…in brief

This week’s news in brief

Cost of long hours

People who work more than 60 hours a week and miss sleep are far more likely
to have a heart attack, new research published in Occupational and Environmental
Medicine journal claims. Japanese researchers and experts from London’s Guy’s
and St Thomas’ NHS Trust found men working more than 60 hours a week had double
the risk of heart attack than men working 40 hours or less.  www.acoem.org

Council staff strike

Unison says workers at more than 400 UK councils will strike on 17 July
unless a pay offer of 3 per cent is doubled. The one-day strike will affect
education, social services, residential and home care, environmental health,
housing, planning, refuse collection, catering and cleaning. Unison said
industrial action would continue until it received a ‘realistic offer’.  www.unison.org.uk

Financial integrity

A new poll has found that Britain’s financial bosses are unwilling to pay
more to guarantee the integrity of audits, despite the high profile Enron and
WorldCom scandals. More than two-thirds (70 per cent) of financial directors
polled by Reed Executive said they wouldn’t pay more for financial integrity –
with 47 per cent definitely unwilling and 23 per cent admitting they were
unlikely to do so.  www.reed.co.uk

Lack of creativity

Employers are stifling workplace creativity by trapping staff in the office and
in formal clothing, new research by training consultants Right Track claims.
While more than 83 per cent of staff claim that a creative environment leads to
business success, just 3 per cent find it easy to be imaginative working at a
desk, and 61 per cent said a more liberal dress code would encourage
creativity.  www.rtconsult.co.uk

Boost to NHS

The number of NHS nurses has risen by 8,000 in the six months to March 2002
to 339,000, according to official figures. The Department of Health figures
also show increases in the number of consultants, GPs, registrars and general
medical practitioners. The NHS Plan aims to increase the number of doctors by
10,000 and nurses by 20,000 by 2005.  www.doh.gov.uk

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Workplace stress

Nine out of 10 staff suffer from work-based stress due to working long
hours, according to research by online travel company Opodo. Two-thirds of
employees work more than 35 hours a week while almost half regularly work
unpaid overtime, the survey claims. Almost six out of 10 staff never take a
full lunch break and 55 per cent think about work over the weekend.  www.opodo.co.uk