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3rd October 2022
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THE HOT STORY
Bosses turn to forgotten workers to help plug workforce gaps
The Sunday Times’ Matilda Davies looks at efforts to plug post-pandemic gaps in the workforce as firms struggle to recruit enough staff despite a recent hiring spree. Data show that the number of households in which no one is employed is on the rise, hitting a five-year high of 4.2m in June. The number of “economically inactive” people – those not in employment and not seeking employment - has also been climbing. In the three-month period to July, about 22% of the UK population aged 16 to 64 was economically inactive. Tony Wilson, a director at the Institute of Employment Studies, says the increase comes as older people are leaving work and a lot of people are unable to work due to long-term ill health. Some firms are targeting older and retired workers to fill roles; some are retraining existing staff to cover areas where there are shortages; while others have developed training and apprenticeship programmes to tackle skills gaps.
PERSONAL RESILIENCE
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CULTURE
Bullying at work — why it happens, what can be done
The FT’s Alicia Clegg says workplace abuse is common but hard to eradicate, and while organisations say they abhor bullying, few tackle the power imbalances that advantage bullies and weaken victims.
REMOTE WORKING
Firms yet to see return to office surge
Joanna Partridge in The Observer says that while pandemic-related restrictions were lifted months ago, there has not been a large-scale return of office workers to their desks. She says a “tug-of-war is playing out” between those who wish to see flexibility about where and when people do their jobs become a permanent fixture, and those keen to return to pre-pandemic patterns. Analysis from property consultancy Remit shows that the daily average number of employees in England and Wales working from the office hit its highest level since May 2021 in the first full working week of September. However, this high was just 31%. In London, office occupancy reached 50% on single days in the West End and Docklands - the latter destination being home to many banks and financial institutions “which have been loud proponents of ‘back to office’.”
REMUNERATION
Over half of workers feel ‘underpaid’
Research from Indeed shows that 52% of British workers believe they are being underpaid, with 22% opting to either ask for a raise or seek a new job. Of the 13% who sought a higher wage, 61% either received less than they requested or received no raise at all, while women were more likely to be refused a raise (38%) compared to men (29%). The survey also shows that 76% of workers feel employers should provide support to staff amid the cost of living crisis. The poll of 2,500 workers found that staff within the health and medical industry were most likely to feel underpaid, at 64%. Those in hospitality and leisure (61%) and the legal sector (58%) were the next most likely to feel that their salaries are insufficient. Reflecting on the findings, Matt Burney, senior talent strategy advisor at Indeed, notes that many workers feel underpaid, observing: “This perception could worsen as high inflation continues to eat into people’s earnings and as the macroeconomic situation appears less certain.”
WORKFORCE
Retired will return to work as pensions fail to match price rises
According to new research for My Pension Expert, hundreds of thousands of retired people are considering returning to work because the rising cost of living has derailed their plans. More than a third of retired workers questioned said they were concerned that they would not be able to sustain the lifestyle they wanted in retirement. Of the 2,000 adults polled, 6% of the 466 retired people said they were likely to return to work in the next few months to top up their income from their pension. The survey saw 12% of pensioners questioned say they had assumed that the rate of price rises would remain low when making plans for their income in retirement. Now that prices are rising at their fastest pace in a generation, their financial plans have fallen short. Andrew Megson, executive chairman of My Pension Expert, said: “As the cost of living crisis bites harder, we’re seeing a worrying spike in unretirement. It’s a hugely important issue – after working and saving for decades, having to re- enter the workforce will be a bitter blow to many retirees.”
Ombudsman admits to losing a quarter of staff every year
The legal ombudsman service was still struggling to keep hold of staff months into its renewal plan, it has emerged. Elisabeth Davies, the chair of the Office for Legal Complaints, said annual attrition rates were still at 24.9% in June. The figure was higher than six months previously and was despite the 2022/23 business plan explicitly stating that reducing attrition across the business was a key priority. The loss of staff has had a knock-on effect in recent years on the number of cases being concluded, which has added to a backlog of unopened cases that reached 5,677 last year. Davies offered assurances that an external pay benchmarking exercise was underway.
Girls want job flexibility and shun office roles
Research commissioned by the Girls’ Day School Trust shows that fewer than 20% of girls want to work in an office, while 75% want to work flexibly. The survey of girls and young women aged 9 to 18 across state and private schools in England and Wales shows girls are twice as likely to say they want to do a job they enjoy than to be rich. While 42% want to take on leadership roles, when asked to rank their career ambitions, being a leader was the lowest priority. Just 33% want to be their own boss. The report also shows that girls’ confidence in getting the job they want dipped between the ages of 14 and 18, slipping from 46% to 20%.
HIRING
Worker poll flags cost concerns
Research from Adecco Group shows that more than four in ten workers are looking for second jobs as costs continue to soar, with 63% saying their pay is not enough to cover their bills for eating and heating. Almost half of those polled are thinking of looking for better paid jobs in the next 12 months, with many expecting to find one within six months due to the high number of vacancies. Adecco Group’s Valerie Beaulieu-James said companies must offer a strong work-life balance if they want to retain staff, saying this will “make a difference for those workers who are on the fence between staying or leaving.”
TECHNOLOGY
Software robots are getting better at all kinds of office tasks
Bloomberg reports on how machines are getting better at the white-collar office tasks that were once thought to be the preserve of humans as US businesses race to automate as much as they can amid rapidly rising wages, workers in short supply, and near-record job vacancies. The latest generation of software robots builds on advances in artificial intelligence and machine-learning that enable computers to perform tasks including speech recognition, and make some of the decisions that used to be reserved for employees. Bloomberg observes that the automation of mundane tasks should free up employees for more challenging and satisfying work, but some roles could begin to entirely disappear — without obvious alternatives for the people who earned a living from them.
INTERNATIONAL
Netherlands plans payout to health workers with Long Covid
Government ministers in the Netherlands want to hand a "no strings" €15,000 payout to healthcare workers who developed coronavirus during the early stages of the pandemic and are now living with Long Covid. Dutch care minister Conny Helder told lawmakers that the payout is not meant to be considered as damages, or some form of invalidity benefit, but is a “recognition of the suffering” that healthcare staff have experienced. The cabinet has asked the Council of State, its most senior advisory body, if such a generic payment would be acceptable in law and if it would set a precedent. The two largest Dutch trade unions have threatened to take legal action against the government unless it offers compensation to healthcare workers who have long Covid. They welcomed news of the payout, but say it may be too little too late, Dutch News reports.
Chinese #MeToo trial will be heard far from China
In a civil case that the Wall Street Journal says could galvanize China’s struggling #MeToo movement, a Minneapolis jury is to decide whether JD.com executive Richard Liu raped a Chinese student in the city in 2018. Jingyao Liu is suing the founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant, who was attending an executive program at the University of Minnesota while she was an undergraduate student volunteering for the program. JD.com is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. In China, the #MeToo movement has had few triumphs in the dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct against high-profile men that have surfaced in recent years.  Some Chinese legal experts and activists say victims of sexual assault in China face an unreasonably high bar of proof and that it is easy for alleged harassers to file defamation suits against their accusers.
Few Arabs are entering Israel’s tech sector
Only 1.8% of Israeli tech workers are Arab, according to research by the Start-Up Nation Policy Institute (SNPI) in collaboration with the Israel Innovation Authority and Hasoub, a nongovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting Arab tech entrepreneurs. Arabs comprised 21.1% of Israel’s population as of 2020, according to the Israel Democracy Institute. Considering the question of why there are so few Arabs in Israel's tech sector, Assaf Patir, the chief economist of SNPI who led the report, surmised:  “One possibility is that there is a barrier for these students entering the Israeli ecosystem, it may have to do with discrimination or just geography . . . We do think that the big bottleneck in terms of bringing more Arabs into high-tech is in primary and secondary level education. Only 15% of students who take Israel’s [highest-level math matriculations] are Arab. They are almost 30% of the high school student age group but only 15% of [those matriculations].”
OTHER
Remote exams leading to a rise in cheating
Remote exams are fuelling a significant rise in reports of cheating as students pay for answers or use WhatsApp groups to share information, according to legal experts. Kingsley Napley said there was a 60% increase in students seeking help to defend themselves against cheating allegations this year. The law firm has received more than 60 enquiries relating to academic misconduct this year, of which 23 were made in September alone. Shannett Thompson, a lawyer at Kingsley Napley, warned that universities needed to be more fervent in warning students against cheating and said investigations varied at different universities.
 


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