About Neil Franklin

Neil Franklin is Insight's news editor

Posts by Neil Franklin:

Gender equality progress remains slow in EU, report claims

Gender equality progress remains slow in EU, report claims

gender equalityThe EU continues its snail’s pace when it comes to gender equality progress, according to the latest Gender Equality Index from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) shows that the EU’s score for gender equality is up just one point to 67.4, since the 2017 edition. Sweden continues to top the EU scoreboard, with 83.6 points, followed by Denmark with 77.5. Greece and Hungary have the most ground to make up, with both scoring less than 52. The biggest improver is Portugal, with an increase of 3.9 points, followed closely by Estonia with 3.1 points. More →

RICS initiative urges built environment sector to be more aware of global impact

RICS initiative urges built environment sector to be more aware of global impact

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has today launched the ‘Value the Planet’ campaign, promoting the preservation of the planet through the adoption of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs). The campaign pushes for increased action within the industry, highlighting the essential need to Value the Planet and will provide support and resources from RICS and the industry to help the profession take both climate action and adopt the UN SDGs. RICS is also today publishing the RICS Responsible Business report which provides recommendations for businesses on ensuring the long-term sustainability of the built environment. More →

Four in ten people close to breaking point at work, study claims

Four in ten people close to breaking point at work, study claims

breaking point at workA new study by CABA, a charity supporting the wellbeing of chartered accountants and their families, claims that 4 in 10 adults in the UK are close to breaking point at work. Research polling 2,000 professionals working across multiple sectors in the UK suggests that the average working adult feels stressed for almost a third of their entire working day. The study also claims that in an average week, employees spend 31 minutes complaining about their boss and 2 hours 45 minutes moaning about their job. Employees lose 5 hours of sleep each week because of the pressures they face at work, while 3 in 5 respondents said that they feel stressed whilst on holiday due to the thought of being behind on work and organising a handover.  More →

Self employment boom continues to shape UK cities

Self employment boom continues to shape UK cities

self employment in Uk citiesNew research from the Centre for Cities claims that we are still seeing the long-lasting consequences of the post-financial crisis self-employment boom in the UK’s cities. But too many people working for themselves lack access to training – raising concerns about their long-term security and many cities’ future economic strength. More →

What people want from an office is pretty basic

What people want from an office is pretty basic

what people want from an officeFollowing recent reports from the likes of Boss and Leesman as well as the work of Neil Usher in his book The Elemental Workplace, a new study from Workthere confirms that what people want from an office is primarily basic stuff such as comfort and privacy. More →

Full fibre broadband could boost UK economy by billions

Full fibre broadband could boost UK economy by billions

The deployment of full-fibre broadband could boost the UK economy by around £59 billion, according to a new report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), commissioned by Openreach. The Full fibre broadband: A platform for growth report claims that connecting the UK to fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband could increase productivity, reduce commuting, enable smarter ways of working and improve public services. More →

Workers would prefer to lose a job to a robot than a human

Workers would prefer to lose a job to a robot than a human

robot headA new study published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour from academics at the Technical University of Munich and the Rotterdam School of Management claims that most people would prefer to be replaced in their job by a robot rather than another human. The study asked 2,000 workers in Europe and North America to respond to one of two scenarios in which they had to decide on the future of the workforce in an independent organisation or another organisation for which they themselves work which had decided to replace its current workforce completely with either robots or new human staff. More →

Birmingham and Peterborough latest cities to benefit from government hubs

Birmingham and Peterborough latest cities to benefit from government hubs

Sites in Birmingham and Peterborough are to be regenerated as part of a government programme designed to boost regional growth and save taxpayers’ money. The Government Hubs programme has so far seen the development of 14 office hubs around the country, which the government claims provide civil servants with state-of-the-art working environments designed to boost efficiency and drive savings by bringing together different departments under one roof – moving civil servants to inner-city sites located close to public transport connections, local amenities and shops. More →

Companies should publish their flexible working policies 

Companies should publish their flexible working policies 

flexible working and family lifeNew figures from work-life balance charity Working Families suggests that both parents/carers and best-practice employers alike are overwhelmingly in favour of greater transparency around companies’ flexible working and family-related leave and pay policies. Over 700 parents and carers and 74 Working Families employer members were surveyed.

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Working Families announces the most family friendly workplaces in the UK 

Working Families announces the most family friendly workplaces in the UK 

working familiesWork-life balance charity Working Families has announced its annual list of the top family-friendly employers in the UK. Employers large and small from across the public, private, and third sectors compete annually to gain a coveted place on the charity’s list of Top Employers for Working Families. The announcement coincides with Working Families’ National Work Life Week campaign. More →

Always on work cultures commonplace and harmful

Always on work cultures commonplace and harmful

Just under a third (29 percent) of employees agree with the idea that their workplace has an always on culture, but new research from Microsoft UK suggests that many more are adopting unhealthy ways of working that are having a profound impact on their wellbeing and personal lives. More →

Caring responsibilities mean 1 in 5 mid-life people quit jobs

Caring responsibilities mean 1 in 5 mid-life people quit jobs

Supercarers offer a range of caring servicesOver 2.6 million employees aged 45 and over expect that they will have to leave their jobs in order to care for a relative or partner, according to new research from Aviva. This equates to one in five (19 percent) employees in this age group. Many mid-life employees are opting to take on their relatives’ caring duties themselves as a means of minimising care bills, but this decision is coming at the expense of their career. More →