Flexible working practices for all?

The new coalition government today announced plans to allow all employees the right to request flexible working hours. At the moment, parents of children up to 16 (or 18 if they are disabled) and carers for disabled adults are allowed to request flexible working patterns. Employers must give serious consideration to any requests but can turn them down for sound business reasons.

Ultimately, following consultation with business, the government would like to extend the right to all workers. The plans, unlikely to come into law during this parliament, have been met with a mixed response - negatively from the British Chambers of Commerce and positively from the TUC.

Best of luck S4 Business Management!

Best of luck to my S4 Business Management class who are sitting their Intermediate exams tomorrow. You have been a pleasure to teach over the last two years and have worked really hard for these exams. Make sure you go in and do yourself proud!

Couple of last minute tips!

• Read the question carefully!
• Remember the command words
• Make your writing readable
• And remember to bring a couple of pens!!!

US Airlines & Continental Airlines merge

United Airlines and Continental Airlines have agreed a merger which will create the world's biggest airline. It will be called United Airlines but the new branding will be a combination of both airline's current colours.

Both companies are currently making losses but expect to make savings of more than $1 billion a year following the $3.2 billion deal. The merger has been described as a "merger of equals" although United Airlines will be seen as the dominant partner. Between them, they fly to 370 destinations and fly 144 million passengers a year. They currently employ a total of 86,000 people and experts believe redundancies will be inevitable as the new company aim to cut costs. Shared IT and maximising the use of the fleet are also expected to deliver cost-savings.

The merger has to be agreed by shareholders and competition regulators and unions will also need to agree to the deal.

How are taxes raised and spent?

One of the main policy differences between the three big parties in this years election is that of taxation and cuts. All parties agree that cuts need to be made and the chances are that taxes will rise in the coming years.

So how are taxes raised and spent?

• In this years Budget, the current Labour Government said that would spend £704 billion during the year up to the end of March 2011.

• The Government expect to raise £541 billion through taxation, with most coming from Income Tax (£146 billion), National Insurance (£97 billion) and VAT (£78 billion).

• They would need to borrow £163 billion to make up the difference between taxes and spending.

• Most money raised will be spent on health (£122 billion), education (£89 billion) and social protection e.g. benefits (£196 billion).

• Other key spending includes Public Order (£36 billion), International Development (£6 billion) and defence, social services, housing, transport, industry etc. (£210 billion).

• Interest on the debts the government has built up will come to £43 billion.

Brilliant advert for Seriously Strong cheese.

Tesco announce huge pre-tax profits!

Tesco continue to to flourish despite the global economic crisis as they announced pre-tax profits of £3.176bn for 2009, up 10% on the previous year. Some interesting information from the news:

• International sales account fro £17.5bn of its £56.9bn annual revenue.
• It plans to create 16,000 jobs this year, 9,000 in the UK.
• It expects non-food and international sales to grow fastest in the recovery.
• Toy sales were up 25% - helped by the clothes like Woolworths closing down.
• Sales of clothes reached £1bn for the first time.
• Tesco finance profits were up 13% at £250m

It also said it had been getting round the disruption caused by flights being grounded by getting their Kenyan suppliers to fly fruit and flowers to Spain and picking them up by truck to transport to the UK.

Eyjafjallajökull - Who wins and who loses?

Airlines - LOSERS!

Obviously the main casualty is the airline industry. The industry is estimated to be losing £130 million a day and could hardly come at a worse time, considering it is already expected to lose £1.4 billion this year. Travel companies are also being hit hard - TUI who own First Choice & Thomson claim they are losing between £5m and £6m a day.

Other Transport - WINNERS!

Eurostar, P&O ferries and train services across Europe and the UK have recorded huge surges in passenger numbers as people find alternative methods to get home.

Tourism - MMMMM?

The effect will be small if the disruption doesn't last too long, particularly as this is not the main peak time for tourism in Europe. Customers stranded and spending more will make up for the expected loss from those unable to make the trip. However, if the disruption continues, it would have a much greater impact if it lasts into the busy summer months.

Imports & Exports - DEPENDS

The disruption has businesses who deal in perishable goods generally transported by air - e.g. food and flowers. Africa and South America, producers of much fresh food transported to Europe are experiencing serious losses. However, most international trade uses road, rail and sea freight - only 1% of UK's trade is carried by air.

Other Business Costs - LOSERS!

Staff being stranded, air mail being delayed and meetings being cancelled are likely to result in lost money for businesses and productivity is expected to suffer as staff can't get back to work.

Economic Growth - MMMMMMM?

If it is short-term, the economic impact is expected to be minimal - however, an extended period without air transport could be very damaging, particularly as the economy is just recovering from recession. A possible drop of 1% and 2% for some European countries could result in no growth for this year.

How have supermarkets continued to make profit in the recession?

I watched a really interesting programme by the ITV Tonight team on how supermarkets have continued to make huge profits despite the worst financial crisis in over 60 years. Well worth half an hour of your time!

Supermarkets

Teaching S3 Business Management using homemade tomato ketchup!

In a previous life before I became a teacher, I used to work as a commis chef in various restaurants. I was actually going to train to be a chef before I decided to head off to University to do my Business degree. However, every now and again I still think I have the knack and so it was on Sunday afternoon, that with the sun shining, I opened the windows to let in the first fresh air of spring and set about making my own tomato ketchup courtesy of one of Jamie Oliver's recipes. This followed on from a successful attempt at making chilli-pepper chutney the previous week.

I headed off to Tescos and came back with the following:

• 1 large red onion
• 1/2 bulb of fennel
• 1 stick of celery
• Ginger
• 1/2 fresh red chilli
• Fresh basil
• 1kg of red tomatoes
• Red wine vinegar

I already had the olive oil, garlic, salt, cloves, black pepper and brown sugar that was needed to complete the masterpiece. 3 hours of cooking later and the picture at the top is what I had to show for my efforts. Approximately 350ml of homemade tomato ketchup!

And why do I tell you this.....

Today with my S3 Business Management, I was discussing different methods of production - Job, Batch and Flow. My attempt at homemade tomato ketchup was an obvious example of job production. The raw materials were good quality but expensive, I had to do all the tasks myself which took time and effort but the final product met with my exact requirements. Unfortunately, I don't have my receipt handy but the tomatoes themselves were £2.24. I imagine, everything included (minus my labour costs), the tomato ketchup probably cost me close to £4 to make. Products created by job production are expensive due to the labour intensive, unique aspects of them.

We discussed how much I would need to sell this individual bottle at to make a profit. £5, £6, £7 was shouted out. When asked who would pay that, no one offered and it was pointed out that a bottle of 350g Heinz Tomato Ketchup costs £1 to buy in Tesco.

So, if I decided to use the wonder of the internet and start selling my homemade tomato ketchup or chilli-pepper chutney online, how would I get my costs down to a level which would enable me to sell it at a reasonable price and start to make a profit. My brilliant S3 Business Management class immediately identified the need to make it in enough quantity to be able to buy my raw materials in bulk and thus bring the cost of them down by negotiating a discount with the suppliers.

Top Trivia from Heinz Ketchup website

Did you know that we use enough tomatoes to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool – EVERY day – to make enough tomato ketchup for all our fans?

So we started to look at Batch production - making batches of tomato ketchup using batches of red tomatoes or yellow tomatoes, chilli-pepper chutney using red chillis, green chillis, orange chillis etc.

We then looked at how we could manufacture the tomato ketchup using Flow production with everyone having a specific job, utilising technology to do much of the work e.g. blenders, and how this would enable us to drive down the costs of each individual jar of chilli-pepper chutney or tomato ketchup until we could make a decent profit.

We then used this to discuss the disadvantages of each of these methods - the obvious cost element of the Job Production but also the high initial costs of the machinery for Flow Production and the monotonous jobs of both Batch and Flow Production.

And that is how my Sunday afternoon making home made tomato-ketchup impacted on my S3 Business Management lesson the next day.

S2 Business Management Dragon's Den Final

Congratulations to Anita Kaur, Eve McGlynn and Ellis Macaulay a.k.a. The Pet People who represented my class at this years S2 Business Management Dragon's Den Final. Despite an excellent presentation for their product, Communikanine, which received rave reviews from the four Dragon's, the team were pipped into first place by Chandles, who had the excellent idea of chocolate candles which, when lit, would coat a cake with melting chocolate.

Communikanine Presentation

View more presentations or Upload your own.

The Dragon's Den project is one of the highlights of the S2 Business Management course at St Ninian's High School. Starting in November, the pupils work in groups to come up with a product or service idea which they then have to market research, cost and promote. As well as this, they also have to look at any competition, consider what sources of finance to use and decide on the type of business organisation they want to be and why e.g. partnership, private limited company etc.

This year, we invited four "Dragons" from the local business community who had to make the final decision on who triumphed. They were all very impressed with the level of effort and commitment the three finalists had put into the project.

Congratulations to all pupils involved in the project and here is to an even more successful Dragon's Den in 2010-2011.

Who is right and who is wrong in the BA strike?

As the first strike by British Airways cabin crew comes to an end with a second planned from 27 March, relations between British Airways and Unite, the trade union representing the cabin crew, show no sign of improving.

At the centre of the dispute is BA's decision to reduce the number of cabin crew on long haul flights from 15 to 14 and a 2 year pay freeze from 2010. New contracts have also been proposed for new people joining and newly promoted staff which would see them paid significantly less than current staff. Unite have put forward their own proposals but BA have rejected them as the £63m savings through pay cuts and part time working would not save as much money as the union claim.

BA claim they need to restructure to permanently reduce costs. The company made losses of £342 million in the nine months leading up to the end of December 2009 and say the will make 4,900 redundancies globally by the end of the year. In recent years, BA have lost many air travellers to low-cost airline, many of whom are business travellers, BA's core customers. This could be fatal to BA in the future. Coupled with an economic slowdown, BA would be unable to continue in its current structure and cost levels unless the profitable business passengers come back and pay the prices they were before. BA are experimenting with not serving food on some flights and charging for second bags.

Some staff have decided to break the strike, with one saying 'he and other colleagues were thinking about the long term effects the strike would have on the company".

And therein lies the issue. Some reports have claimed that British Airways staff are paid nearly double that of rival airlines. With British Airways making losses and facing a troubling future, should staff accept that sacrifices have to be made in the current climate? Or should British Airways accept that it's staff are highly professional, experienced cabin crew and pay them accordingly? And what of the role of the Union? Is industrial action and the knock on effect of the strikes to the general public? Is this the best way to conduct negotiations in the current economic situation?

It's a tough situation and very difficult to see how a satisfactory outcome can be decided upon.

Glasgow 2014 Games logo unveiled

The Glasgow 2014 Games logo was revealed on Monday at a cost of £95,000. Glasgow design agency Marque came up with the brand after a worldwide search, beating 66 entries, and the logo is based on three principles of sport - time, data and measurement. Any companies sponsoring the games will be offered the logo for use. For the first time, the Commonwealth Games Federation approved the use of an alternative Gaelic form of the design.

Do you like the Glasgow 2014 Games logo?polls

Business in Sport - Football in the Red debate

Following the news that Real Madrid have topped the league table of the world's richest clubs for a fifth successive season, the BBC are holding a Football in the Red debate tonight on BBC Radio 5 Live. It will look at the financial problems affecting football clubs. It will start at 8pm and finishes at 9.30pm. Should be an interesting debate.

Real Madrid top football rich list

Business in sport

One area of business which intrigues me is that of business in sport, particularly football. I listened to a podcast recently in which a financial expert said that if football clubs were run as normal businesses, most would have collapsed. With Manchester United, Liverpool, Rangers etc. creaking under huge debt burdens and Portsmouth last week becoming the first Premiership team to go into administration, the full impact of the current economic climate is there for all sports fans to see.

If you are a student of Business Management, knowing about business in sport can be a great help. Much of the terminology is the same and being able to put something into a context you understand can make things so much easier to learn.

The BBC have a page called Business in Sport and I have attached a link to the menu bar on the right under Interesting Websites. I don't expect you to read every single business article on the internet or newspaper, but it would greatly help your own learning if you have a look at any stories on this page which interest you. You never know when the information you pick up may come in handy!

What's your job title?

For any of my classes who have studied the role of the Human Resources Department, they know the importance that the job title plays in the job description to attract possible new employees. People want and expect their job title to reflect their level of seniority or responsibility.

With the current economic doom and gloom having a negative effect on salaries, could the lure of a fancy job title be they way of keeping staff motivated? Examples from the Plain English Campaign, a campaigning group against jargon and misleading public information, include the following:

• Ambient Replenishment Controller = Shelf stacker
• Regional Head of Services, Infrastructure and Procurement = Caretaker
• Revenue Protection Officers = Ticket inspectors
• Waste Removal Engineer = Binman
• Education Centre Nourishment Production Assistant = Dinner lady
• Vision Clearance Engineer = Window cleaner

However, a director at thinktank Policy Exchange thinks the pressure on public finances could signal the end for bizarre job titles as people will be more focussed on what people do and their titles. Both the private and public sector will have to focus on their core business. However, it does seem that the days of the self-evident career - the butcher, baker etc. - are all but gone.

P.S. I am not a teacher anymore, I am a knowledge navigator!

Civil servants to strike over redundancy terms

Up to 270,000 civil servants, including Jobcente staff, tax workrs and coastguards, are planning a two day strike in early March in a dispute over cuts to public sector redundancy terms. The Public and Commercial services union who represent the workers balloted the staff earlier this month and 64% voted for stoppages and 81% backing an overtime ban. The 2 day walkout could be followed by a series of rolling strikes through March and April, just weeks before the expected date of the general election.

Best of luck to my Higher Business Management class

Yes, it is Friday night at 8.14pm and yes, I am writing on my blog. But please remember, the other option tonight is Eastenders Live!

Just wanted to say the best of luck to my Higher Business Management class for their prelim on Monday.

Thousands of prices cut - but your shopping still costs more?

Last November, Asda and Tesco started a price war in the lead up to Christmas by announcing they were cutting millions of pounds off prices. Tesco would cut prices by £250m and Asda by £150m. In order to meet their end-of-year profit targets, supermarkets need to entice customers who are likely to spend more in the lead up to the festive period to shop in their store.

However, data provided by third party analysts and published in Saturdays Guardian newspaper has shown that as well as the thousands of cut prices the supermarkets promoted, they also showed thousands of price rises, some of them doubling the price of key purchases. Between 9 and 22 December (the period when most people would do their big festive shop), Asda increased prices on more than 2,000 lines and Tesco on over 1,500.

Whether a shopper was affected positively or negatively is difficult to quantify - it would be dependent on what the shopper bought. The averages of price increases and cuts can also be affected by changes on high value items e.g. if a supermarket cuts the price of a crate of beer in half as a loss leader offering a saving of several pounds, and cuts thousands of other products by just 1p, the number of cuts and the average saving may look attractive but give virtually nothing to those not buying beer.

Both supermarkets denied the claim that they were deliberately forcing up prices in the run up to Christmas, claiming that in the majority of cases it was due to products that had been discounted coming off promotion or by suppliers increasing wholesale prices to the retailer. However, a professor at the Office of Fair Trading suggested that the number and size of the rises showed both Tesco and Asda were using the Christmas period to get as much profit as possible out of people who were too busy to shop elsewhere. He pointed out that rises were targeted at heavy store cupboard goods and holiday essentials - Pepsi (up 56% in Asda), Duracell batteries (up 102.7% in Asda), Nurofen tablets (up 33.3% in Tesco) and Beefeater Gin (up 37.6% in Tesco).

A 5 year study of prices at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons conducted by Loughborough University has found the most common price cut among the top 4 supermarkets is just 1p. Although these low cuts might seem pointless and have little impact on the price of someone's shopping, it enables the supermarkets to claim they are cutting the cost of thousands of lines. In actual fact, over the 5 years, these cuts have helped mask large increases in a smaller number of lines which have had a much greater impact on shopping bills. Supermarket behaviour at Christmas in those 5 years has also shown that although they have heavily discounted headline, loss-leading products like alcohol and turkey, they have significantly raised the prices of other goods at the same time.

Rooney and his working class "brand"

It has emerged during a court case that Wayne Rooney was to be "branded" as the complete opposite of David Beckham - a street striker, a product of the terraces, earthy, real, not manufactured, what you see is what you get! His working class credentials were part of the "brand values" given to the then 17 year old Rooney as his agent negotiated multi-million pound contracts to endorse products and firms such as Coca-Cola, Asda and Nike.

The details have emerged as part of a court case where Rooney, his wife and agent are being sued by his formed sports management firm for £4.3million in lost commission payments.

Advertising - London style

I am always amazed when I am in London how many innovative ways there are to advertise and promote products - it always seems so much more creative than the usual billboard we tend to see up here.

This is an advert for Coke Zero at Old Street roundabout, a roundabout on the border of Hackney and Islington which links the City of London, West London, East London and North London - many potential customers pass by here every day. I just think it is so striking to incorporate the advert for the product it into a modern style sculpture.

An interesting fact - the roundabout is also known as the Silicon Roundabout due to the prominence of British web based companies.

Stung by computerised stock control!

I was down in London at the weekend seeing friends and was staying in a Holiday Inn. Passing the morning away on the Saturday before I went out, I had a look at the price list for the room's mini bar. Needless to say, I was absolutely shocked at the mark-up on the different drinks and snacks and thought it would be a good idea to take some pictures to show my various Business Management classes as we work our way through the Marketing units.

So I took out some Pringles, Coca-Cola, some white wine, red wine, a small bottle of Courvioisier Cognac and proceeded to take some shots. I didn't have a clue (though the heading at the top of the price list should have given it away) that the fridge used a computerised system whereby everytime you took a product out of the fridge, it would charge it to your room bill. Even if you put it back!!

When I went to settle my bill on Sunday, it was with some embarrassment that I had to explain that I had not in fact drunk or eaten anything from the bar, but had in fact been taking photographs to show my pupils about pricing methods back in Scotland. They didn't charge me!

Good luck to my S4!

The best of luck to my S4 Administration class who are sitting their prelim exam tomorrow (Friday 5 February) and my S4 Business Management class who are sitting theirs on Monday (8 February).

You have all worked hard and I am confident you will all do yourselves proud.

Business Dictionary

While trawling the internet to find new and innovative things to incorporate into the blog to help my classes learning, I came across a Business Dictionary which may prove useful. It is a glossary of business terms and definitions which includes the main terminology used in business, plus many more unusual, interesting and amusing words and expressions found in business and management, and the wider world of work and modern life.

I have posted the link on the menu bar opposite - hope it is of some use to you!

How a lack of quality checks can affect a business

Toyota have announced that a massive vehicle recall due to uncontrolled acceleration could cost them up to £1.25 billion in lost output and the check might need to spread from the US and Europe to the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. 1.8 million cars were recalled across Europe while another 2.3 million cars have been recalled in the US over the last four months. 5 millions vehicles in the US were also recalled for another similar problem. The effect of the recall on the world's largest car maker is likely to seriously affect its 2010 sales forecasts.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Toyota defends car recall delay

Pupil led Business Magazine up and running

One of my Higher Business Management pupils told me a couple of months ago that she liked the idea of possibly editing a newspaper in the future. It just so happened that at that point I was looking at ways to start some sort of pupil-led online Business Magazine to encourage participation from pupils outside of the classroom. Talking it through with the pupil, we identified several pupils in S2 Business Management who we thought could take on the role of reporters with the senior pupil being responsible for setting deadlines, editing work and getting the project up and running.

Having been subjected first hand to a probing interview by one of the team's roving reporters and read a couple of their first articles, I am confident this is a project which will develop and provide all involved with some great skills that they can take forward in their schooling - teamworking, working to deadlines, communication skills etc. I have given full editorial responsibility to the group and act only as a contact should they wish any help or support.

The group aim to get their magazine link placed on the school website and hope to develop a strong and loyal readership. Please click on the link Pupil Business Magazine to read their first articles. Please feel free to leave some comments.

Last night, 8 pupils from my Higher Business Management class and I attended a Business Master Class hosted by the East Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce. The guest speaker was Graeme Lindsay, one of Scotland's leading marketing experts with nearly 20 years of experience. His CV contains companies liked Tennents, Scottish Courage and Glenmorangie and he led the global marketing activity for brands such as Glenmorangie, Ardbeg and Glen Moray. Recently he has been working as the Marketing Director for Whyte & Mackay.

The first part of his talk covered how he had helped relaunch Glenmorangie. This was a whisky which had no discernible difference from it's competitors and having conducted thorough research, it was decided to aim it at specifically at two target markets - the luxury end of the market and women. The idea to aim it at these markets inspired all the packaging and promotion that Glenmorangie did. Promotions moved from the traditional man in a kilt tasting whisky to talking about the taste and emotion fo whisky, utilising a female master blender. Advertising became engaging, premium, impactful and always focused on the luxury element of the product. The website was updated - it changed completely and got people talking again. Displays of the product moved from the idea of cramming as much in as possible to the complete opposite - focusing on a "less is more" idea. Displays of the product played on the idea of scarcity with individual bottles carefully displayed. Public relations events changed style as well, moving to cocktail parties of style and allure, attended by both men and women.

Obviously there was a cost to all this but with the new luxury branding, Glenmorangie could charge higher prices and increase their profit margin which increased the bottom line. High end hotels and clubs were now stocking the product and charging high amounts which further strengthened Glenmorangie's position.

Some interesting marketing points which Graeme Lindsay made about launching or relaunching a product:

1. A well defined positioning will lead to stronger communicaton and ideas that cut through.
2. Go back in time to the foundations and heritage of your business to "get" your positioning/identity.
3. It's better to ACT yourself into a new way of thinking (than THINK yourself into a way of acting) Court controversy in creating interesting PR angles.
4. Polarise opinion - don't try and and please ALL of your target consumers. Be prepared to sacrifice.
5. Steal ideas from other sectors.
6. Identify industry conventions and then challenge them.
7. In generating innovative ideas, be chaotic, emotional and random. Be meticulous and disciplined in execution.
8. Refuse to be constrained by challenges and restrictions. Tackle them head on and turn into opportunities.
9. It's not enough to get digital. Companies and products have to get "SOCIAL" - use all social networking opportunities available.

It was a really interesting evening and hopefully gave some of the pupils a greater insight into one of the main units we study in Higher Business Management. For some, it may even impact on future career plans!

Did you know?

The rise of social media!

The office of the future!

Check out the link below to see the office of the future. Designed by students at Edinburgh's Napier University, it costs around £150,000 and features touch screen technology on desks and walls. Experts believe in 3-5 years, this could be commonplace technology.

The Office of the Future

The end of the road for Cadbury's

An agreement has been reached between the American food company Kraft and Cadbury's, the 200 year old British confectioner, over a £11.5 billion takeover. Cadbury's started in Birmingham in 1824 when John Cadbury opened a shop selling tea, coffee and hot chocolate as an alternative to alcohol. It now employs about 45,000 people in 60 countries and it's brands include Dairy Milk, Flake, Crunchie, Chocolate Buttons and Milk Tray.

What are the details:

• Cadbury's board recommended to the shareholders that it accept a bid of 840p per share, valuing the business at £11.5 billion.
• Each shareholder will receive 500p per share and the remainder will be made up of shares in Kraft.
• This is an increase in the previous offer by craft when the valued Cadburys at £10.5 billion.
• The move could lead to possible job cuts within Cadbury's UK business as a result.

Supported Study - Intermediate Business Management

We will be running a supported study session in preparation for the Business Management prelim on Tuesday 26 January 2010 at 3.45pm. If you are interested, please let one of the Busienss Studies teachers know you wish to attend.

If it doesn't work out as a teacher.....

......I could always become a pizzaiolo! Taking a break from NAB marking.

Managing The Band (S2 Admin)

Download now or preview on posterous

task 2 (4).doc (106 KB)

My S2 class have started the Managing The Band project, a 20 task integrated activity which covers a variety of skills which will help the class when they move into Intermediate Administration. The project covers areas like word processing, spreadsheets, databases, internet researching and is all based around managing a fictional band as they travel across Europe.

The first couple of tasks have been completed and this years real-life band of choice amongst S2 seems to be JLS closely followed by Pussycat Dolls. Here is a sample of the first task.

Posted via email from Mr Alexander's Posterous

First time on Posterous

I was introduced to Posterous today by Mr O'Donnell and I am considering the possibility of using it with my S2 Business Management and S2 Administration classes. They can easily use it to post work that they have done in class and share it with their families or friends at home. This is just a little trial to see how it works! Fingers crossed!

Posted via email from Mr Alexander's Posterous

Should employees tell bosess what they think of them?

My S4 Business Management class are currently looking at the internal organisation of a business and one of the areas we have been looking at is the relationship between managers and employees. My Higher Business Management class are about to move on to the Human Resource topic and this may also be of interest to them.

New research has suggested that firms would have a happier and healthier workforce if employees were able to tell their managers what they think of them. The relationship between line managers and employees is the most common source of stress in the workplace but many people in senior positions are unaware of how they come across and think they are doing a good job already. Stress in the workplace is a significant cause of sickness absence and can lead to people experiencing anxiety or depression.

The study showed that if employees could provide feedback to their managers, the bosses were more likely to change their management style and become more effective. This could be in coping with the employees emotions, empathising with individuals and resolving conflict. Those who don't get feedback were unlikely to change.