MORE focus must be given to improving job quality for workers across Northern Ireland, a new industry snapshot reveals.
And it says employers must keep wellbeing top of their agenda and should be considering flexible working options beyond home-working - including flexi-time, job-sharing or compressed hours - if they want to retain and attract employees.
The 'Working Lives Northern Ireland' report form the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, is the first comprehensive analysis of job quality in region, examining job quality across seven different dimensions.
It analysed the different experiences of two new groups of workers during the pandemic – those forced to work from home due to the pandemic, and those designated as key workers.
And as a focus shifts to the future of the workplace and employees re-evaluate their priorities, the CIPD - which has around 3,900 members across Northern Ireland - is calling on employers and policy-makers to focus on improving job quality across all workplaces.
The study found that 40 per cent of all employees report their workload as too high in a normal week and nearly a third (31 per cent) feel their work impacts negatively on their mental health, with 28 per cent reporting negative impacts on their physical health.
Some 45 per cent of all employees report going to work despite not being well enough to do so. This is even higher for those with adult caring responsibilities (61 per cent), with disabilities (64 per cent) and for key workers (52 per cent).
While the pandemic caused lasting changes to working patterns, the report found that 32 per cent of all employees work in jobs that can’t be done from home, with persistent gaps in flexible work availability.
Nearly a third (31 per cent) of employees said they find it hard to relax in their personal time because of their job.
Lee Ann Panglea, head of the CIPD in Northern Ireland, said: “We must all learn the lessons from the pandemic and ensure it is a catalyst for positive change.
“Employers need to keep wellbeing top of their agenda and should be considering flexible working options beyond home-working, like flexi-time, job sharing or compressed hours if they want to retain and attract employees.
“Good people practice should be central to achieving inclusive growth and improving job quality and productivity for all employees and employers. Working Lives Northern Ireland provides crucial evidence around some of the challenges, gaps, but also opportunities for progress.”
The report’s author, Marek Zemanik, senior public policy adviser at the CIPD in Northern Ireland, added: “Our report shows that the working lives of too many employees fall short on a range of issues. We see concerning findings around the impact of work on wellbeing, challenges around work-life balance, workloads or even conflict at work.”
“The pandemic has impacted all of us, but the underlying differences in job quality, for example between occupations, continue to persist. This does not have to be inevitable – all jobs have the potential to be better. Employers and policy-makers have to step up.”
Other key findings in Working Lives Northern Ireland include:
:: Nearly a third (31 per cent) of employees always or often feel exhausted at work, with 28 per cent saying they feel under excessive pressure.
:: 37 per cent of all Northern Irish employees feel they are not getting paid appropriately, rising to 50 per cent for the lowest earners (under £20,000 a year).
:: 30 per cent of employees feel they are overqualified for their job, rising to 46 per cent of those in the lowest-paid jobs.
:: 12 per cent of all employees say they would like to work more hours than they currently do.
:: Over a fifth (21 per cent) of employees say they have no voice channel at work at all.
The CIPD says employers can improve work in a number of ways, such as:
:: Keeping wellbeing high on the agenda, even as the pandemic subsides.
:: Prioritising better skills development – especially for those in routine and semi-routine roles.
:: Monitoring workloads and putting enough resources in place to avoid overwork.
:: Reviewing flexible working options to address the work–life balance challenges your workforce faces. Look beyond remote working and consider how and when people work, not just where.
