New era ahead for corporate real estate strategy, claims CBRE report

New era ahead for corporate real estate strategy, claims CBRE report

The period to 2040 will bring profound and far-reaching changes to corporate real estate portfolios according to CBRE. The new report Portfolio 2040, claims to approach the issue from a portfolio perspective, examining how business, buildings and perhaps even cities themselves, might look in 20 years’ time. One of the key drivers for change is identified as pervasive availability, and creative use of very high-volume data and the growth of AI, enabling companies to adapt almost instantaneously to external change and offer increasingly personalised solutions. Rapid and fluid specialisation, either temporary or permanent, will characterise most businesses and real estate will need to reflect this by being increasingly flexible, multipurpose and rapidly adaptable.

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The self-employed enjoy higher levels of wellbeing and happiness, but work still needed

The self-employed enjoy higher levels of wellbeing and happiness, but work still needed

Policymakers and business leaders must work to improve wellbeing among the self-employed, a new report by the Centre for Research on Self-Employment (CRSE), has said. Instead of exploring self-employed wellbeing through the conventional prism of economic success, the report, The Way to Wellbeing, adopts a new approach. It considers people’s overall life satisfaction, based on their subjective assessments of various aspects of their lives – including jobs, income, health, family life and leisure. The report found that wellbeing was higher among self-employed people by using subjective assessments of different aspects of their lives. This is the first time a major report of its kind has taken a holistic view of wellbeing – looking at jobs, health, family life and leisure – to build an overall picture of life satisfaction, rather than just using a narrow measure of economic success.

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Small flexible workspace operators are biggest winners as trend for coworking continues to grow

Small flexible workspace operators are biggest winners as trend for coworking continues to grow

While the likes of WeWork have dominated the headlines over the past year, the number of smaller, more niche coworking operators, has grown significantly and now makes up 83 percent of the total flexible workspace market. The latest research from The Instant Group, which claims to be the world’s largest flexible workspace provider, suggests that the number of centres in the market run by smaller independent operators has grown to 83 percent of the London market. The increase of 20+ desk enquiries is evidence of growing demand as larger firms have started exploring flexible options rather than taking more conventional leases.

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Fewer than a third of people see their employers as technology leaders

Fewer than a third of people see their employers as technology leaders

The key to keeping today’s digital worker productive, positive about their job and around at all is to arm them with the most updated technology possible. That is the perhaps unsurprising conclusion of a new study by Unisys Corporation  that explores the importance of deploying current and future digital capabilities in the workplace in the UK and eleven other countries around the world. The report is available here but you’ll be obliged to register.

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Location of workplace most important factor in attracting UK job seekers

Location of workplace most important factor in attracting UK job seekers

The most attractive factor for UK job seekers when choosing a new employer is the location, claims the latest Global Talent Monitor report from Gartner. The report warns that employers are facing some challenges in retention as just 27.2 percent of UK employees in 1Q18 reported a high intention to stay with the organisation, down 5.5 percent from the same period last year. The UK had the fourth largest decrease after France, Singapore and Germany and those that are at the highest risk of leaving are those aged between 18-29 and 30-39 who have completed an MBA. The biggest attraction-drivers for UK job seekers are location (53.5 percent), vacation (43 percent), work-life balance (41.9 percent), camaraderie (41.4 percent) and produce or service quality (41.4 percent). More →

Third of UK employees ready to leave as managers fail to meet expectations

Third of UK employees ready to leave as managers fail to meet expectations

Third of UK employees ready to leave as managers fail to meet expectationsNearly half of UK managers (45.1 percent) are ill-prepared for the role, and a quarter (25 percent) of employees say their manager does not have the right skills for effective management, claims new research by Bridge by Instructure. The study, based on interviews of 1,000 managers and employees across the UK on their attitudes towards both management and learning and development, revealed that more than half of those who responded (53.4 percent) think managers need more training to perform as a manager and, almost half (45 percent) think managers need to be given time to operate as a manager rather than having those responsibilities ‘bolted on’ to their existing role. More →

How limiting non-work related web use affects security and productivity

How limiting non-work related web use affects security and productivity

Spiceworks has announced the results of a new survey examining the use of web filtering in the workplace and the implications of restricting certain online behaviours. The results indicate among organisations that don’t restrict non-work related web use, most employees (58 percent) spend at least four hours per week, the equivalent of 26 workdays per year, on websites unrelated to their job. In other words, based on the median U.S. salary of $45,812, these organisations are paying full-time employees approximately $4,500 per year to spend 10 percent of their time consuming non-work-related web content.

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London seen as most desirable city in the world to work, but the UK falls in country standings

London seen as most desirable city in the world to work, but the UK falls in country standings

A comprehensive study into global talent mobility claims that London is the most desirable city for overseas workers worldwide, beating New York, Berlin and Barcelona. In the four years since the first study conducted by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and totaljobs, the UK has dropped three places in overall attractiveness, from second to fifth in the country rankings. Decoding Global Talent 2018 (registration required), claims to be one of the most expansive studies every undertaken into workforce migration trends. Shining a spotlight on the UK’s attractiveness to global talent, the research reveals the world’s most desirable destinations for work.

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UK employers aim to accelerate digital innovation, despite some cultural resistance

UK employers aim to accelerate digital innovation, despite some cultural resistance

UK employers aim to accelerate digital innovation, despite some cultural resistanceThe way to measure an employer’s speed of innovation includes how they find talent, their appraisal process, how employees recommend the organisation they work for to others, and how much employees collaborate, claims a new European study by Cornerstone OnDemand and IDC. “Future Culture: Building a Culture of Innovation in the Age of Digital Transformation” explores the relationship between European organisations’ speed of innovation and talent management, with the research showing that firms with a steady stream of new products and services are more likely to have an ongoing feedback process with employees, rather than an annual performance review, while organisations with a slower rate of innovation often use coaching and mentoring to develop employees.

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Global employers focus on mobile talent to help support new ways of working

Global employers focus on mobile talent to help support new ways of working

Global employers focus on mobile talent to support future ways of workingThe digital era, ageing populations, skills shortages, and unpredictable political and economic contexts are persuading multinationals to focus more on mobile talent, new ways of working and assessing the cost of expatriate packages for international employees that are critical to the future of work. This is according to Mercer’s 24th annual Cost of Living Survey which reveals that factors such as instability of housing markets and fluctuating inflation, currencies and prices for goods and services, are impacting the cost of doing business in various cities around the world. UK cities have significantly risen in the ranking this year. More →

Misunderstanding of mental health means millions of employees delay seeking help

Misunderstanding of mental health means millions of employees delay seeking help

Misunderstanding of mental health means over seven million UK staff delay seeking helpAlmost 60 percent of UK employees are unable to identify key symptoms of the most common mental health conditions resulting in treatment delays for millions of workers. A new study from Bupa examined employees’ understanding of key psychological and behavioural symptoms of six of the most prevalent conditions in the UK, as well as identifying widely-held misconceptions. The research reveals that inaccurate assumptions have caused almost seven million people to delay seeking support for a mental health problem. Early diagnosis and treatment of conditions can improve recovery rates which is why medical experts at Bupa want to raise awareness of the accurate symptoms. More →

Younger employees are main source of workplace security breaches

Younger employees are main source of workplace security breaches

More than a third of senior executives believe that younger employees are the “main culprits” for workplace security breaches according to a new study into attitudes to security of the workforce, commissioned by Centrify. The study also claims that these same decision makers are doing very little to allay their own fears with over a third of 18-24 year olds able to access any files on their company network and only one in five having to request permission to access specific files. Less than half (43 percent) have access only to the files that are relevant to their work. The study, conducted by Censuswide, sought the views of 1,000 younger workers (18-24 year olds) and 500 decision makers in UK organisations to discover how security, privacy and online behaviour at work impacts the lives of younger employees and the companies that they work for.

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