africa, Asia and South America.
Prior knowledge and planning are both vital in mitigating the risk of kidnap and ransom.
Experts in international travel safety are able to provide reports relating to the risk levels of political situations, crime levels and conflicts within a region. They are also able to give guidance on good and bad transport options for an area. Cultural do’s and don’ts are an important part of local knowledge, which can help to avoid situations escalating. There are now mobile apps with on-the-ground, to-the-minute security information, which update more quickly than the Home Office website. These can have a built-in feature where evacuation is automatically advised if the risks become too high.
Widening career paths with the MSc Work & Organisational Psychology
Widening career paths with the MSc Work & Organisational Psychology
The last three years have been a prime example of the changing nature of work, and as occupational psychologists, our knowledge and skills have been brought to the forefront as a profession that offers value to individuals, organisations and society.
The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of wellbeing at work, accelerated technological adaptation, and the adoption of flexible and remote working. Emerging from the pandemic, understanding the psychology of people at work is crucial for any professional who recruits, manages, counsels and develops people in the context of a ‘new normal’ (whatever that may mean in practice!). Organisations will need to motivate, engage, and retain employees, ensure their health and wellbeing, help individuals develop their skills, adapt to new digital technologies at work, and cope with unemployment or re-employment.
One of Strathclyde Business School’s newest Masters courses, the MSc Work & Organisational Psychology has been accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), making it the only BPS-accredited occupational psychology programme in Scotland.
Whether you are interested in a career change or gaining a new specialism, learning more about the psychology of work, or seeking a Stage 1 qualification en route to Chartership, check out the course information below for more details:
Course Information: https://www.strath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduatetaught/workorganisationalpsychology/
Postgraduate Study
Interested in gaining an MSc/Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management while you work?
Strathclyde University offers a two-year, part-time programme intended for human resource professionals, or line managers with people management or devolved HR responsibilities as part of their role.
Part-time study allows you to learn new skills while continuing to stay in employment and earn a salary. The knowledge and skills gained through your studies can be implemented immediately into the workplace, providing benefits to both you and your employer.
Before completion of the programme current students are recognising the value-add of studying part-time as the knowledge and skills gained can be implemented immediately into the workplace.
Apply now study for the MSc/Post Graduate Diploma Human Resource Management at Strathclyde Business School’s Department of Work, Employment and Organisation, a CIPD accredited programme provider.
Our teaching staff are experts in their field. Please get in touch find out how their research and professional activities influences class content or to chat about the programme.
Course information is available from: Karen Morrison, Programme and External Links Manager: karen.morrison@strath.ac.uk
https://www.strath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduatetaught/humanresourcemanagement-part-time/
Give employees more free time to increase work performance, suggests new research
Give employees more free time to increase work performance, suggests new research
Managers seeking to reduce problems caused by employees using too much on-the-job leisure time should offer bonuses that provide more off-the-job leisure time, finds new research from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. Employees spend a considerable amount of their working time enjoying on-the-job leisure, the most significant being private use of the internet, which can cost companies billions of dollars due to reduction in effective working time.
Professor Timo Vogelsang, Assistant Professor from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, investigated the impact of cash or free time bonuses on work performance and leisure time. Participants were asked to complete a task on a computer with internet access which involved moving sliders to randomly predetermined positions.
At the beginning of each task, participants could click the time-out button to access the internet. Subjects were free to choose how to spend their time on the internet and could minimise the internet browser at any time to continue working. In the main experiment, participants were involved in two working periods lasting 30 minutes each.
This study used three groups: one group received €4 for each period, the cash bonus group received €4 for each period and an extra €6 for period one, and the free time bonus group received €4 for each period with an extra 25 minutes to use the internet in period one.
Those given an extra 25 minutes leisure time as a bonus exhibited 60% less on-the-job internet consumption compared to those given extra cash. Also, those given extra leisure time showed increased work performance in terms of completed tasks. This suggests that a cash bonus doesn’t affect employees’ on-the-job leisure time nor their work performance. However, gifting employees more off-the-job leisure time does reduce on-the-job leisure time of employees and increases their performance while working.
Prof Vogelsang says: “This study shows that ‘time is not money’ when using a gift of more off-the-job leisure as a form of management control. Compared to money, time has certain favourable characteristics and affects employees’ behaviour at work. Leisure time is a noteworthy alternative to cash bonuses and the various forms of non-cash bonuses currently in use.”
Off-the-job leisure as a bonus can be implemented by informing employees in advance that they can leave early on certain days or that they will be gifted extra holiday days. This suggests that employees may appreciate a better work-life balance over salary increases.
Women over 50 in Scotland facing significant barriers to their pay and progression in the workplace
Women over 50 in Scotland facing significant barriers to their pay and progression in the workplace
Women over 50 in Scotland require greater support in the workplace to address persistent inequalities in pay and progression, according to the latest research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, conducted on behalf of Scotland’s Fair Work Convention.
Older workers now comprise around a third of the Scottish workforce, and this number is set to increase in the coming years. However, existing data shows that women in this age group often experience greater inequalities in pay than younger women in relation to men. The report calls for employers to take action to improve the experiences and opportunities for older women at work.
The report is based on research with women over 50 and employers in two specific sectors in Scotland: the finance / insurance sector; and the information / communications sector.
The research finds that women over 50 face a number of barriers to better pay and progression in the workplace. In particular, the report calls for employers to increase opportunities for flexible work for this age group, given that these women often have substantial caring responsibilities for their children, spouses, grandchildren and elderly parents. The report also explores women’s concerns in several areas, including:
- recruitment and promotion processes
- skill-gaps compared to younger workers
- the menopause
The research also finds that while many women are concerned about age discrimination, employers often fail to consider age as an important aspect of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The report recommends that employers should increase their monitoring of pay, progression and training by age. Additionally, the report recommends that employers would benefit from increased support and guidance in addressing age discrimination in the workplace.
Katharine Stockland, Senior Social Researcher at NIESR, said: “This report shows that women over 50 experience barriers in the workplace that are specific both to their age and gender. In order to address these challenges around pay and progression experienced by this group of women, employers must reflect on their workplace practices and consider to what extent their training, support and promotion opportunities reflect the needs of this group of women. Especially in the context of labour shortages that have been driven partly by older workers dropping out of the labour market, employers should act now”.
Fair Work Convention Co-Chair’s Mary Alexander and Patricia Findlay added: “We know the challenges faced by women at work do not simply start when a woman turns 50. The impacts of workplace policies and practices that systematically disadvantage women build cumulatively over an individual’s career. What this research demonstrates is that the intersection of age and gender is uniquely shaping women’s experiences of work in ways that are leaving older women significantly worse off both in career progression and in pay.
The Fair Work Convention calls on employers to take urgent action to support older women at work. Employers, the Scottish Government and trade unions all have a role to play in addressing this longstanding and deep-seated inequality, and it cannot just be left to individual older women to address these difficult issues on their own. Our research and response piece gives clear actions that employers and other can take today to improve fair work for older women.”
Survey reveals 1 in 5 employees can’t take time off work due to staff shortages
Survey reveals 1 in 5 employees can’t take time off work due to staff shortages
1 in 5 of the nation’s office workers are being prevented from taking time off work due to staff shortages and reduced resources meaning their requests are denied, a new survey reveals. The Annual Leave Allowances survey, from Just Eat for Business, reveals how office workers utilise annual leave allowance, how their employer promotes holiday entitlement, and how time off impacts work-life balance amidst a move towards flexible working.
Despite annual leave being key to employees taking time off work to rest and re-energise, many of the nation’s workforce are unable to do so due to staff shortages and demands. This follows a recent report that found labour shortages were the ‘most urgent problem’ facing the UK economy right now, with over 1.3 million job vacancies and 900,000 fewer workers today than the Bank of England expected prior to the pandemic.
Staff shortages came out as the biggest disrupter of annual leave requests, while a further 26% of office workers can’t enjoy time off once they are granted it, as they’re contacted by employers to help cover unplanned staff absences and excessive workloads. Furthermore, the majority (60%) of employees feel their employer explicitly discourages them from taking time off work, while 1 in 10 don’t feel able to ask for mental health leave.
This lack of time off is concerning, given that the survey also found 44% of employees report feeling burnt out at work, while a third find trying to maintain a healthy work-life balance to be the most stressful aspect of work. This is despite many organisations advertising flexible working arrangements and generous leave entitlements on job adverts – only then to instil unhealthy working habits in staff.
For Will Foster, Professor of Leadership at Keele University, this isn’t acceptable, as he says: “It’s essential that if the ‘espoused’ values of the organisation include employee wellbeing and restorative breaks, then leaders need to allow that to happen and do more than pay lip service. Management must do the hard work of ensuring the structures, roles, responsibilities and staffing levels align so employees can take a ‘true rest’ when needed.”
For Anni Townend, Leadership Partner, organisations should at least look to encourage regular breaks during the working week even if extended annual leave isn’t manageable. She says: “Annual leave is an important part of a much bigger picture of looking after our life-work balance and of creating a positive work culture.
“Increasingly people are realising that there’s huge value in taking micro-breaks during the day as part of managing employee wellbeing, as well as longer macro-breaks like annual leave. The danger of not doing so is that we lose our ability to switch-off and to disconnect from work. This can impact our sleep patterns and our ability to concentrate, as well as cause extreme mood swings and a weakened immune system.”
Rosie Hyam, People Partner at Just Eat, also weighed in on the survey findings: “Given the emphasis on employee well being and work-life balance over the last few years, it’s essential that employers are receptive to flexible working arrangements, and that they allow employees to take time away from work when needed. And it doesn’t have to be a big break – organisations may want to carve out some time to ensure that employees can take a break and socialise with colleagues during the working week. This can be done through in-office lunches, socials or team bonding activities.”
Report shows half of women are afraid to mention menopause at work and female leaders must speak up
Report shows half of women are afraid to mention menopause at work and female leaders must speak up
Almost half (48%) of menopausal or post-menopausal women don’t feel comfortable discussing the menopause at work according to a new report from GenM, the menopause partner for brands such as Co-op, Royal Mail and M&S. GenM’s new ‘Opportunity Report’ reveals that women’s reluctance to speak on the topic at work stems from a fear of being marginalised, discriminated against, or negatively perceived, the report details. A further 1 in 3 women surveyed said they would feel embarrassed to talk about the menopause.
With recent research showing that almost a quarter of women with strong menopause symptoms women have been forced to quit jobs, unsupportive workplaces can have a real impact on those in this life stage. This tallies with findings from GenM’s existing ‘Invisibility Report’ which revealed that 88% of women wish their workplaces were better set up for menopausal colleagues while over half (52%) of menopausal women say their employer knows nothing or very little about the menopause.
“Women of menopausal age are the fastest growing workforce demographic, so it’s a worrying thought that half of them don’t feel able to speak about it in the workplace,” says Heather Jackson, co-founder of GenM. “Whilst it’s important for business leaders to educate themselves on the menopause, we also need to change the way we see menopause as a society. To normalise the conversation, we need female leaders, in and out of the workplace, to speak up.
“Men also have a part to play in breaking the stigma. In fact, our report shows a third of men (32%) have never had a single conversation about the menopause, which highlights the scale of the issue.”
GenM was co-founded by Heather Jackson and Sam Simister, two businesswomen who found the menopause a nightmare to navigate and suddenly felt invisible to brands with whom they had built loyalty over the years. Together, they created GenM with a clear aim: to unite responsible brands and organisations to improve the menopause experience, normalise the conversation, and support under-served menopausal consumers and employees.
GenM’s Partner brands are already making progress to support menopausal staff at work. The Co-op has enhanced its menopause policy with a series of new initiatives, including a menopause support guide for its 4,500 managers. Going further, the leading retailer has made the free guide publicly available to other employers in a bid to break menopause taboo in the workplace.
Additionally, WW (formally known as Weight Watchers) has implemented its ‘Menopause Matters’ drive, which includes 26 weeks of paid leave; flexible working options; provision of safe spaces and equipment such as a desk fans. The employer has also launched menopause training for mental health first aiders and managers to ensure they have the knowledge required to support menopausal colleagues.
Another example of household brands bolstering their menopause support is Royal Mail. The delivery giant recently launched its ‘Let’s Talk Menopause’ internal campaign to raise awareness, normalise the conversation, and provider greater education.
Heather adds, “It’s important to remember that the menopause can’t be dealt with purely as a workplace issue. The menopause can affect every area of life for those going through it, and it touches every area of business. For true progress, we need to see it as the sum of all parts”.