About Sara Bean

Sara Bean is one of the UK's best known and most widely respected workplace and facilities management journalists. She is a regular contributor to IN Magazine and the editor of FMJ.

Posts by Sara Bean:

August 28, 2015

Mind research reveals relentless email checks extend to toilet breaks ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

There have been quite a number of polls over the summer warning of the dangers of presenteeism and overwork; but the latest one from Mind does make for uncomfortable reading. It has found that more than 1 in 7 of people (15 percent) who receive work emails sometimes check them while in the toilet and nearly 2 in 5 (38 percent) of those who receive work emails admit that they often check them outside of work. Only half of respondents (50 percent) say that their manager respects that they have a life away from work. As well as having personal lives interrupted, the survey found that this relentless email-checking culture is making it difficult for workers to switch off when they should be preparing for sleep and the mental health charity warns a culture of working round-the-clock is making it difficult for people to achieve a healthy work/life balance.

August 27, 2015

Three quarters of employers fail to deal with employees’ anger issues ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The gunman in Virginia who shot dead two people at his former workplace is thankfully a rare example of someone whose anger at work boiled over into extreme violence. But the case demonstrates the pernicious effect anger and resentment can have in a work environment. While colleagues are expected to work cohesively together to achieve mutual goals and targets, unfortunately this isn’t always the case, and there are often seething resentments building underneath the professional facade. A new study by Health Assured found that 86 percent of workers regularly vent their anger and frustration at a co-worker and three quarters (74 percent) of them claim that their manager regularly makes them angry by not leading the workforce effectively. A failure to manage such situations is borne out in the fact that 79 percent of employers admit to finding it difficult to deal with employees with anger management issues.

August 21, 2015

Employee’s entrepreneurial opportunities linked to job satisfaction ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

US employees are seeking opportunities to perform more like entrepreneurs within their organisation, and according to researchers from the University of Phoenix School of Business this is reason enough to add a new word, ‘intrapreneurship’ into the business-speak lexicon. The survey claims that more than one-third (37 percent) of working adults consider themselves entrepreneurial and more than half (56 percent) acknowledge that their current job gives them the chance to apply an entrepreneurial mindset. Over 3 in 5 (61 percent) of those who say they enjoy a degree of job satisfaction say their organisation provides opportunities to be entrepreneurial and of those who are unsatisfied with their career, only one-third (33 percent) cited entrepreneurial opportunities in their organisation. In addition, 34 percent said firms should provide more training and education opportunities.

August 20, 2015

81 percent of women and over half of men experience sexism at work ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Workplace

What’s the difference between office banter and comments which can make people feel uncomfortable at work? That’s the issue which has plagued the workplace for aeons, and the age of so-called political correctness has not made the situation any clearer. Legislation may be in place to protect staff from discrimination or victimisation, but as some well documented cases have demonstrated sexism is still rife in many white collar professions. But it’s worth noting that it’s not only women who can feel that a colleague has crossed the line. A new survey has found that well over three quarters of women (81 percent) have been victims of sexist jokes at work. However, men are not immune to feeling uncomfortable, as according to the survey by Peninsula, well over half of men (63 percent) feel uneasy when female colleagues make indecent remarks about their physical appearance.

August 19, 2015

Home-workers are happier, healthier and more productive than ever ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Home-workers are more productive, happier and more capable of attaining a healthy work/life balance than those who work in an office, claims a new survey. Around 84 percent of home-workers believe they are equally or more productive then their office-based colleagues; and over three quarters (77 percent) of the UK’s working population agree that working from home has a positive impact on productivity. The survey of 1,800 professionals from CV library found that 18 percent work from home, with a further 15 percent splitting their time between home and the office, and the data shows that flexible working hours contributes to increased productivity (28 percent and 26 percent respectively). Although well over half (66 percent) of home-workers believe they work longer hours, more than three quarters (83.2 percent) find it easier to manage a good work/life balance.

August 15, 2015

Sit-stand desks, co-working revolution, FM self-image and more ⁰

by Sara Bean • Events, Facilities management, Newsletter, Technology, Workplace

In this week’s issue; why UK employers need to step-up the adoption of sit-stand desks; a worldwide upsurge reported for flexible working environments and left-handed staff experience practical problems at work. Sara Bean says efforts to increase the number of women in senior executive positions shouldn’t overlook the discrimination faced by older female job applicants; and Mark Eltringham applauds Stud Terkel’s insights on the working lives of ordinary Americans and argues FM is not alone in thinking that it doesn’t shout loudly enough to make itself heard. Research shows the key to restoring productivity growth is to shift job-creation towards higher-productivity sectors and a new study finds only one in ten workers attempt to keep their devices and data secure. Check out our new events page, subscribe for free quarterly issues of Work&Place and weekly news here, You can follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

August 14, 2015

Far from being on board, older women still face recruitment bias ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Workplace

The news that the Davies review has met its 25 per cent target for female representation on boards, and is now considering setting a target that a quarter of executives at FTSE 100 companies should be female, has been met with approval by the Institute of Directors, which said it was right that the focus is on increasing the number of women in senior executive positions. But what about those further down the salary scale, where many older women struggle to even get a job interview? A recent study carried out by Anglia Ruskin University’s Lord Ashcroft International Business School shows that older jobseekers face widespread discrimination in the UK, with older female applicants more likely to experience bias than men. The study found no significant link between a company having a HR department or providing commitments to equal opportunities, and the level of discrimination it displayed.

August 13, 2015

Left-handed employees face practical problems at work suggests research ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The days of forcing left handed children to write with their right hand may be long over but according to new research launched today to mark the UK’s ‘National Left-Handers Day’, a large proportion of UK employees experience problems at work because they are left-handed. According to a survey by CV-Library 12 percent of the working population is left-handed, which equates to over 4.5 million staff. Of those, 1 in 5 (over 852,000 people) face practical problems at work including conducting simple tasks, such as having to use right-handed scissors that don’t cut, to persevering with entire workstations being laid out incorrectly, making them difficult and uncomfortable to use. Yet the majority of UK employers (96.7 percent) don’t ask new employees if they are left-handed and only a quarter of businesses (25.4 percent) provide left-handed staff with specialist office equipment and stationery.

August 11, 2015

Regional differentiations as job pay gap accelerates worldwide ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Since 2008 the pay gap between lower level employees and senior managers has widened in every region across the world, a global survey has found. The pay gap between lower level workers (comprising skilled manual, clerical, supervisor or graduate entry jobs) and senior managers (heads of departments or equivalent) is now on the rise in as twice as many countries as it is falling (42 to 21). The latest research from global management consultancy Hay Group reveals however that Europe has the smallest gap, with an average increase in the pay gap of only 2.2 percent since 2008. This has been fuelled in part by the use of communal pay cuts to avoid redundancies, whereas US firms prefer to cut jobs and urge remaining senior managers to expand their job roles. The research underlines how a large job pay gap can lead to discontent and disengagement among the workforce.

August 9, 2015

Govt £118bn pipeline, Change leadership, Take a real holiday and more ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Newsletter, Public Sector, Work&Place, Workplace, Workplace design

In this week’s issue; Lee Parsons argues the impact of office relocation can no longer be solely measured in tangible terms; Mark Eltringham questions people’s reluctance to simply go on holiday and explores the complex links that exist between our surroundings and how we think and act. The Government lists around £118 billion of publicly funded building projects over the next five years; and flexible working is the main driver in the growth of Cloud data services. Ergonomics experts focus on the much discussed topics of sedentary working; the Work Foundation presses employers to support the health of older workers; and from the latest edition of Work&Place Rebecca Booth explains one of the biggest obstacles to successful change leadership is “change fatigue.” Subscribe for free quarterly issues of Work&Place and weekly news here, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

August 6, 2015

Three quarters of employees admit to taking work on holiday with them ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

More evidence if we needed it that people are reluctant to leave work behind, with the latest data from Peninsula revealing that 76 percent of employees admit to taking work on holiday with them. An even greater number make themselves available by email and phone, with 81 percent confessing to frequently responding to work emails and answering phone calls during their holiday. This apparently, does not lead to a happy holiday as nearly half (47 percent) admit that their partner is not best pleased that they have to deal with work issues whilst on annual leave. As we reported earlier this week, this form of presenteeism is a bad idea all round as it leads to over stressed staff who – far from relaxing and recharging, are basically on call throughout their so-called leave, and whether their bosses or colleagues are impressed or just irritated by their dedication is debatable.

August 4, 2015

Employers must support older workers with chronic ill health ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

As a recent profile in the Guardian Magazine of workers in their 70s, 80s and 90s illustrated, people who work well into old age are still viewed as remarkable. Yet by 2020, a third of the UK’s workforce will be more than 50 years old. Following the scrapping of the Default Retirement Age, more than 1.4m people in the UK are working after state retirement age, of whom around 300,000 are aged over 70. Now the Health at Work Policy Unit of Lancaster University’s Work Foundation has issued a White Paper, ‘Living Long, Working Well: Supporting older workers with health conditions to remain active at work’, which warns that 42 per cent of over 50s have often manageable chronic illnesses that – if left unsupported by employers, could undermine their productivity, increase their absence from work or even force them out of work altogether.