A small majority of employers (55 per cent) welcome plans by the Government to introduce legislation requiring them to offer flexible working to all employees, according to research out today from Hays, the leading recruiting expert. Seventy per cent expect an increase in requests for flexible working and nearly 40 per cent are bracing themselves [...]

By encouraging workers to bond down the pub well-meaning employers could be contributing to health problems for their workforce. This is according to new research released today by Aviva.
Over half of business leaders (57%) questioned in Aviva’s fourth Health of the Workplace report, published next month, claim that socialising at work usually involves going to [...]

In the build up to September’s Stress Prevention and Mental Wellbeing Forum, Kevin Young, general manager EMEA, SkillSoft explains how stressed staff can be supported in a way that benefits the entire organisation.
It had to happen sometime; suddenly positive thinking is getting a negative press. Since the publication of the book Smile or Die [...]

A shortage of talent in the renewable energy sector is inflating salaries as companies strive to halt defections to competitors, according to a new study by global management consultancy Hay Group.
In contrast to the rest of the UK market in general, organisations are pushing up pay in order to hold on to key talent, according [...]

CBI has offered a largely positive appraisal of the emergency budget. Reacting to the Chancellor’s Budget speech, Richard Lambert, CBI Director-General, said:
“The Chancellor has achieved his twin objectives of setting out a credible plan for the public finances and producing a convincing growth strategy for the longer-term.
“Mr Osborne is close to achieving his 80:20 ratio [...]

The Fawcett Society has offered its verdict on Chancellor George Osborne’s emergency budget; suggesting it will make women in the workplace worse off.
Ceri Goddard, Fawcett’s Chief Executive, said:
“While the government has done what it can to portray this budget as reaching into all our pockets, the reality is some in the UK will be worse [...]

The Royal Navy has one of the “most complex HR tasks in the UK” when it comes to workforce planning, a CIPD conference heard yesterday.
Satisfying the level of demand for personnel, but avoiding an over-supply of staff which government budgets would not pay for, posed a “manning conundrum”, according to Commander David Cox, a strategic [...]

CIPD members overwhelmingly support the proposal that there should be more in the public sector, an opinion poll has suggested.
The weekly poll found that 83 per cent are in favour of such reform, put forward in the institute’s report Coping with Less: Pay and pensions in the public sector. Only 13 per cent disagreed [...]

As recruitment budgets are slashed in the wake of the recession, businesses are instead choosing to invest in their existing staff to strengthen the workforce – and one corporate venue is responding to the challenge.
The Colloquy, an independent corporate retreat on the Herefordshire Welsh borders, has unveiled a new residential events package that has been [...]

UK businesses may not be living up to their technological potential because workers have not fully developed skills to make it a possibility, according to one industry body.
The National Computing Centre (NCC) has suggested that incomplete or curtailed training programmes can mean companies’ investment in IT not translating into better productivity.
Michael Dean, head of marketing [...]