NEWS
GREATER FLEXIBILITY WILL
MOTIVATE US, SAY EMPLOYEES Companies providing a better work life balance may be paving the way for a more productive workforce
5
A STUDY by HSBC of UK businesses and employees found that nine in ten employees (89%) consider flexible working to be the biggest motivator to their productivity levels within the workplace – a view shared equally among male and female employees (87% and 90% respectively) – and more so than financial incentives (77%). Alongside this, 81% of workers believe the opportunity to work remotely would also help them to improve their productivity, making a clear link between flexible working cultures and increased business productivity levels. Regions where flexible working is more popular, such as London (where 30% of workers have the option) and the South East (32%), generally see the highest levels of productivity in the UK (where productivity, as defined by the ONS, is calculated as output per
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worker or output per hour worked. In contrast, only 18% of employees in Wales, where productivity levels are lower, are offered the opportunity to work flexible hours – suggesting that companies providing a better work life balance may be paving the way for a more productive workforce as employees feel greater motivation. The most productive sector – the professional services industry – is the most likely to offer employees flexible hours, with 36% of professional services employees saying it is available to them. Whereas, in the retail, hospitality and leisure industry, where one in four workers (24%) are not offered benefits or perks of any kind (including flexible working), productivity is lowest. In Q2 2017 output per hour stood at just £23.00 in this sector (significantly lower than the national average of £32.20) while the sector
with the highest output per hour, professional services, had an average of £68.10 per hour. The study also highlights a disparity between the perks employees believe to be most motivating and those that they are offered – as the vast majority of employees believe flexible working motivates them, yet less than a third (30%) of business offer it. The deficit is most apparent in the manufacturing industry where nearly all employees (91%) believe the opportunity to work more flexibly would improve their motivation and productivity at work, yet less than a quarter (23%) have the option. Far from being an attitude associated only with younger workers, flexible working is valued most by 35-44 year olds of whom 59% value the opportunity ‘a great deal’, compared to just 47% of millennials (under 35s).
THINGS BUSINESS OWNERS WISH THEY HAD
DONE SOONER
SMALL BUSINESS owners have revealed the top five things that they wish they had done differently in their first years of trading, as new research highlights the ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ of starting a new business according to owners themselves. The research from Xero and
Aviva found that small business owners wish they had got to grips with technology sooner, as owners admit they should have created a website (33%), invested in better IT (29%) and bought accountancy software (27%) sooner than they did. Other elements business owners
wish they had started earlier include employing help (27%) and seeking financial advice (26%), as the research reveals that financial administration takes up more head space than it does real time for business owners. Business owners spend an
average of just three hours 40 minutes on financial management per week, despite 59% being worried about keeping their books in order and meeting accounting deadlines, 62% say they find managing the accounts one of the least rewarding elements of running a business.
SME 9
1. Created a website 2. Invested in better IT 3. Bought accountancy software
4. Employed some help 5. Sought financial advice
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