(PR in) HR Pulse | HR News Round-up: 27th February – 12th March 2023

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BMA to tackle sexism in medicine

The British Medical Association (BMA) has recently announced their pledge to tackle gender-based discrimination in the medical field in response to their 2021 Sexism in Medicine report. It revealed that almost a third (31%) of women doctors faced daily or weekly gendered discrimination in the workplace. The BMA also uncovered that almost all (91%) of women doctors have experienced sexism in the workplace but only around half (42%) felt comfortable reporting it. 

The Sexism in Medicine report was conducted in tandem with Dr Chelcie Jewitt, the co-founder of the Surviving in Scrubs campaign, who exposed the sexist practices and behaviours against women within the NHS through an array of testimonies alongside colleague and co-founder Dr Becky Cox. 

Since the launch of the Ending Sexism in Medicine pledge, over 30 healthcare organisations have signed up. Source: Personnel Today.

Managers impact employee’s mental health as much as partners

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England’s head of people, Alicia Nagar has emphasised the desperate need for better manager training to support employees and build healthy relationships after new research from Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG) revealed the negative impact managers have on employee stress levels and mental health. 

According to UKG’s findings, 7 out of 10 (69%) employees expressed that their managers impacted their mental health to the same degree as their partners, with over a third (35%) of the employees claiming their managers didn’t understand how much their team’s mental health is impacted by them. The disconnect between managers and employees is further explored as almost all (91%) HR and C-suite leaders surveyed believe their employees’ mental health was positively impacted by their companies' practices. More than a third (35%) of employees disagreed. 

Open communication between managers and employees is part of the issue as almost half (40%) of employees said they were continuously stressed due to work, however, more than a third (38%) weren’t comfortable talking to their managers about changing their workload. To help employers improve their communication and relationship building skills, MHFA England plans to launch a free toolkit in March. Source: HR Magazine.

Consistent increase in temporary roles since October

February marked the fifth consecutive month of a decrease in permanent positions in the UK workforce, according to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG’s Report on Jobs. The survey calculates increases and decreases in permanent and temporary employment through an index reading, above 50 means an overall increase and below 50 means an overall decrease. From October 2022 to February 2023, the index reading for permanent placements has been below 50, while temporary positions have consistently stayed above 50, revealing an increase in temp jobs.

Peninsula’s HR Advice and Consultancy Director, Kate Palmer, explained that this is partly due to employers not knowing how long they will be able to contract employees for during the current recession, so prefer to offer temporary contracts. Source: People Management. 

Women forced out of work due to unaffordable childcare

PwC has released its annual Women in Work Index, revealing that the UK has dropped by five places in the global women’s employment index. The UK is currently ranking 14th out of 33 countries within The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), based on data from 2021. This drop is the result of a 0.4 decrease in women’s participation in the labour force, along with a 2.4% increase in the gender pay gap which grew four times the normal rate for the OECD, landing at 14.4%.

The greatest contributor to the overall decrease of women in employment is the rising costs of childcare in the UK, currently standing at almost a third of an average family wage, as well as a 10% fall in available childcare providers between 2018 and 2022. A March 2023 report into childcare from Pregnant then Screwed has found that 76% of mothers paying for childcare don’t believe it makes sense, financially, to work.

PwC’s Senior Economist, Larice Stielow explained that an 18 year old woman starting down the career path right now would never experience equality in their working life as it would take 50 years to end the gender pay gap at the UK’s current rate of progression. Source: Personnel Today.