Work & Careers
Work drinks: make mine a double standard
Filed under: Work & Careers
There's nothing wrong with having a pint or two with your colleagues after work. But well-meaning employers are often contributing to health problems for their staff by getting workers to bond down the pub – because it's easier than organising other social events.This is according to new research released by Aviva. Over half of business leaders (57%) questioned in the insurer's fourth Health of the Workplace report claim that socialising at work usually involves going to the pub for drinks.
Doctors and dentists cough up £9m in unpaid tax - you could be next
Filed under: Taxes, Work & Careers
Doctors and dentists have handed over £9m in unpaid tax, after HM Revenue and Customs told them that if they didn't own up to having hidden earnings, the tax inspectors would be knocking on their doors.The cash came from 1,500 medical professionals. But that's still only 1 in 20 who were were sent letters by HMRC telling them that if they voluntarily disclosed undeclared income, they would only pay interest and a small fine.
Students: the next Sir Richard Branson or Del Boy Trotter?
Filed under: Entrepreneur, Work & Careers
Almost a third of entrepreneurial students concerned about finding work in the depressed post-recession job market are considering setting up their own businesses, according to new research.Meetings - are you in the right place?
Filed under: Work & Careers, Weird and Wonderful
A phenomenal amount of time at work is spent in meetings but very little thought is given to the best place to have them. Here's a guide to the places that are good to meet in and those that definitely aren't.
Meeting Rooms
Pretty much the worst place you can have a meeting is in a meeting room. There's something about the energy of a dedicated meeting room that makes it feel like a waiting room. It's a place where you spend an hour waiting to get back to work. It's a place where you can recreate the feeling of being in double Geography at school (unless you really liked Geography at school). After a really bad meeting where issues have been pushed around the table like a bowl of cold brussel sprouts, someone will often suggest you catch up over a coffee. That's where the real meeting begins.
Over a quarter of women want to be 'kept'
Filed under: Work & Careers, House and Home, Budgeting & Planning
A shocking new study reveals that more than a quarter of females wouldn't mind being a 'kept woman' and just over half regularly accept money from their other half for purchases.So much for modern, independent woman? Given that men usually earn quite a bit more than their partners, it's only fair that they pay more towards the bills... but 'being kept' is obviously a different matter.
Why having more women breadwinners is a worrying trend
Filed under: Work & Careers, Families
A woman's place is in the middle of a huge social shift - apparently. A survey by Gracia magazine has found that it's not just Beyonce pulling her weight in the household finances (in 2009 she out-earned Jay-Z), almost a third of women are now out-earning their other half, while one in five are making the same, and one in ten has a house-husband.So how has this change happened, and what does it mean - for men and women?
Is £14,400 a year enough to live on?
Filed under: Work & Careers, Budgeting & Planning
It's considerably more than someone earning minimum wage, and is above the government's poverty threshold, but is it really enough to comfortably live on?
New graduate tax could end student loans
Filed under: Taxes, Loans, Work & Careers
Student loans to pay university tuition fees could be scrapped in favour of a new graduate tax, under proposals introduced by business secretary Vince Cable yesterday.In what could be the biggest shake up the higher education system has seen in a generation, graduates could face a tax based on their earnings instead of the current system where a set rate is repaid for student loans once graduates start earning more than £15,000.
Unemployment down. Problem solved? Not exactly
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Work & Careers
Break open the bubbly. Employment is on the up! Official statistics have revealed that the employment rate this spring rose 0.3%. The number of people in employment increased by 160,000. The unemployment rate was down 0.1%, and the number of unemployed people fell by 34,000 to reach 2.47 million. Even more excitingly the number of people unemployed for up to six months fell by 54,000, to reach 1.16 million. So is that it? Is this the turning point from which things are going to just keep getting better?
Sickie culture has taken over the UK. What's it costing us?
Filed under: Work & Careers
Britain is the worst in Europe for throwing sickies. Apparently between us we're faking illness around 35 million times a year, we're four times more likely to skive than the Danes, and one in five people admit that the last time they had a day off 'sick' they weren't ill at all.Business leaders are up in arms about the wasted productivity. But the real cost isn't to businesses, who can probably get by while you're enjoying the sunshine on a guilty day off. The real risk is to ourselves.
