Giving CEOs financial incentives seems to damage long-term profitability

Giving CEOs financial incentives seems to damage long-term profitability

IncentivesThe greater stress companies put on financial incentives and financial performance in bonus systems for CEOs, the more negative the impact is on the firm’s financial performance, claims new research from Vlerick Business School. These findings come from a research study into the top 600 European firms and their CEOs remuneration. More →

Self-employed sector undermined and diminished by events of 2020

Self-employed sector undermined and diminished by events of 2020

An uphill fight for the self-employedNew research from IPSE, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed, claims that the number of solo self-employed people in the UK has fallen by 5 per cent compared to last year. The total number of solo self-employed (excluding those who have others working for them) has fallen from 4.6 million in 2019 to 4.4 million. Until now the sector had been growing continuously for 11 years – by a total of 40 per cent.   More →

Mental wellbeing needs of employees should be a greater priority for businesses

Mental wellbeing needs of employees should be a greater priority for businesses

Mental healthData from thousands of employees across the country has been aggregated in a new report, detailing the mental wellbeing of the workforce over the course of the year. The research from 87 percent, a digital platform that provides mental health assessment and support to businesses and their employees, shows how the workforce has struggled with the mental pressures of Covid-19. Since March, circumstances at work and pressures in our personal lives have badly affected our mental wellbeing. More →

Working from home stresses have had the greatest impact on women

Working from home stresses have had the greatest impact on women

working from homeA review of research in organisational and workplace psychology conducted by an international team of academics claims that working from home has been more disruptive for women than men. The review paper, entitled COVID-19 and the Workplace: Implications, Issues, and Insights for Future Research and Action and originally published in American Psychologist, features urgent insight from UCL School of Management Professor, Sunny Lee into the sex- and gender-related implications of changes in work practices that have taken place over the course of 2020. More →

Organisations weigh up options to make workplace fit for the future

Organisations weigh up options to make workplace fit for the future

a fit for the future workplaceAvison Young, realestateworks and HLM Architects have launched a new report that assesses the impact of this year’s pandemic on workplace and corporate real estate strategies in the longer-term. Over 100 private and public sector companies were asked about their evolving approach to working culture, office design and portfolio strategies in the context of multiple forces of change, including greater resilience, the decarbonisation agenda, personalisation, remote working and the integration of the physical and virtual workspaces. More →

Less than half of employers plan to take on a young person next year

Less than half of employers plan to take on a young person next year

Only 46 percent of employers plan to hire a young person between the age of 16 and 24 in the next year despite new Government incentives to do so, a report from the CIPD suggests. Over 1,000 employers were surveyed for the CIPD’s COVID-19 and the youth labour market report which examines the likely impact of new incentives to boost provision of traineeships, apprenticeships, and six-month work placements through the Kickstart scheme – as outlined in the ‘Plan for Jobs’, which was presented to Parliament in July 2020. More →

Trust is hard to find in the workplace, report suggests

Trust is hard to find in the workplace, report suggests

workplaceAs the world prepares to close the book on the unprecedented events of 2020 and looks ahead to 2021 with renewed hope and optimism, global research from The Workforce Institute at UKG explores the importance of elevating trust to a foundational imperative to create high-performing workplace cultures that better serve customers and their communities. More →

People centric innovation will be key business priority in near future

People centric innovation will be key business priority in near future

InnovationThe pandemic has shaken up business priorities and many predict that it will continue to have lasting influence on the future direction of organisations. It is predicted that innovation and more compassionate leadership will take centre stage, according to a new study by ‘Future Trends in Leadership & Management – shifting priorities’, from The Institute of Leadership & Management. More →

The majority of employees admit to boozing while working from home

The majority of employees admit to boozing while working from home

working from homeTo say that 2020 has been a tough year is an understatement, and it appears that there has been an increase in the amount of alcohol being consumed whilst working from home since the pandemic began, according to Health and Safety software company Protecting.co.uk. More →

The FM industry is held back by short-term thinking, research claims

The FM industry is held back by short-term thinking, research claims

FMResearch published by VINCI Facilities claims that there is a lack of long-term strategic thinking amongst FM service providers and their customers that is limiting an opportunity to yield substantial business and social benefits. More →

UKGBC sets out route to net zero buildings

UKGBC sets out route to net zero buildings

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has announced the start of a new project to plot a route to net zero carbon for the UK’s built environment sector, by developing a Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap. Hot on the heels of the Government’s new target to cut emissions by 68 percent by 2030, against 1990 levels, this project will identify how the built environment supports that objective and set a science-based trajectory to achieving net zero for the whole sector by 2050. The roadmap will cover all building types and infrastructure, all built environment stakeholders and sub-sectors and address carbon across the whole building lifecycle. More →

Firms must take a more ethical approach to technology, says World Economic Forum

Firms must take a more ethical approach to technology, says World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum has launched a new report which sets out to define how organisational leaders can influence their companies and encourage the responsible use of technology and build ethical capacity. Ethics by Design” – An Organizational Approach to Responsible Use of Technology claims to integrate psychology and behavioural economics findings from interviews and surveys with international business leaders. It aims to shape decisions to prompt better and more ethical behaviours. The report promotes an approach that focuses less on individual “bad apples” and more on the “barrel”, the environments that can lead people to engage in behaviours contrary to their moral compass. The report outlines steps and makes recommendations that have proven more effective than conventional incentives such as compliance training, financial compensation or penalties. More →