The latest surveys and studies concisely summarised.

45% of people at work want to work fewer hours: more than 2m (one in ten) would downshift by giving up pay for a better work/life balance; the two groups who most want to downshift are in the education and financial services sectors

there are more people who work over 48 hrs in the UK than in other European countries: just over a quarter of the workforce in the UK work fewer than 30 hrs/week - a far greater proportion than their continental counterparts

¾ long hours workers do so out of choice: nearly a quarter of workers who work more than 48 hours a week do so for financial reasons

more than half of respondents in one survey say they enjoy the challenges of the job and made sure work didn’t dominate their whole life: but more than 8 in 10 felt they could not cope with the demands made of them at least some of the time

59% of respondents felt they had suffered ill health as a result of stress at work: most common symptoms were: fatigue (72%), sleeplessness (63%), irritability (61%), lack of concentration (54%), headaches (52%), depression (49%) and anxiety/panic attacks (40%)

men more likely to report depression than women (54% vs 47%): women more likely to report anxiety (41% vs 38%), uncontrolled crying (41% vs 11%), headaches (56% vs 45%), and persistent minor ailments (35% vs 26%)

more than half of respondents felt more fulfilled when busy: work seen as an important part of life by 49%; most people felt their workloads to be out of control occasionally

31% of organisations have increased overseas recruitment: 66% say that they have experienced recruitment difficulties due to skills shortages; and 98% expect these difficulties to remain the same or rise in the next 12 months

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10% of firms recruit for managerial, professional and technical positions from East European countries: 7% of organisations recruit from the rest of the EU, while 4% recruit from Asia and another 4% from the US and Canada

39% of respondents felt that the quality of applicants had decreased over the past year: particularly for managerial, professional and technical jobs

Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico, Turkey and India are top of the ‘Stress League’: notably the UK is 20th in a league of 25, and is only more stressful than New Zealand, Italy, Canada, Netherlands and Sweden

results show 5 categories where stress is caused by different reasons:

1.

Stressed & Successful: where businesses and economies have been booming - caused by positive trends and the ability to keep up eg India, S Africa, Russia

2.

Stressed in a Depressed Economy: where increase in turnover has been slow and economies have been struggling - caused by increased competition, concern about economy, and pressure on cashflow and profits eg Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore

3.

Low Stress & Successful: best of both worlds where performance has boomed over last 3 years, but seem to know how to cope without becoming too stressed by it - caused by pressure on cashflow and profits and demanding customer expectations eg US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand

4.

Low Growth, Low Stress: experienced low growth over past few years but do not get too stressed by it - any stress is caused by regulation and red tape eg Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden

5.

Average Stress, Average Growth: moderately stressed business owners who do not face the same increase in stress as countries where growth has been dramatically high or very low - stress is caused by regulation, red tape eg France, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Spain, UK

CFOs now spend more time explaining corporate strategy and the company’s business model to investors and analysts, particularly those with a long-term perspective

interactions with the board are more time-consuming, rigorous and even adversarial; CFOs are almost unanimous in reporting that their relationship with the board has changed - because directors are more engaged in ‘fiduciary oversight’

CFOs feel under increased pressure to ensure reported results are accurate and expectations about the future performance of the company are realistic

the increasingly complex and global nature of the business environment has made the mandate to mitigate corporate risks, seize growth opportunities and create value more challenging

business law

Tracking developments and changes in legislation and case law affecting managers.

environment

'Green' reporting

The Operating and Finance Review may have been scrapped, but the need to report on your firm’s ‘environmental impacts’ has not:

legal requirement of larger firms

under the EU Accounts Modernisation Directive, large UK firms (including over 1,200 quoted firms) will be required to provide a Business Review, including info on matters environmental

new Defra guidelines

to help steer businesses to the areas on which they should report, Defra has produced some Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) covering:

new research

A recent academic article in marketing and strategy.

consumer segmentation

the great divide

Reacting to advertiser-driven ‘Mondeo Man’ stereotypes, pioneers say market segmentation needs reinventing by:

being clear about its aim

must answer specific question, eg how to reduce customer defection, or where should brand be stretched to next?

linking profiles to profitability

picking out the most profitable buyer type, for guidance on where to recruit; showing which current client group could be made to yield more, and how

rating ‘gravity’ of decision

for FMCGs, relevant buyer features are price sensitivity, brand loyalty, willingness to pay extra for quality; as purchases get bigger and less regular, segmentation must dig deeper into need, self-image, core value and belief

Source: Rediscovering Market Segmentation
D Yankelovich & D Meer Harvard Business Review February 2006