The latest L&D news, reports, research and updates, personally compiled by TJ’s Editor, Jo Cook
New learning and development network to unite East of England professionals
Learning and development (L&D) professionals can join a new network which is being launched in Norwich. The idea for the group, called Elevate East, came about after talks between founders Michael Casanova, director and consultant at Wilby Jones Consulting, Nadine Tapp, Head of Group Academy at housing provider Flagship Group, and Margaret Burnside, director at coaching, mentoring and leadership firm Cake People Development.
The launch on the 22nd November is at the showground’s MacGregor Building, off Dereham Road. Admission is free, and although the event is now fully booked, people can find out more or join the waiting list.
The HR-manager relationship is critical to a thriving business and culture
Lattice, the leading HR platform for building a people-powered future, has released its annual State of People Strategy Report, surveying over 1,250 HR leaders and managers worldwide. The report reveals in-depth insights on HR perspectives in a moment when the function is at a critical juncture: Hiring remains uncertain, engagement efforts are faltering, DEIB has taken a back seat, and the rise of AI is prompting broader questions about the “human” element of HR.
How work preferences are shifting in the age of GenAI
Research from Boston Consulting Group shows how work and working preferences are changing for employees. Technological change, gen AI in particular, is putting the focus on skills, learning and career development.
What matters most for workers is job security, followed by work-life balance, pay, good relationships with colleagues and learning and career development. When it comes to using gen AI at work, around 50% of respondents are using it regularly. This rises to 70% for those in more tech related roles and falls by age from 50% usage in under 20s to 28% for 51-60 year olds and 23% for those over 60.
A brain network linked to attention is larger in people with depression
The team identified the networks of brain areas with the most coordinated activity and found that the salience network — known for identifying relevant stimuli and guiding attention — was nearly two times larger in people with depression.
The network also directs the activity of two other networks; one that controls self-focused thinking and another that facilitates working memory during goal-directed tasks. Previous work hinted that the salience network may be involved in depression, but the findings were unclear. The new study showed that though the overall shape of the network was similar across both groups, its borders extended farther outward in patients with depression.
Women and non-managers are facing financial exclusion – and HR isn’t acting
Women and non-managers face significantly greater financial challenges than the average UK employee, yet HR isn’t addressing their needs, finds Bippit’s latest research. Non-managers make up 75%* of the workforce, and 16 million women are employed across the UK. Ignoring these groups has serious consequences for workplace productivity and wellbeing.
The report, Dynamics in Financial Wellbeing: The Inclusion Edition 2024, surveyed 2,000 UK employees and 500 HR managers. It found that while 18% of UK employees worry about money daily, women are over three times more likely than men to feel this stress, affecting nearly 28% of working women. Non-managers are more than twice as likely to worry about money than managers and twice as likely to feel unsupported by their employer.
Lord Mark Price launches his Happiness at Work book
Happiness at work matters. But what does happiness mean? How can managers measure it and have more of it? And what happens to organizations when they get happiness right?
In Happy Economics, founder of WorkL and former MD of Waitrose, Mark Price clearly demonstrates why the opportunity represented by happiness is huge for businesses. He explains why happiness at work is important and explores the proven links between happiness and financial success, how to recruit happy employees and develop the right teams by being transparent and diverse and illustrates why the role of leadership in delivering the right tone of voice and driving a happy workplace is crucial.
By studying the eyes, a researcher explores how the brain sorts information
Van Ede and his collaborators have “really pushed the investigation of the relationship between attention and working memory in sort of new and fresh directions,” says Tobias Egner, a cognitive neuroscientist at Duke University. “It’s really gained fresh momentum in the last decade, and I think Freek’s work is being quite influential in that.”
Van Ede’s lab has used the technique to show that when preparing for the future, the brain doesn’t hold multiple pieces of disparate information and wait until all the information is in to make a plan. Instead, the brain plans possible actions as each piece of information comes in — even though the brain can only select one plan in the end.
Video News Bulletin
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