July 7, 2017

Flexible and family friendly workplaces across the UK named in charity’s awards ⁰

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

Britain’s most family friendly and flexible employers have been recognised in this year’s Top Employers for Working Families Awards. Now in their 8th year, the annual Top Employers for Working Families Special Awards from the UK’s work life balance charity cover 11 categories across a range of work life policies and practices. Four new sector-specific awards are being introduced this year for the private, public and third sectors; as well as a category for small employers. Sarah Jackson OBE, chief executive of Working Families, said: “In many ways, flexible working and family friendly working have never been more part of the bloodstream of British business. We had a record-breaking number of entries this year, showcasing a wealth of exciting approaches to creating agility in the workplace. Congratulations to all this year’s Top Employers for Working Families award winners, singled out because they offer leading flexible workplaces that support the grain of their employees’ lives. I look forward to working with them to make work work, for people, families and the economy, so that families thrive and business prospers.”

July 6, 2017

Happiest workers more likely to be based in start-ups and to stay long term ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Employees in companies with nine members of staff or less are most likely to ‘love’ their jobs and are more likely to take personal pride from the companies’ achievements, and to stay there long term a new report suggests. Almost 1 in 3 (31 percent) of workers in businesses containing a maximum of nine members of staff said they “love” their jobs – according to a new survey of 1,220 workers, commissioned by the One4all Spotlight Awards, a free to enter awards scheme that rewards exceptional staff in the UK workforce. By comparision, those in companies with the largest workforces – more than 500 members of staff – were the least likely to love their jobs, with just 15 percent claiming this is the case. Workers in microbusinesses – those with 9 or fewer employees – were also the most likely to say they plan to stay with their current employer for the rest of their working lives, with 18 percent saying they feel this way. They were also the most likely to take a sense of personal pride in their company’s achievements (23 percent).

July 5, 2017

Minimum wage should be extended to the self employed and gig economy ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

The government should extend minimum wage legislation to protect some of the UK’s 4.8 million self employed workforce as part of its drive to tackle low pay and insecurity in the modern workforce, according to a new report published by the Resolution Foundation. The Minimum Required? – which forms part of the Resolution Foundation’s submission to the Taylor Review on modern employment practices – sets out a number of proposals to tackle endemic levels of low pay among the self-employed. Its new analysis claims that that while around in one in five employees are low-paid (earning less than two-thirds of typical weekly earnings), last year around half of the full-time self-employed workforce (49 percent) fell below this threshold, earning less than £310 a week.

July 5, 2017

UK government unveils £1 billion ultrafast broadband fund to aid remote working ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology

The UK’s faltering move towards ultrafast broadband has been given a much-needed boost with the launch of a new fund, which will support the rollout of cutting-edge connections across the country. The government’s £400 million Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund (DIIF) will unlock over £1 billion for full fibre broadband, and kick-start better broadband connections across the country. Its aim is to revolutionise Britain’s digital infrastructure, making internet access more reliable for homes and businesses, and enabling more people to enjoy remote working without disruption. According to the Treasury, the flexibility to work remotely is pivotal for driving the economy forward; reducing overheads and helping businesses to start and grow.

July 4, 2017

Business Centre sector continuing to thrive amidst increased competition and Brexit uncertainty ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Property

New research published by the Business Centre Association (BCA) in collaboration with CBRE claims that the business centre sector enjoyed a 13 percent increase in turnover and was home to around 11 percent more workers in 2015 and 2016, despite initial fears about the impact of Brexit on the sector, and increasing competition from new entrants into the market. The sector is worth around £3.3bn in terms of turnover, up from £2bn in 2013. The findings come from The UK Business Centre Market report which surveyed 580 business centres, representing 23 percent of the sector across the country, to assess the current state of the market. Overall, the report found the UK wide business sector is now home to 93,000 individual small businesses which employ over 480,000 people, supporting around £18bn of GDP.

July 4, 2017

UK workers are wasting their allocated holiday allowance ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A new survey claims that UK workers waste on average five days of annual leave each year with one in six having more than a full working week of holiday leftover in 2016. The new study, commissioned by Airtours, has found that 40 percent of workers did not use up their full holiday allowances, and those who did spent less than half of their time off relaxing. Of the reasons given for not taking their allocated leave, 25 percent of people asked said they didn’t need to take it or even want to, 36 percent had too much on at work to take time off, and 26 percent weren’t allowed to take holiday as it meant being off at the same time as colleagues. When people did take a break last year, the research suggests that most of the time people weren’t using their holiday how they should have been by recharging their batteries. On average people spent seven holiday days at home and 56 percent admitted to doing boring chores instead of getting out and enjoying themselves. A further 32 percent used their holiday to go to medical appointments and 17 percent used it to deal with those unexpected family emergencies, like illness or injury or taking the dog to the vet. More →

July 3, 2017

One in five employees are too scared to ask for flexible working rights ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Over one in five (21 percent) UK private sector employees – equivalent to 5.5m nationally – are too afraid to discuss flexible working with their boss because they think they will say no, Aviva’s Working Lives report claims. The findings come despite employees having the legal right to make a ‘statutory application’ to their employer to change their working pattern . Those aged 35-49 are the most likely to refrain from exercising this right despite the challenge some in this age group may face with juggling work and family life: nearly one in four (24 percent) shy away from starting a conversation for fear of rejection.

June 29, 2017

Self-employed would value receiving sick pay above other benefits ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

UK micro-business owners and freelancers would be more interested in receiving sick pay than any other statutory benefit, according to new research carried out in collaboration between cloud accounting software firm FreeAgent and The Freelancer & Contractor Services Associatio n (FCSA). A poll of nearly 900 UK micro-business owners conducted by FreeAgent and FCSA claims that sick pay provision is the benefit that self-employed workers would most welcome, coming way ahead of other benefits such as maternity pay, job seekers allowance and pension auto-enrolment. The survey claims that 76 percent of respondents currently do not have any method of providing sick pay, maternity/paternity leave, holiday or redundancy pay in their business. Projected across the country’s 5.2 million-strong micro-business sector, this potentially equates to millions of people working without the same kind of basic entitlements that employed workers have. Notably, people’s appetites for additional benefits varied depending on the structure of their business with sole traders more likely to value benefits (rating sickness provision 8.7 out of 10) compared to those working through their own limited companies who gave a score of 6.4 out of 10 for sickness provision.

June 26, 2017

The changing world of people analytics and digital ethics in the workplace ⁰

by Ian Ellison • Flexible working, Podcasts, Premium Content, Technology

This year’s Think FM conference at the Science Museum may prove to be a watershed moment for the global facilities management and workplace sectors, as its focus was on connectivity, data and the Internet of Things. The event’s keynote speaker was Ben Waber, one of the world’s leading thinkers on the ways in which this unprecedentedly connected era relates to people and the workplace. Ben is the president and CEO of people analytics firm Humanyze, an alumnus of MIT and a visiting scientist at MIT Media Lab.

I was fortunate to be able to sit down with him recently to discuss the characteristics of this new age of connectivity and the changing nature of digital ethics and ask him whether the future of HR, IT and FM is at the mercy of people data analytics, amongst other things. This is becoming a common theme for the Workplace Matters podcast as we see a more widespread realisation that the workplace is no longer a merely physical entity and our attention shifts to people and how they interact with each other and the places they work. Subscribe and listen to this and all episodes on Acast or iTunes, on any mobile device.

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Ian Ellison is one of the UK’s foremost commentators on workplace and facilities management issues. He is a Partner of consultancy 3edges (@_3edges) and the host and creator of the Workplace Matters podcast (@wpmpodcast). Prior to that he was a lecturer at Sheffield Hallam the University and had a ten-year career in operational FM in both in-house and outsourced roles. If you have any feedback or suggestions for future episodes – contact him @ianellison or at www.3edges.co.uk.

June 26, 2017

US experiences huge increase in telecommuting since 2005, claims study ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology

FlexJobs and Global Workplace Analytics have published their 2017 State of Telecommuting in the US Employee Workforce report, which claims to be the most up-to-date and comprehensive data analysis available on the state of working from home in the United States. According to the study, the number of people telecommuting in the US increased by 115 percent between 2005 and 2015. Other key findings of the study include: 3.9 million U.S. employees, or 2.9 percent of the total U.S. workforce, work from home at least half of the time, up from 1.8 million in 2005 (a 115 percent increase since 2005); the average telecommuter is 46 years of age or older, has at least a bachelor’s degree, and earns a higher median salary than an in-office worker; roughly the same population of women and men telecommute; and in more than half of the top US metro areas telecommuting exceeds public transportation as the commute option of choice. The report’s definition of telecommuting refers to non-self-employed people who principally work from home at least half of the time.
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June 26, 2017

Study suggests ways staff could work fewer hours while raising productivity ⁰

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

Employers can implement simple changes to reduce fatigue while raising worker productivity, a new academic study suggests. Research published by Manel Baucells from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business offers some useful insights for today’s workforce in overcoming fatigue while at the same time raising productivity. The paper “It is time to get some rest”, co-authored with Lin Zhao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, looks at how workers’ efforts can be best distributed throughout the day. The study’s implications affect not only our health and quality of life, but business and the economy too. “The bottom line is, when it comes to rest and managing fatigue, the incentives of companies and workers are perfectly aligned: Reducing fatigue increases productivity, lowers the cost of providing effort, increasing work satisfaction, lowering turnover and absenteeism, and ultimately increasing profits,” said Baucell. “Google seems to have learned this lesson and makes the work environment pleasant, promoting fun distractions, while at the same time encouraging long work hours.”

June 21, 2017

British Land launches Storey flexible workspace brand ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Company news, Flexible working, Property

British Land has launched Storey, a new brand providing flexible workspace for businesses employing between 20 to 70 people and larger organisations seeking additional space on flexible terms. Created to fill a perceived gap in the London office market which customers say is not being satisfied, Storey provides offices for companies who have outgrown co-working space and whose needs have evolved. Storey also suits existing or larger office customers seeking project or shorter term space on top of their core requirements. Storey will operate within British Land’s existing London assets, predominantly at its Broadgate, Paddington Central and Regent’s Place campuses. These have ‘a critical mass of office customers and offer the ideal environment for ambitious organisations looking to grow. Storey customers will be able to access facilities traditionally reserved for larger organisations and automatically benefit from the broader campus environment where a focus on wellbeing also supports growth and productivity.’