Category Archives: Productivity

Why people risk insecure work

Posted on July 18, 2023 by Paul Evans

An interesting report from The Work Foundation (via Lancaster University) has just landed. Published in partnership with Unison, it looks at the choices and experiences of those in insecure work, and the kinds of interventions that could support them into … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Gig economy workers, Productivity, Welfare and benefits, Wellbeing | Tagged , | Comments Off on Why people risk insecure work

Freelancers and the welfare system

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Paul Evans

This site has carried plenty of posts about freelancing and employment status, tax status, their pension status, and it probably needs a bit more on the generality of freelancing. We often debate whether ‘freelancer’ is even a thing. It doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment Law and Rights, Employment status, Equipment and kit, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Gig economy workers, IR35, Management, Personal Service Companies, Productivity, Skills & capacity, Tax, Universal Credit, Welfare and benefits, Wellbeing, Work-life balance | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Freelancers and the welfare system

Bank Rate rises. Inflation rate stubborn.

Posted on June 22, 2023 by Paul Evans

As widely expected, The Bank of England has increased rates to 5% from 4.5%. This is the 13th increase in a row, and it is a response to Inflation Rates that are remaining stubbornly high. The recently-announced May 2023 RPI … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing costs, Inflation, Productivity | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Flexible working, and work-from-home update

Posted on May 11, 2023 by Paul Evans

The question of flexible and ‘WFH’ employment has become a vexed one in recent years. Anecdotal claims about how WFH damages work-life balance with people voluntariliy working longer hours have been quite widespread (along with other downsides). Other surveys have … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus, Coronavirus, Family rights, Long hours, Management, Productivity, The working environment | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Four day week trial

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Paul Evans

The BBC are reporting on a UK-wide six-month trial, testing the costs and benefits of a four-day week on full pay, across a wide range of different firms. The trial was conducted between June and December 2022, organised by 4 … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, Freelance working, Long hours, Management, Productivity, Wellbeing | Tagged | Leave a comment

IR35 is back (it never went away). What reforms are needed?

Posted on October 24, 2022 by Paul Evans

I had planned to post this a few weeks ago, but then Kwasi Kwarteng’s Growth Plan scuppered all of that with its oddly-framed decision to “scrap IR35”. However, we can carry on as usual now that Jeremy Hunt has reversed … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment intermediaries, Employment Law and Rights, Employment status, ESM4118, Gig economy workers, IR35, Loan arrangements, Productivity, Tax | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sunak’s spring statement 2022 – initial details

Posted on March 23, 2022 by Paul Evans

Firstly, with inflation up again at 6.2% from 5.5%, the growth forecasts are fairly conservative at the moment and “we don’t really know how the situation in Ukraine will affect all of this” runs like a subtext to all of … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Freelance working, Inflation, Low pay, National Insurance Contributions (NICs), Productivity, Tax | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Inflation update (spoiler alert: it’s not good news)

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Paul Evans

Towards the end of last year, economic forecasters could safely have been described as ‘alarmed’ by inflation figures. I don’t post on this every month (the last real mention was here) and I was briefing members towards the end of … Continue reading →

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What do employers need to do to retain talent?

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Paul Evans

It’s something of a recurring theme from the Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (PIRC), but all of the research (including their own work with Autonomy and Survation – [pdf]) point to a need to pay people better, treat them with … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, Employment Law and Rights, Long hours, Low pay, Management, Mental Health, Productivity, Wellbeing, Work-life balance | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Working terms in Swedish productions

Posted on November 29, 2021 by Paul Evans

It’s always worth looking at how other countries do work hours in the film and TV industry, and it is a commonplace view that the Swedish drama sector manages a high quality of production on working hours that also give … Continue reading →

Posted in Bectu Agreements, Employment Law and Rights, EU & Brexit, Factual & Entertainment sector data, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Health & Safety, High End TV data, Long hours, Major Motion Picture Agreement, Productivity, SVoD, Tax incentives, Trades Unions, TV Drama Agreement, Work-life balance | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“… the self-employed remain something of an inconvenient afterthought”

Posted on November 22, 2021 by Paul Evans

There’s a useful post here from Paul Johnson of the Institute of Fiscal Studies highlighting a number of factors that leads to the conclusion that our ecoomy and employment / tax / benefits framework has been designed around an economy … Continue reading →

Posted in CJRS & SEISS, Coronavirus, Economics, Employment Law and Rights, Employment status, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Gig economy workers, Management, Personal Service Companies, Productivity, Welfare and benefits | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Why ‘the freelance deal’ is a big deal – and not just for the workers concerned.

Posted on November 18, 2021 by Paul Evans

There’s a long read on this site about the ‘contingent production army’ that manages large parts of the entertainment industry. Thinking about this issue, and processing it has allowed me to get a clearer idea of what our grievances are … Continue reading →

Posted in Bullying and Harassment, Disability equality, Employment, Employment Law and Rights, Employment status, Equality, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Gender equality, Gig economy workers, Health & Safety, IR35, Long hours, Management, Mental Health, National Insurance Contributions (NICs), Occupational Health, Personal Service Companies, Productivity, Race equality, Tax, Theatre and Live Events data | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

BEIS consultation on flexible working

Posted on November 17, 2021 by Paul Evans

The BEIS is currently consulting on flexible working – “Making Flexible Working the Default” – here [pdf]. “This consultation includes a set of proposals which are built around the principle that working arrangements are best decided through a constructive, open-minded … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment Contracts, Gender equality, Gender representation, Health & Safety, Long hours, Productivity, Safe working practices, Safe working standards, Wellbeing, Work-life balance | Tagged | Leave a comment

There’s a lot of job-switching going on

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Paul Evans

Following on from two posts here this morning about inflation/pay, and the tight labour market, here’s a third on the trinity of issues that are creating a fair wind for union-type demands at the moment. Sarah O’Connor in the FT … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, Low pay, Pay & inflation, Productivity, Wages and Pay-rates | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Got a pay claim coming up? Want advice on inflation, and stuff like that?

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Paul Evans

If you have a pay claim coming up and want advice on inflation, and stuff like that…. good luck! Firstly, the official, current inflation figures have not been as flimsy a guide as they are at the moment for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, EU & Brexit, Inflation, Pay & inflation, Productivity, Skills & capacity | Tagged | 3 Comments

“The tightest labour market in modern times”

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Paul Evans

This Twitter thread (below) is really worth a careful read for everyone who wants to understand the current state of the labour market. Firstly, the fears about mass redundancies at the end of furlough are just not materialising – if … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, Productivity | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Why unions matter – the economic argument

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Paul Evans

Here’s a web page that I return to fairly regularly when thinking about wage growth (or lack thereof). Firstly, there this:   And then there’s this: See the link?  

Posted in Economics, Low pay, Productivity, Trades Unions, Wages and Pay-rates | Tagged | Leave a comment

Positive working environment “will lead to dramatic benefits for employers, employees, and the bottom line.”

Posted on October 4, 2021 by Paul Evans

Those bug-eyed Marxist fanatics over at the Harvard Business Review are making the case against aggressive management practices again: “…a large and growing body of research on positive organizational psychology demonstrates that not only is a cut-throat environment harmful to … Continue reading →

Posted in Bullying and Harassment, Employment, Employment Law and Rights, Long hours, Mental Health, Productivity, Wellbeing, Workplace conflict, Workplaces | Leave a comment

Right to request flexible working to become a ‘day one right’?

Posted on September 21, 2021 by Paul Evans

The BBC are reporting that the right to request flexible working (currently something that employees have a statutory right to request after six months) can be requested on day one – when they start a new job. Employers would also … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment, Employment Law and Rights, Family rights, Productivity | Tagged | Leave a comment

Arts, entertainment and recreation 18.8% below its pre-covid levels

Posted on September 16, 2021 by Paul Evans

The ONS monthly estimate for July shows that the UKs Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by only 0.1% in July and is still 2.1% below its pre-pandemic level. Most of the growth was in production output (up 1.2%) while construction … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus, Economics, Employment, Film & TV industry data, Productivity, Theatre and Live Events data | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Continuous working week, shift work, working from home… some links.

Posted on September 14, 2021 by Paul Evans

From the FT [£]: “The decline of the “9 to 5” has been under way for decades. In 2010-11, 20 per cent of employees in the US worked more than half their hours outside the standard hours of 6am to … Continue reading →

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Freelancers – ‘the canary in the coalmine’

Posted on September 9, 2021 by Paul Evans

From earlier this year, a useful roundup from The Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (NESTA) of the policy issues governments need to bear in mind when thinking about creative freelancers. Their understanding of Creative Freelancers is as follows: The … Continue reading →

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Scotland to trial four-day week

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Paul Evans

….but without a loss of pay. More on the BBC website.

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Labour shortages and productivity

Posted on August 31, 2021 by Paul Evans

Will labour shortages have a positive impact on the economy? I’d argue that they will as employers will stop building business models based on sweating unproductive low-skilled workers and instead on tech innovation. Martin Sandbu [£] agrees. But what is … Continue reading →

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Post-pandemic working foregrounds poor management and outdated hierarchies

Posted on August 27, 2021 by Paul Evans

A couple of  pieces from the FT recently highlighting the spotlight that has fallen on the quality of management in the UK. The first one [£] takes ministers to task for their (possibly unfounded, or even downright wrong) complaints about … Continue reading →

Posted in Diversity of representation, Employment, Equality, Gender pay, Gender representation, Management, Productivity, Race equality | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Labour shortages increase potential industrial muscle for workers

Posted on August 27, 2021 by Paul Evans

Today’s FT is full of news about how labour shortages are hitting the economy in numerous ways as a result of multiple market failures [£] which includes the pandemic, the pingdemic, market failure but obviously, we can’t add brexit to … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus, Economics, Employment, EU & Brexit, Gig economy workers, Inflation, IR35, Migration & working abroad, Pay & inflation, Productivity | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Call to arms: unions everywhere must resist this pt2

Posted on August 14, 2021 by Paul Evans

Very late on Friday post: Following on from the lanyards things a few weeks ago… I’m going to guess we’re all against this kind of facial recognition thing? Research has shown that meetings correlate with a decline in workplace happiness, … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Productivity | Tagged | Leave a comment

Economic insight into the UK creative industries

Posted on August 9, 2021 by Paul Evans

On the 21st July, the Creative Industries Federation (a membership body which represents, champions and supports the UK’s creative industries) published a report commissioned from Oxford Economics entitled ‘Developing economic insight into the creative industries’. As this is an economic … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, EU & Brexit, Factual & Entertainment sector data, Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, High End TV data, Productivity, Skills & capacity | Tagged , | Leave a comment

5 Ways to Recognise Employee Burnout

Posted on July 29, 2021 by Paul Evans

From the Bectu website… ICYMI workers in the creative industries are highly susceptible to burnout due to precarious working and long hours culture. In a #ThursdayThoughts blog, Meghan Taylor from the Writers Guild shares '5 Ways to Recognise Employee Burnout' … Continue reading →

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BBC & Channel 4’s contribution to the UK economy

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Paul Evans

Channel 4 recently published a study by Ernst and Young of the Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy [pdf]  from their activity. This report focuses on the contribution to the Nations and Regions of the UK and concludes … Continue reading →

Posted in BBC, Economics, Employment, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, Productivity, Public Service Broadcasting | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Workers reject the idea of a four-day week on lower pay

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Paul Evans

A new report from The Social Market Foundation (SMF) entitled A question of time [PDF] explores the question of the four day week. The key findings (from the exec summary) are that… Most workers – 80% – would not favour … Continue reading →

Posted in Bectu Agreements, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Long hours, Major Motion Picture Agreement, Management, Pay & inflation, Productivity, TV Drama Agreement, Wages and Pay-rates, Workplace conflict | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What the Wilson era can teach us.

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Paul Evans

Welcome to an era when a stronger welfare state was seen as a pre-condition for economic dynamism. When a robust social infrastructure helped workers take risk. New piece by me on why Harold Wilson’s forgotten agenda is relevant to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, Labour Party, Low pay, Management, Politics, Productivity, Welfare and benefits | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Working from home (WFH) and productivity

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Paul Evans

A useful summary, here. This largely looks at the question from the point of view of the economy as a whole. “The individual firms’ decision to shift their workers to WFH could result in aggregate productivity gains only if workers … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus, Management, Productivity, Remote working, Workplaces | Tagged , , | Leave a comment