Gifts, sick days and gossip are very much part of the festive season, Personnel Today has found, and various companies have been contacting us with their seasonal insights …
Personnel Today has been battered more than ever this Christmas by emails from public relations professionals purporting to provide rare and valuable insights into the minds of those humanoids known as “employees”. We recently covered some of the killjoy advice being passed on to employers, HR to be specific, to help control these curiously sentient beings as they plan parties, attend drinks and play silly games to mark the end of the year, the long hours of darkness and, yes, the birth of Jesus… ah, let’s stop there awhile. Do we know Jesus was born on 25 December? No, we don’t. That date was asserted by Pope Julius in 350AD, but according to earlier writers such as Clement of Alexandria in 200AD several dates had their merits including in April, May and August.
Perhaps this is why some of us forget the religious or spiritual significance of Christmas. But moving right along to the year of our Lord 2023 we are now, says Salience Search Marketing, in the grip of the AI vs Human debate, “and why should Christmas be any different? So who is the better gifter, humans or AI?” This certainly seems to be taking no heed of our divine maker – unless of course AI is hellbent on taking that role. And it’d be no good expecting Clement of Alexandria to provide an answer to that.
A lighthearted take on HR
‘Brrr… sorry, too cold to come to the office today’
What are the best dog breeds to bring in to the office?
What can the Rugby World Cup tell us about the workplace? Anything?
Salience conducted an experiment during its Secret Santa session to reveal whether gifts purchased by humans or AI provided more happiness.
It found that non-AI assistance gifts provided recipients with the highest happiness levels, with almost three-quarters (71%) of human-selected recipients expressing being very happy with their gifts. But almost nine in 10 (86%) of individuals whose gifts were chosen with AI assistance believed that a human, not AI, had made the selection.
And when asked whether they thought AI had helped select their gift, nearly two-thirds (57%) guessed incorrectly. At Personnel Today we concluded that if you were using AI to choose your gifts, you really need to give your human head a wobble and rethink your whole approach to Christmas. Although, those socks that AI recommended are rather fetching…
Hot gossip
Photo: Shutterstock
One of the best things about the festive season is having a good old goss with your work colleagues. “What’s the goss?” you cry as you meet up with Stevie in sales. No. Sorry. Don’t do that. It isn’t good. Skillcast, a compliance e-learning service has contacted us to warn that when attending a work party, people discover, on average, seven pieces of gossip about colleagues they were not aware of before attending a work party.
Vivek Dodd, CEO of Skillcast, a compliance e-learning service, said: “Gossip within the workplace poses a potential risk to organisational harmony and compliance standards. It often arises due to gaps in communication and can lead to the spread of misinformation.”
He added: “Addressing workplace gossip involves reinforcing clear communication protocols, setting guidelines for sensitive information, and instilling a culture of accountability. Regular training on ethical standards can help create an environment where employees know the importance of responsible information sharing.”
Clearly, there’s good gossip and bad gossip. Relaying gossip without fear of favour is a skill, clearly. I see an opening for an e-learning company here …
‘I’m not feeling so well’
Sadly Christmas coincides with lots of bugs doing the rounds causing sickness absence. These will put you out of commission even more effectively than naughty gossip.
Bugs do not respect borders. But new research strives to reveal which areas of the UK are the most likely to call in sick.
And the answer is not London, despite its crammed buses, airless tubes and cheek-by-jowl commuter trains.
It is the north east of England, a windswept place of beautiful moors where viruses and bacterior fear to tread (or whatever they do), fresh bracing coasts and delightful small towns. So why?
The research, conducted by personal injury experts claims.co.uk, analysed Office for National Statistics’ sickness absence data and found that County Durham, Northumberland, Tyne-and-Wear, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, and Sunderland lose an average of 5.1 days per worker annually.
Minor illnesses such as coughs, colds, flu, and sickness were the most common reasons for calling in sick in all regions. Claims.co.uk offered advice for avoiding such conditions. They included hand hygiene, eating more fruit & veg and wearing more clothes.
Having watched a Newcastle Utd football match on TV recently I’d certainly suggest the latter advice should be taken on board, given the high number of bare-chested gentleman which the cameraman thought fit for our close-up viewing.
Perhaps ‘Toon’ fans are waiting for AI to suggest some suitable clothing for them.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today
Browse more human resources jobs
