Monthly Archives: November 2022

admin

The 9 to 5 is all but dead in today’s working world. As the new normal or the next normal, is where flexible work is embraced by all including employers and employees, the choice of when, how and where the employees work has become a collaborative decision between employer and employee, including the situations that surrounds it. The truth is, working in Europe allows you enjoy the traditions and cultures and also gain work experience. The standard principles of Europe are freedom, equality, democracy, and the rule of law, which are considered to promote peace and stability. Compared to the available other international jobs, majority of the employment opportunities in Europe are pretty stable. Unemployment is quite high in Europe because its labor market is said to be non-flexible.It’s unemployment rate was 6.0 % in September 2022, stable compared with August 2022 and down from 6.7 % in September 2021. 10,00 full time workers across Europe with 65% of them having dependents at home, were surveyed for this report. The highest percentage of respondents work in the finance industry, closely followed by the business industry and technology industry, with the lowest numbers found in environment related industry.The age range of 25 to 34 had the largest percentage representing the true representation of workers ages in today’s world. Junior management and non management roles had the highest numbers of respondents, and..

admin

Employee satisfaction is a broad term used by the HR industry to describe how content and satisfied employees are with elements like their jobs, their employee experience, and the organizations they work for. This brings the question“why is employee satisfaction important?”Having a satisfied and happy workforce strengthens the district by increasing employee productivity, increasing customer satisfaction and promoting loyalty. It is true that employees who feel engaged, valued and certain about their objectives usually tend to be more satisfied with their current roles. There are so many ways to increase employee satisfaction, but remote employees have the largest percentage of employees that would like their company to implement improved video conferencing technologies, especially since it’s the primary means of communication. The highest percentage came from Germany and the lowest was from the United Kingdom. Employees also think employers and managers should take action to ensure employee satisfaction by doing more of the following: offering competitive salaries, asking for employees’ suggestions, being transparent, getting  creative with work benefits, listen to employee concerns, celebrate successes, prioritize mental and physical well being, and invest in employees futures. There are two major ways that employers use to measure employee satisfaction, and they are the Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS) and the more traditional employee satisfaction survey. Both arms employers with data for tracking how satisfied your employees are throughout their lifecycle at work, but..

admin

Benefits are any perks offered to employees in addition to their salaries. The most common benefits are usually medical, disability, and life insurance, retirement benefits, paid time offand fringe benefits. An appealing work benefits package can make employees feel rewarded and appreciated for their work. Work benefits also provide support to an employee's health, family, and financial future which can help attract and retain top talent. Which brings to mind the question, should I take a job with less pay but better benefits?In most cases, work benefits can worth more than the extra pay you might receive, so a lower paying job that offers great work benefitsis actually worth considering. Before accepting or even considering a new role, a lot of workers now try to ensure that hybrid and flexible work is an additional option. The top policies that would likely cause them to accept an offer, that is, policies they find appealing in a prospective career are, flexible working hours, a 4 day work week, unlimited holidays and a flexible working location. And that is not all, women across Europe rank flexibility higher on their top policy list than men, with 42% of women saying they would choose to stay with their current employer if they were offered flexible hours, compared to just 31% of men. European employees are demanding flexibility when it comes to both working hours and..

admin

A pay cut just as we know, is a decrease in an employee’s compensation. It could be either a reduction in salary, benefits and/or more. It isn’t limited to monetary compensation and can happen for a variety of reasons. For example, a company might be trying to avoid layoffs and/or trying to save money during a financially disturbing period, with the intention of returning sales to normal once the period is over. Between March and May 2020, employers were eligible to a governmental wage subsidy if they had suffered at least a 30% decline in revenue or turnover for the month they wish to be subsidized for compared to the same month in the previous year, are not able to provide at least 30% of their employees (that is those who work with an employment contract) with work, and have cut wages of at least 30% of employees by at least 30% or to the minimum wage. The statistics on taking pay cuts from workers across Europe came with attached options such as taking a pay cut for a 4 day work week(which means less days at work), taking a pay cut for flexible work hours, taking a pay cut for unlimited holidays and taking a pay cut for condensed hours. Majority of employees preferred taking a pay cut for unlimited holidays, followed by a 4 day work week. The..

admin

An employee is a person who gets paid to work for a person or company. Workers do not need to work full time to be considered employees, as they simply need to be paid to work by an employer – that is, the person or business that pays them. Giving employees a share of voice is a critical component of establishing a workforce that is productive, happy, and engaged. It is not until an employee is convinced that their suggestions play an integral role in decision making that they become willing to communicate ideas, opinions and concerns. Employees who do not feel their voice heard may also feel undervalued, which can lead to distrust and disengagement. Listening to employees is not just good for culture,  it is good for business. The pandemic has actually forced remote work experiments that has impacted employees across the globe and showed them all a few things. But now, workers are deciding for themselves how they want to work. Many of them have discovered that with a laptop, internet, and email, they can still be productive from just about anywhere. Others see the physical office as no longer the only location where they can be productive. The top policies that would likely cause employees to not accept a job offer are, not allowing flexible work hours, not allowing flexible locations and requiring employees to work..

admin

Hybrid work is a flexible work model that supports the blend of in-office, remote, and on-the-go workers. It offers employees the autonomy to choose to work however and wherever they are most productive. Remote work on the other hand, is a work approach where employees work from a location away from their officeand allows more flexibility and freedom to employees. The point is, the future of work in Europe is hybrid and the  future of work is employee-led. To succeed at work in the future, businesses have to follow suit. This means finding and applying technologies that make their lives easier and finding better ways for employees to work. The countries involved in this survey are Germany, Netherlands, Nordics (this includes Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) and the United Kingdom.It is a study that takes a deep dive into how employees across Europe feel about hybrid and remote work, their new behaviors and workplace expectations and how employers are adjusting to those demands. Collected on February, 2022 over a period of 2 years. It turns out that about 39% out of a 100 office workers think that the metaverse could improve flexible and hybrid working in the future. The top employer actions that the employees are concerned about included: requiring a full-time return to office with no hybrid option, dismissing employees’ opinions/feedback on 2022 workplace policies, not adapting office space or..

admin

Having a strong management structure within an organization is very critical to the success of any business. No matter what level of contribution your employees make, it is important that they feel supported by management in their efforts, because we know for a fact that engaged employees are happy employees. This time it is top policies that would encourage employees to return back to the office. They include Certified hand sanitizer stations, larger office space, mandated COVID-19 vaccination for all employees, more socializing places and more sitting and relaxation areas. 77% of employees who are working remotely or in a hybrid way would feel more comfortable returning to the office if the policies earlier mentioned were implemented. Mental health problems are common and have quite a huge economic and social impact across Europe, with at least 25% of people in the region experiencing a mental disorder over their lifetime. Unipolar depression alone was infact the third leading cause of disability-adjusted life-years(DALYs), that is after ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease which accounted for 5.6% of DALYs in the region.  Suicide rate is also quite high across the region and statistics like these make  mental health and wellness support in the workplace is something to be taken seriously. And from the available reports, that is exactly what the UK is doing by having the highest percentage for taking care of their..

admin

Job changing rate is defined as a measure of the extent to which available labor resources (that is, people who are available to work) are being used. It is also calculated as the ratio of the employed to the working age population. Employment rates or Job changing ratesare quite sensitive to the economic cycle, but in the longer term they are significantly affected by governments’ higher education and income support policies including policies that facilitate employment of women and disadvantaged groups. The working age population refers to people aged 15 to 64. This indicator can be seasonally adjusted and it is measured in terms of thousand persons aged 15 and over; and in the numbers of employed persons aged 15 to 64 as a percentage of working age population. According to reports, over 1 in 2 have switched jobs or are actively looking to do so with flexible work their top priority, with one -thirdof employees having changed jobs in the past two years. The percentage of those who haven’t changed jobs yet but are actively seeking a new opportunity in 2022 had reasons for doing so which ranged from wanting better compensation, wanting a better career opportunity, better work/life balance, and the rest want to change because they are looking to do something they enjoy more. The rate of employees who changed jobs in the last 2 years had..

admin

Gaining visibility is very important especially as a remote worker. Some of the ways to do so include; meeting face-to-virtual-face whenever possible – not just once in a while, dress the part – it does not matter if it is a video call and you are at home, speak up during meetings, be proactive and ask others what they need, schedule one-on-one video calls with your  colleagues, and send your manager a weekly recap of your accomplishments. According to report, about 36% of employees had a visibility strategy. Some of which included making sure projects kept moving, helping out colleagues, offering new ideas, and volunteering for a task or opportunity. Managers were not also left out as 54% of managers said offering new ideas is a great way for employees to increase their visibility. You can improve on your face to virtual face meeting by doing one or all of the following; Provide communication tools -not having adequate communication tools can be an obstacle to remote face-to-face communication, schedule regular video calls, host office hours, prioritize team calls, and work on your communication skills. The hardest part about having to work remotely is that remote work comes without that physical office comradery, lunchroom banter and water fountain chat. With that said, working from home can be extremely lonely and isolating a times. The importance of scheduling calls, both personal and..

admin

The biggest challenge facing candidates who are reskilling into any new industry is confidence. While we may often hear of not knowing where to start, because there is a lot of competition and difficulty due to lack of experience, what it might arguably all come down to eventually, is lack of confidence. Getting in front of decision-makers is the hardest part of the job search because it feels like it is completely out of your control. More than 50% of jobs are found through networking, not online. Networking is the most effective way to learn about careers and ultimately to land a job. Research has consistently shown that networking leads to a job far more often than other job search methods such as attending job fairs, responding to postings, or sending out unsolicited resumes. Some other statistics a job seeker should know include; majority of resumes are rejected before they reach the hiring manager, most recruiters rely on LinkedIn, a professionally written resume boosts your earning potential, over half of employersreject candidates based on their social media profiles and only about five applicants out of hundreds actually earn a face-to-face interview. Did you know that the average job search in the U.S. takes 5 months? Seems like a long time right? That is why you need to arm yourself thoroughly especially if you are new into the labor market. More..