About Mark Eltringham

Mark is the publisher of Workplace Insight, IN magazine, Works magazine and is the European Director of Work&Place journal. He has worked in the office design and management sector for over thirty years as a journalist, marketing professional, editor and consultant.

Posts by Mark Eltringham:

May 9, 2017

People in the gig economy need autonomy and good work too, argues RSA ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

Gig economy workers should be given more power to hold companies to account under the law as a first step to making the new er of work fit for the future, according to a new report and survey published by the RSA. Good Gigs: A fairer future for the UK’s gig economy recommends the burden of proof be shifted to companies to prove gig workers are not employees, and that penalties should be strengthened against companies who use clauses that prohibit employment status litigation. As part of the project, the RSA undertook the largest ever survey on Britain’s gig economy, which reveals that there are currently 1.1 million people working in Britain’s gig economy, making it almost as big as NHS England.

May 8, 2017

Just five out of 9,000 UK employers have published gender pay gap details so far ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

Only five out of the 9,000 eligible companies have so far reported details of their gender pay differentials on the website set up as a plank of the Government’s discourse on equality. Although the Government has confirmed that the policy does not reflect pay for comparable jobs, but wider issues, there has always been a degree of scepticism within the business community about the need for reporting. The rules oblige all private and public sector organisations with more than 250 employees to publish annual figures for both their mean and median gender income levels based on gender. They must also publish the number of men and women in each salary quartile. Reporting must be completed by April of next year, but there hasn’t been a rush to comply since the rules came into force on April 6.

May 8, 2017

Scotland needs to develop new skills as era of automation threatens half of jobs ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Workplace

Urgent reform is needed to deal with the rise of automation, which threatens half of Scottish jobs, a leading think-tank has warned. The stark warning comes in a new report from IPPR Scotland, supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. Scotland’s Skills 2030 outlines the need to reskill Scotland’s workforce for the world of work in 2030. The study claims that 46 percent of jobs in Scotland – or 1.2 million – are at high risk of automation up to 2030 and beyond. It suggests that Scotland’s skills system needs to “retrofit” the workforce with the skills to be ready for technological change – 2.5 million adults in Scotland today (or 78 percent) will still be of working in 2030, report adds.

May 5, 2017

Property developers welcome extension of office to residential conversion rights ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Three quarters (74 percent) of property developers expect to see an increase in the number of conversions of under-used office buildings into new homes over the next two years as a result of the government’s decision to extend property development rights (PDR) legislation. Of these, nearly a third (30 percent) of developers expects to see a significant growth in PDR-related conversion schemes. This is according to a small study commissioned by Amicus Property Finance. More than two thirds (69 percent) of property developers welcome the PDR extension, which was designed to enable thousands of new homes to be built by making use of neglected industrial and office property while preserving the green belt. In the UK between July 2015 and June 20163, a total of 1,066 office to residential permitted development applications were permitted with prior approval not required and a further 1,480 applications granted with prior approval.

May 5, 2017

Improving adult skills can help countries benefit from globalisation, claims OECD ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

In an increasingly competitive international environment, providing workers with the right mix of skills can help ensure that globalisation translates into new jobs and productivity gains rather than negative economic and social outcomes, according to a new OECD report. The OECD Skills Outlook 2017 reveals big differences in the extent to which countries are equipping workers with the right knowledge and ability to benefit from the globalisation of production chains. The report finds a country with a skills mix that is well aligned with the requirements of technologically advanced industries can specialise in these industries on average 8 percent more than other countries, and up to 60 percent more than countries with a low alignment between the mix and these industries requirements. A supplementary note covers the UK’s situation.

May 5, 2017

Digital economy bill rushed through Parliament ahead of election ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

The government has rushed the Digital Economy Bill through parliament as part of the legislative wash-up ahead of the general election The Bill will introducing provisions for a Universal Service Obligation (USO) that gives people the legal right to request broadband speed of a certain level. The controversial Bill became law at the last possible moment before the dissolution of parliament, but a House of Lords amendment demanding a minimum legal broadband speed requirement of 30Mbps has not made the final cut due to concerns that not enough people have taken up a superfast service on the open market to justify its introduction. However, the government will ask Ofcom to review the minimum download speed once the take-up of superfast has reached 75 percent.

May 3, 2017

How the fourth industrial revolution might help to solve the challenges of mobility and migration ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

The already cack-handed Brexit negotiations and the ongoing saga of President Trump’s ‘wall’ have ensured that the issue of migration has stayed at the top of the political agenda so far this year. Yet, one potentially significant factor that has stayed out of the headlines so far is the potential for people to migrate digitally across nations and the globe. The World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Migration, in conjunction with Remote.co, has now published a report into the subject called Mobile Minds: An Alternative to Physical Migration in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The white paper claims to outline the benefits of, and challenges associated with, cross-border remote hiring. Led by Rajeeb Dey, Tolu Olubunmi, and Sara Sutton Fell, the goal of Mobile Minds is to explore the global impact of remote work as it relates to both the mobility of the twenty-first century workforce and workplace.

May 2, 2017

Winners of BCO Awards for Midlands and Central England announced ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Workplace design

The £10 million new headquarters of Wolverhampton beer and pubs group Marston’s has been named as the Best Corporate Workplace at the British Council for Offices’ annual Midlands and Central England Property Awards. The refurbishment was led by interior design firm Newman Gauge. Centre City, in Birmingham, gained the award for best commercial workplace following a redevelopment by owner Bruntwood. The judging panel said the 1975 building had been brought back to life by the refurbishment. Energy Systems Catapult, a workspace lab based at Cannon House won the award for best fit out of a workplace, with judges praising the company ethos to stimulate innovation in energy technologies.

May 2, 2017

Immigration and skills will be key to success of next UK Government ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

The next Government must ensure the construction sector has enough skilled workers post-Brexit or its housing and infrastructure manifesto pledges will be redundant, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). The FMB has called on all major political parties to recognise the importance of migrant labour to the construction sector as part of its ‘Programme for Government’, that has been launched the day before Parliament is dissolved for the General Election. The organisation claims that the UK construction sector’s demand for skilled migrant workers from the EU and beyond cannot be overstated. It suggests that in London alone, there are more than 157,000 non-UK construction workers constituting almost half of the industry’s workforce in the capital. Pre-Brexit, 60 percent of small construction firms are already having trouble hiring key workers even before the Government unveils its intentions for the free movement of people.

May 1, 2017

Government should end bogus gig economy jobs, claims parliamentary report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Companies operating in the gig economy and relying on supposedly self-employed workers are denying workers their rights and freeloading on the welfare state, according to a new report from The Commons Work and Pensions Committee. The report cites what it calls “appalling practices” in its inquiry into self-employment and the gig economy. The committee said the numbers of self employed had grown to 5m, or 15 per cent of all UK workers in recent years, fuelled in large parts by the firms like Uber and Deliveroo, whose business models rely on a largely self-employed workforce. In its report the Work and Pensions Committee says Government must close the loopholes that are currently allowing “bogus” self-employment practices, which are potentially creating an extra burden on the welfare state while simultaneously reducing the tax contributions that sustain it.

May 1, 2017

Fresh concerns raised about council investments in commercial property market ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Property, Public Sector

As we reported last month, the level of investment in commercial property undertaken by UK local authorities is raising serious concerns within both central government and the real estate sector. Now, a fresh warning has been issued by the former business secretary Sir Vince Cable that councils face potential bankruptcy if the property bubble bursts. In recent years councils have faced an average 37 percent real term cut in government funding and so have taken to borrowing large sums at low interest rates from the Treasury’s Public Works Loan Board to reinvest in commercial property ventures. The move has already been identified as risky by the Government’sown Public Accounts Committee and Cable joins a chorus of voices in expressing doubts.

April 28, 2017

Government failing to meet goals for an integrated real estate portfolio ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News

The UK Government is getting better value for money from its estate, according to a new report from the National Audit Office. The Government Property Unit (GPU), however, has not yet made much progress towards its objective of creating a shared, flexible and integrated estate. The government’s central estate includes some 4,600 individual holdings, costing around £2.55 billion a year to run. The GPU, which is part of the Cabinet Office, was set up in 2010 to better co-ordinate estate management in the public sector. Since the NAO’s last report in 2012, departments have continued to make good progress in reducing the overall size of the central estate. They have also reduced overall estate spending and pay less for office accommodation than private sector comparators. Departments report they have reduced their annual estate costs by £775 million in real terms since 2011-12 to around £2.55 billion in 2015-16. Between 2011-12 and 2015-16, departments raised £2.5 billion by selling surplus land and properties. The GPU is also starting to have an impact on the wider public estate.