Share Sounds. related to Work

The UK has come a long way since the early Equal Opportunities legislation of the 1970s, high-profile cases in the 1980s and 1990s identifying institutionalised discrimination, and the subsequent focus on celebration of diversity and promotion of inclusion. However, the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements are reminders of how far we still need to travel. In this episode, Peter Urwin is joined by Emma Parry, Professor of Human Resource Management at Cranfield School of Management, to discuss how to further move the dial on diversity in the workplace. Asking whether research provides clear lessons for managers, they identify a number of similar messages across the economics and HRM literatures. However, whilst recent debates over the value of unconscious bias training caution against untested approaches, evaluation of “solutions” such as Inclusion present a real challenge. Peter and Emma debate these tensions, and consider possible ways forward. For an accompanying blog post on this issue, go to https://www.propelhub.org.

Since the late 1960s, UK productivity growth has been weak and poor management is seen as one of the main causes. In recent years Economists have waded into this debate, and in this episode Peter Urwin asks Prof. Richard Saundy what he thinks of recent findings. The discussion begins with a reminder of the fractious history of UK industrial relations. They then consider recent evidence on what makes a good manager and ask why there seems to be so little sharing of good managerial practice both between, and even within, organisations. Concluding with a discussion of what the ‘cure’ might look like, they consider work of the PrOPEL Hub and ESRC funded studies that aim to improve management through new approaches to training.

The New Labour government introduced a national minimum wage (NMW) in 1999. At first this was opposed by the Conservative party, but they have since joined a growing political consensus. The Low Pay Commission (LPC) are tasked with recommending NMW rates that 'help as many low-paid workers as possible without any significant adverse impact on employment or the economy’. The LPC’s apparent success in achieving this, may be one reason for growing political census, so it is perhaps worrying that a National Living Wage (NLW) is being set without these considerations. Len Shackleton, Professor of Economics at the University of Buckingham and Editorial and Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, sets out these issues and more in a recent IEA paper on Restructuring Minimum Wages. Prof. Shackleton argues that the system has become overly complex and recommendations made by the Taylor Review will only add to this complexity. In this interview we consider his proposals and what the future may hold for UK minimum wages.

In the second instalment of this series looking at how Coronavirus has affected the working landscape, Peter Urwin is joined by Professor Emma Parry: Professor of Human Resource Management and Group Head Changing World of Work at Cranfield School of Management. They discuss what work will look like after the pandemic; drawing on a variety of recent evidence from surveys of HR practitioners, employees and companies to better understand which of the changes to working will persist beyond the current crisis. For instance, there is a clear gender split emerging as the burden of childcare continues to fall on women, who are being forced to balance the demands of working from home and home-schooling. But will this turn around now schools are reopening, and working from home brings benefits for those with caring responsibilities?

Adam Cox is joined by video conferencing expert, Dieter Dehaemers, to discuss how COVID-19 has changed the way we work – and how flexible working has allowed a new way for meetings to take place. Dieter shares his thoughts and advice on how to keep up to date with meetings and the way our mindsets have changed when it comes to collaboration when working from home.

Adam Cox is joined by Rich Turner, Senior Vice-President of cybersecurity experts CyberArk, to discuss research which reveals workers’ attitudes to work-related cybersecurity at home – and how workers can improve their cybersecurity. They look at what businesses should be doing to improve their employees’ cybersecurity, and what CyberArk can do to help prevent cyber-attacks.

Adam Cox interviews Carmel Crinnion, an Australian who has discovered real healing powers. Her first spiritual experience was with an after-communion prayer during her Catholic upbringing. As an adult, she started on her own healing journey some 10 years ago; made a spiritual retreat to Macchu Piccu, and experienced a new language of healing. She now runs Sanctum Healing as a transformation coach based in Sydney.

Saving, spending, planning — you've got money questions and we've got answers. Every week host Alison Southwick and personal finance expert Robert Brokamp challenge the conventional wisdom on life's biggest financial issues to reveal what you really need to know to make smart money moves. In this week's episode, whether they are doing it because they need to or because they want to, people are more often likely to work later in life or opt for a semi-retirement. We’re joined by AARP’s Susan Weinstock to talk about why this trend isn’t going to change, and how you can plan for the realities of a later retirement.

Is the length of your working day taking over your life? Recent research by Indeed has revealed that over half of employees in Britain work longer than their contracted hours on a regular basis, with over 40% saying flexible working hours would improve their mental health. In this episode of the Share Interview, Vicky Sayers is joined by TV psychologist, presenter and writer, Emma Kenny, to find out how we can improve our relationship with work.

This month we launched The WealthiHer 2020 report “The Changing Faces of Women’s Wealth” which gives valuable insights into women’s and men’s financial confidence, attitudes to and needs around money, workplaces and equality, both in the UK and Asia. It is clear Covid-19 has had a major impact and nowhere was this truer, than for women and their responsibilities to family, job security and financial prosperity. Women are 1.8 times more likely to have lost their jobs or quit, compared to men. The Institute of Fiscal Studies found that women in the UK are working 156 more hours a month than their partners in support of care of the family or the household; and the gender pay gap has shifted back 60 years as a result of the crisis. In this episode, Tamara Gillan is joined by Michelle King: world-renowned equality expert who has led the charge on strategy for UN Women and Netflix Inclusion. Michelle is armed with more than 16 years’ research and a deep understanding of the invisible barriers that hold women back at work, and how we need to face up to these and collaboratively fix workplaces, not women. Michelle has also just joined us as the MD of WealthiHer female leadership Academy.