Home » Blog
Inclusive leadership: the management of the future?
These days it’s becoming more common for companies to seek input from all levels when it comes to business decision making – with everyone from junior staff to senior managers being invited to have their say. And as the workplace becomes more diverse, is a more inclusive management style the way forward?
Recent research by business diversity campaign organisation Opportunity Now suggests that it could be time for change, with 66% of survey respondents believing that fewer than half the managers in their organisation are ‘great inclusive leaders’. Inclusive leadership is described by Opportunity Now as ‘a leadership style which embraces, encourages and taps into the creativity and ideas which come about in non homogeneous groups’.
Top tips for reducing stress at work
Stress has a way of building up at work. You end up feeling tired, irritable, unable to concentrate – and possibly even have back and neck pain by the end of the day.
Could early exercise make your bank account healthier?
Early to bed, early to rise? According to the old saying, these two habits will make you healthy, wealthy and wise. And while there’s no doubt that a good night’s rest is essential for wellbeing, can getting up early really have an effect on our wealth?
Well, according to recent research it just might – but only if early rising is combined with an early morning exercise routine. The study – carried out by running gear manufacturer ASICS – found that 46% of the early exercisers they surveyed were in the above average salary bracket.
Workplace peeves: what irritates employees
A very interesting article over on the LinkedIn blog caught our imagination recently. Entitled Office Pet Peeves, the post took a look at the kind of things that irritate workers around the globe, drawing information from a survey of 17000 professionals in 16 countries – with some fascinating results. Of the nations surveyed, the ‘most peeved country’ was India, where an average of 19 out of the 38 annoyances listed on the survey affected those surveyed, while the least peeved was Italy with 15.
So, what kind of things annoy people most during the working day? According to the survey results, for Japanese people it’s office pranks, while in Brazil staff are irked by gossip. The top three peeves overall were ‘people not taking ownership for their actions’, ‘constant complainers’ and ‘dirty common areas’.
A healthy approach to homeworking
While homeworking doesn’t look set to replace the traditional office workplace any time soon, it definitely seems to be on the rise – with almost four million employees occasionally working from home or using it as a base. And one major UK bank has over a third of its staff working from home, which just goes to show just how popular homeworking has become.
And next year, the 2012 Olympics are set to bring a surge of homeworking to the UK, as the government looks to reduce the amount of journeys taken in London during what will undoubtedly be an extremely busy time for the city.
Social Media in HR and recruitment
Has your organisation considered drawing up a social media policy?
Social media use has increased a lot in a short space of time: more than half of all staff now visit social media sites while at work using either a computer or mobile phone. To help employers deal with the incredible growth of sites like Twitter and Facebook, Acas has produced a Social networking guide, which provides advice on developing a policy for Social Media in the workplace. There’s also guidance on the site for recruiters – highlighting the key benefits and some of the potential pitfalls of using Social Media in recruiting new employees.
Healthy eating at work – business benefits
Loading ...Does your workplace do all it can do to encourage healthy eating among staff?
If not, it’s definitely something worth considering – a workplace that promotes healthy eating is one that’s proving it cares about the health of those who work there. And with a high amount of UK adults now estimated to be overweight – over 60 percent – there can be an impact on absence rates as well as related problems caused by obesity.
Ask the expert: Back Care Awareness Week
Loading ...Did you know that up to around five million days of sick leave can be attributed to back pain every year? This of course can be detrimental to the productivity levels of your business – but there are things that can be done to help reduce back pain at work.
So in order to provide more information on ways to reduce back pain in the work place, we’re holding an online ask the expert web chat on Monday 17 October and Wednesday 19 October. Our AXA ICAS back care expert, physiotherapist Jan Vickery will be here to answer all your questions on back health, and she’ll be able to provide good information for business owners and HR managers. From posture to treating back pain, we’re looking forward all your questions, so if there’s anything you want to know you can use the comments section below or contact us on Facebook and Twitter.
Optimising office space for motivation and productivity
Loading ...Did you watch The Secret Life of Buildings when it was on television recently?
In the episode on the workplace, presenter Tom Dyckhoff looks at how our office environment affects things like motivation, stress levels and productivity – and in the process, he makes some surprising discoveries: not least that someone’s work space can physically change their brain.
Maternity leave – eternity leave?
A recent Fresh Business Thinking article on management attitudes to maternity leave puts some surprising statistics out there. Possibly the most unexpected figures surrounded returning to work, with a recent survey finding that 64% of employers ‘don’t expect any female employee to return to work following their allocated maternity leave’ – and 16% of the employers surveyed stating that they’d rather staff didn’t return after maternity leave, believing that they would no longer fully be concentrating on the job.
Subscribe via
Follow us on 
