PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

Earlier this month, this column examined some of the reasons behind the so-called “Great Resignation” phenomenon that had seriously affected the US economy and examined some of the reasons as to why employees were leaving their jobs following the Covid pandemic. Interestingly, a new study on mental health in the workplace by the accountants Deloitte found that 28% of employees have either left in 2021 or are planning to leave their jobs in 2022, with 61% citing poor mental health as the reason they are leaving.  Why is this happening now? The report seems to suggest that job insecurity due to the impact of the pandemic meant that many had delayed switching their employers or leaving to start a new position or a new business.  However, the opportunity to do something different in a buoyant jobs market  as opposed to continuing with long hours and increased stress in their current position has resulted in nearly 30% of the workforce leaving their current employer. And at a ...

Just as we thought that 2021 would return to some sort of normality, reports of a new mutation of Covid emerging from South Africa changed all of that overnight and during the last few weeks, the so-called Omicron variant has spread like wildfire across the globe.  Fortunately, the initial data from those countries affected first suggests that whilst it is more infectious, it is a milder illness that largely resembles a common cold and, more importantly, the highly successful vaccination programme along with booster jabs has ensured higher levels of protection. Despite this, and largely because of the dearth of any real information about the variant at the time, governments around the World rushed to impose new restrictions which ranged from closing borders to restricting access to hospitality for unvaccinated citizens.  Here in the UK, a different approach was taken by each of the devolved nations and the UK Government with Wales imposing restrictions that some have argued ha...

A few years ago, mental health was not seen as an important issue within many workplaces across the UK. Fortunately, this issue has changed and it is now seen as not only a key concern personally for a growing number of employees but as a major influencer on productivity within the UK economy. For example, recent studies have shown that mental health issues results in 91 million working days lost in the UK every year which is equivalent to nearly £100 billion. For example, a report published by the medical technology company Mynerva which suggested that around 7.5 million workers in the UK are suffering from some sort of mental health issue and, worst still, 44 per cent have not informed their employer as they feel it may damage their job prospects. Another study – the Stress Epidemic – showed that found that over two thirds of UK workers experienced high to moderate stress levels with 42 per cent of regularly losing sleep because of workplace stress. One key issue regarding men...

The issue of mental health within the workforce has become a key concern for many employers over the last 12 months. More relevantly, both the UK and Welsh Governments have recognised that this issue is one in which they can intervene by promoting better wellbeing within both public and private organisations. A report last year by Monitor Deloitte - the multinational strategy consulting practice of Deloitte Consulting - showed the extent of this problem within the UK and, more relevantly, the negative impact on the UK economy. It estimated that poor mental health costs UK employers between £33 billion and £42 billion each year which is made up largely of absence from work (£8 billion), presenteeism i.e. attending work whilst ill and therefore not performing at full ability (£17 billion-£26 billion) and employee turnover due to mental health (£8 billion). Whilst the public sector makes up roughly a fifth of the UK labour force, it is responsible for around a quarter of the tota...

Last year, one of the most popular articles from my weekly column for the Western Mail examined happiness in the workplace and the growing realisation by many organisations that a failure to look after your workforce could impact performance and profitability. And this important issue of wellbeing in the workplace looks set to continue with many organisational analysts suggesting that it will be one of the key trends affecting business in 2018. In fact, with one in six workers being affected by anxiety and depression, this is becoming an issue not for individual organisations but for the UK economy as whole. This is not surprising given that there is increasing evidence of high staff turnover in a growing number of industries that is being caused by high levels of stress and burnout amongst employees. In the past, most of the emphasis by organisations has been on the physical wellbeing of their employees through programmes such as gym memberships, subsidised bicycle programmes...

One of the defining academic papers on enterprise is the “Dark Side of Entrepreneurship” by Manfred Kets De Vries. Whereas much of the previous research into the motivations of business founders had focused on positive traits such as achievement, this study took a very different view on what made entrepreneurs different to the rest of the population. Yet it is a theme that few have returned to in recent times although there have been increasing concerns that those who start-up businesses, enthused by caricatures of those highly successful entrepreneurs who work 100 hour weeks, are starting to suffer because they are usually ill-equipped to deal with such pressures. With such terms such as “failure is not an option” “sleep is for wimps” and “pick yourself up by your bootstraps” bandied about many start-up ecosystems across the World, it is somewhat surprising to find that some entrepreneurs have begun to talk about the real problems they faced every day in running their busines...