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Long-term sick responsible for growth in economic inactivity 

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Long-term sick responsible for growth in economic inactivity 

Matthew Pinto-Chilcott, Owner of Consensus HR comments: “The Guardian – Long-term sick responsible for growth in economic inactivity  amongst other papers have written more about the sick and getting them back to work with this report stating that the number of long-term sick has risen by more than 350,000 since the start of the Pandemic.  As a HR Consultant / former Operations Manager, managing employee sickness is never easy can if not careful be put on the back burner and never managed / ignored.  All people unfortunately get sick at one time or another but by having the correct Policies & Procedures in place and managing appropriately with tools such as the Bradford Index, companies can ensure that the member of the team gets any support that is needed, the correct medical advice is sourced and the employee gets back to work when appropriate for the benefit of the business and member of the team.”

NEWS ARTICLE: Long-term sick responsible for growth in economic inactivity 

Experts say Government efforts to get early retirees back to work to boost the economy are misguided and ministers should be focussed instead on tackling long-term sickness to reduce economic inactivity. “There is a real risk of the government barking up the wrong tree when it comes to the growth in economic inactivity,” a report from the consultancy LCP says. The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, previously urged the over-50s to get off the golf course while the Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stride, is preparing an urgent review of options to boost workforce participation. Sir Steve Webb, the former pensions minister who co-authored the LCP report, said rising long-term sickness and NHS waiting lists were much more significant than early retirement. “We were gobsmacked by what we found,” Webb said. “It turns out there are fewer earlier retired today than at the start of the pandemic.” However, the number of “long-term sick” has risen by more than 350,000 since the start of the pandemic, accounting for more than half of the growth in inactivity over that period.

The Guardian

The Human Times

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Long-term sick responsible for growth in economic inactivity 

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The Importance of Employee Engagement and How to Improve it

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employee engagement

The Importance of Employee Engagement and How to Improve it

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As a human resources consultant, I have seen first hand the impact that employee engagement can have on a company. Engaged employees are more productive, more likely to stay with the company, and more committed to achieving the company’s goals. On the other hand, disengaged employees can have a negative impact on the company, including decreased productivity, increased turnover, and decreased customer satisfaction.

In this article, we will explore the importance of employee engagement and how to improve it.

What is Employee Engagement?

Employee engagement is the emotional connection that an employee feels to their job and the company they work for. Engaged employees are motivated and committed to their work, and they feel a sense of purpose and fulfilment in what they do. They are also more likely to be creative, innovative, and productive, and they are more likely to go above and beyond what is expected of them.

The Importance of Employee Engagement and How to Improve it

Why is Employee Engagement Important?

There are many reasons why employee engagement is important, including:

 

Increased productivity: Engaged employees are more productive, which can lead to increased profits and success for the company.

 

Lower turnover: Engaged employees are less likely to leave the company, which can save the company time and resources that would be spent on recruitment and training.

 

Improved customer satisfaction: Engaged employees are more likely to provide excellent customer service, which can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

 

Better financial performance: Companies with high levels of employee engagement tend to have better financial performance, including higher profits and stock prices.

 

Improved employee health and well-being: Engaged employees are more likely to be happy and satisfied with their jobs, which can lead to improved health and well-being

The Importance of Employee Engagement and How to Improve it

How to Improve Employee Engagement

Improving employee engagement is an ongoing process that requires commitment and effort from everyone in the organisation. Here are some steps that you can take to improve employee engagement:

 

Communicate effectively: One of the key factors in employee engagement is effective communication. Make sure that employees are aware of the company’s goals, strategies, and plans, and encourage them to share their thoughts and opinions. Encourage open and honest communication, and provide opportunities for employees to ask questions and provide feedback.

 

Recognise and reward employees: Employee engagement can be improved by recognising and rewarding employees for their achievements. Provide opportunities for employees to be recognised for their contributions, and use a variety of recognition programs, including bonuses, promotions, and public recognition.

 

Provide opportunities for growth and development: Engaged employees are those who feel that they are making progress and growing in their careers. Provide opportunities for employees to learn new skills, take on new responsibilities, and advance in their careers. Encourage employees to pursue their passions and interests, and provide support for their professional development.

 

Foster a positive work environment: Employee engagement is positively impacted by a positive work environment. Encourage collaboration, teamwork, and a supportive culture, and provide opportunities for employees to connect with one another, both professionally and personally.

 

Empower employees: Engaged employees are those who feel that they have control over their work and that they are making a meaningful contribution. Empower employees by giving them the resources, information, and support they need to do their jobs effectively. Encourage employees to take ownership of their work and to make decisions that will benefit the company.

 

Measure and track employee engagement: To determine the effectiveness of your employee engagement initiatives, it is important to measure and track employee engagement. Use surveys, focus groups, and other tools to assess employee engagement, and analyse the results to identify areas for improvement. Regularly gather feedback from employees to understand their needs, concerns, and opinions. This can help you identify areas of the company that need improvement, and it can also help you see the impact of your engagement initiatives.

 

Address employee concerns: One of the biggest reasons for disengagement is when employees feel that their concerns are not being addressed. Make sure that employees have a clear and effective way to voice their concerns, and that they feel confident that their concerns will be heard and addressed. Be proactive in identifying potential issues and addressing them before they become major problems.

 

Lead by example: Finally, it is important for leaders to lead by example and to demonstrate the importance of employee engagement. Show your commitment to engagement by actively participating in initiatives and programs, and by making engagement a priority in your own work. Encourage and motivate other leaders to do the same, and create a culture that values and supports employee engagement.

 

Employee engagement is an essential aspect of a successful company, and it is important for businesses to make it a priority. By improving employee engagement, you can increase productivity, lower turnover, improve customer satisfaction, and achieve better financial performance. To improve engagement, companies need to communicate effectively, recognize and reward employees, provide opportunities for growth and development, foster a positive work environment, empower employees, measure and track engagement, address employee concerns, and lead by example. Investing in employee engagement will not only benefit the employees, but it will also benefit the company as a whole.

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YOUR OUTSOURCED HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT.

For further information on any of the HR subjects we provide, please click the heading below:

The Importance of Employee Engagement and How to Improve it

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Health & Safety

Company fined £120,000

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Health & Safety

Matthew Pinto-Chilcott, Owner or Consensus HR comments: “Well, another death reported by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) due to an employee working at Heights and not having the correct equipment for the job and falling to his death.  In this situation the HSE stated that the company had not planned for getting the rope access equipment on to and off the roof safely, and provided no instructions to the operatives.  The HSE provides excellent guidance on roof work which can be found on their website or by clicking here.”

A company has been fined £120,000 after a dad died following a fall from the roof of a building site.

Father-of-one Dennis Vincent, 36, and another worker were using ropes to install a lightning protection system to the front of a Warrington office block being converted into flats.

Mr Vincent, who was from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, was lowering the access equipment from the roof, using a rope attached to a frame at roof level and a handrail at ground level. As he did so, both he and the frame fell from the roof to the ground.

The incident happened on 24 February 2021 at Palmyra House, Palmyra Square in Warrington.

Palmyra House, Palmyra Square

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Mr Vincent’s employer, PTSG Electrical Services Limited, failed to adequately assess the risks associated with this work, giving little consideration to the work at height hierarchy of control and opting for personal protection measures over more suitable collective protection measures, such as scaffolding or a mobile elevating work platform (MEWP).

In addition to this, the company had not planned for getting the rope access equipment on to and off the roof safely, providing no instructions to the operatives.

HSE guidance on roof work can be found at: Construction – Roof work industry health & safety (hse.gov.uk)

PTSG Electrical Services Limited, of Flemming Court, Whistler Drive, Castleford, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £5448.51 in costs at Wirral Magistrates’ Court on 9 February 2023.

HSE inspector Sara Andrews said: “Our thoughts today are with the family of Dennis Vincent, a young dad and husband who did not return home on 24 February 2021 because of the failings of his employer.

“This incident could easily have been avoided by better planning of the work to ensure adequate controls were in place to prevent falls from the roof. Whilst rope access techniques are appropriate in some circumstances, they should only be used if more appropriate measures, such as fixed scaffolding, cannot be.

“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

A further two companies will appear at Liverpool Crown Court later this year in relation to the incident, after pleading not guilty at an earlier hearing.

Health & Safety

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Gen Z workers may be feeling the strain more than anyone 

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Gen y

Gen Z workers may be feeling the strain more than anyone 

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Consensus HR

Matthew Pinto-Chilcott, Owner of Consensus HR comments: “This is a very interesting article by Megan Carnegie in BBC Work life in relation to Gen Z and relates to our previous blog – ‘Young people seek to make friends.  It would be seen that Gen Z do not have the confidence in the workplace as was the case with previous generations and need to be introduced to the company using different methods.  It would seem from this article and other articles I have read recently that Gen Z need to be coached and supported more to feel part of the company and flexibility is key.  It would also seem that the need for structured performance meetings (Appraisals) are key to ensure they feel part and well equipped in the company. More than ever, businesses need to ensure that they practice good HR and use best practice processes such as user-friendly inductions / performance reviews and coaching whilst ensuring that the team all know how important everyones roles are to the success of the business and team.  What are your views?

NEWS ARTICLE:  Gen Z workers may be feeling the strain more than anyone 

BBC Work life wonders whether Gen Z is the most stressed generation in the workplace. According to Cigna International Health’s 2023 poll of almost 12,000 workers around the world, 91% of 18-to-24-year-olds report being stressed – compared to 84% on average. “In its essence, work is at a very uncertain time,” explains London-based Eliza Filby, a generational researcher, who advises companies on managing and recruiting people in their 20s. “There’s horrendous stress about layoffs for everyone.” Meanwhile, October 2022 data from McKinsey indicates that employed Gen Zers were more likely than other respondents (26% versus 20%) to report their pay did not enable them to have a “good quality of life.” And LinkedIn data suggests young workers feel ill-equipped in the workplace. The professional networking site’s data from December 2022 shows 18-to-25-year-olds to be the least confident out of all generations in their current job or role. Los Angeles-based Santor Nishizaki, an organisational leadership expert, says leaders can help take the strain off the youngest workers by building what he describes as a culture of purpose and impact. “Gen Zers want to work for an organisation that offers flexibility, a boss who is a coach and a mentor (rather than a technical expert), frequent communication and clarity on how their work creates a positive impact in the world,” he explains.

 

BBC Worklife

The Human-Times

Anti-Slavery Day | Consensus HR in Herts & Beds.

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YOUR OUTSOURCED HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT.

For further information on any of the HR subjects we provide, please click the heading below:

Gen Z workers may be feeling the strain more than anyone 

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UK’s youngest workers face a challenging economic future. | Consensus HR - Herts, Beds

The History of Human Resource Management (HRM)

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The History of Human Resource Management

The History of Human Resource Management (HRM) begins around the end of the 19th century, when welfare officers (sometimes called ‘welfare secretaries’) came into being. They were women and involved with the protection of women and girls. Their creation was a reaction to the:

  • Harshness of industrial conditions
  • Pressures arising from the extension of the franchise
  • Influence of trade unions and the labour movement
  • Campaigning of enlightened employers, often Quakers, for what was called ‘industrial betterment’

As the role grew there was some tension between the aim of moral protection of women and children and the need for higher output.

20th century developments

The First World War accelerated change in the development of personnel management. Women were recruited in large numbers to fill the gaps left by men going to fight. This meant reaching agreement with trade unions (often after bitter disputes) about ‘dilution’– accepting unskilled women into craftsmen’s jobs and changing manning levels.

During the 1920s, jobs with the titles of ‘Labour Manager’ or ‘Employment Manager’ were introduced to the engineering industry and other industries where there were large factories. The role involved handling absence, recruitment, dismissal and queries over bonuses. Employers’ federations, particularly in engineering and shipbuilding, negotiated national pay rates with the unions, but there were local and district variations and there was plenty of scope for disputes.

During the 1930s, the economy was beginning to pick up. Big corporations in these newer sectors saw value in improving employee benefits as a way of recruiting, retaining and motivating employees. But older industries such as textiles, mining and shipbuilding were hit by the worldwide recession. These sectors did not adopt new techniques, seeing no need to do so because they had no difficulty in recruiting labour.

The Second World War brought about welfare and personnel work on a full-time basis at all establishments producing war materials. The Ministry of Labour and National Service insisted on it, just as the Government had insisted on welfare workers in munitions factories in the previous conflict. The Government saw specialist personnel management as part of the drive for greater efficiency. As a result, the number of people in the personnel function grew substantially; there were around 5,300 in 1943.

 

The History of Human Resource Management
Reward

Reaping the rewards of HR

Reaping the rewards of HR

By 1945, employment management and welfare work had become integrated under the broad term ‘personnel management’. Experience of the war had shown that output and productivity could be influenced by employment policies. The role of the personnel function in wartime had been largely that of implementing the rules demanded by large-scale, state-governed production. As a result, the image of an emerging profession was very much a bureaucratic one.

Following the development of poor industrial relations during the 1960s, a Royal Commission under Lord Donovan was set up. Reporting in 1968, it was critical of both employers and unions; personnel managers were criticised for lacking negotiation skills and failing to plan industrial relations strategies. At least in part, Donovan suggested, these deficiencies were a consequence of management’s failure to give personnel management sufficiently high priority.

In the 1960s and 1970s employment started to develop significantly. At the same time personnel techniques developed using theories from the social sciences about motivation and organisational behaviour. Selection testing became more widely used and management training expanded. During the 1970s, specialisms started to develop with reward and resourcing, for example, being addressed as separate issues.

Around the mid-80s, the term ‘Human Resource Management’ arrived from the USA. The term ‘Human Resources’ is an interesting one; it seemed to suggest that employees were an asset or resource-like machines, but at the same time HR also appeared to emphasise employee commitment and motivation. At Consensus HR, we always emphasise to clients the importance of making the most of one of your most important business assets and resources: your people.

Today's HR Activities

In today’s HR world we ensure that we cover a number of specialist disciplines, including:

These disciplines ensure that your business is working to best practice, within the law and making maximum use of its team. This offers financial and operational benefits to the business and team.

Join the HR revolution!

 

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