Following yesterday’s release of the Office of National Statistics ‘Geographic patterns of cancer survival in England: Adults diagnosed 2004 to 2011 and followed up to 2016’, Christine Husbands, MD, RedArc commented:

“It’s great to read that despite pockets of disparities, overall cancer survival rates are continuing to increase. Advances in early detection, surgical methods and treatments all contribute to this pleasing result.

“In the UK, the NHS has excellent cancer services that are usually mobilised very quickly for anyone with a potential or actual cancer diagnosis.

“However, the area that is less well addressed is the emotional impact of cancer both on the individual and their families. At RedArc we often find that people are well supported during their treatment from the NHS and excellent charities such as MacMillan, Marie Curie and many others.

“But surprisingly, when the treatment stops, this is the time when people often find it difficult to cope, they have been given the ‘all clear’ and expect to feel elated but most do not, in fact they can easily become depressed at this time.

“The frequent appointments, and goals to aim for all fall away and the true impact of having experienced cancer often sets in. Families and employers usually expect the individual to be back to normal and overjoyed at the news, but for the individual things are often very different. A new normal has to be rediscovered and sometimes this is a frightening place to be.

“In our experience, this is the time, when support is more important than ever to help the individual with many things such as coming to terms with what has happened, adjusting to a changed appearance or impairment, building up their self-confidence which is so often very low at this time, and learning to manage consequences such as fatigue and the side-effects of long-term drugs such as tamoxifen.

“Whilst this report is solely focused on surviving cancer itself, insurers, benefits consultants, employers and advisers need to challenge the notion that the cancer journey ends at the all clear, because the reality is far from it.”

Welsh technology specialists ITCS are concerned to learn that the UK’s most senior executives do not fully appreciate the damage to business reputation and loss of customers that a cyber-attack can cause, or the damage that identity theft can do to an individual.

One message has been definitely heard – the threat of high fines under the new GDPR rules.

Even though many businesses are not yet prepared for the introduction of the GDPR rules in May, a new study by Centrify, commissioned through Dow Jones Customer Intelligence, revealed that nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of respondents in the UK are concerned about the costs of investigation, remediation and legal fees in the event of a cyber security breach.  47% of the respondents also said they were worried about the disruption to business operations a breach would cause.

It seems few businesses have given any weight to what is potentially a far bigger cost to UK businesses.  Only 16% of senior executives expressed concern that a data breach could result in a loss of customers, and only 11% of them were worried about the damage a data breach could do to the company’s reputation.

The study of 800 senior level executives, including CEOs, Technical Officers and CFOs in the UK and US, also indicates that there is confusion among the C-suite about what constitutes a cybersecurity risk and what needs to be done to prevent it.

In the UK, malware is seen as the biggest threat to an organisation’s success among 44 per cent of respondents, compared to just 24 per cent who point to default/weak or stolen passwords and 29 per cent who blame privileged user identity attacks. However, of those organisations that experienced at least one significant security breach in the past two years, just 11 per cent admit it was due to malware, while almost twice as many put it down to either a privileged user identity attack or the result of stolen or weak passwords (both 21 per cent).

In fact, 63 per cent of the UK organisations that have experienced a major breach admit that privileged identity and access management would have most likely prevented the breach.

The Verizon 2017 Data Breach Investigation Report supports this, indicating that 81 per cent of breaches involve weak, default or stolen passwords. More than half (53 per cent) of respondents at breached organisations say audit trails for system accesses, and a quarter say training or awareness would most likely have stopped a breach.

Despite this research, it seems that business priorities in cybersecurity investment over the next 12 months are not focused in the right areas.  Solutions being implemented focus on tackling malware (44 per cent) and phishing (38 per cent), while protection against stolen or weak passwords (33 per cent) and privileged user identity attacks (26 per cent) seem to be less important.

ITCS Compliance Officer & Cyber Security Specialist, Wayne Harris, says:

“Words like ‘cybersecurity’ and “cyber attack” conjure up images of shadowy figures in far-flung lands, and the media has not helped in this regard.  It is relatively easy to persuade executives to invest in hi-tech anti-malware and anti-virus solutions, because they can be passed off to the technical team and don’t require any culture change.

“The biggest threats are simple for businesses to manage – but require commitment at every level of the organization, led from the top down.”  

Wayne believes that the biggest risks to security come from poorly informed, untrained staff, and is a firm believer that robust policies are needed to derive maximum benefit from any investment in technical solutions.

“The biggest threats to business security are poor password practices and general complacency around security issues.  Time and again, when I’m asked to investigate security issues, I find companies who have invested in tech solutions have not invested in teaching staff the basics about cyber security.

It’s important to train and reinforce:

• the importance of good password hygiene
• how to lock their screens when leaving their desk
• to challenge strangers walking around their building
• to report and challenge telephone callers asking for sensitive information
• the dangers of clicking links in an email

Executives would be amazed at the information which can be gained by a simple social engineering exercise.  Identity theft remains one of the biggest concerns for both businesses and individuals, the damage it can do is huge and training staff is the most important step businesses can take to prevent it.

ITCS are running a series of free and low-cost IT security courses for welsh business leaders to help them prepare ahead of the new rules in May.  However, Wayne says businesses wanting to merely comply with GDPR are missing the point.

 “Businesses need to think beyond GDPR fines.   Protecting data is not about ticking a box for compliance – it’s about making sure the personal information you hold on your staff and your customers are adequately protected from all threats.  The human cost of identity theft, and the potential damage to your business reputation should not be left out of the equation.”

Benefits experts Perkbox have released data which reveals that UK workers are under shocking levels of stress – and workers in Cardiff are suffering most.

In order to assess the impact of stress at work, Perkbox undertook a study of 3000 UK workers and found that 59% of staff admit that they suffered from work-related stress.

Researchers also identified the worst 10 cities in the UK for workplace stress – and despite the perceptions of a ‘stressed city lifestyle’, surprisingly, London did not top the list:

1. Cardiff 70%
2. Wolverhampton 64%
3. London 59%
4. Coventry 57%
5. Liverpool 55%
6. Oxford 55%
7. Leicester 53%
8. Brighton and hove 51%
9. Southampton 51%
10. Edinburgh 50%

Wales as a whole was clearly the most stressed region in the UK, and researchers concluded that the most stressed employees in the UK are likely to be age 25–34 years old, male, living in Cardiff, and working in sales or HR.

Researchers named the departments most likely to experience work stress:

1. Sales 79%
2. Human resources 76%
3. Informaton technology (IT) 65%
4. Senior management 64%
5. Marketing, PR and communications 63%
6. Customer services 62%
7. Operatons 61%
8. Research and development 56%
9. Accountng and fnance 55%
10. Facilities 54%

Stress levels also seemed to correlate with company size, with staff in smaller companies showing less stress.  Long working hours was the largest cause cited (21%) but stress seemed to be cause by a multitude of factors, including poor company culture, office politics and performance related issues.  Stress seems to have most impact on sleep, with 65% of staff reporting sleep loss due to stress.

It seemed too, that stress was lessened by age, with older employees becoming less stressed at work.

Over half of those surveyed (55%) report that their employer has measures in place to support staff who have stress.  However, as Perkbox note, this worryingly indicates that 45% of staff are working for employers offering no support for stress in the workplace.

The full findings can be downloaded here, and Chieu Cao, co-founder and chief marketing officer (CMO) at Perkbox, called on executives and managers to take urgent notice of the findings:

“How successfully workers are able to manage not only work-related stress, but also that which originates at home or in their personal lives, can have a huge impact on businesses’ productivity and staff retention – and in turn, profitability and stability.

“The management of it is something that should be on the agendas of C-suite level discussions around the country.”

Ystrad Mynach success story Educ8 have added to their growing list of awards having been  named in the Times Top 100 Companies to work for, and also being named FSB Wales Employer of the Year at a prestigious ceremony at Mercure Holland House Hotel in Cardiff.

Firms from across Wales were recently honoured at the FSB Wales Celebrating Small Business Awards, which seeks to celebrate and honour successful small businesses in Wales.  The company were delighted to add the FSB award to their growing list of accolades.

Other winners included Swyddle who were successful in the Welsh in Business category for their innovative use of Welsh language in the recruitment sector, MAYKHER, who were the winners in the Ethical Green category for their sustainable fashion accessory business which helps young girls around the world access education, and NetWorld Sports – who supply sports equipment around the world – were named Business Exporter of the Year.

The Educ8 Group, based in Ystrad Mynach, is a values-driven, ambitious and dynamic organisation, led by Chairman; Colin Tucker, and CEO; Grant Santos, alongside an experienced senior management team. With over 13 years’ experience in delivering high quality vocational training programmes, Apprenticeships and work placement opportunities, they are proud of their track record for delivering world-class training, development and recruitment solutions to a range of micro organisations, SMEs and large corporations.

CEO Grant Santos, described the latest awards news as ‘fantastic’.  A spokesman for the company explained:

“Our people mean everything to us at Educ8- for the last 3 years we have been listed as a Times Top 100 Best Company to Work For and we’ve created a fantastically fun working environment that gets results! We continually invest in our employees’ skills and development to ensure that our customers receive only the best level of service at all times.”

Long suffering British employees will sit through a mind numbing 9,776 meetings in their working lifetime – with over half of them being deemed as completely pointless, research from Deliveroo for Business has revealed.

New research of the nation’s office workers has discovered the average Brit reckons 51 percent of the meetings they attend every week are utterly useless.

So much so that a staggering one in ten of the employees who took part in the study admitted to having nodded off during a meeting at some point in their life.

And in a bid to get through the tedium, the survey also revealed we will munch through 10,753 sandwiches, 19,552 chocolate biscuits and drink 15,642 cups of tea during our lifetime of meetings, the poll found.

In fact, 85 percent of those polled said they are much more likely to be enthusiastic about a meeting if food and drink is laid on.

The poll of 2,000 full time employees found a quarter of adults dread one to one sessions with their boss about their progress, 26 percent hate awkward catch-up lunches with clients and 17 percent said they loathe annual general meetings.

Of those polled, 17 percent claim they have completely clammed-up in a meeting, 26 percent said they have not listened to one word that was said – and 27 percent said they spent the duration of the meeting thinking about what they were going to have for dinner.

Almost one in ten (8 percent) pass the time by flirting with colleagues over the meeting table, while 20 percent admit they text their other half to get through the boredom.

Four in ten of the adults surveyed said they like it when their diary is packed full of meetings as it gets them out of doing any ‘proper’ work.

But six in ten moaned that meetings just create more unnecessary work.

Juan Diego Farah, Global Head of Deliveroo for Business said:

“Meetings can be dull and traditionally the food and drink offered in them is pretty lacklustre, consisting of dreary biscuits thrown on a plate and lukewarm tea from an old office urn.

“Some meetings do drag on and breaking up proceedings with breaks for high quality food and drink can really boost people’s energy levels and their enthusiasm. Deliveroo for Business was set up so office workers and businesses across the world can have the same choice and access to great food at work as they do at home on Deliveroo”.

More than a quarter of workers say they are embarrassed when visitors come to their office for meetings as their hospitality is so poor – confessing to barely being able to scrape together tea and biscuits.

14 percent said they only have chipped, mismatched mugs in their office and 22 percent said they are guilty of plonking stale biscuits on a plate in order to make them look presentable.

64 universities throughout the UK have commenced strike action over plans to change their pension scheme.  The strike is the first of 14 days of industrial action over four weeks.

Employers’ group Universities UK (UUK) claim the changes are essential as the scheme is running at a deficit, however lecturers who have paid into the scheme are angry and say they will receive a less generous pension when they retire.

The scheme is the UK’s largest in terms of assets, which are valued at £60bn.

Despite over 1 million students being affected, a YouGov poll carried out on the eve of the strike found that:

• Overall, three-fifths of students (61%) said they supported the strikes
• Support was stronger in universities affected by the strikes (66% from students in striking universities compared with 58% from those in non-striking universities)
• Half of students (50%) blamed the university employers for the dispute that is leading to strike action
• Just 2% of students said they blamed university staff for the strikes. One in five (20%) said staff and universities were equally to blame
• Only one in 20 (5%) said they disagreed with calls for both sides to return to the negotiating table

The universities’ representatives – Universities UK – are seeking to push through the changes and have refused to negotiate with UCU. The union says this has left it with no alternative but to strike. In the recent strike ballot UCU members overwhelmingly backed industrial action. Overall, 88% of members who voted backed strike action. The turnout was 58%.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said:

‘We deliberately announced these strike dates to give universities time to come back round the table with us and get this mess sorted out. They have refused to do so and want to impose their reforms on staff. Unsurprisingly staff are angry and significant disruption on campuses across the UK now looks inevitable.

‘The key is how universities react to the action this week. We will be meeting on 2 March to consider what wave two of the action may need to involve and nothing is off the table. We doubt any universities want a prolonged dispute that carries on towards exam season and would urge vice-chancellors to put pressure on Universities UK to get back round the table with us.’

Crucial gains for disability rights secured by the business community must not be reversed post-Brexit due to a lack of planning and preparation, Business Disability Forum has warned.

According to a survey of 1611 people (including 140 business-owners) run by Business Disability Forum with YouGov in January 2018, high proportions of people believe there will no impact on disability employment and three-quarters of business-owners that there would be no effect on their ability to cater for the needs of disabled people.

– 39% of people believe there will be no change in disability laws post-Brexit
– 38% believe there will be no impact on employment rates of disabled people
– 47% believe Brexit will have no effect on the number of opportunities for disabled people
– 75% of business-owners believe Brexit will make no difference to the way they hire workers post-Brexit
– 71% of business-owners believe Brexit will have no effect on their ability to accommodate disabled employees and customers
– 57% of business-owners didn’t foresee a fall in profits due to Brexit

Diane Lightfoot, Chief Executive Officer at Business Disability Forum, warned:

“Numerous economic forecasts point to a considerable impact on the UK during the transition out of EU Membership. Any rise in unemployment is likely to hit disabled people harder than it will the general population and risks growing the already huge disability employment gap. Likewise, a squeeze on budgets could slow progress in securing accessibility in our public places, transportation networks, and businesses.

“Business Disability Forum is urging businesses to prepare for changes to the economic landscape after Brexit so that they are ready not only to mitigate risks but also to seize opportunities.”

Business Disability Forum unveiled the research to senior figures from the business world on Thursday, 8 February, at an event sponsored by leading UK resourcing company Sopra Steria Recruitment.

The event sought to examine ways that the challenges and opportunities posed by Brexit could be approached constructively, securing the vital gains for disabled people made over the last twenty-five years for a post-Brexit UK.

Commenting on the results of the survey, and why his business sponsored the event, Pete Holliday, Managing Director of Sopra Steria Recruitment, added:

“These findings suggest that many employers are simply unaware of the potential impact of Brexit, specifically with regards to demand for skills and access to talent. We would really like to see employers reaching out through recruitment channels to explore the benefits of tapping into disabled talent pools – and getting advice on how to remove barriers in the recruitment process to make this possible.

“This is a real opportunity, which is why events such as this are so important. They allow likeminded organisations throughout the recruitment supply chain to share experiences and pool resources to the benefit of disabled candidates and businesses alike.”

Diane Lightfoot said:

“Approaching this challenge in the right ways could bring great dividends for businesses. The potential loss of a migrant labour workforce would mean that businesses must work much harder to attract the talent that they need – and that could be a real opportunity for disabled people who are still hugely under-represented in the workforce, with just 49% of disabled people in employment as compared to 80% of the general population. Similarly, this could be the perfect time to look at tapping into a massive domestic market, the Purple Pound, valued at £249 billion. The change in markets that could come post-Brexit means that businesses must plan to attract a new customer base.”

In the same survey, 39% of small business owners did not see Brexit having any effects on disability law.

Bela Gor, Head of Campaigns, Resources and Legal at Business Disability Forum, said:

“Significant parts of the Equality Act 2010 have basis in EU law, so we must ensure that laws around disability discrimination and inclusion are not put at risk. Our members were instrumental in securing the landmark Disability Discrimination Act in 1995 and businesses, government and third-sector organisations must work together to ensure that these legal foundations are protected to ensure the best possible Brexit for disabled people.”

Unfortunately, as the business world has expanded, often into higher risk areas, employers have seen the cost of international medical cover increase.

Many employers are now reporting significant increases in the premiums that they pay for international private medical insurance (IPMI).  It is normal to expect a 10-15% increase in the cost of insurance year on year, but in some instances, this rise has been as much as 50 per cent in some cases. 

There are a number of factors that are forcing the price of premiums up so steeply including increased regulation, greater demand for quality care and the rising cost of care in some locations. 

The demand for good quality private care is rising, as individuals look for greater choice in how and where they are treated. People are also looking for access to the latest advanced medical technology.

In some locations, there is a greater propensity for hospitals to offer leading-edge or experimental treatments that are much more expensive. Singapore and Hong Kong have been acknowledged as countries where insurance costs are higher because of their willingness to offer these types of treatments.

We spoke to Sarah Dennis, head of international for The Health Insurance Group, to see if there is anything employers can do to reduce or mitigate the increases:

Sarah explains:

“It is essential that employers discuss the best way to control costs. With expert advice, premiums may be reduced through centralised or local policies, changing what is included in the policy or seeking providers who can offer access to less expensive medical services.”

Given the varied costs, availability of medical infrastructure and changes to regulation in different countries it is critical that employers get expert advice when reviewing their international insurance. 

Three areas to consider are: 

1. Weigh up the options – is it cheaper to have a single policy to cover all locations, or to obtain local cover specifically for high-cost countries? Look at where different staff travel to and see if savings can be made by using different policies for different travel locations. 
2. Some providers are able to access good quality medical care at facilities that are more competitively priced. Employers should look to compare what is available under each policy to ensure they are getting good value as well as high quality care.  
3. Employers should also review what they can include and exclude within the policy and how that relates to the likely needs of the overseas staff being insured. For example, childbirth can be very costly to include, but may not be relevant in some circumstances.

Ultimately, Sarah believes a good relationship with your broker is the best way to maintain essential cover without breaking the bank.  She concludes:

“Helping control the costs of IPMI cover is a core part of the value that brokers should be delivering. Companies need to draw on the international expertise of their broker to find the most cost-efficient policies whilst still providing the appropriate level of cover for staff.”