Airline launches campaign targeting ‘empty nesters’ or people looking for challenge later in life
The airline easyJet has launched a recruitment drive urging people over the age of 45 to join its cabin crews, as firms devise new strategies for hiring staff in the UK amid a shortage of workers.
The airline said it has seen a 27% increase in crew aged 45 and over in the past four years, including a 30% increase in over-60s in the past year.
Continue reading...‘Clear evidence’ of discrimination in terms of salary and careers despite academic progress, IFS study finds
Most minority ethnic groups in the UK have made remarkable progress in educational achievement but “clear evidence” of discrimination remains in their pay and careers, according to a study published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The IFS report found that most of the largest minority ethnic groups obtain English and maths exam results at least as good or better than those achieved by white British students in England, and are more likely than white teenagers to go on to university.
Continue reading...Sharp rise in people leaving labour market in past three years could be related to home working since Covid
Back and neck injuries caused by working from home during the Covid pandemic has been identified by the UK’s official number crunchers as a possible factor contributing to a sharp rise in people leaving the labour market over the past three years.
The Office for National Statistics said there had been a marked increase in disabilities often associated by medical experts with excessive screen use, after the increase in the number of people home working while offices were shut during the pandemic.
Continue reading...Founder of campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed says parents are being set up to fail
More than 15,000 people are expected to take to the streets across the UK calling for government reforms to a childcare and parental leave structure that critics describe as dangerous and devastating.
Saturday’s March of the Mummies, organised by the campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, is expected to bring out thousands of parents and children across 11 cities, with the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the actor Sarah Solemani and the Labour MP Stella Creasy among those expected to attend.
Continue reading...Fabian Society also says Labour needs to be radical and introduce better provision for the lowest paid
Sir Keir Starmer should promise that a future Labour government would introduce a new workplace pension for self-employed workers and more generous retirement provision for the low paid, a leading left-of-centre thinktank has said.
Calling for the biggest shake-up of the pensions’ system in two decades, the Fabian Society said Labour needed to copy the radical approach of the Turner Commission two decades ago, which encouraged saving through opt-out schemes.
Increasing the minimum contributions for workplace auto-enrolment pensions to 12% of total earnings from the current 8%. This would be done by phasing in higher contributions from employers over time.
The introduction of new pension credits for carers, who are primarily women, to reduce the “gender pensions gap”
Changes to how people access pensions at retirement so that separate pensions are automatically consolidated into a single fund and then converted into new whole-of-retirement pension plans designed to increase with inflation.
Continue reading...Lawyers acting for more than 1,600 drivers say they have been wrongly classed as self-employed
More than 1,600 UK drivers working for the ride-hailing app Bolt are seeking compensation for missed holiday and minimum wage payments as they argue they have been wrongly classed as self-employed contractors.
Lawyers for the drivers have written to the government-backed workplace conciliation service Acas, in the first stage of lodging the claim against Bolt.
Continue reading...New UK chancellor aims to reverse inactivity in labour market, especially among over-50s
Kwasi Kwarteng will tighten benefit rules for part-time workers, requiring them to work longer hours or take steps to increase their earnings.
The new rule will require benefit claimants working up to 15 hours a week to take new steps to increase their earnings or face having their benefits reduced. The current threshold is nine hours, though it was increased this summer to 12 hours, which will come into force next week.
Continue reading...From failing eyesight and tiredness to dealing with younger colleagues – some of the challenges facing the new king
The biggest challenge for those, like the King, who are working in their 70s is adapting to change, according to David Smith, 73, who, for the past 20 years, has been chief officer of the men’s charity, 15 Square.
“I think a lot of people get into their 70s and say ‘I’ve always done it this way and this is how I’m always going to do it’,” says Smith, who is the same age as Charles. “And that is a recipe for disaster. You have to embrace change.”
Continue reading...Romanian research shows ‘micro-breaks’ of up to 10 minutes may help to reduce fatigue
It may not be long enough to pop to the shops or head out for a run, but taking a work break of less than 10 minutes could still boost wellbeing, research suggests.
The team behind the analysis say “micro-breaks” appear to reduce fatigue and help workers feel more vigorous.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Earnings of lowest paid could rise by £832; lower rates for 18- to 22-year-olds to be scrapped
Labour has drawn up plans to put hundreds of pounds into the pockets of the lowest paid by instructing the Low Pay Commission to factor in living costs when it sets the minimum wage.
They also want to scrap the lower pay categories for workers aged between 18 and 22, so they would all be paid at the higher rate.
Continue reading...Study challenges idea poor outcomes are due to Muslims’ so-called ‘sociocultural attitudes’
Poor outcomes for Muslims in the British labour market cannot be explained by sociocultural attitudes, such as commitment to traditionalism, a study has found.
The research, published in the peer-reviewed Ethnic and Racial Studies journal, confirmed the existence of a “Muslim penalty” in the employment market but rejected previous suggestions that it was due to cultural and religious practices.
Continue reading...Researcher lost job at thinktank after tweeting that transgender women could not change their biological sex
A researcher who lost her job at a thinktank after tweeting that transgender women could not change their biological sex has won her claim that she was unfairly discriminated against because of her gender-critical beliefs.
Maya Forstater suffered direct discrimination when the Centre for Global Development (CGD), where she was a visiting fellow, did not renew her contract or fellowship, an employment tribunal found on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Barrister’s unlawful discrimination case sees levels of engagement rare for an employment tribunal
With its own dedicated (unofficial) Twitter account and people following proceedings daily live via video, the unlawful discrimination case brought by barrister Allison Bailey against her chambers Garden Court and Stonewall has seen levels of engagement rare for an employment tribunal.
The reason is that the case, due to hear closing arguments on Monday, is a microcosm of the wider debate about transgender rights.
Continue reading...Exclusive: new visa scheme to attract staff to ease the chronic shortages in the sector has left many open to exploitation
Read full story: Migrant workers trapped in debt bondage
Care workers recruited from overseas to look after elderly and disabled people in Britain are being charged thousands of pounds in illegal fees and forced to work in exploitative conditions to pay off their debts.
An Observer investigation has uncovered a network of agencies supplying workers to care homes and homecare agencies that charge recruitment fees to candidates.
Continue reading...Institute of Chartered Foresters says 70% more staff must be recruited to meet current tree planting targets
When Kevin Martin was a child he spent days beneath the canopy of Hampshire woodlands while his father, a tree surgeon, scaled the heights of oak and ash above him.
Twenty years later, with a degree and with research for a master’s under way, Martin is in charge of tending to the 14,000 trees at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew. With trees at the forefront of UK strategies to reach net zero by 2050, Martin and others like him are key professionals on the frontline of the fight to mitigate the impact of climate change and adapt to the changing conditions.
Continue reading...Shortage of candidates since January means thousands of vacancies unfilled
UK employers increased the number of new staff in May at the slowest pace since early 2021 after a steep fall in the number of workers responding to job adverts.
After an increase in job switching by workers last year, often to secure higher pay, employers said the shortage of candidates since January meant they were unable to fill thousands of vacancies.
Continue reading...With work changed for ever by the pandemic, businesses are testing whether pilot represents a recognition that ‘the new frontier for competition is quality of life’
More than 3,300 workers at 70 UK companies, ranging from a local chippy to large financial firms, start working a four-day week from Monday with no loss of pay in the world’s biggest trial of the new working pattern.
The pilot is running for six months and is being organised by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with the thinktank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign, and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College.
Continue reading...British anaesthetist pleads for doctors and nurses to be allowed naps and limited night shifts, as in other critical workplaces
About half of all hospital doctors and nurses have had accidents or experienced near misses while driving home after a night shift.
The risks they pose to themselves and other road users have been calculated as the same as those posed by drivers who are over the legal alcohol limit, delegates at a European medical conference were told last week.
Continue reading...Former PM joins panel discussion of pandemic’s effect on workplace gender equality and urges bosses not to overlook women
Former prime minister Julia Gillard says women risk becoming “invisible behind the screen” during the Covid-led transition to remote working and has urged bosses to ensure female employees working from home aren’t overlooked for promotion.
Australia’s first female prime minister on Wednesday also welcomed the record number of women in Anthony Albanese’s cabinet, calling it “very important” as the Labor ministry was sworn in.
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Continue reading...Young people lack interest in working at Dorset-based factory on ‘old fashioned craft’ says founder’s son
For over 85 years, Chester Jefferies has made gloves fit for a Queen. But now, the company that once supplied the royal family is closing down, with its owner saying many young people lack the interest or patience to take on the “old-fashioned craft”.
Mark Pearce, who has worked at Chester Jefferies glove makers in Gillingham, Dorset, since he was 14, alongside his father who founded the company, predicted that the bespoke industry could cease to exist in Britain within 10 years.
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