Stephen Bevan's blogs for The Work Foundation
Stephen joined the Work Foundation in 2002 as Research Director. He was Managing Director of the Work Foundation from 2008 to 2011, before moving over to become the Director of their Centre for Workforce Effectiveness between 2011 and 2016. Stephen wrote over 70 blogs for the Work Foundation on a wide range of employment issues including high-performance work practices, employee reward strategy, staff engagement and retention, and multiple facets of health and wellbeing and ‘good work’.
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11 December 2015: ‘Health’ is just an incomplete diagnosis…
'In the last two weeks I’ve spoken at three separate events on the big challenge of chronic ill-health in Europe’s (ageing) working population where this paradox was evident. Just this week there were two events on mental health at work...'
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10 September 2015: Wellbeing in Schools - launch of an innovative new pilot programme
Schools play a very big part in shaping the current and future wellbeing of a large population of people, each is a community with significant ‘reach’ and influence... Steve Bevan talks about a new initiative launched this week by Nuffield Health with the support of The Work Foundation.
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29 July 2015: Substance Abuse & Obesity – Carrot or Stick?
Stephen Bevan discusses the announcement of a government Review to examine how to support people with substance abuse or obesity challenges back to work...
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21 January 2015: Can mental health be an asset in Europe’s drive for productivity growth?
It has long been acknowledged that mental illness can have a devastating effect on individuals, families and communities across Europe. Stephen Bevan considers the challenges of deteriorating mental health in European countries where the financial crisis and high unemployment have hit hardest.
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08 December 2014: Performance Management – HR Thoroughbred or Beast of Burden?
Today at the Work Foundation we co-hosted an important event looking at the contemporary role of HR. It posed a number of questions about whether HR should be the custodian of organisational conscience, what ‘good work’ looks like, and whether performance management processes are ‘fit for purpose’.
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01 December 2014: Shared Parental Leave. Not for Losers.
'We monitor the take-up of paternity leave to help us weed-out the losers’ claimed the HR Director of an investment bank in 2002. Whether this attitude has changed will be tested by employers' reactions to the take up of new parental leave regulations.
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12 November 2014: Government action on health at work long overdue
'In spite of good news about the UK jobs market, we are still facing a struggle to raise levels of productivity to anything like their pre-crisis levels. Clearly we need to do more to maximise skills, engagement and wellbeing of the workforce.'
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19 August 2014: Mind the Gap 2
'More than forty years after the Equal Pay Act the gender pay gap for senior women over 40 is now 35%. Data published today by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) makes depressing reading, especially when, at the current rate of ‘progress’, the gap will take another 80 years to close.'
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18 August 2014: Mind the Gap
'For the first time in history officers of a company can become seriously rich without risking any of their own money. Their rewards are so beyond those of ordinary people that they risk being seen as aliens from another galaxy.'
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17 June 2014: Prevention is better than cure – except in healthcare?
Stephen Bevan discusses the role of work in healthcare and health issues relating to the launch of 'Recipes for Sustainable Healthcare' report is being launched in Parliament today (Tuesday 16 June).
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10 February 2014: Mental Health & Work in the UK – a sobering view from the outside
Professor Stephen Bevan blogs about the launch of the OECD’s new report looking at the way the UK supports people in the labour market who are living with mental illness. The report takes a look at UK policy and practice in comparison with eight other developed OECD countries.
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05 February 2014: Constrained Work: Are some jobs just too boring to be enriched?
Stephen Bevan argues that until we find ways of building the capacity of UK managers to enrich even the most ‘constrained’ jobs – and to see the great results this can bring - we risk parts of the UK labour market remaining in a low wage, low skill, low aspiration and low morale equilibrium.
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22 January 2014: A cautious welcome for Mr Clegg’s mental health challenge
Stephen Bevan comments on the launch this week of the government’s ‘Closing the Gap’ report in which it set out 25 challenges to improve services and outcomes for people with mental illness.
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22 October 2013: Performance-related pay and the rhetoric gap
Professor Stephen Bevan writes about performance-related pay and the implications as a result of having attended an event organised by the High Pay Centre.
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22 October 2013: Performance pay won’t perform in the classroom
'An article by Schools Minister David Laws last week displayed an enthusiasm for performance-related pay (PRP) for teachers which is based more on ideology than evidence. I’m sure Mr Laws genuinely believes these proposals will command wide public support among those who bemoan educational standards.'
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17 July 2013: Making diversity a mainstream issue in football – a game of two halves?
'We live in a diverse society and it makes sense that the places where we work – including professional football clubs - should try to reflect some of that diversity. This is, of course, easier said than done – especially if it means changing the culture of the organisation.'
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16 July 2013: NICE to examine employers’ role in improving the health of employees – but what about the other parts of the puzzle?
Fit for Work UK coalition chair, Professor Stephen Bevan, welcomes new NICE guidance for employers on helping people with long-term conditions to continue working, but warns that to make an impact, healthcare practitioners will need to be much more involved in their patients’ work outcomes.
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25 June 2013: New remit for NICE offers hope for workers with chronic ill-health
'The Work Foundation has been warning for a while that the burden of chronic ill-health in the working age population threatens both long-term competitiveness and productivity of the UK workforce. We have identified some of the policy barriers to dealing with this problem.'
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31 May 2013: Cognitive enhancement – the next leap forward in productivity?
'In a knowledge-based economy, perhaps the next ‘great leap’ lies in the use of cognitive enhancers or ‘smart drugs’ to improve our concentration, allow us to work longer without sleep, improve our memories, reduce impulsivity or improve our ability to plan.'
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17 April 2013: Stress and MSDs at work – under the hammer at the misery auction?
Stephen Bevan argues that physical and psychological wellbeing are central to quality of life and to the quality of working life. It will only be by understanding better how one affects the other that we can shape interventions which keep people well, engaged and productive.
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12 April 2013: Is chasing GDP growth the only way to prosperity?
A review the seminar at which Stephen was involved, organised by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) political grouping in the European Parliament.
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20 March 2013: Can tax breaks for employers improve the health and productivity of the workforce?
A review of the impact that tax relief to employers – up to a limit of £500 per head - who help employees back to work after a period of absence.
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19 February 2013: Breaking the silence on mental health in the workplace
'Approximately one in six workers in the UK are currently experiencing a mental health condition – most often anxiety, depression and stress. These conditions are a major cause of sickness absence and worklessness, resulting in 600,000 lost workdays each year.'
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23 January 2013: How to win the talent war when the going gets tough beyond the nine-to-five
'This week, as post-Christmas blues, poor weather, returning to work and the arrival of unwelcome energy bills all combined to lower the national mood (annually dubbed Blue Monday), we provided a sneak preview to our partners of a forthcoming report through a webinar with a distinguished panel.'
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19 December 2012: Redundancy consultation period halved: Mood music more discordant
The Government has reduced the consultation period for redundancy from 90 days to 45 days. Is the Government's 'Mood Music' helpful in promoting good workplace relations.
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12 December 2012: Performance pay in the classroom: learning the lessons?
Performance-related pay for teachers was announced in the Autumn Budget. But does evidence support the ideas behind the policy?
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12 December 2012: Taking the strain: Measuring the impact of musculoskeletal disorders
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) remain the single most important cause of absence from work among UK workers. With more support from public serices, this could all change.
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21 November 2012: Is the Japanese Workforce ‘Fit for Work?’
'The publication of our 'Fit for Work?' reports in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year confirmed that the initiative now has a global ‘reach’. Canada, Israel and Turkey were the subject of previous reports, and Russia, Brazil and the USA are in the pipeline.'
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29 October 2012: Professor Stephen Bevan A welcome focus on mental illness by Mr Miliband
'A third of people in the UK say they would not be willing to work with someone who has a mental health problem. Despite the progress which has been made to raise awareness of mental illness in the UK, one of the biggest barriers to a breakthrough is stigma.'
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29 October 2012: Beware Greeks bearing bricks
Stephen Bevan looks at the parallels between economic experimentation in Chile in the 1970s, based on El Ladrillo or 'The Brick,' and the economic situation in Greece.
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19 October 2012: Leadership needed to avert looming crisis in EU workforce health
'This week I have been chairing the 4th Annual Fit for Work Summit in Brussels. The Fit for Work programme is a 35-country study which has been examining the burden of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) on the health and productivity of working-age people across Europe, Australasia, North America and parts of Asia.'
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10 October 2012: A workplace focus on World Mental Health Day
'On World Mental Health Day it seems appropriate to reflect both on what has been achieved in promoting better understanding of mental illness, and what is still to achieve. Today I spoke at an event with Health Minister Norman Lamb MP to highlight some of the excellent work which the Department of Health as an employer is doing.'
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10 October 2012: Trading Shares for….a P45?
'Mr Osborne managed to avoid using the word ‘growth’ even once in his speech at the Conservative Conference this week. Yet, as the IMF pointed out in their report the day after, this is something which the UK and other developed economies are likely to be short of for a few months yet.'
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10 October 2012: Sickness presence makes the heart grow weaker?
'The 2012 CIPD Survey on Absence Management, published this week raises serious questions about the extent of presenteeism in the UK workforce.'
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14 September 2012: Weeding out the 'Idlers' won't raise GDP
“The British are among the worst idlers in the world. We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and our productivity is poor”. Stephen Bevan looks at the arguments for and against de-regulating the UK labour market to achieve economic recovery.
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29 June 2012: Perverse incentives in the banking and finance sector
I guess that few people will be all that surprised by the latest tales of ‘dodgy’ practices in the banking and finance sector. Stephen Bevan looks at the integrity of senior leaders and whether HR should take some responsibility for their behaviour.
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26 June 2012: Health Minister launches mental health guidance at The Work Foundation
'The challenge of mental illness in the UK workforce is emerging from the shadows... Yesterday at The Work Foundation Health Minister Earl Howe launched the latest Public Health Responsibility Deal pledge on mental health at work.'
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15 June 2012: Mental Illness at Work: Still mostly in the closet?
'In 1998 Kjell Magne Bondevik, the then Prime Minister of Norway, took several weeks away from work to receive respite and treatment for depression. Back then his public admission of having a condition that we know 1 in 6 workers also have, was greeting with a mixed reaction.'
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01 June 2012: Can the European social model help firms recover?
How often do HR professionals in the UK get asked to brief their senior teams about the impact of the European social model on their business? Unless they have operations in the EU, or have European Works Councils, my guess would be not very often.
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24 May 2012: Thousands on ten thousand a day
'One of the biggest public health challenges we face in the UK is that of physical exercise. Sedentary lifestyles mean that too many of us take little or no regular or strenuous physical exercise. As a result, rates of obesity, diabetes, cardio-vascular disease and depression are higher than they should be.'
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22 May 2012: ‘Gis a Job Mr Beecroft
'It is a bitter irony that, while I was waiting for the Beecroft Report to be published yesterday, my son – who has learning difficulties – was dismissed by his employer.'
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14 May 2012: Fit for Work Down Under
'The influence of Fit for Work research now extends far beyond Europe with our study of MSDs in Australia published on 13 May at the annual conference of the Australian Rheumatology Association in Canberra.'
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11 April 2012: The Work Foundation - Ten Years On
'Ten years ago today The Work Foundation was launched at an event in London’s Docklands. It was a bold and, some thought, foolhardy venture and was always going to be a daunting task. But I’d argue that the vision for the new organisation set out at the time remains compelling and relevant today.'
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24 January 2012: Coalition Government sets cap on ‘excessive’ incomes
'You could be forgiven for being unfamiliar with Section 953(b) of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. In fact, if you are familiar with it, you really should get out more.'
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16 January 2012: Can employee share ownership undermine ‘crony capitalism’?
'Amid all the talk of ‘Good Capitalism’ it was only a matter of time before proposals to re-invigorate share ownership among UK employees were dusted off again. The rationale is clear. Executive pay, which in too many cases appears to bear no relation to the performance of the business, is widely regarded as being out of control.'