This
week’s news in brief
Benefits
swap
Nearly
half of UK managers would sacrifice benefits, including £1,000 of their salary,
their company car, private medical insurance or one week’s annual leave, for a
better workplace. ICM Research reveals 45 per cent of managers would consider
moving to a competitor to get a better working environment, and more than a
quarter say they would be ashamed to bring clients into their workplace.
www.icmresearch.co.uk
Too
busy to relax
UK
workers are too busy to take their holidays, with almost £4bn worth of work
going unpaid each year, new research claims. A poll by employee benefits firm
youatwork shows that employees fail to take three months of holiday entitlement
over the course of their working lives, with men the worst offenders.
www.youatwork.co.uk
MoD
mentor scheme
The
Ministry of Defence is investing a further £15.5m in a scheme that uses former
military personnel to act as mentors to schoolchildren at risk of exclusion.
The Skill Force programme has been running since 2000, and sets up former
soldiers to tutor the youngsters, with the aim of improving the student’s
future employment opportunities. www.dfes.gov.uk
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Bringing
stress home
Two-thirds
of UK employees can’t leave stress in the office and 60 per cent of the working
population look stressed, tired and overworked to friends outside the
workplace, says new research. According to the study conducted by Parity, the
main reasons employees cite for workplace anxiety are: unrealistic workloads,
job insecurity, long hours, and colleagues’ incompetence. www.parity.net
