PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

 Earlier this week, data from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation showed that there were 1.7 million active job adverts in the UK during the last week of August with around 193,000 new job adverts posted during those seven days.  In fact, its research shows that the number of new jobs being advertised has remained high over the last three months with Wales having the highest active job postings during this period. However, as the press has highlighted recently, all businesses (but especially those in the hospitality and haulage industries) have struggled to get the workers they need with some having no option but to reduce their operations as a result. Of course, the jobs market is still not as clear cut as it was prior to the pandemic, and we will have to wait and see how the gradual closure of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – where employers could furlough those employees at risk of redundancy due to the pandemic – will pan out in terms of creating opportuniti...

Imagine finishing work on a Thursday evening and then not having to go back to your employer until Monday morning? The idea of a four-day working week is what an increasing number of economists, thinktanks and even businesses are contemplating for a whole variety of different reasons including increased productivity, greater work-life balance and more efficient use of resources within both large and small organisations. Whilst some in industry may be thinking that this may have a negative impact on their businesses, the reality is that for many years there has been a realisation that too many hours of working are not good for productivity or, more importantly, for the health of workers. In fact, John Maynard Keynes suggested back in 1930 that advancements in. technology and living standards would result in a fifteen hour week by the end of the century with the main challenge being the use of an individual’s time to live “wisely” rather than working for other people. And whil...

Stress in the workplace is becoming a major issue for organisations and according to the latest statistics, there were 488,000 cases of work related stress, depression or anxiety last year, which equates to roughly 1.5 workers out of every 100 in the UK. Whilst this may seem low, it actually means a loss of 11.7 million days across all businesses (or roughly ten per cent of each affected worker’s time). Not surprisingly, public service occupations such as health workers and teachers show the highest levels of stress with reasons such as workload pressures, including deadlines, too much responsibility and lack of management support, cited as being the main factors. These are merely the official statistics for those who actually time off and do not include the millions of workers who still come into work but who may be demotivated by their job or where they work because of factors such as low pay, few opportunities for promotion and a lack of challenging work. But it is...

Those experts who have been gazing into their crystal ball to try and determine what will be the future trends affecting businesses in 2016 have largely focused on rapid changes in the digital economy such as big data, the internet of things, and the growth of wearable technology. Yet as companies consider how issues such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality will affect their business, I believe that some of more significant changes that will take place this year will be more about people rather than technology. That is not to underestimate the importance of the latter to the way that firms can develop their businesses but with a growing economy inevitably leading to skills shortages, one of the key issues for businesses in Wales and beyond will be about the attraction and retention of talent. As we know, people are much more mobile in their careers today and staying with one employer for life is now a rarity. Indeed, research has suggested that today’s young employee...