April 13, 2017

Over half of employers report increase in workplace stress and mental ill health ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

More than half (55 percent) of employers have reported an increase in the level of stress and mental health related illnesses at work, according to the annual Benefits and Trends Survey from Aon. The survey claims that while 72 percent of employers believed they had a key role in influencing employee health in 2015, this decreased to 67 percent in 2016. The survey did find that employers have tactics to support health and wellbeing – branded wellness programmes (21 percent) and flexible working (20 percent) being the most popular – but these may be disconnected to what employees and the business actually need. Not surprisingly then, 58 percent would like a better understanding of the impacts of health risks, while 72 percent now use some form of data to drive health and wellbeing strategy. The most popular sources were absence data (57 percent) and employee engagement surveys (45 percent). In addition, the number of employers that have considered managing a known health risk is on the increase – rising to 48 percent from 25 percent in the last two years (42 percent in 2015).

April 13, 2017

Rents start to surge in Australia’s thriving high rise commercial property market ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Australia can justifiably claim to lead the world in thinking about office design and management right now, but it may be coming at a cost as rents surge for high rise office space in its major cities. The cost of renting office space in the skyscrapers of Sydney and Melbourne (pictured) is rising faster than in any other major global city, as a lack of space pushes up rates. The costs of space have yet to hit the heights of tall buildings in cities like Hong Kong, but Knight Frank’s Skyscraper Index claims that the cost of renting space in the upper floors of skyscrapers in Melbourne had risen by 11 per cent to £40.98 per square foot per year in the six months to the end of last year, while those in Sydney had risen 10.1 per cent to £78.39 per sq ft.

April 12, 2017

Research shows how the gender pay gap can be directly related to motherhood ⁰

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

A new piece of academic research provides more evidence that the underlying reason for the gender pay gap is the discrepancy between the way women with children are treated compared to men, and other women without children. According to new research from Université Paris-Saclay, mothers are paid 3 percent less for every child they have compared to their female colleagues who do not have children, while fathers suffer no such penalty at all. The figures were compiled from a 16-year study of data from organisations in the French private sector between 1995 and 2011 by Lionel Wilner, Director of Graduate Studies at engineering and statistics school ENSAE, a founding member of Université Paris-Saclay. He separated the effect of childbirth from other firm-specific wage determinants, and accounted for full-time and part-time work, to find that the difference between mothers and non-mothers is approximated a 3 percent lower hourly wage. The effect was found to be more pronounced after the birth of the first child. More →

April 11, 2017

The world will be completely awash with information by 2025 and firms should adapt soon ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

The amount of data humans and their devices create will rise to 163 zettabytes over the next eight years, according to a new report from data firm Seagate. That is ten times as much as we created last year. As usual, the amount of data described in the report is inconceivable. A linguist called Mark Liberman once estimated that every word ever uttered by human beings would create around 42ZB of stored data. So if I were to make up a fact such as that a printout of 163ZB of data could create a planet the size of Neptune, you’d have to believe it. It’s a lot and it’s rising exponentially, that’s all we need to know. The interesting thing apart from the scale of the storage issue, is that the major source of the increase will be businesses not humans and that by 2025, we will be interacting with an Internet of Things connected device an average of 4,800 times a day.

April 11, 2017

Demand for flexible office space is set to grow in London’s outer boroughs ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Property

London’s office workers are looking for shorter commutes, demanding more collaborative and networking opportunities while at work and better access to green space, retail, leisure and wellness; all of which could present a huge opportunity for the less congested outer London boroughs, a new report suggests. According to Savills latest London Mixed Use Development Spotlight, as employers and employees alike demand more from their workplace and their work- life balance, London’s outer boroughs could reap the benefits by providing greater flexible office space and affordable homes at a variety of price points. According to Oxford Economics, employment in sectors that tend to occupy co-working spaces is set to rise by 20,000 people in the outer London boroughs over the next five years, which equates to a gross additional need of 1.6 million sq ft (148,644 sq m) of office space.

April 11, 2017

More needs to be done to boost happiness in the workplace, claims study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

A new report from Office Genie claims to identify the factors that affect the happiness British staff in the workplace. While the average level of workplace happiness for British employees sits at 3.63/5, the study of 2,000 staff claims to have found some serious causes for concern. Junior staff were the least happy in the workforce: they rank at 3.40 on the happiness scale – comparatively, business owners rank at 4.20 – a significant 25 percent higher. Of further concern, according to the report, was the fact employees with mental health issues feel unsupported in the workplace: Over half (51 percent) of such respondents believe their place of work offers inadequate levels of support. Amongst this demographic the most called-for support method is wellness initiatives, with 45 percent of people with mental health issues saying they would be beneficial – well above the overall average.

April 10, 2017

Concerns mount as local government investment in commercial property hit £1.3 bn last year ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Public Sector

Fresh concerns have been raised about the levels of investment by the UK’s local authorities in commercial property. New figures published by CBRE suggest that councils spent around £1.3 billion on commercial property in 2016, most of it borrowed from a Central Government scheme not designed for that purpose. The news is certain to raise alarm across the UK and especially in Westminster. In November of last year, a report from the Public Accounts Committee warned that the increasing scale of commercial activity taken on by local authorities carried a high level of risk and that the council employees and councillors making decisions often lacked the skills and knowledge needed to take on such projects. At that time, the Government put the level of activity at around £1 billion. The fact that this figure is now significantly higher and mostly borrowed money is sure to increase concerns.

April 7, 2017

New guide aims to advise employers on how to prepare for Brexit ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Legal news, News, Workplace

Sick of hearing about Brexit? Of course you are. Nevertheless, things have only just begin and we’d better get used to it so consultancy XpertHR has launched a new guide for UK employers on how to prepare for Brexit, after Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article beginning the ‘divorce proceedings’. The guide, which the authors claim will be updated as negotiations between the UK and EU progress, focuses on how employers can prepare for potential changes to the right of free movement. It outlines the practical steps employers can take and suggests how they could support their European workforce in the UK. The report suggests that, while the Free Movement Directive, which allows European Economic Area (EEA) citizens and their dependants to live, work and study in any country within the EEA, will remain in force for the next two years, free movement is set to be a thing of the past with EEA nationals expected to become subject to an immigration regime under UK law.

April 6, 2017

UK productivity is up but the underlying puzzle remains unsolved ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

The latest productivity data from the Office for National Statistics shows that UK productivity is up, although the accompanying briefing admits that the data ‘provides little sign of an end to the UK’s productivity puzzle’. According to the report, output per hour increased in the final quarter of 2016 at its fastest rate for more than a year. Quarterly growth of 0.4 percent lifted output per hour 1.2 percent higher than a year ago. While the productivity puzzle is a feature of most developed economies, it is particularly intransigent in the UK, which has a significant gap compared to other nations such as Germany, the US and France. This is despite the fact that Britons spend more time working than those in any comparable nation, except the US.

April 5, 2017

Drastic changes needed to workplace laws as age of automation dawns ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Legal news, News, Technology

The rise of robots and automation in the workplace will lead to drastic changes to laws across the world, a new report suggests. The present wave of automation, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) – the development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence – is creating a gap between current legislation and new laws necessary for an emerging workplace reality, states a report published by the International Bar Association Global Employment Institute (IBA GEI). Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and Their Impact on the Workplace focuses on potential future trends in AI, and the likely impact intelligent systems will have on the labour market, companies, employees’ working time, remuneration and the workplace environment.

April 5, 2017

Corporate occupiers turn to coworking space to keep down property costs ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace design

Demand for coworking spaces is growing at an average of 10-15 percent per annum across all regions as firms look to cut their real estate costs by embracing the concept based on shared work spaces and collaboration. That is the key finding of a new report from Cushman & Wakefield. As the trend gains momentum, according to the study, developers are increasingly incorporating the aesthetic and function of such flexible working environments into mainstream building design. However the main driver of uptake continues to be concern about the cost of renting offices in prime locations and it is no surprise that coworking is focussed on major globalised cities.

April 4, 2017

Europe’s workers turn to the gig economy ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

European employees appear ready to embrace the ‘ gig economy ‘, according to research by ADP. The study of nearly 10,000 European working adults claims to reveal how employees across Europe feel about the future of work. As many as 63 percent of UK employees and 68 percent of European employees are interested in, or would consider self-employment or freelancing although the desire for this style of working does vary drastically across regions. According to the report a third (33 percent) of UK employees say work-life balance is a key motivating factor although pay is still the ultimate driver for all European employees.