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Nearly three-quarters of senior business leaders in Great Britain (73%) have multiple generations in their workforce today as populations age and working lives extend, a new report finds. Analysis by the Work Foundation at Lancaster University in collaboration with the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) found that for the first time in history, there are four generations in the workplace, with workers born in the 1950s and 1960s now working alongside people born in the 2000s. Researchers say this presents new opportunities for both employers and workers. In a new survey of more than 1,000 senior British business leaders undertaken by Survation in May 2024, over half of employers (51%) report they have more than one generation in their…

2028 is the Centenary of the Equal Franchise Act, when women achieved the vote on equal terms with men. All major parties have committed to equal representation in Parliament by this date. For this to be achieved, we not only need to improve the pipeline of women joining Parliament, we need to ensure that women want to stay in Parliament when they get there. And with 40% of women, elected as MPs and with a new cohort of around 335 new MPs, taking their place on the green benches, now is the time for cultural reform! We need a culture change in Parliament. Too often, women, Black and minoritised people and disabled people are left sidelined by processes, procedures and…

We all know someone we consider wise, whether that be a public figure, a friend, or a family member. Yet what we think of as wisdom can vary hugely from person to person, influenced by our politics, our philosophies, or our culture. In Nature Communications, a multinational team takes a look at what people from around the world consider to be wisdom. Working with 16 culturally diverse samples from 11 countries, they find significant variation, culture to culture, expanding our understanding of what it means to be wise beyond the Global North. Data was collected over two years from Slovakia, Morocco, Canada, Ecuador, Peru, America, Japan, North Korea, India, South Africa, and China. The total 2,650 participants included were a…

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An organization’s most important resource is its human resource – its people. This wide-ranging practical guide puts the emphasis on the human – empowering employees to be resourceful. If you are involved in managing people, then you will find this to be an invaluable resource. Rooted in a clear theory base, but with a strong practical focus, it covers thirty different aspects of management practice. Available from Amazon

Often confusion arises because there is a lack of clarity about who is responsible for what. The more pressurized the situation is, the more likely this problem is to occur. This confusion can breed anxiety, and that anxiety, in turn, can lead to fuzzy thinking which then contributes to confusion about boundaries. There is therefore much to be gained from being clear about where the boundaries lie. It is important to be clear about what you are personally responsible for in any given situation. But it is also important to be clear about what part you play in any shared responsibility. Are the others who share that responsibility clear about their contribution and are you all clear about how you…

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of disability discrimination claims brought before employment tribunals. This report presents the findings from qualitative research exploring the characteristics and drivers of disability discrimination claims, to understand what might be driving this trend and why some of these claims are not being settled through Acas conciliation. As part of its duty to try to bring about a settlement in employment disputes, Acas offers 2 stages of conciliation: early conciliation, which takes place before the tribunal claim has started, and conciliation in any subsequent tribunal application, that is after the claim has been submitted but before the case has gone before the tribunal hearing. Click here to read more

Life costs more if you’re disabled. This report by Scope uses data from the Family Resources Survey to calculate the extra costs faced by disabled households. We call this the ‘Disability Price Tag’.  For this report, 31 members of disabled households took part in interviews. They told how managing household finances alongside extra costs impacted them and their families' lives. Click here to read more

More than 4,000 young care leavers in England were facing homelessness by April 2024, government data shows - a jump of 54% in five years. The increase in the figure, which covers 18, 19 and 20-year-olds, is 15 times greater than the rise in homelessness among all young people in England. Care charity Become described the high number of young care leavers facing homelessness as a "failure of society". The government called the figures "shocking" and said it was taking steps to "reverse the worst housing crisis in living history". Click here to read more

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