Business Info - issue 136

Is taking a sick day for mental health acceptable? Despite greater focus on mental health, British workers don’t believe mental health is a legitimate reason for taking time off work. Just 13% have taken a day off due to stress. In contrast, 94% of HR professionals believe depression or anxiety is an adequate reason to call in sick, and 80% believe workplace stress is a legitimate reason for a sick day, according to research from CABA. Laura Little, learning and development manager at CABA, said: “One in four people experiences a mental health issue every year, so it is reassuring to learn that HRs agree stress, depression and anxiety are valid reasons for employees to call in sick. It’s extremely important for businesses to promote a supportive, non-judgmental ethos to encourage employees to take time off if they need it and, most importantly, to encourage conversation if people are struggling. Our research shows that 80% of HRs agree that physical symptoms such as back or joint pain is an acceptable reason to call in sick, so it is a step in the right direction that mental ill health is being recognised in the same way.” www.caba.org.uk A quarter of Brits would replace MPs with robots When making car comparisons with the intention eventually to purchase, 60% of UK adults would rather have robots aiding them than humans, according to Reboot Digital Marketing’s analysis of findings from Mindshare, which surveyed more than 6,000 individuals from across the UK to see whether they would prefer robots or humans in different occupations. Even though most Brits (75%) would still prefer their MP to be a human being, 25% would happily elect a robot to the role. Most people (71%) would still select humans over robots to be bankers and only 11% would be happy to take medical advice from a robot. www.rebootonline.com Collaboration technologies take greater share of AV budgets One fifth of meeting roomAV budgets are now being spent on collaboration technologies, such as interactive displays, video conferencing and wireless presentation solutions. A Futuresource Consulting survey of 2,500 end users in the UK, USA, Germany and France shows that while display technologies still take the largest slice of budgets for the estimated 11 million meeting rooms in Europe and North America, this is changing in line with evolving working practices. This is especially true of large meeting rooms, where over 60% of the AV spend is now allocated to non-display technologies. Anthony Brennan, Research Analyst at Futuresource Consulting, said: ““With 11% of employees working from home at least three days a week – up three percentage points on the last time we ran this research – the role of the meeting room continues to change. More of us are wirelessly sharing content to a web conferencing platform or harnessing interactive technologies to get our point across, and the usage is only going to increase.” AGENDA P2P Magazine | 25 www.p2pmag.co.uk 01732 759725 09 magazine Help with health Business in the Community (BITC) in association with Public Health England (PHE) has launched a Physical Activity, Healthy Eating and Healthier Weight Toolkit for employers. The online interactive toolkit brings together advice, employer case studies and a checklist of practical actions employers can take to encourage staff to adopt healthier, more active lifestyles. https://wellbeing.bitc.org.uk The new i3HUDDLE 3.0 interactive touchscreen is designed to support easy collaboration in smaller meeting rooms. Great for video conferencing, whiteboarding, wireless presenting and collaboration with remote team members, it features a simple, intuitive user interface – for example, the home screen has just four options (conference, whiteboard, present, co-create) – and easy integration into Windows environments. A useful new feature is the integrated motion sensor that supports automatic start-up and shutdown. www-i3-technologies.com