1-in-4 Baby Boomers don't trust younger generations with inheritance

1-in-4 Baby Boomers don’t trust the younger generation to use their inheritance wisely, according to a national survey by professional services firm, Progeny.

Also, almost half (48%) of Baby Boomers say the attitudes and priorities of younger generations impacts their decision-making around transferring wealth to the next generation.

The research report, Planning to pass it on, conducted by YouGov for Progeny, aimed to uncover national attitudes around gifting or leaving money as an inheritance, and polled three generations for their views

The majority of respondents said they intend to pass on something to the next generations of their family, with 60% planning to do so.

However, of those aiming to provide financial support or inheritance to loved ones, the majority questioned (49%) didn’t know, beyond that, how they might be able to do it.

Less than half (47%) of Baby Boomers were confident about making plans or taking financial decisions about transferring wealth, and a third (32%) said they were not confident.

Around the same proportion of Generation X and Millennials (45%) were confident about making use of any received inheritance, versus 39% who said they weren't confident.

There are, however, regional variations: Scots are least confident about making plans or taking financial decisions about transferring wealth to family or loved ones – 31% feel confident as opposed to 57% confident in the east of England, 52% in the south of England.

Those in the south of England are also most likely to have professionally written will in place (48%), with those in the Midlands and Scotland being least likely (31%).

Those in the north of England are most likely to seek professional advice to better manage an inheritance (41%) compared to just 25% of Londoners and 22% in Wales.

However, one fifth of respondents revealed they didn’t want to pass on a significant sum of money to their loved ones.

Nearly half of those questioned (49%) felt it was more important to use their money to enjoy life to the full than to leave an inheritance.

Regional variations: People in the east of England feel it is more important to use their money to enjoy life to the full than to leave an inheritance more than any other area in the UK (58%), followed by 53% in Wales and 50% in the south of England and Scotland.

There was clear evidence of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis in the immediate financial goals of the survey respondents.

The highest proportion (45%) said ensuring they meet regular financial commitments was their top financial goal, followed by 35% who wanted to have enough cash in case of emergencies and 29% who were focused on saving enough to enjoy retirement.

At the top of their list of financial concerns or challenges was the increase in the cost of living (59%), followed by their anxieties over not saving enough (43%) and not having enough for emergencies (39%).

More Millennials were concerned about an increase in daily living costs than the other generations – 78%, compared to 59% of Gen X and 41% of Baby Boomers.

Regional variations: A rise in day to day living costs rated as the greatest financial concern or challenge across all regions, with those in the Midlands most concerned (64%) compared to 52% in the east of England.

The difficulty of communicating on such a sensitive topic was a consistent theme in the research. The majority of Millennials and Generation X (41%) found it ‘uncomfortable’ to discuss inheritance and wealth transfer with their parents.

Only 58% of Baby Boomers said they have discussed inheritance or gifting with loved ones.

Amongst those who did expect to one day talk about passing on money to the generations below, the majority (53%) said they wouldn’t tell the beneficiaries the amount they will be receiving.

Regional variations: Welsh people are most likely to have discussed their plans to financially support their loved ones or provide an inheritance with them (69%), with Londoners being least likely (53%).

Millennials and Generation X in the Midlands feel least comfortable about discussing their parents' inheritance plans with them. Only 31% feel confident, with those in the south of England most comfortable about doing this (50%).

Amongst those expecting to receive inheritance or wealth, when asked how they were planning to use this money, the most popular answers were to build their savings pot (35%), fund retirement (29%) or pay off their mortgage (25%).

1-in-10 said they intended to use it to leave a further financial gift in their will for their family.

Nearly two-fifths (38%) of those expecting to receive an inheritance did not know the amount they would be receiving.

Regional variations: Londoners have the highest expectation of inheriting property (86%) whereas Scots are most likely to expect to inherit cash (90%).

A quarter of Londoners don’t know what they would do with an inheritance (25%) compared to only 5% of Scots. Those in the Midlands are most likely to use an inheritance to fund their savings (53%) whereas those in the south of England favour paying off their mortgage (39%).

Neil Moles, CEO of Progeny, said: “This research has given us an illuminating snapshot of national attitudes towards inheritance and intergenerational wealth transfer today.

“Transferring money to the next generation is an ambition for many, yet there is a stark lack of any structured planning in evidence. This creates both risk and missed opportunities for those on both sides of the wealth transfer.

“A unique set of economic circumstances have helped the Baby Boomer generation to build up significant levels of wealth compared with the generations that went before them.

“In the years ahead, we will see more families having more complex requirements when it comes to passing on their wealth to the next generation.

“Some may be the first generation of their families to need to plan for intergenerational wealth transfer or prepare for considerations like Inheritance Tax.

“Addressing the issue as a family is likely to lead to better outcomes for everyone. Creating a joined-up, coordinated plan for giving and receiving an inheritance will help the older generation to pass on wealth effectively when the time comes and ensure today’s younger generations have something to pass on in future.”

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1004 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 12th - 18th August 2022. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of GB adults aged 24 - 74.

Millennials (aged 24 – 39), Gen X (aged 40 – 55), Baby Boomers (aged 56 – 74)

https://theprogenygroup.com.

Sustainability efforts aren't always working

Nearly half (44%) of UK businesses say they're failing to deliver on their sustainable commitments, with one in five (18%) admitting to publicly exaggerating their eco/green credentials, according to a poll of over 1,500 senior executives by corporate and ESG communications agency, Clearly PR.

A further one in four (24%) executives admit they're unsure if their sustainability efforts are making any positive difference at all, and 20% say they are unaware if their business has any metrics in place to measure the effectiveness of their environmental initiatives in the first place.

Only 19% of respondents believe that their business is making genuine progress on its sustainable initiatives.

The poll, conducted between 22nd-23rd September, aimed to provide real-time insight into how UK businesses are responding to growing investor and consumer demand for organisations to operate along more sustainable and socially responsible lines.

Paul MacKenzie-Cummins, managing director at Clearly PR, commented: “We need acts, not ads! These findings are extremely disappointing and equally revealing, too.

"ESG has been catapulted to the top of the business agenda in recent years. Yet despite the rhetoric and their public commitment to sustainability, a considerable number of businesses are simply not making good on their promises.

“More worrying is the unacceptably high number of businesses admitting they have resorted to use greenwashing in their ESG communications in a deliberate attempt to mislead consumers, investors, and other stakeholders. To make themselves look good.

“Once exposed, however, such false claims aren't only damaging to the brand and reputation of these businesses, but their stock value will also depreciate, and bottom-line sales are likely to be negatively impacted too.”

The findings of the poll could suggest that the rise in businesses guilty of greenwashing may partly be the result of a lack of understanding among businesses of how to measure the impact of their sustainability initiatives in the first place.

“Most leaders understand they have a responsibility to operate their businesses more sustainably and that when done right this can drive business value.

“However, where it fails is when there is a lack of knowledge on how to embed sustainability into their business processes, workforces, and supply chains and where there is an absence of any clearly defined sustainability goals.

“This, I believe, is in part responsible for some of the greenwashing activity we are seeing right now. Businesses know they need to be seen to be doing more to reduce their carbon footprint and feel under pressure to say ‘something’ positive to appease their customers. It is desperate, yet a position that can easily be avoided.”

(Image courtesy of  mhouge & Pixabay)

Corporate changes force managers to juggle different views of fairness

Middle-managers can often find themselves trapped between different stakeholders’ perceptions of what fair treatment is, in reaction to corporate changes, shows new research from Aalto University School of Business.

According to Associate Professor Marjo-Riitta Diehl, from the Department of Management Studies, and her co-authors, these managers can often experience uncertainty, anxiety, and reluctance to take action as a result of this.

The research discovered having to navigate the conflicting perspectives of peers, senior management, and subordinates often causes managers to experience guilt over decisions they made which they feel were unjust. 

The researchers also found sometimes managers had to navigate a discrepancy between the organisation’s strategic needs and their duty of care to their individual employees.

In response, they can be, among other things, motivated to discreetly recompense employees they feel they treated unfairly before changing to a role without managerial responsibilities. This is known as “Robin Hoodism”.

The internal conflict managers feel, as the company’s expectations of their managerial role pressure them to make decisions contrary to what they deem to be fair, can have severe consequences. 

Those who cannot reconcile their values with the company’s may choose to leave their employment as a result.

“Organisations must be aware if managers can't reconcile their role with their values, this may result in them trying to establish fairness according to their own rules ‘under the radar’ or even exit the company. 

Some managers, of course, also choose to prioritise the strategic needs of the organisation, aiming to contribute to the company’s survival, or the ‘greater good,’” says Professor Diehl.

Professor Diehl and her co-researchers also found managers varied in their likelihood to justify their decisions by dehumanising people that may have suffered from their decisions, for example declaring laid off employees as “bad apples”.

This research was based on two rounds of interviews with managers in the German branch of an international company shortly before and after restructuring changes. The paper was published in the Journal of Business Ethics.

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12531441.

New book 'Good Work, Great Technology' explores how HR technologies can help ‘humans to be their best’

Featuring valuable insights from 93 experts from 87 different organisations across the HR and people management space, a new book commissioned by HR systems provider Ciphr aims to ‘lift the lid’ on the technology that matters most to HR professionals.

'Good Work, Great Technology: enabling strategic HR success through digital tools', written by award-winning HR journalist Jo Faragher, examines how organisations are employing different technologies to attract, engage, develop, and manage their workforce, and the positive impact that’s making to HR teams and the wider employee experience.

The book presents actionable strategies, research and lessons learned from around the world of work, while making the case for the power of integrated people technology, showing how rather than trying to get every single software solution from a single provider, there are significant benefits to be had from selecting the best technologies for an organisation’s particular needs that can easily link with the people data in their central HR system.

David Richter, director of marketing at Ciphr, says: “A big impetus for Ciphr in commissioning this book was to help HR teams see people technology in a new light, moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach. 

"Our experience of speaking with many HR teams, is, initially at least, that their first preference is to try and procure everything from a single provider. And that's great if you can. Realistically though, no single provider is ever going to be able to keep up with the pace of change and innovation across the entire market and satisfy every single HR technology need.

“Instead, why not focus on having an excellent central HR solution, and embracing the possibilities offered by connecting it to the specialist tools and software that are most important to your organisation – that helps your people in their roles. There is so much smart, useful, and innovative technology out there that HR shouldn't be afraid of experimenting to find what works best for them. Because with integrations you don’t need to shift your entire technology stack you can just integrate with additional, specialist software, depending on your needs.

“Of course, technology is just an enabler. Organisations should never lose sight of why they're using a particular piece of technology and the benefits that they expect to get from it, and plan accordingly. For me, the best workplace technologies are those that are designed to enhance and support people to do great work. And, importantly, help alleviate the evolving challenges that HR and organisations face in a post-pandemic world, with different ways of working.”

Ciphr’s 207-page book is broken down into sections covering: HR administration – charting how the market for HR and payroll technology has evolved to encompass remote working, collaboration technologies, and automation; Hiring showing how the right recruitment technology can support HR teams and enhance the candidate experience; Employee engagement and experience exploring some of the key elements to creating good organisational culture, including how to understand and measure what employees want from a good place to work; Learning and career progression looking at how organisations can assess and fill their skills gaps and build learning into an employee’s ‘flow of work’.

Within each section are chapters on everything from analytics to automation, onboarding, wellbeing, collaboration, performance management, pay and reward, and more.

Author Jo Faragher says: “For me, one of the book’s key takeaways is that there really is no perfect template for technology in an organisation – you always have to be led by the business. The HR tech market is growing at such a pace that many of the areas covered by the book will have evolved yet further by the time you read it. But as with every digital wave that came before, the key is to understand where it is you’re trying to go, and how technology can help you get there.”

'Good Work, Great Technology: enabling strategic HR success through digital tools', is now available to buy in ebook and print versions at Amazon, WHSmith and other online booksellers.

To download a pdf copy of Ciphr’s book, please visit www.ciphr.com/good-work-book.

Ciphr is a specialist provider of cloud-based HR, payroll, recruitment and learning software. More than 600 organisations use Ciphr’s integrated HR and people management solutions to help manage, retain and engage staff more effectively – while reducing the admin burden on busy HR teams.

For more information, please visit www.ciphr.com.

‘Storytelling’ found to be fundamental to HR analytics, new research reveals

‘Storytelling’ as a practice is a frequently-used and effective tool for HR analytics professionals, new research from Trinity Business School, UCD and Maynooth University has revealed.

According to recent research, undertaken by Na Fu, an associate professor of human resource management at Trinity Business School, and Anne Keegan, Full Professor of Human Resource Management at UCD and Steven McCartney, Assistant Professor, Management & Organisational Behaviour at Maynooth University, HR analysts regularly engage in storytelling to aid them in doing their jobs.

Having undertaken 15 semi-structured interviews with HR analytics professionals, the researchers identified two key uses for storytelling practices: storytelling as showcasing, and storytelling as curbing.

“Showcasing HR analytics involves translating the results and insights from HR analytics to different stakeholders to take actions, that is, revising, updating, or initiating new policies,” Dr Na Fu explains.

“Meanwhile, curbing entails the careful curation of projects in the short term, motivated by a desire to protect the quality of implementation, employee interests including privacy, and to establish solid analytical principles based on sound data and systems which their organisations do not currently possess,” she adds.

According to the research team, HR analytics professionals regularly engage in these two seemingly contradictory aspects of storytelling to develop sustainable and legitimate HR analytics.

Reflecting on the findings of the study, Dr Fu stated: “This research also sheds invaluable insights to other professionals who are interested in thriving at work. In order to do so, business professionals need to navigate and combine the showcasing (e.g., promoting a new practice, an intervention, or changes) and curbing (e.g., slowing down, refocusing). Curbing is not to simple step backward, but to prepare our organisations, people and professionals like us, and to get ready for the showcasing - to make it happen."

Dr Steven McCartney added: “Although much has been made about the need for analytical skills in roles such as HR Analysts, this paper illustrates the sometimes underrecognized skill of storytelling in performing HR analytics tasks in practice while highlighting its complexities.

Typically, when we think of the role of the HR Analyst, we are immediately drawn to the multitude of analytical skills required to perform complex data analysis. 

However, we find storytelling is also a multi-faceted concept involving more than just translating and selling HR analytics to stakeholders. This is an important finding for firms as they continue building HR analytics capabilities.

One key takeaway from this research is that firms need to invest in developing HR analytics experts who not only have a fundamental understanding of the technical elements but also, the ability to balance the complex challenges of HR analytics through storytelling.”

The paper, The duality of HR analysts' storytelling: Showcasing and curbing, published in Human Resource Management Journal, can be accessed here https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1748-8583.12466.

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Aeris Launches IoT Readiness Calculator to Instantly Determine Enterprises’ Level of Preparedness When Launching IoT Projects

Aeris, a leading global Internet of Things (IoT) solutions provider has revealed it has launched announced the Aeris IoT Readiness Calculator, a free online tool to help determine enterprises’ level of preparedness for deploying IoT solutions.

The Aeris IoT Readiness Calculator provides organisations planning IoT projects with a scorecard that details the readiness of your IoT project from a business and technical perspective and how it compares to others in the same vertical market or geography. It will also help you identify potential issues in your IoT launch plan, so you can remediate them before they become costly.

The average cost of a cybersecurity data breach in the U.S. is estimated at more than $4 million. However, with the right IoT security strategy in place, it’s possible to mitigate those risks. Security is just one element that the Aeris IoT Readiness Calculator takes into consideration. It also examines variables such as latency, integration, and scalability.

Syed Hosain, Chief Technology Officer, at Aeris pointed out: “According to Microsoft, 30% of IoT projects never get past the proof-of-concept phase. The Aeris IoT Readiness Calculator and our IoT experts can help identify the gaps in your current IoT plan and can ensure that your IoT deployment launches successfully.”

Learn more about Aeris’ IoT Readiness Calculator in this short video https://tinyurl.com/p3e9eyba 

or you can calculate your own IoT Readiness Score now at aeris.com (www.aeris.net)

Founded back in 1996, Aeris is a global IoT solutions provider with a proven history of helping companies unlock the value of IoT. For decades, we have powered critical projects for some of the most complex customers of IoT services. Aeris strives to fundamentally improve businesses by dramatically reducing costs, accelerating time-to-market, and enabling new revenue streams. 

A spokesperson said: "Built from the ground up for IoT and road tested at scale, Aeris’ offering is based on the broadest technology stack in the industry, spanning connectivity up to vertical applications. 

"As veterans of the industry, we know that implementing an IoT solution can be complex, and we pride ourselves on making it simpler."