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“58% of mid-sized businesses
in Britain said sustainability
is very important,”
Telegraph
.
The changing nature of the
workforce in the UK
The workplace is evolving much faster than ever
before, thanks to a combination of technology
and a demand for flexible working options.
While employers have a job on their hands to help
staff adjust to technological advances, rather than
view them as a threat, they also have to embrace
flexible working.
Since April 2014, every worker in the UK has had
a statutory right to ask their employer for flexible
working as long as they’ve given six months’
service to that employer.
Most employers (99%) told the Confederation of
British Industry last year that offering flexible working
is vitally important to remain competitive and
encourage investment.
But the number of people working flexibly has stalled
over the last decade and most vacancies (89%
according to a recent study by Timewise/Gartner) are
not being advertised as flexible.
With generous final-salary pensions largely a thing
of the past, and the state pension age set to rise to
68 between 2044 and 2046, millennial workers face
the prospect of working for considerably longer than
previous generations.
Millennials will make up more than a third of the
global workforce in 2020, according to research
from ManpowerGroup.
Providing flexible or remote working, opportunities
to work from home once a week or to duck out to
fulfil personal commitments, such as providing care
for a child or an elderly relative, are likely to have
significant appeal for this group going forward.
Running a sustainable
business in 2020
With international climate protests hitting the
headlines, and growing demand for green energy,
sustainable finance, second-hand products and
vegan food, environmental issues are becoming
increasingly difficult to ignore.
Research from Nielsen in 2018 found that 81% of
people around the world felt it was “extremely or very
important” for companies to do their bit to improve
the environment.
Further research published in the
Telegraph
claimed
62% of medium-sized businesses in the UK had
invested in energy-efficient new technologies.
In recent years British businesses have created
roads that combine asphalt with waste plastic,
smart flooring which converts footsteps to energy,
and protein-packed snacks made from crickets.
That trend is likely to have a continued effect on
businesses in the next year, as more consumers
look for sustainable products and services.
It’s also likely that the next Budget will include some
environmental policy announcements, either in the
form of funding for sustainable businesses or as tax
penalties for environmentally-unfriendly practices.
Budget 2018 included an announcement of a ‘plastic
tax’, for example, which Budget 2019 was expected
to explain in more detail.