Insights

1.  UK to trial four-day working week

Around the world, the idea of a four-day working week is gaining traction. Now, the UK is joining the movement with a six-month trial period of the four-day working week. Approximately 30 British companies have signed on to take part in the pilot; employees will not see a loss in pay for working one fewer day a week. However, they will be asked to maintain 100% productivity for 80% of their time.
"The four-day week challenges the current model of work and helps companies move away from simply measuring how long people are "at work", to a sharper focus on the output being produced. 2022 will be the year that heralds in this bold new future of work," Joe O'Connor the pilot programme manager for 4 Day Week Global, told Metro.
The UK trial will run alongside similar trials in the US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Spanish and Scottish governments have already launched four-day work week trials.

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2. International Labour Organization downgrades labour market recovery forecast for 2022

The global economy might not recover as quickly as previously thought. This week, the International Labour Organization (ILO) downgraded their forecast for the labour market recovery in 2022. The new forecast looks a little more bleak: the organization expects a deficit in the hours worked globally equivalent to 52 million full-time jobs.
The project is still an improvement on the 2021 situation, but it remains 2% lower than the number of global hours worked pre-pandemic. Across the globe, unemployment is expected to remain above pre-COIVD-19 levels until at least 2023.

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3.Top HR trends for the 2022 workplace.

The world of work is fast-moving in 2022. Here are some of the top HR trends for the 2022 workplace, as reported in Forbes:

• The future of work? Employee wellbeing.

• Focusing on employee wellbeing can stem the Great Resignation

• Hybrid work is key for most workers

• Employees want to work for a company with strong values

Photo: Austin Distel via Unsplash

4.  Why is it considered okay to be ageist at work?

In 2018, Ian Tapping, a project manager at the Ministry of Defence, met with his human resources team. He had been in a dispute with his employer, and wanted to make a harassment claim.
In that meeting, his HR manager bluntly asked him when he intended to retire. Tapping, in his early 60s, quit his job and sued the company for age discrimination.
Last month, he won the case when a judge ruled that it is illegal to ask someone about their retirement plans unless they have brought it up themselves.
But survey after survey establishes the same thing: people over 50 find it much more difficult to get job interviews, and they are more likely to be eased out of existing jobs.
Although ageism is everywhere in the world of work, few victims take their case to court like Tapping.
"It's still under the radar," Lyndsey Simpson, founder of the employment website 55/Redefined, told the Financial Times, "because people don't want to go on the record. They think they'll be attacked and they think it will be career-limiting. I've lost count of the number of men who are turned down for jobs and are told: you are overqualified, or you don't meet our diversity requirements."

Photo:Financial Times

5. Jobseekers are boosting their applications with video CVs.

For years now, hiring has shifted towards virtual interviews and processes. As a result, a growing number of candidates are boosting their applications with video CVs to help win the job.
The demand for video resumes is continuing to grow. According to a LinkedIn survey in 2021, 79% of hiring managers thought that video had become "more important" than ever before for vetting candidates. That same survey found that 61% of job seekers thought "a recorded video could be the next iteration of the traditional cover letter." Read mor at the BBC.

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