Advocate | Summer 2016

advocate The magazine from the leading employee benefits advisory

advo group unifying payroll & employee benefits page 06

cipd flexible working creating better working lives page 24

centre for ageing better the importance of retaining older employees page 20 cover feature

mandy hickson the business lessons from a fighter pilot

“You often see in many organisations teams being given jobs, but the leader finding it very hard to let go�

page 12

Issue #18 SUMMER 16

advogroup.co.uk | who we are

ROBERT HICKS, IT SUPPORT, advo group

who we are and what we do...

Advocate Magazine is produced by ADVO Group and published quarterly.

ADVO Group Ltd is an independent employee benefits advisory with a broad-based clientele. Our objective is to be seen as the UK’s most trusted adviser on employee benefits and online management.

ADVO can test prospective clients’ arrangements against our connectedhealthTM benefit benchmark. Please be in touch for further details. We also offer a bespoke interactive online system for multi policy management and amendments.

Employees can also be given access to their personal benefit details, Total Rewards and Flex Benefits and benefit selection portals. Please follow http://soc.advogroup.co.uk for more information.

For general information, and/or to join our online HR community, please follow http://issuu.com/advogroup

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Speak to ADVO for any specific query concerning: • • •

UK & International Private Medical Insurance Online multi policy management Total Reward Statements and Flex and Benefit selection portals • Cash Plans • UK & International Group Life & Dependents cover • UK & International Group Income Protection • UK & International Group Critical Illness cover • Dental & Optical cover • Health Screening • Staff Wellness • Occupational Health sourcing • Payroll & auto-enrolment solutions T: 0845 2578833 F: 01622 769211 E: info@advogroup.co.uk

advogroup.co.uk | what’s inside issue #18

“what’s inside” issue #18

we look at ADVO Group’s recent move towards unifying financial and payroll services with employee benefit management through the acquisition of ‘Payline’

Welcome to the Summer 2016 edition of Advocate magazine, the quarterly digital publication from ADVO Group, one of the UK’s leading employee benefits consultancy.

In this edition, we look at ADVO Group’s recent move towards unifying financial and payroll services with employee benefit management through the acquisition of ‘Payline’. Also, in light of the uncertainty following the result of the EU Referendum, ADVO’s Colin Boxall provides his opinion on whether staff benefits also face a period of change. Colin explores some of the major factors that may yet be effected by the referendum result.

We are also looking at the biggest human resource and occupational health news including the studies that found that 1 in 2 employees

feel they must switch companies to achieve a meaningful pay rise, that employees are spending more time with tea than on work based learning, and that flexible working may be the key to better working lives for Londoners.

We also have fascinating interviews with three very different experts in their fields. Former fighter pilot Mandy Hickson discusses some of the key business lessons learnt from her time in combat, Patrick Thomson discusses the vital importance to the UK jobs market in retaining and recruiting older employees and Kim Harvey of Neuroleaders discusses how good leadership can be learnt from a neuroscience perspective.

Remember that all editions of Advocate magazine are free to read online at issuu.com/advogroup

meet the team at advo group

For more information visit www.advogroup.co.uk

larry bulmer chief executive

colin boxall commercial director

kevin crew it director

gill mateo operations director

Larry Founded ADVO Group in 1997 and remains fully involved in the day-to-day running of the business.

Colin joined ADVO Group’s board in 2008 and has over twenty years employee benefits experience.

Kevin oversees our award winning online service and is further developing staff and flex- benefit platforms.

Gill joined ADVO in 2006 becoming Operations Director in 2013.

lbulmer @advogroup.co.uk

cboxall @advogroup.co.uk

kcrew @advogroup.co.uk

gmateo @advogroup.co.uk

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advogroup.co.uk | contents

CONTENTS ISSUE #18 | summer 2016 advo news Page 06

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ADVO Group unifies payroll services with employee benefits technology with the acquisition of Celerity payroll

Page 08

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ADVO’s Colin Boxall on Brexit and employee benefits

HUMAN RESOURCES news Page 12

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An interview with former fighter pet pilot and motivational speaker, Mandy Hickson

Page 20

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An interview with Patrick Thomson, Senior Programme Manager, Centre for Ageing Better

Page 26

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An interview with Kim Harvey, Neuroleaders

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1 in 2 employees feel they must switch companies to achieve a meaningful pay rise

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Employees spend more time with tea than on work based learning

Page 30 Page 34

ADVO’s colin boxall on brexit and employee benefits page 08

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH NEWS Page 16

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Inspirational managers may harm employees’ health

Page 24

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Flexible working key to better working lives for Londoners

HEALTH NEWS Page 32

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90% of brits fail to link alcohol consumption and the development of cancer

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1 in 2 employees feel they must switch companies to achieve a meaningful pay rise page 30

advogroup.co.uk | contents

MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER & FORMER FIGHTER JET PILOT, MANDY HICKSON page 12

inspirational managers may harm employees’ health page 16

90% of brits fail to link alcohol and the development of cancer page 32

An interview with kim harvey neuroleaders page 26 advocate SUMMER 2016 | advogroup.co.uk | 05

advogroup.co.uk |advo group acquire celerity payroll

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We see a perfect synergy between Payline and ADVO in culture and move to online technology.

We believe many ADVO clients would like the reassurance of linking payroll with staff benefit management

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advogroup.co.uk | advo group acquire celerity payroll

ADVO group unifies financial and payroll services with employee benefit technology with the acquisition of Celerity Payroll Limited www.Advogroup.co.UK First announced earlier this year, ADVO acquired Celerity Payroll Limited, a Newhaven based payroll & BACS Bureau, trading under the name of Payline. ADVO, known for their expertise in managing employee benefits, are establishing themselves as a major new provider in online technology systems for benefit management and communication. Payline delivers effective and flexible online payroll and auto-enrolment solutions to hundreds of employers through their robust inhouse technology systems. ADVO Group’s focus is the SME and smaller corporate market, making the acquisition of Celerity an ideal complement bringing together essential parts of a business saving time and money for clients.

Established in 1989, Payline have a proven track record of excellent service with industry awards and a comprehensive collection of client testimonials. The company have been a Bacs-approved commercial bureau since 2000, and their powerful software has been awarded HMRC recognition for Internet filing every year since their system went live twelve years ago.

Payline’s payroll software is HMRC accredited and complies with all of the latest payroll legislation, including RTI and Automatic Enrolment. Payrolls can be processed quickly and can be tailored a user’s specific needs. Celerity produce either laser printed security sealed payslips or email payslips direct to an employee’s inboxes along with easy-to-understand management reports.

The company currently delivers online payroll and auto-enrolment solutions to over 250 employers demonstrating the company’s strong success and technical competence.

ADVO Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Larry Bulmer comments “We see a perfect synergy between Payline and ADVO in culture and move to online technology. We believe many ADVO clients would like the reassurance of linking payroll with staff benefit management saving time and money.

Our ADVO Online client portals allow SMEs and smaller corporates access to benefit provision and communication previously the preserve of large corporates”.

Colin Boxall, ADVO’s Commercial Director also added “It is our aim to bring together Finance and Human Resources under one system allowing full reporting, management and staff communication across all sectors with essential business and staff services linked and supported by expert advisors.

This will be completely new for UK businesses”.

The integration of Payline into ADVO’s services will look to build The acquisition of Payline will merge upon the success of ADVO’s previous financial and payroll-based services into acquisitions. A recent example, the ADVO’s existing employee benefit and successful acquisition of ‘Health Care human resource based advisory services. Plus’, an Oxfordshire-based specialist The result will be a unique offering employee benefits consultancy. Since within the marketplace and an ideal its acquisition, Health Care Plus has expansion to ADVO’s already widely become a fully integrated and integral recognised and highly innovative online part of ADVO Group’s business. technology platforms.

For more information on Payline please visit www.payline.co.uk. Alternatively, for further information speak to one ADVO Group’s expert advisors on +44(0)845 2578833 or email info@advogroup.co.uk.

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From our perspective staff portals increase understanding & appreciation of benefit spend

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larry bulmer ceo, advo group

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advogroup.co.uk |Advo on brexit & employee benefits

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A broader and richer benefit package could result as pressure on wages creates a renewed focus on retention of staff

colin boxall, advo group advocate summer 2016 | advogroup.co.uk | 08

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advogroup.co.uk | Advo on brexit & employee benefits

As pressures increase on the NHS, employers may find an increase in interest in medical, dental and cash plans colin boxall

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www.advogroup.co.uk

It’s all change, but will your staff benefits also have to change? ADVO’s Colin Boxall comments “The recent political realignments will reach into all our lives, but how will this affect the way UK employers offer benefits to their staff? The simple answer, in the short-term, is very little or nothing at all. In the longer term, its harder to give a more definitive answer. Adjustment in thinking is likely, but the need for protection and retirement provision remain unchanged”.

Colin continues “Agree or disagree, the result of the referendum is known, with our new Prime Minister confirming the course to leave is set. It is, however, generally accepted that it is unwise to make any changes until more is known, and certainly ‘don’t panic’ is the overwhelming message.

available job applicants and staff benefits including pension and wider protection will also likely be effected.

“Much of current UK pensions legislation is based on EU law. The underlying principles of equal gender, protection of members’ benefits on insolvency, and funding requirements “There are likely to be mixed outcomes have been part of UK legislation and and results across all spectrums. For are unlikely to be abandoned. With example, homeowners may see the Pensions, I can also see no reason why value of their house fall but this could auto-enrolment would be amended inversely have a positive impact across although we should expect lower returns the economy by making housing more on investments in the short-term as the accessible with lower mortgages freeing markets re-settle, and also when Article up consumer spending. The pound has 50 is finally triggered. fallen dramatically, but this is already helping to increase exports.

“If the economy dips in the short and medium term, pressure will continue on “Employers’ HR departments will the NHS with less investment available have an increased workload in the and while EU membership dues years ahead as changes start to occur in continue to be paid. employment law as ties to Europe are unpicked and amended. Employment “Stephen Dalton, NHS Confederation in regard to immigration rules and chief executive, stated: “The NHS has

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advogroup.co.uk |Advo on brexit & employee benefits broadly benefitted from being in the EU and leaving it will undoubtedly have implications which are yet to be clearly understood. It is impossible to predict the full impact at this stage, but clearly it is vital that our government seeks a strong, nuanced agreement with the European Union that recognises how interwoven NHS and EU policies have become.”

“As pressures increase on the NHS, employers may find an increase in interest in medical, dental and cash plans from staff as well as their own renewed interest in their wider insurance policies that help with efficiency and absence.

“For those employers covering staff through international policies, there appears to be little concern from insurers over possible impacts. They are well versed in dealing with local legislation and will quickly adapt.

European Union is unaffected.”

“Those employers who are subsidising their overseas staff medical provision through reciprocal state healthcare arrangements will likely have to make new arrangements, but should, however, in my opinion review this now, as relatively small adjustments may only be needed to provide full independent protection outside of any state healthcare provision.

“A broader and richer benefit package could result as pressure on wages creates a renewed focus on retention of staff if necessary employee skills become scarcer.

“There might be benefits in the longer-term, however, as some of the unfavourable red-tape is repealed.

One immediate financial impact the government should consider is the reversal of the recent increases in Insurance Premium Tax where it had been said that this was introduced to bring the UK into line with many other European countries.

“This is confirmed by leading international insurer, Aetna who stated “Our operating model is global, and we have an extensive footprint and business interests across the Americas, Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe. Our ability to support customers and their employees “Although seen as an easy revenue raiser, in accessing health care within the one of the ill-considered effects of the

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it is vital that our government seeks a strong, nuanced agreement with the European Union that recognises how interwoven NHS and EU policies have become

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IPT rise is the significant increase in cost for providing medical insurance and cash plan policies for both employers and individuals. Certainly for self-employed, older and retired individuals, seeing low returns on investments and on fixed incomes, this will likely increase policy cancellation pushing more care back onto the NHS from the private sector.

“One of the dangers will, however, be putting everything on hold. As James holder from The Expat Academy confirms “the biggest risk is that organisations put things on hold whilst we all work out the potential impact. This might include putting on hold projects or simply sending people overseas. Humans, on the whole, don’t like change, but we have to embrace it and move forwards” “There is, however, one certainty… company benefits will continue to form a backbone for remuneration. Employers should continue to promote staff benefits.

Without employers taking the lead, many employees would struggle relying on state support in time of need”.

discover how working with advo improves employee engagement speak to one of our employee benefit advisors today on 0845 2578833

For more information on Advo Group Limited, visit our website www.advogroup.co.uk Advo Group Limited, ADVO House, St Leonards Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 0LS is registered in England (No. 4500663) and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

advogroup.co.uk |AN INTERVIEW WITH MANDY HICKSON

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There were some fairly large obstacles in my way. Firstly, women were not allowed to be fast jet pilots in the RAF at that time

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advogroup.co.uk | AN INTERVIEW WITH MANDY HICKSON

You often see in many organisations teams being given jobs, but the leader finding it very hard to let go MANDY HICKSON

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www.mandyhicksonspeaker.com

Before turning to motivational speaking, Mandy Hickson led an inspiring career as a jet pilot in the RAF. The obstacles that Mandy overcame to succeed in this career path, and the unforgettable experiences gained in the front line have enabled her to draw striking and powerful parallels to the world of business, human resources and management. In this interview, Mandy discusses the value for business and beyond in remaining calm under pressure, the key lessons learnt in her time in the RAF and how she transitioned to her new role as a speaker.

Was flying as a jet pilot something that you aways knew you wanted to do, and were there any particular people or experiences that inspired this career direction?

The first inkling that I would like to be a pilot was when I was about thirteen years old. It all started when my mum was reading an article in the local newspaper. It was all about the fact that the Air Training Corps (a club run by the RAF) was taking girls for the very first time. She enquired of me whether I fancied joining. My first response was to ask what night it was on. Apparently a Tuesday. Sadly Tom Selleck was in Magnum (P I) on that night and as it was my favourite TV programme… there was no way I would be going. She pointed out that they did canoeing, “you like canoeing” she coaxed. “Yes, but not as much as I like Magnum!” I retorted.

She then pointed out that I went to an all girls school and this could be my only opportunity to meet some boys! I joined the next week! It was while I was there I had my first flight in an aircraft,

a chipmunk, and that’s when I set my sights on my chosen career path.

What were some of the biggest obstacles and challenges you faced in your pursuit to become a jet pilot?

There were some fairly large obstacles in my way. Firstly, women were not allowed to be fast jet pilots in the RAF at that time. The second rather large barrier was the fact that when they did open the doors to women, I went on to fail all the aptitude tests to become a pilot! I had approximately two-hundred hours of flying under my belt by this stage and I was devastated. You are only permitted to sit these tests twice, and when I took them again, I failed them again. That should have been the end of the line for me, but fortunately I had joined another club at university (called the University Air Squadron) and the Squadron Commander believed I had the potential to make it to the front line.

He requested that two impartial flying examiners come and assess me. They both graded me as being above average,

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advogroup.co.uk | an interview with mandy hickson so now there was a mismatch! I was taken on as an Air Traffic Controller and I continued to make my case to get a branch change to become a pilot throughout my time of officer training.

Eventually my wish was granted and I was taken on as a test case! They couldn’t understand why a lot of women that were taking the tests were failing them compared to their male counterparts and they wanted to see if perhaps the testing system was biased or flawed in some way.

What led you to later transition from your career in the Royal Air Force into motivational speaking?

Latterly within my career in the RAF I was repeatedly getting asked to go and speak at local schools. I really enjoyed the opportunity this gave me to try and change the mindset that flying fast jets in the RAF was simply a job for men.

There are so few women who have still

flown the Tornado GR4 on the front line (approximately five), and I believe it is so important to create strong female role models for young people to look up to.

Not necessarily to aspire to be a pilot, but to simply think “Well if she can do it, so can I.” I can then be really honest and simply say that I was at a dinner party, we all had a little bit too much to drink and I was telling the story of an operational mission over Iraq when we had a close encounter with the surface-to-air missile.

It just so happened that someone at the dinner party organised conferences and was holding one in a few months’ time.

I was asked to speak at Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire as my first ever event….

Let’s just say the rest is history!

Which single moment or experience as a jet pilot has had the most salience and relevance to your role now as a motivational speaker?

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I believe the single moment with shaped my future was that evening flying over Iraq when we were engaged by an enemy missile

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I believe the single moment with shaped my future was that evening flying over Iraq when we were engaged by an enemy missile. It was a very close encounter but we evaded it due to automatically performing a manoeuvre which we had practised so many times before, but never for real. The consequence of getting this wrong would have been fatal for us both. The subsequent events which followed gave me an insight into true teamwork, leadership, empowerment and decision-making under the most immense pressure. Although this experience may seem incredibly far removed from most business environments, the read-across and parallels are tangible. I was leading my first ever combat mission that night, therefore all the decisions were made by myself and my Navigator, not the Squadron Wing Commander (the Boss), who was my number 2 in the formation.

I felt empowered to lead and trusted to make decisions. I was allowed to get on with it, without input from the top. You

advogroup.co.uk | an interview with mandy hickson often see in many organisations teams being given jobs, but the leader finding it very hard to let go, and allow these teams to make their own decisions, especially when they do not align with the leaders exact thoughts and expectations. If the leader subsequently steps in, then all the trust within the team evaporates and breaks down. It taught me the most valuable lesson of all; to empower a team, the leader must share their mental models, thoughts and vision, then allow the rest of the team to do their jobs. You cannot tell someone within a team they are empowered. As a leader you have to create the environment, provide tools and knowledge to allow those within the team to feel empowered. That is how I felt that night, over the black skies of Iraq… empowered to do my job and happy to be held accountable for my decisions and actions.

Remaining calm under pressure must have been vitally important as a pilot. Do you think the need to effectively manage and cope with pressure is becoming increasingly important for UK businesses and employees?

Remaining calm under pressure is incredibly important as a pilot. The last thing that you need to do when things start going wrong is panic. Something that helps enormously in these situations is the fact we have practised and very often planned for most eventualities.

All emergences are practiced time and time again in the simulator so that when something does go wrong you are almost acting on autopilot. When you’re flying over an enemy border and things don’t go according to plan… again, because we have looked at all the threats and briefed them beforehand, what can seem a crisis situation is no longer that… you’re simply following the plan. We often use the sic ‘P’s – ‘prior preparation prevents perfectly poor performance!’

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Remaining calm under pressure is incredibly important as a pilot. The last thing that you need to do when things start going wrong is panic

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When I am now running my “Business Navigation” sessions, one of the areas I focus a great deal of time on is threat management for businesses. I read across many of our planning processes, for

example, the bowtie concept and I get businesses to run through it for their own environments. I also share our debriefing model. The fact that after every flight we take the time to analyse what went well, what went badly and more importantly, how can we be better the next time. We leave our ranks outside of the room, so encourage everyone, regardless of position and status to speak up. It gives individuals a voice, allowing us to ask question up and down the hierarchical structure.

would speak up. We then swung to the opposite end of the scale, introducing a No Blame Culture. Surely this would open the doors to finding out what was happening ‘beneath the water line’.

But there was a major flaw, if someone has crossed the line and had acted deliberately irresponsibly or violated for self gain, there needed to be a level of accountability. This is how we arrived at the Just Culture, an environment where we are aware that highly trained, competent individuals do make mistakes, may develop unhealthy norms, deviating What are some of the other key lessons from procedures, but there is zero you present as a motivational speaker that tolerance for reckless behaviour. Every were directly shaped from your time as time any incident occurs, it is judged a pilot? through the lens of the Just Culture. We now find out what is actually happening, Since leaving the RAF I retrained as we then know the risks and we know a Human Factors facilitator, I then where to spend the money to prevent the became accredited with the Civil next accident from happening.

Aviation Authority to deliver training to the aviation industry. In delivering this Whether it is the healthcare industry, training it became very apparent to me who have introduced a ‘duty of candour’ that nearly all the lessons that we were an obligation to get people to talk learning within the world of aviation openly about mistakes or whether it’s could easily be distilled into any other the financial sector whereby the focus business. Human Factors cover many now seems to be on behavioural culture, areas; leadership, teamwork, authority things are starting to change. Human gradient, communication, threat and error factors training has been mandatory management, organisational culture, within the aviation industry for twenty stress, fatigue, health… I could go on! years. How sensible would it be to use all of those lessons and distil them down, to What do you feel is currently the most save the wheel having to be reinvented important message you are presenting within each industry. I’m not saying businesses, and has this evolved over that the aviation industry has all the time in-line with changing business answers, but it has certainly made some conditions? great advances in understanding that the human in the system is always the Obviously, if it’s a safety critical industry most important part of any organisation the read across is simple. Within the and by understanding our strengths nuclear power, oil and gas, healthcare and weaknesses a little more, you can and the petrochemical industries; when increase the performance within any an error or mistake is made it can have business. My Business Navigation disastrous implications, often leading to Consultancy uses this learning and shares loss of life. But when you look at many proven techniques. other sectors, when mistakes are made, they can cost a company millions of I absolutely love the position I now pounds leading to damaged reputation find myself in; on one day, motivating and even bankruptcy.

300 teenagers to Reach For the Skies at a school in special measures, the next So how do you talk about mistakes that speaking to corporate clients to identify are made, to create an open and learning ares to strengthen their businesses. The environment, a culture whereby mistakes, next, taking cadets up from local Air if not quite celebrated are not brushed Training Corps, as a volunteer in the under the carpet. The aviation industry RAF, giving them a flying experience, has realised that for every one large passing on my passion for flying to the fatal accident that has happened, there next generation. are normally 30 minor incidents, and Dream It, Believe it, Do it!

300 near misses beneath the waterline.

If you can find out what the near misses are then hopefully you can start to be For more information on Mandy and more proactive, encouraging a learning her incredible career in the RAF visit culture and get people talking openly. mandyhicksonspeaker.com We used to have a blame culture. After all, as Professor James Reason stated, “Blame is a delicious emotion”. But we soon realised that if we blamed people for honest mistakes, then no one

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advogroup.co.uk |inspirational leaders harm employees’ health

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It is possible that high performance expectations pose a risk to both healthy and vulnerable employees and the motivational aspects of transformational leadership may backfire

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prof. karina neilsen, university of east anglia advocate summer 2016 | advogroup.co.uk | 16

advogroup.co.uk | inspirational leaders harm employees’ health

inspirational managers may harm employees’ health according to researchers from the university of east anglia www.uea.ac.uk Managers who inspire their staff to perform above and beyond the call of duty may actually harm their employees’ health over time, according to researchers from the University of East Anglia. The findings suggest that constant pressure from these ‘transformational leaders’ may increase sickness absence levels among employees. They also indicate that some vulnerable employees in groups with transformational leaders may in the long term have increased sickness absence rates if they ignore their ill-health and frequently show up for work while ill, known as presenteeism.

The study, published today in the journal Work & Stress, was led by Karina Nielsen, professor of work and organisational psychology, and Kevin Daniels, professor of organisational behaviour at UEA’s Norwich Business School. They looked for the first time at the relationship between presenteeism, transformational leadership and sickness absence rates. The results have implications for how organisations might effectively deal with employees’ health and well-being.

quality, fewer depressive symptoms and reduced general absenteeism in the short term.

Transformational leaders are defined as those who encourage their employees to perform above and beyond the call of duty, who formulate a clear vision of what is to be achieved by the team, and encourage employees to seek out challenges at work and engage in proactive problem solving.

They also function as role models and consider individual employees’ needs. Transformational leadership has previously been associated with positive employee well-being, better sleep

Prof Nielsen said the relationship between transformational leadership and sickness absence was complex.

However, the new study suggests that a transformational leader who encourages their group to make an extra effort at work may exacerbate sickness absence, as high levels of presenteeism may result in reduced opportunities for recovery along with the risk of spreading contagious conditions, such as the common cold, in the long term.

“It is possible that high performance expectations pose a risk to both healthy and vulnerable employees and the motivational aspects of transformational leadership may backfire,” said Prof Nielsen. “Transformational leaders may promote self-sacrifice of vulnerable employees for the greater good of the group by encouraging them to ignore

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advogroup.co.uk | inspirational leaders harm employees’ health their illnesses and exert themselves. This can lead to increased risks of sickness absence in the long term.

The authors found that transformational leadership increased sickness absence when workers exhibited 14 more days “Such leaders express values to perform of presenteeism than their colleagues. above and beyond the call of duty Transformational leadership in the possibly at the expense of employees’ first year was related to higher levels health because they have a self-interest in of sickness absence among staff in demonstrating low sickness absence rates the second year, but not the third. in their work groups. This pattern may Employees working in groups with a be a particular problem in organisations transformational leader and who had where managers are rated according to high levels of presenteeism reported the their ability to control sickness absence highest levels of sickness absenteeism in levels.” the third year, but not the second.

The research focused on postal workers and their managers in Denmark over three years. In total there were 155 participants in 22 work groups. At the start of the study employees rated their immediate line managers’ behaviours on a scale from one to five, and were asked about their own sickness absence and presenteeism for the previous year.

Sickness absence was assessed again in years two and three.

The findings suggests that more immediate, short term effects can be found among staff, but for vulnerable workers, such as those with high levels of presenteeism, increasing adverse effects take longer to materialise. Lack of recovery time may also explain this effect, leading to them eventually having to go off sick because they can no longer ignore their symptoms.

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Managers need to strike a balance, they can still encourage staff to perform well, but in a way that is not at the expense of their health and well-being

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prof. kevin daniels university of east anglia

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Prof Daniels said: “The assumption that ‘more transformational leadership is better’ does not hold over time. As role models, transformational leaders should display healthy behaviours when motivating people, they should monitor and check them, and encourage workers to look after their own health. Managers need to strike a balance, they can still encourage staff to perform well, but in a way that is not at the expense of their health and well-being.”

The authors recommend that transformational leadership training should include health-related elements.

For example, intellectual stimulation should not only focus on developing competencies but also on building resilience and coping skills. Leaders could also be trained in incorporating well-being and health into the vision, goals and objectives they develop for work groups.

advo group are fully independent, private medical insurance experts speak to one of our employee benefit advisors today on 0845 2578833

For more information on Advo Group Limited, visit our website www.advogroup.co.uk Advo Group Limited, ADVO House, St Leonards Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 0LS is registered in England (No. 4500663) and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

advogroup.co.uk | patrick thomson, centre for ageiing better

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The number of people aged over 50 in employment is rising and now makes up over a third of the total workforce

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patrick thomson, centre for ageing better advocate summer 2016 | advogroup.co.uk | 20

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advogroup.co.uk | patrick thomson, centre for ageiing better

By 2022, there will be 12.5 million job vacancies that need to be replaced due to people leaving the workforce patrick thomson centre for ageing better

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www.ageing-better.org.uk The Centre for Ageing Better recently partnered with Business in the Community to call for employers to recognise the benefits that older workers can bring to their workplaces. In this latest interview, Patrick Thomson, Senior Programme Manager at the Centre for Ageing Better discusses this new partnership, the vital importance for employers to retain and recruit older workers and his advice for employers to create an age friendly workplace.

Tell us about your recent partnership with Business in the Community

the age of 50 in the UK has increased by 2.5 million. The number of people working over the age of 65 has also Our three year partnership with Business more than doubled. What do you think in the Community aims to identify and are some of the key factors that have led test what works to recruit, retrain and to this increasingly ageing workforce? retain older workers. We are calling on employers to recognise the benefits We are all living longer, and like our that older workers can bring to their society as a whole, our workforce is organisations and to create age friendly ageing. The number of people aged workplaces. over 50 in employment is rising and now makes up over a third of the total We will strengthen the business case workforce. The proportion of 50-64 so that more employers understand the year olds in employment has risen from value of age friendly workplaces. We 65% ten years ago to nearly 70% today, will learn from what leading employers in part reflecting changes to the state who see the benefits of older workers pension and abolition of the default are doing and share the most effective retirement age. policies and practices as widely as possible.

Our Later life in 2015 study showed that some people feel the need to work Members of BITC’s Age at Work longer, or return to work to protect campaign, which is made up of their financial security in later life. organisations who have committed This is dependent on being physically to achieving change on age at work, capable of work and being able to find will actively promote age friendly employment to suit them in terms of practices both within their organisations hours, conditions and skills required. and more widely. They will test ideas generated through the partnership so An ageing workforce shouldn’t be seen their experience can be shared with as a problem to be fixed. With the right employers across the country. approaches, based on evidence, it can be an opportunity.

You mention that between 2005 and 2015 the number of people working over Why is it so important to be able to

continue to recruit and retain workers of this older demographic now and into the future?

All employers need to recognise the potential that already exists within their workforce and create age friendly workplaces if they are to be successful in future. By 2022, there will be 12.5 million job vacancies that need to be replaced due to people leaving the workforce, in addition to the 2 million new vacancies that will be created.

However, there are estimated to be just 7 million younger people to fill them.

Helping people to work for longer will be critical to closing this gap.

Older workers have often built up years of experience, and there is real value for employers in retaining their skills and talents. In addition, older employees contribute to a diverse and multi-generational workforce and can help organisations gain a better understanding their customers, many of whom are of a similar age.

Our Later life in 2015 study found that the social benefits of work are also important – work gives meaning and purpose, provides social contact and keeps us active. When we surveyed retired people about what they most

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advogroup.co.uk | patrick thomson, centre for ageing better missed about work, the overwhelming answer was the social connections.

sharing knowledge between generations, adapting workplaces to boost employee wellbeing and retention, and unlocking Finally, we also know that helping people the potential of older recruits. stay in work will have economic benefits; in terms of national productivity and While employers increasingly recognise ensuring that individuals have higher the importance of retaining the valuable savings for later life. skills and experience of their employees, there is little evidence on which What do you think are some of the employment practices are effective. And most common barriers preventing older although we know something about what employees from continuing to work? works from initiatives in the UK and internationally, there are still evidence Many employers are not making the most gaps. We will therefore work with of older worker’s talent. They are either Business in the Community and other ignoring the opportunity of recruiting and organisations to build the evidence base retaining older workers or do not know for better support for people aged 50 and how to create age friendly workplaces. over.

Research shows that many employers have stereotyped views about older workers – from problems with healthrelated absence, to out-of-date skills or being ‘stuck in their ways’. A survey looking at attitudes to age in Britain showed that three times as many respondents believed that having a manager in their 70s was “completely unacceptable” compared to a boss in their 30s. These stereotypes aren’t borne out by the evidence and ignore the many benefits that employers gain from older workers.

Changing legislation is another step to help support older workers, but doesn’t make a difference unless it is acted upon, with employers and individuals changing their behaviour. For example, since 2014 everyone who has been working for an employer for six months has had the right to request flexible working. We know that people over the age of 50 find this a particularly important factor, as it can help them build a working pattern around changes to health and caring that may come with age. However, not everyone is aware of this right or feels confident in requesting it. There may therefore The Missing Million report by Business be a role that champions and leaders in the Community estimated that within the workforce can do to promote approximately 1 million people have awareness of these rights. Many of these been made ‘involuntarily workless’ – initiatives are about shifting attitudes pushed out of their previous job through and prompting conversations to help all a combination of redundancy, ill health or parties frame how they think about age in early retirement. In addition, some people the workplace. find themselves out of work because they need to balance work and care.

What do you think are some of the most effective ways to tackle these issues?

We believe that it is crucial to learn from what leading employers are doing, and spread effective policies and practices widely. Strengthening the business case is also important so that more employers understand the benefits of employing older workers.

Our partnership with Business in the Community will also involve understanding how to shift employer attitudes and workplace culture so that there is greater choice and opportunity for individuals who want to work in later life.

Some employers are making great progress. I recently shortlisted nominees for the Championing an Ageing Workforce award. What struck me was the variety of employers, both large and small, who are already taking innovative approaches. These organisations are

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since 2014 everyone who has been working for an employer for six months has had the right to request flexible working

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What other factors do you think are important in creating an age friendly workplace?

Factors that make an age friendly workplace are things that can make for fulfilling work for any age group.

For example, promoting better health and wellbeing, allowing more open conversations between employees and their line managers, or providing adaptations and flexibility that mean that individuals can be more productive and happy in how and when they work.

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The reality is that for many people in low pay or precarious jobs, work can be a financial necessity that may not be particularly fulfilling or good for their wellbeing. This makes working for longer in to your later life a particular challenge.

That’s why it is important for us to work with a broad range of employers, employees and organisations who represent them to help improve things for people who are currently missing out on the benefits that work can bring.

Do you think more employers are starting to realise the benefit of retaining older employees and do you think this will become a continuing trend?

We know there are employers who understand the benefits, both to their employees and to their organisation, who are making progress. We want to learn from them and share this knowledge across the country to speed up change.

We are also keen to learn from other employers of all sizes and sectors to help understand and spread evidence about what works. Being age friendly should be a marker of every successful organisation.

Are there any trends as to what type of employers are more aware to the needs of creating age friendly workplaces?

Employers can do more, and many are. For example, the nominees for the Championing an Ageing Workforce award are taking innovative approaches to create age friendly workplaces. Each have their own business case, but what unites them is a recognition that things can be done in a different way, to benefit their organisations as well as their employees.

Is there any official legislation that you would like to see in place that could further encourage or facilitate more age friendly workplaces?

The Equality Act 2010 means that unfair discrimination because of age in the workplace is illegal. In addition, since the removal of the Default Retirement Age in 2011, employers are not able to retire people because of their age without reasonable justification. These are significant changes which show that age should not be a determinant for whether or not someone is able to make a valuable contribution at work.

For more information on the Centre for Ageing Better visit www.ageing-better.org.uk

NATASHA GUNNING, advo group

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advogroup.co.uk | flexible working key to better working lives for londoners

Flexible working is key to better working lives for Londoners, according to new CIPD research www. cipd.co.uk Flexible workers in London are more satisfied with their jobs, feel under less pressure and have better work-life balance than those who don’t work flexibly, according to new research from the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development.

The research also highlights the amount of time Londoners spend commuting; an average of 47 minutes travelling to work each way compared to the national average of 31 minutes. Average travel to work time increases to 56 minutes each way if you consider a combination of both employees who live in London and those that commute into the capital from outside the M25.

This means that many Londoners are travelling for the equivalent of at least one full working day in a ‘typical’ week.

The CIPD’s survey comes four years after the London 2012 Olympics, which was hoped to be a catalyst for change in terms of how businesses and individuals in London approach flexible working while taking pressure off road and rail infrastructure in and around the capital.

with employers and professional bodies, to achieve a step-change in the uptake of flexible working among Londoners.

This is in order to improve working lives, support efforts to increase diversity and inclusion and help individuals balance work with other commitments, such as child or elder care, or to support their lifestyle.

It found that despite having much longer commuting times than the national average, fewer employees living in The CIPD’s research highlights the London work flexibly in some way (52%) positive impact that flexible working compared to the national average (54%). has on the working lives of those people living in London: In its policy programme, Opportunity through work: A manifesto for London, Almost seven in ten (69%) employees the CIPD is calling for the next Mayor living in London who work flexibly of London to lead a campaign, working report they are satisfied or very satisfied

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with their jobs, compared to 52% of employees that don’t work flexibly Just 24% of flexible workers living in London report being under excessive pressure every day or once or twice a week, compared to 42% of non-flexible workers Almost a quarter (23%) of flexibly working Londoners are very satisfied with their work-life balance compared to just one in ten (10%) who don’t work flexibly The top benefits of flexible working cited by employees living in London who already work flexibly are: better work-life balance (53%), less time spent commuting (32%), reduced stress (30%), improved productivity (30%)

advogroup.co.uk | flexible working key to better working lives for londoners

David D’Souza, Head of CIPD London, comments: “There’s a clear divide in the quality of working lives between London workers who work flexibly and those that don’t. The London 2012 Olympics was supposed to have heralded a new dawn for flexible working in the capital but progress appears to have stalled, significantly impacting the quality of people’s working lives and their productivity.

“Flexible workers are happier workers but there is still far too much focus on traditional 9-5 work cultures and an ongoing challenge of businesses placing too much value on time spent at the desk and not enough on people’s actual outputs. Where Londoners are working flexibly, this is mostly restricted to part-time working or flexi-time unless they are a middle or senior manager.

Rather than being the preserve of more senior managers, the opportunity to work flexibly in different ways needs

to become the norm for many more employees.”

generations stay in work longer, the rigid working habits too many employers still abide by will have to change. Of The CIPD’s survey shows that there is course some people are restricted in their significant support among workers for a ability to work flexibly because of the government-led campaign to boost the nature of their jobs but far too often it’s uptake of flexible working to reduce the the attitudes of managers and business time and cost of commuting. leaders that are the major obstacles to increasing the use of different types of Working Londoners identify their top flexible working. The next Mayor of three government priorities for reducing London should work with employers and the time and cost of commuting as bodies like the CIPD to lead a campaign reducing the cost of public transport to change attitudes, learn from best fares (44%), investing in the rail and tube practice and expand the types of flexible network (37%) and leading a campaign working available. This should help to increase the uptake in flexible working to positively reshape work in London (20%). and open up employment opportunities for key groups who can struggle with D’Souza continues: “The nature of the typical 9-5, office based working work is changing. We need real action arrangement, such those who need to on flexible working from Government, balance working life with caring duties the new Mayor of London and from and studying.” businesses. As new generations enter the labour market with different expectations about how they want to work and older

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advogroup.co.uk |kim harvey, neuroleaders

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70% of employees leave organisations because of the manager they are working for. Further analysis into the 70% shows that employees do not trust their manager because they are not consistent with following through on promises

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kim harvey, neuroleaders advocate summer 2016 | advogroup.co.uk | 26

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advogroup.co.uk | kim harvey, neuroleaders

70% of employees leave organisations because of the manager they are working for kim harvey, neuroleaders www.cascadehr.co.uk

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Neuroleaders deliver leadership and coaching programmes that are underpinned

by Neuroscience. The company was founded by Kim Harvey who comments “The scientific evidence that is coming out of neuroscience offers great insight into how our brains fire through fear and motivation and how we can build resilience in our ability to cope with change”. In this interview Kim provides her expert insight into the company’s recent article titled ‘How inspirational leaders create a climate of trust‘, which looked at the important relationship between a climate of trust and employees feeling empowered as well as how good leadership can itself be learnt from a neuroscience perspective.

You recently commented that trust within organisations is created by managers simply doing what they say they will do, and similarly, that mangers failing to do this can create mistrust.

How prevalent do you think it is for managers to fail on the simple principle?

70% of employees leave organisations because of the manager they are working for. Further analysis into the 70% shows that employees do not trust their manager because they are not consistent with following through on promises and over time this causes employees to feel that their manager does not have their interests at stake.

In a neurological or scientific context, what are some of the key benefits in creating a trusting environment for

employees?

The left side of the brain deals primarily with facts, rationality and logic. Most of us spend our working days using this side of the brain. The right side is the creative brain and for employees to be creative and innovative, the right side must be activated. The best way to do this is by ‘brain based coaching’ so that employees can generate ‘insights’.

Insights are ‘aha’ moments and they happen when we ask employees for their opinions and ideas and give them time to consider options. So, in summary, we need managers to spend time truly coaching, this means NO TELL and find out what their employees think and feel by asking and listening. Insights will occur when employees feel their manager truly values their opinions and

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advogroup.co.uk | kim harvey, neuroleaders allows them to act on them.

Do you think employers fully realise the extent to which a stressful working environment can damage the bottom line of their business?

problem with too many background conversations is that they creates rumours and ill feeling amongst colleauges and if this persists it creates a culture of distrust and rumour. Not a healthy environment to build trust and empowered teams!

this is purely down the management or are there other applicable external factors?

We live in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambigious) world and no doubt the business environment is causing No, because if this was the case then What is meant by the term employees and managers to be stressed. people would not be so overworked and ‘neuroplasticity’ and how can this be There is more to be done with less people under so much pressure. Employers need applied to business leadership? and this in itself causes more pressure. to think about creating an environment However, I think it is the responsibility where people feel trusted and can openly Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to of management to get the best out of their make comments about the business learn new behaviours. ‘Neurons that wire staff to meet the business challenges. without ‘fear’. When ‘fear’ is apparent together fire together’. This means the This can be done by creating a culture of then the brain pulses cortisol around the brain has the ability to over-ride existing trust and empowering employees to get body, which creates stress and if this behaviours and replace them with new on with the job in hand. The need to take continues causes employees to go off ones. On average it takes around 8 risk is also important because without it sick. This has massive implications for weeks of continued new behaviour for you don’t really learn and move forward. the bottom line results of the business. the new wiring to take place. The great news is that we can all learn new ways You have four top tips for business You also recently discussed some of of behaviour so we are not stuck with leaders to create a climate of trust. Is the differences between ‘foreground’ our old patterns that may be disruptive there any one of these that you would and ‘background’ conversations. What and counterproductive for ourselves value as the single most important are the main differences here and what and others. Learning to take on a new principle, or are they equality important? is the negative significant of prevalent positive behaviour such as ‘coaching’ background conversations in the as a manager and taking the view that I think they are all important but if workplace? employees really have answers to pushed, I would say ‘do what you say their own problems would be a great you will do’. You build a reputation Foreground conversations are those that behaviour for managers to take on. of being honest and people will know take place in the meeting. This means Remember this has to be for at least 8 that you will follow through. Once this everything that needs to be discussed weeks of conscious behaviour to make happens then trust starts to be built within is open and honest within the meeting. the change permanent within the brain. the workforce.

Background conversations are those that happen outside of the meeting because Do you think the UK workforce is For more information on Kim and employees did not feel open enough experiencing an increasingly stressful Neuroleaders visit about discussing it in the meeting. The working environment. If so, do you think www.neuroleaders.co.uk

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Background conversations are those that happen outside of the meeting because employees did not feel open enough about discussing it in the meeting

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advogroup.co.uk | switching companies to achieve pay rises

glassdoor survey finds 1 in 2 employees feel they must switch companies to achieve a meanignful pay rise www. glassdoor.com Glassdoor® has unveiled the results of its Global Salary Transparency Survey, which reveals nearly half of employees globally (47%) say their companies still do not share pay data internally. Furthermore, the majority of employees globally (69%) wish they had a better understanding about what is actually fair market compensation for their position and skill set at their company and local job market, and more than half (56%) believe they must switch companies in order to make a meaningful change in their compensation.

Released on Equal Pay Day, the survey also reveals fewer women understand how pay is determined at their company than their male counterparts (53 percent vs. 65 percent, respectively). The Glassdoor survey polled 4,300 adults employed full-time/part-time in seven countries (the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland).

“Even in 2016, most employees— especially women—remain in the dark about what fair pay is for their particular role. The majority of employees report their companies do not share pay data internally even as most employees believe salary transparency is good for business and employee satisfaction,” said Dawn Lyon, Glassdoor vice president

of corporate affairs and chief equal pay advocate. “Employers need to understand that perpetuating salary sharing taboos can ultimately impact retention. More than half of employees around the world feel that in order to get a significant raise they need to jump to a new company.

Our data shows by helping employees understand fair pay and providing clear pathways for advancement, employers can increase employee satisfaction, engagement and retention.”

Perception among employees appears to be that the grass is greener elsewhere, as many believe they could earn more at another company. Close to half (49 percent) of U.S. employees feel they must switch companies in order to obtain any meaningful change in compensation.

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Among U.S. employees, Millennials ages 25-34 (57 percent) and Generation X’ers ages 35-44 (58 percent) and those ages 45-54 (53 percent) are more likely to believe they need to change companies to make more money compared to those 55+ (32 percent). More employees in France (64 percent) feel they must switch jobs to obtain meaningful compensation changes than those in all other countries surveyed except Germany.

Times are changing, but sharing salary information among employees at a company is still not the norm, and the U.S. is behind when compared to other nations. More than one-third (36 percent) of employees globally say they know their company discloses salary information internally.

advogroup.co.uk | switching companies to achieve pay rises

Fewer U.S. employees say their company discloses salary information (31 percent) than employees in the Netherlands (50 percent), U.K. (45 percent), and in Canada (45 percent).

approximately the same percentage (72 percent) believe it is good for business.

more employed men (59 percent) than employed women (51 percent) believe they have a good understanding of how The survey also uncovers that globally, people are compensated at all levels in employees have a lack of understanding their company. In the U.S. the divide about how their pay stacks up in the is larger with 65 percent of employed Employed men in the U.S., France market: More than two-thirds (69 men who believe they have a good and Germany are more likely than percent) of employed adults across understanding of compensation levels in their female counterparts to say their the globe wish they had a better their company, compared to 53 percent of employer shares information about understanding of what fair pay is for their employed women. pay levels within the company. (In the position and skill set at their company U.S. 38 percent of men vs. 23 percent and in their local market. More than Glassdoor currently holds approximately of women; France 42 percent of men one-third (36 percent) indicated they do 12 million workplace reviews, ratings vs. 23 percent of women; Germany not have a good understanding of how and insights, including millions of salary 35 percent of men vs. 20 percent of people are compensated at all levels reports, on more than 540,000 companies women.) The differences along gender within their company. More Canadian around the world. Glassdoor has also lines raises questions related to whether employees (71 percent) report having a recently conducted several research men have access to more salary data than good understanding of pay levels at their reports and surveys diving deep into the women, if they perceive to have more company than any other country in the topic of pay and salaries. knowledge about salary at their company survey (U.K. 61 percent; U.S. 60 percent; (vs. actually having pay insights), or if the Netherlands 56 percent; France 52 they are asking more direct questions of percent; Switzerland 49 percent; and leadership regarding pay levels.

Germany 43 percent).

Globally, the majority of employed adults (70 percent) believe salary transparency Clarity around compensation practices is good for employee satisfaction and is divided along gender lines. Globally,

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advogroup.co.uk |9 in10 fail to link alcohol and cancer

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People link drinking and liver cancer, but most still don’t realise that cancers including breast cancer, mouth and throat cancers and bowel cancer are also linked with alcohol

dr penny buykx, university of sheffield advocate summer 2016 | advogroup.co.uk | 32

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advogroup.co.uk | 9 in 10 fail to link alcohol and cancer

90% of brits fail to link alcohol consumption and the development of cancer according to cancer research uk www.cancerresearchuk.org Almost 90 per cent of people in England don’t associate drinking alcohol with an increased risk of cancer, according to a new report commissioned by Cancer Research UK. Drinking alcohol is linked to an increased risk of seven different cancers – liver, breast, bowel, mouth, throat, oesophageal (food pipe), laryngeal (voice box) – but when people were asked “which, if any, health conditions do you think can result from drinking too much alcohol?” just 13 per cent of adults mentioned cancer.

The survey also highlighted a lack of understanding of the link between drinking alcohol and the risk of developing certain types of cancer.

When prompted by asking about seven different cancer types, 80 per cent said they thought alcohol caused liver cancer but only 18 per cent were aware of the link with breast cancer. In contrast alcohol causes 3,200 breast cancer cases each year compared to 400 cases of liver cancer.

drinking habits.

small amount.”

Alison Cox, Cancer Research UK’s director of cancer prevention, said: “The link between alcohol and cancer is now well established, and it’s not just heavy drinkers who are at risk. This is reflected in the new guidelines issued by the UK’s Chief Medical Officers that stated that the risk of developing a range of illnesses, including cancer, increased with any amount of alcohol you drink.

Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: “The lack of public awareness of the link between alcohol consumption and cancer is extremely concerning. Up-to-date research demonstrates the clear link between alcohol and seven types of cancer, and it is not just heavy drinkers who are at risk – any amount increases the risk.

The report, produced by researchers at the University of Sheffield, comes ahead of the consultation closing on how well new drinking guidelines proposed by the UK’s Chief Medical Officers in January 2016, are communicated. These drew attention to the link between alcohol and cancer, and highlighted the need for greater public awareness of this risk.

“As the consultation closes on how clear and understandable the new guidelines are, it’s concerning that so few people know that alcohol increases the risk of seven types of cancer. If the new guidelines are to make a difference and change drinking habits in the UK national health campaigns are needed to provide clear information about the health risks of drinking alcohol.”

“The Chief Medical Officers have been clear in their new alcohol guideline that there is no level of drinking which can be considered ‘safe’ from these risks. As the CMOs emphasise, the public have a right to know about the link between alcohol and cancer and other health risks, so that they can make an informed choice about their drinking habits. The Chief Medical Officers are also clear in stating that the government has a responsibility to ensure this information is provided for citizens.

The findings are based on a nationally representative online survey of 2,100 people conducted in July 2015.

The study also showed that only one in five people could correctly identify the previous recommended maximum number of units that should not be exceeded in a day, as recommended at that time in 2015. Among drinkers, as few as one in 10 men (10.8 per cent) and one in seven women (15.2 per cent) correctly identified these recommended limits and used them to track their

Dr Penny Buykx, a senior research fellow at The University of Sheffield and lead-author of the report, said: “We’ve shown that public awareness of the increased cancer risk from drinking alcohol remains worryingly low.

“Consumers have the right to know the health risks of the products they purchase and consume. The Alcohol Health Alliance is calling for health “People link drinking and liver cancer, warnings on product labels, along with but most still don’t realise that cancers mass media information campaigns, including breast cancer, mouth and both strongly supported by the public, throat cancers and bowel cancer are also to empower informed choice about linked with alcohol, and that risks for drinking.” some cancers go up even by drinking a

advocate summer 2016 | advogroup.co.uk | 33

advogroup.co.uk | EMPLOYEES SPEND MORE TIME WITH TEA THAN WORK BASED LEARNING

Over a million UK employees spend more time with a cuppa than on work-based learning www.aat.org.uk Despite a productivity crisis in the UK, over a million (1,064,598) of the UK’s employees are spending more time on tea breaks than on any form of work-based training, new research from the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) has found.

The study found almost a third (30%) of staff (912,513) have never had any form of work-related finance training. Given this situation, nearly four in ten (38%) employees admit they search online to find out how to do their jobs better, in their own time.

The survey of 2,000 workers, half who are employees and half of whom are managers working in finance/ accountancy-related roles, also found discrepancies between their attitudes towards training at work. A fifth of managers admit they think training their staff will only help them develop their own careers, not benefit their current role. Moreover, a quarter (27 per cent) believe training is good in principle, but disruptive in practice.

Yet, just one in 10 employees report they seek training to help them move jobs.

The reality is almost three-quarters (72%) want to learn more at work to help them do their existing jobs better. Indeed, 46% of workers agreed training would make them more productive.

The AAT data also identifies a stigma around learning in some workplaces, with a third (33%) of employees believing that managers should make clear that training is not just for underperforming staff.

Whilst managers may be concerned that This comes as one in six bosses admit if they train staff they will leave, the data they turn to training only for staff who shows that not providing any training is are struggling to perform as required. a bigger risk to staff turnover: 66% of Coupled with the other findings of the workers would move, or have already research this means 86% of employees considered moving, to another job would approach training differently to solely because it offered a better training their current line manager. programme. 50% employees would ask about training at their next job interview.

advocate summer 2016 | advogroup.co.uk | 34

advogroup.co.uk | EMPLOYEES SPEND MORE TIME WITH TEA THAN WORK BASED LEARNING

Commenting on the findings Mark Farrar, and their staff to talk to each other Chief Executive of the Association of about this issue, which is why we have Accounting Technicians, said: created an online tool to help managers and their teams talk training in their tea “The majority of UK employees are break. After all, 71% of employees told spending a tiny percentage of their us they’d like to talk to their manager hours in work improving their skills more about their training needs. Found at and abilities through any form of formal https://aat.typeform.com/to/yKIFDH, this training or accredited learning. With tool helps both bosses and their staff to UK labour productivity falling at the navigate this issue, and all in the time it fastest pace since 2008 there has never takes to make a cuppa.” been a more important time to focus on helping our workers up-skill. Yet, Despite the differences revealed in there are fundamental differences in the data, one area that employees and how employees and managers approach their managers agree on is barriers to workplace learning, meaning workers training: 92% agree that there are factors are currently spending more time on tea preventing more learning taking place breaks than training. in their companies. For both employers and employees time is the biggest barrier, “At AAT we want to help employers followed by funding, finding the right

training and then convincing employers it’s good for business. However, 75% of employees and even more employers – (80%) – concur that their company could afford to invest more in training needs.

The benefits of external training are also clear to bosses and staff: 70% of those polled agreed that it brings in new ideas to a team and business, whilst 46% think it is better planned and better delivered than any internal training.

advocate summer 2016 | advogroup.co.uk | 35

advogroup.co.uk | thanks for reading

thank you for reading see you in the autumn for the next edition of advocate magazine! issuu.com/advogroup Thanks for catching up with us here at ADVO Group for this Spring 2016 edition of Advocate magazine. Advocate will be back once again in the Autumn to provide you with the very best human resource, occupational health, employee benefit and private medical insurance news, interviews, features and more!

ADVO Group’s account on In case you missed our key contacts at Issuu.com will continue to be the primary the start of the magazine you can get in home for Advocate magazine. touch with any of them on the contact details below.

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The subscription process is incredibly COLIN BOXALL simply and best of all; it’s absolutely Commercial Director free! cboxall@advogroup.co.uk If you’ve got a story that you think belongs in Advocate magazine, whether it’s news focusing on health insurance, human resources, occupational health or if you’d like to be interviewed then don’t hesitate to get in touch. Send your inquiries to info@advogroup.co.uk

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advocate summer 2016 | advogroup.co.uk | 36

You can also get in touch by calling us on 0845 2578833, faxing us on 01622 769211. We also have three offices across the country.

Head office: ADVO House St Leonards Road Allington Kent ME16 0LS Oxford Office: 8 Old Station Yard Abingdon Oxfordshire OX14 3LD You can also get in touch through any of our social media channels. You can find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+. Thanks again for reading and see you in the Winter for the next edition of Advocate magazine.

advogroup.co.uk | thanks for reading

find every copy of advocate magzine online at issuu.com/advogroup Issue #17 winter 2015 This edition of the magazine features ADVO’s Colin Boxall and Emma Shaw who comment on the the recent trend in lower cost private medical insurance products and the use of technology in delivering employee benefits. Also featured are the studies which found ‘millennials’ may be the most demanding workforce demographic, that over a third of employees know or suspect their colleagues have a drug problem and that hip replacements have increased by seventy per cent for under fifty-fives. Also included are three interviews with industry leaders including Aviva Health UK’s Elizabeth Naulls and Dr Subashini MM who discuss the recent findings that only 43% of UK adults are a healthy weight.

Issue #16 winter 2015 This edition of the magazine features an interview with Investor In People’s Thomas Bale who provides his expert insight into the recent findings that many employees will seek new jobs in 2016 due to discontentment with their current employers. We also highlight the key awards and accreditations that we have picked up over the previous twelve months in addition to being listed as finalists at the upcoming 2016 Corporate Advisor Awards for a total of three categories. We’re also highlighting our annual ‘best of the best’ celebrating the efforts of our employees who have gone above and beyond our high expectations.

Issue #15 autumn 2015 This edition of the magazine features an interview with Dr Charles Leninson of Doctorcall; ADVO’s new expert partners in providing flu vaccinations. This month’s cover feature explores the effectiveness of mindfulness at work as weinterview Vicki Curtis, from Nuffield Health, who have recently partnered with Mindlab to launch a mindfulness training programme for businesses.We also feature a number of the biggest human resource and occupational health stories including the population’s feelings on employee’s expressing their personal style within the workplace, the most common cause of wasted time at work being pinned on inefficient processes and duplicated efforts, and the research that suggests many of us find it easier to end a relationship with a partner than to ask for a pay rise.

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LAUREN SMITH, EMPLOYEE BENEFIT ADVISOR, advo group Maidstone Office ADVO House, St Leonards Road, Allington, Kent, ME16 0LS

Tel 0845 2578833 Fax 01622 769211 Email info@advogroup.co.uk Web advogroup.co.uk

ADVO Group | Employee Benefit Consultants ADVO Group Limited Registered Office ADVO House, St Leonards Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 0LS Registered in England No 4500663.

The ADVO Group Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority