Blog

The benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce are numerous, and the number of reports that give substantial evidence to this claim are great. A 2018 McKinsey study, for example, highlighted just how much more profitable a diverse workplace is compared to its non-diverse counterparts.

Financial Services and Accounting are two areas of the job market that are struggling to keep up with the positive wave of change sweeping our nation when it comes to increasing efforts around diversity and inclusion. As a sector, our line of work is still heavily male dominated, with women only making up 12.6 per cent of leadership roles – a worrying statistic. 

At the end of 2020, it was reported that three-quarters of UK workers had experienced burnout as a direct result of the workplaces changes brought about by the pandemic – notably being thrown into working from home with no choice. And in 2021, this worrying trend has seemingly continued with 1 in 5 employees reporting to feel unable to manage the pressures and stress levels at work.

At the start of the pandemic, it was recorded that by May 2020, the UK’s demand for casual and loungewear had skyrocketed by 49 per cent. With no reason to leave the house, especially in the initial months of lockdown, formalwear sales dropped by 25 per cent and slipper sales boomed by a whopping 285 per cent.

While many employees have craved the return to the office, ridding themselves of social isolation and the same four walls, not everyone is excited about the return to work. And even though over half a million Brits won’t be returning to the office full-time, the idea of going back to ‘normality’ at all is nerve-wracking for many.

At the end of that day, we have all been battling an invisible enemy for over a year, and the barriers we have had to put in place to protect ourselves, our teams and our families have been nothing but robust. The thought of having to break down these barriers and open ourselves back up to potential threat will, of course, be distressing – no matter how much we’ve missed and craved human contact.

Since the start of the pandemic last year, the use of technology, software and innovation to adapt to the ‘new normal’ has skyrocketed. From the boom in use of applications such as Microsoft Office, to the creation of new apps to make virtual business work seamlessly, the need for comprehensive and experienced IT and Tech talent has never been so high.

As Autism Awareness Week drew to a close last week, we reflect on how businesses can break down existing barriers to help support neurodiverse talent through the hiring and onboarding process and begin making positive change.

With over 27 million people in the UK having now received their first vaccination against COVID-19, employers are beginning to feel more hopeful that their workforce will be able to safely return to the workplace in just a few months’ time. However, there’s been increasing debate about whether employers should expect employees to be vaccinated before returning to work – and for agency workers, discourse gets a little more complicated.

During the Chancellor’s spending review late last year, it was announced that national living wage (NLW) was to be increased by 2 per cent for those aged 25 and above, and a whopping nearly 9 per cent for 23 – 24-year-olds - a new group to be entitled to NLW.

Sadly, the news has broken that the gender pay gap reporting will indeed be delayed by another six months, taking us up to October before we again see any implementation of mandatory transparency around existing gender pay gaps which, in turn, will help to educate leaders into why closing the gender pay gap is not only important, but imperative to our societal and economic wellbeing.

This National Apprenticeship Week, we explore why taking on an apprentice or setting up a rolling apprenticeship scheme might the perfect next step for your business in this era of the ‘new normal’.