People who work in coworking spaces believe they are more productive

People who work in coworking spaces believe they are more productive

People who work in so-called coworking spaces claim they are more motivated and have more positive interactions with others, according to a new report. The report by Staples Solutions, called Collaboration Generation: The Rise of Millennials in the Workplace, details the trend in collaborative working, in addition to what attracts the millennial generation to business. Since 2010, co-working spaces worldwide have increased by 5,519 percent as the average office space per employee has decreased by 2.9 percent, the research reveals, with London seeing a reduction in traditional office space by 8.8 percent.

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Global insurance sector workers call for workplace culture modernisation

New research from Dive In, a festival for diversity and inclusion in the insurance sector, claims that almost three-quarters (71 percent) of insurance professionals surveyed believe that the culture in their firm needs to change. The survey of over 2,800 festival attendees, suggests that in order to attract and retain the best talent for the market, firms need to become more inclusive. Close to two thirds of the insurance industry believe that their firm should do more to advance diversity and inclusion in gender, LGBT and mental health.

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Sexual harassment by colleagues may be associated with more severe depression

Employees who experience sexual harassment by supervisors, colleagues or subordinates in the workplace may develop more severe symptoms of depression than employees who experience harassment by clients or customers, according to a study involving 7603 employees from across 1041 organisations in Denmark. The research is published in the open access journal BMC Public Health.

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An inability to develop skills at all ages leaves people unprepared for the future of work

An inability to develop skills at all ages leaves people unprepared for the future of work

Efforts to fully realise people’s economic potential in countries at all stages of development are falling short due to ineffective deployment of skills throughout the workforce, development of skills appropriate for the future of work and adequate promotion of ongoing learning for those already in employment. These failures to translate investment in education during the formative years into opportunities for higher-quality work during the working lifetime contributes to income inequality by blocking the two pathways to social inclusion, education and work, according to the World Economic Forum’s Human Capital Report 2017. The report measures 130 countries against four key areas of human capital development; Capacity, largely determined by past investment in formal education; Deployment, the application and accumulation of skills through work; Development, the formal education of the next generation workforce and continued upskilling and reskilling of existing workers; and Know-how, the breadth and depth of specialised skills-use at work. Countries’ performance is also measured across five distinct age groups or generations: 0-14 years; 15-24 years; 25-54 years; 55-64 years; and 65 years and over.

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The government announces a major new office for public servants in the West Midlands

The government announces a major new office for public servants in the West Midlands

Thousands of public servants in the West Midlands will move to a new building in central Birmingham, as the government continues its drive to modernise its office estate. HMRC working with the Cabinet Office has signed a 25 year lease to take 238,988 sq ft at 3 Arena Central, which is a new office development in the centre of Birmingham. The building will see around 3,600 public servants from several government departments move there from 2020, including from HMRC and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The hub will be the base for one of HMRC’s regional centres. DWP plans to move staff into the hub from existing offices in the city. The move is part of the Government Hubs Programme, which will reduce the number of isolated and under-used offices that the government has by co-locating departments in shared buildings across the UK. Departments moving to hubs will need less space as they adopt smart working principles, which will reduce their operating costs. Providing modern, flexible office space will further deliver value for money by improving staff wellbeing and productivity

Poor time management leaves SMEs with too little time to devote to business growth

Poor time management leaves SMEs with too little time to devote to business growth

Poor time management is the greatest obstacle to the growth of Britain’s business enterprises, claims new research commissioned by instantprint which found that sub-optimal time management is a major barrier to business growth. In an average working week a typical business owner finds just 12 hours to pursue activities dedicated to growing their enterprise. One in ten has less than an hour a week earmarked for business growth, while 8 percent say they struggle to find any time at all. A third of business owners polled are unable to find the time they need to run their business effectively, and 53 percent feel their minutes ebbing away under work admin and report writing. Thirty three percent need help managing their finances to save time, while 22 percent feel that responding to customer service concerns could be streamlined. And while the average business owner works a 38-hour week, ten hours of this time is dedicated to completing tasks which they consider a distraction from activities that encourage business growth.

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British organisations must step up to the challenges of artificial intelligence, robotics and automation

A report published by the RSA think-tank has encouraged UK businesses to embrace artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. arguing that new technology has the potential to raise productivity levels, boost flagging living standards, and phase out ‘dull, dirty and dangerous’ tasks in favour of more purposeful and human-centric work. The Age of Automation report warns, however, that the UK is fast becoming a ‘laggard’ in the adoption of new machines and called on UK business leaders to accelerate their take-up of technology. The RSA found that sales of robots to the UK decreased over 2014-15, with British firms falling behind the US, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. A YouGov poll of UK business leaders, commissioned by the RSA, found that UK business leaders are currently wary of adopting AI and robotics, with just fourteen percent of firms currently investing in this technology or soon planning to. Twenty-nine percent of businesses believe AI & robotics to be too expensive or not yet proven and twenty percent want to invest but believe it will take several years to ‘seriously adopt’ the new technology.

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Majority of employers fail to support workers’ efforts to lead an active lifestyle

Majority of employers fail to support workers’ efforts to lead an active lifestyle

Majority of employers fail to support workers’ efforts to lead an active lifestyleThe majority of UK employees (61 percent) do not feel encouraged by their employer to lead an active lifestyle, despite most managers agreeing that exercise positively impacts employees’ productivity (78 percent) and their ability to handle stress (82 percent) claims new research from AXA PPP healthcare. Of those British employees who do exercise after work, nearly half (46 percent) would prefer to do so before work but 79 percent blame a lack of time in the morning; yet for those who find time to be physically active before work, three quarters (75 percent) feel it spurs them on to be more effective in the morning while 69 percent feel more productive. More worryingly, nearly half of employees (45 percent) of employees admit they do not do the NHS recommended 30 minutes of daily exercise, five times a week, but finding time to be physically active during the working day can be difficult, or undesirable. Sixty?two percent of employees with good intentions to exercise at work find they’re cancelling their lunchtime exercise plans due to workload or work commitments.

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Women struggle to make their voices heard in the workplace, claims RADA report

Working women in the UK feel they face a number of challenges to make their voice heard in business environments, according to new research. The study, conducted by RADA in Business, the commercial subsidiary of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art which provides communication skills training for corporate individuals, found that just 8 percent of women find it easy to make their voice heard at work. In comparison, 15 percent of men reported being able to express themselves with ease within a work environment. The research also claims that women are 68 percent more likely than men to say they never feel comfortable when expressing themselves in a work environment (3.7 percent of women compared to 2.2 percent of men). This gap was widest in specific sectors, most notably IT, professional services (such as law and accountancy), retail and education.

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Shocking level of dissatisfaction amongst workplace occupants, finds Leesman

There is a shocking level of dissatisfaction among the workforce according to a new global report from Leesman, which looks at how a poorly planned workplace can have a negative impact on employees, and inhibit their ability to perform. The findings show that while employers continue to face economic uncertainty, many of their employees are having to endure workplaces that fail to support their basic working day, obstructing their ability to positively contribute to business success.  ‘The Next 250k’, a global report based on the evaluation results from more than 250,000 employees across 2,200+ workplaces in 67 countries found that 43 percent of employees globally do not agree that their workplace enables them to work productively. In the UK, that figure jumps to 46 percent. Therefore, in line with ONS employment figures, for over 1.3 million UK workers, the office is simply not good enough.

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Brexit having a significant impact on London firms, but tech and media sectors growing

Brexit having a significant impact on London firms, but tech and media sectors growing

With the overwhelming majority of London businesses employing staff from the EU (88 percent), Brexit is having a significant impact on the capital’s companies, according to the latest CBI/CBRE London Business Survey. Just under three quarters of firms (73 percent) view uncertainty over the UK’s role in Europe as their top concern, whilst a similar number (69 percent) have developed, or are developing, a contingency plan for when the UK leaves the EU. Indeed, over a quarter of respondents (27 percent) indicated they are planning to move part of their operations overseas. Close to two thirds (62 percent) have, or are developing, a strategy to address skill shortages that could be incurred if restrictions are placed on EU nationals working in the UK. However, two thirds of the 271 respondents to the Survey (65 percent) said that the tech and creative sectors were the principal sectors for the capital’s economic growth over the next five years, followed by professional services (49 percent) and FinTech (47 percent).

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Not enough being done to tackle work-related ill-health, say business leaders

Almost half of Britain’s industry leaders do not feel enough is being done across industry to tackle cases of work-related ill-health, according to new research from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The research also found more than two-fifths of businesses are reporting a rise in cases of long-term ill-health with the majority (80 percent) stating tackling this growing problem is a priority within their organisation. This news comes as HSE figures show that work-related ill-health is costing the economy more than £9bn with 26 million working days being lost, making it a priority for HSE as the Government’s chief occupational health adviser.

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