Industry news
Millennials at risk NEW RESEARCH from Bupa reveals that it’s now the norm for younger workers to constantly dip into work via email in the early morning and late evening. The average millennial (i.e. those born between 1982 and 2000) first checks their email at 6.37am and clocks up more than twelve hours a day of work time which is 56 minutes more than their Gen X and Baby Boomer co-workers. The majority (82%) of millennials say they check their work emails first thing in the morning and last thing at night, in comparison to 66% of over-35s. Some 47% feel obliged to check and respond to work emails despite being off sick with 32% having the same feeling when on annual leave, which could lead to burnout and affect long-term physical and mental health. Email overload amongst under-35s has reached unhealthy levels, with 42% saying they would feel stressed if they were not able to access their emails, compared with a 22% of employees aged 45–54 years old. Some 22% of millennials believe they would be viewed as uncommitted to their job if they did not respond to emails outside of work hours. A third (33%) believe that their career progression could be impacted if they only respond to work emails in work time, compared with less than 10% of employees over 55 years old. Pablo Vandenabeele, Clinical Director for Mental Health at Bupa UK, said: ““The long-term pressure to respond to work emails at all times can lead to irritability, anxiety, depression and even more physical symptoms like aches, chest pains and stomach issues.” Carolyn Horne, regional vice president, UK & Ireland, Workday, said “We are looking forward to supporting the British Heart Foundation in its own transformation efforts and welcome the charity to the Workday community.” Charity selects Workday THE BRITISH Heart Foundation, the UK’s leading heart charity and the largest independent funder of cardiovascular research, has selected Workday to spearhead its human resources (HR) transformation. The charity’s shop managers will now spend less time on administration and more time on shop floor and sales, and duplication of work and data entry will be eliminated by a single, integrated system of record. Kerry Smith, the charity’s director of people and organisational development, commented: “We wanted an HR system that would help transform the organisation and Workday met all our criteria. It will be a huge step forward for us as an organisation and something that matches our own ambitions and vision for where we want to go as a charity.”
IR35 solution AN INDUSTRY-FIRST IR35 solution has been developed by contractor tax adviser, Qdos Contractor, and global professional recruitment group, Hays, with the former providing an outsourced compliance facility. The solution allows public sector engagers to comply with the reforms, enables fair and continued use of contractors working through personal services companies in the public sector, and ensures each contractor is given a fair, individual and expert IR35 assessment Central government departments, local authorities and educational establishments are utilising the solution’s independent and impartial assessments. Some organisations that initially made ‘blanket’ decisions that their entire population of off-payroll workers were inside IR35 have since started using the solution. Seb Maley, chief executive officer of Qdos Contractor, commented: “This industry-first solution is proof that changes to IR35 in the public sector can in fact be managed on a large scale and when it matters. It has been built to protect each party: the contractor, the agency and the public sector engager.” Steve Witts, group head of tax and treasury at Hays, added: “Hays has been at the forefront of discussions with HMRC surrounding IR35 public sector reform, and has been working with our contractors and clients to help them understand and respond to the new legislation. Within the public sector the level of confusion surrounding this legislation remains high, and long-held misconceptions are potentially driving the behaviour of key influencers within the public sector supply chain.” Office oracles ACCORDING TO recent research from Trainline for Business, the unsung heroes of the workplace – the so-called ‘office oracles’ – are worth £525 million annually to small- to medium-size enterprises (SMEs) with those working within the technology sector worth the most. The research reveals that, on average, office oracles complete sixteen key tasks per day and spend over 215 minutes per week assisting co-workers. Office-oracle tasks include: ● creating graphs and animations in presentations: 109 minutes ● assisting with formulas and graphs in spreadsheets: 102m ● organising networking events: 55m ● helping colleagues manage their diaries and inboxes: 48m ● setting up conference call software: 47m ● booking business travel for colleagues: 46m ● changing toner or replacing ink cartridges in the printer: 44m. Many office oracles (86%) agree that desktop-based tools and apps help them to streamline their daily workload, saving them up to 570 minutes per week. Some 75% claim they are more likely to work harder if they receive praise, acknowledgement or a simple “thanks” for their efforts from co-workers or senior colleagues.
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | October 2017 | Issue 34 52
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