Interesting Facts

Roughly 1.1m people work in Britain’s gig economy, and according to a survey carried out by Ipsos Mori and the RSA (the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce), 69 per cent of them are male. (In recent years, the word gig was used to refer to a live performance by or engagement for a musician or group , but “Gig economy” work is used to describe part-time self-employed work, often office work, short tasks and ‘click work’ done online.  In Britain that kind of work has tended to attract women in the past.  Nowadays there is a real gender imbalance in some sectors: For example men account for 95 per cent of Uber drivers and 94 per cent of Deliveroo couriers.)

According to research funded by Butterkist popcorn, the average British adult feels a true 'wave of happiness' eight times a week. (The main source of happiness was cuddling with a partner on the sofa.  Awww. How sweet. Unsurprisingly only 16% of respondents said that work made them happy.) Source

According to the TUC (Trades Union Congress) 5.3 million people in the UK work an average of 7.7 hours of overtime a week. (Chief executives topped a list of those doing the most unpaid overtime, at an average of 13.2 hours a week, followed by teaching staff (12.1 hours), finance managers (11.3 hours) and managers in production and health care workers (10 hours). The TUC has called on people to take their full lunch break and go home on time, asking managers to set an example by leaving on time too. Oh dear, I never leave a session on time, but then I don't get paid either. The TUC would hate me.) Source

According to the Professor Nigel Hunt at the Royal College of Surgeons, “cake culture” in the UK workplace is fuelling the obesity epidemic and contributing to poor dental health. (As a healthy alternative they are suggesting that workers should bring fruit platters into the office instead of doughnuts, cookies and biscuits. He said, “Cake culture poses difficulties for those who are trying their hardest to lose weight or become healthier - how many of us have begun such diets only to cave in to the temptation of the doughnuts, cookies or the triple chocolate biscuits?” I agree in principal, but I wouldn't want to be the one to bring a box of apples to work on my birthday, I don't want to be known as Lynney no friends.)

According to research from Japan, people over 40 perform best at work if their working week is restricted to 3 days. (They found that a part-time job keeps the brain stimulated, while avoiding exhaustion and stress. The bad news is that not working also damaged brain function. However, working extremely long hours was more damaging than not working at all.)

Football star, Jermain Defoe is advertising for an executive personal assistant. (For £60,000 a year, he is looking for someone who is flexible, hands on, capable of multi-tasking, and who demonstrates a high level of discretion and confidentiality. Do you think you fit the bill? Well, you will be on call 24/7, and able to travel worldwide at a moment's notice. You will also be expected to organise his and his family's (including his pets) private, social and business calendars. You will be maintaining his itinerary, arranging all public appearances and travel arrangements, working on business projects including creating a global brand for the Jermin Defoe name, including his clothing line and fragrance, spotting sponsorship opportunities, and growing the online database for his website, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking platforms, oh and producing his iPhone app. On top of that the lucky applicant will be tasked with organising his wardrobe wi...

According to research carried out by the High Pay Centre, among FTSE 100 companies, the average pay of a chief executive is almost £5 million. (They found that average executive pay in the UK jumped to £4.964 million in 2014, compared with £4.129 million in 2010.  The figure was 183 times the earnings of average full-time workers, up from 160 times in 2010. The top 10 highest-paid chief executives (CEOs) were paid over £156 million between them in 2014, prompting fresh calls for action to curb executive pay. We have a minimum wage, maybe it's time to have a maximum wage too.)

According to a study by the British Heart Foundation, Brits have very ambitious To Do lists.  Unfortunately the top item on most people's list is to win the lottery! (That's not an ambition, it's a wish! So here are the other 9 top items:- Win the lottery (not an ambition) Travel the world See the Northern Lights Experience a once-in-a lifetime challenge See world famous landmarks such as the Taj Mahal or the Egyptian Pyramids Swim with dolphins or sharks Live and work abroad Build your own house Go on an African Safari Start up a dream business and run it What would be on your top 10 things to do? Please don't say "Win the lottery".)

According to research by the social mobility and child poverty commission, old-fashioned snobbery is alive and kicking in the UK. (Elite British companies are thwarting the career prospects of talented working-class applicants and recruiting applicants from public schools because of their accents and mannerisms. The commission examined recruitment at 13 elite law, accountancy and financial companies who between them appoint 45,000 of the top jobs in the country. It found that 70% of jobs offered by those firms in 2014 went to applicants from public or selective schools, even though such schools only educate around 11% of the population. I'm not in the least surprised, but it's their loss. If you are talented, but turned down for a job because you aren't "posh" enough, open your own company, and put them out of business in a few years.) !Note - A public school is a private school in the UK.  I went to a state school. Source

According to a study by insurance company RIAS the top reason for pulling a sickie from work was being too tired to get up! (The top six reasons given were:- Too tired to get up - 28% Felt I deserved a day off due to working hard recently - 23% Just didn’t want to go in - 23% To avoid a colleague - 18% Hungover - 16% Had something planned and didn’t want to use up holiday - 14% I'm surprised "I haven't been off sick yet this year," wasn't on there.)

According to a study by insurance company RIAS, younger workers in the UK take twice as much time off sick as people over 50. (Just a quarter of over-50s took time off sick in the past year, compared to half of those aged between 20 and 29. They are also more likely to fake an illness: 44%  of younger people were found to have faked being ill to avoid coming into work, compared to just 12% of over-50s. It's probably because older workers are more worried about getting another job.)

According to a survey by recruitment firm Portfolio Payroll, only 1 in 10 workers in the UK is happy with their job. (Nearly 40% of respondents were looking for a new post while 54%  were considering a move.   They also found that 70% would leave 'without hesitation' for a pay rise regardless of the job. The reasons for such unhappiness were poor wages, stress and long hours.)

A.K. Verma, an Indian civil servant, joined the state-run Central Public Works Department (CPWD) as an assistant executive engineer in 1980:  A public sector job in India is usually seen as a job for life. (Why does that make him interesting? Well, 10 years later, he went on leave, and never went back to work. People leave work all the time, so it's still not that interesting, but he managed to bunk off work for 24 years, his job was only terminated in 2015. Unfortunately for him, his pay was stopped in the 1990s. I wonder what he is doing now.)

A study carried out at Hiroshima University, showed that looking at cute animal pictures can actually improve a person's productivity at work. (According to LiveScience.com, the paper, entitled The Power of Kawaii: Viewing Cute Images Promotes a Careful Behavior and Narrows Attentional Focus, concluded that cute animals doing supercute things is like seeing babies, and can boost productivity in tasks that require focus. So, the next time your boss tells you off for giggling over Grumpy Cat, show him this.)

According to career website, CareerCast.com, the people with the worst jobs in the US are newspaper reporters. (The five worst jobs were:- Oil-rig worker Actor Enlisted military personnel Lumberjack Newspaper reporter The top five jobs were:- Actuary Biomedical engineer Software engineer Audiologist Financial planner Poor old Clark Kent.)

According to insurance company Prudential, a British man will typically have earned £1 million by the age of 51 during his working life but a woman will have to wait until her 70th birthday to do the same. (By the time the average worker has earned their first million they will have paid around £123,300 in tax and £93,200 in national insurance. If I'm meant to have earned a million by the time I'm 70, I'd better get myself a better paid job.)

According to a survey conducted by the job-finding website monster.co.uk, more than half of British managers say they can tell whether they want to employ a candidate for a job based on the strength of their handshake. (8 out of 10 said the ability to maintain eye contact when talking to them was key. 6 in 10 said that small talk played a crucial role in their decision, and the same number said that dress sense was a deciding factor. So, dress well, practise your handshake, maintain eye contact, brush up on your small talk, and the job is in the bag.)

June 20th is take your dog to work day. (All the dogs I have ever cared for have been at work with me.  I wouldn't work anywhere that didn't allow dogs.) 

According to the Cabinet Office publicans are in the unhappiest occupation, closely followed by brickies and debt collectors. (The happiest jobs, the research suggests, are vicar and priest. There's got to be a moral in there somewhere.)

According to the ONS (Office for National Statistics) there are 1.4m jobs in the UK offering zero hour contracts. (Companies are, not surprisingly, attracted to the idea that they can hire staff without guaranteeing a minimum number of paid hours.   These " con tracts" (emphasis on "con" deliberate), often tie a worker to a single firm, but do not guarantee any employment from week to week.)