Ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympics opening ceremony, the TUC has published guidance for bosses whose staff want to watch events during their normal working hours.
The TUC suggests that bosses: talk to their employees in advance about arrangements for events they want to see; arrange for their staff to watch the key events from the Olympics somewhere on the company’s premises, if appropriate; allow staff to work from home on days when key events are happening; allow staff to work flexibly and to come in early or later to finish their shifts; be as flexible as possible with annual leave requests.
The TUC believes that flexible working has real benefits for businesses and their workforces. Many workplaces operate flexitime, letting staff come in early and go home early, or to get into work late and leave the office later. Olympic events start at various times, with some highlights likely to include British competitors happening in standard office hours, like the rowing finals stating at 12.30pm, equestrian finals at 2pm and the men’s doubles tennis final at 4pm.
But it will not just be sports fans who work daytime and weekday hours who are affected. More than one in five UK employees (5.8 million people) work evenings and weekends, and many will want to watch their national sporting heroes take part in the Olympics. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Millions of workers around the UK will want to see Team GB in action at the Rio Olympics. “To avoid any problems bosses should talk to their staff and try and let people who want to watch important events in the Olympics do so, either at work or at home – and then put their hours in afterwards. Allowing people more flexibility in how and when they do their work makes them happier, cutting absenteeism and raising productivity. Good luck Team GB!
UK job market continues to grow
Data from the UK’s largest job site, reed.co.uk, reveals that job opportunities across the country are up 8.2 percent on the same time last year. However, the monthly index fell by three points (1 percent) compared to June. Overall, the Reed Job Index for July stands at 289. The latest figures show that more than two thirds of the nation’s employment sectors (70 percent) are healthier than they were in July 2015. The strongest amongst these are Security & Safety (+47.7 percent), Education (+28.8 percent) and Construction & Property (+24.5 percent).
The Manufacturing Job Index stands at 418 and is up +18.4 percent annually. This is an especially encouraging sign for longer-term economic prospects, particularly in light of Markit’s latest PMI figures, released this week, which reported that manufacturing output has dropped to its lowest level since February 2013. Of the sectors seeing declines in annual growth, Apprenticeships (-29.8 percent), Banking (-15.8 percent) and Energy (-14.7 percent) are amongst those hardest hit. Around the UK, every region continues to enjoy annual jobs growth, with Northern Ireland, the North West and Wales seeing the biggest increases in new opportunities.
While the job market is still growing, reed.co.uk has seen the average rate of growth decline to below 10 percent in 2016 compared with 24.7 percent for the whole of 2015. Month on month, growth is down marginally from 8.9 percent in June to 8.2 percent in July. The latest Reed Job Index data comes as the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee prepares to issue its latest interest rate-setting decision on Thursday.
James Reed, Chairman of reed.co.uk comments: “Our up-to-the-minute jobs data shows that UK businesses are still hiring. However, there are clear signs of a slowdown that should not be ignored. This is an important moment for policymakers because decisions made this summer will have an impact for many years to come. If it was up to me, I would aggressively cut taxes and interest rates to avert a recession.”
Fastest moving sectors: July 2016
Security & Safety
Education
Construction & Property
Motoring & Automotive
Accountancy (Qualified)
Fastest moving regions: July 2016
Northern Ireland
North West England
Wales
East Midlands
Yorkshire and Humberside
