August 25, 2016

More organisations worldwide offering parental leave rights to employees ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Knowledge, News, Workplace

Despite the complexities of parental leave legislation, a growing number of organisations worldwide are making the benefit available to their workforce, according to the new Global Parental Leave report from human resources consultancy Mercer. According to the study – which is behind a paywall – more than one third of organisations have one centralised global policy. Around 38 percent provide paid paternity leave above the statutory minimum and several countries mandate a parental leave programme that may be used by either parent or carers. A growing number of organisations have extended the right to part time employees and see it as a valuable tool for attracting and retaining talent regardless of the gender or contract of employees. While almost two-thirds (64 percent) of companies provide maternity leave for only the birth mother, 24 percent of companies provide this leave to a primary caregiver.

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August 24, 2016

Futurist says UK gender pay gap will close much earlier than predicted ⁰

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

Following the latest report that shows that the gender pay gap is still wide open comes claims that in the UK, the gap will close within the next 30 years. That’s the view anyway of futurist, trend forecaster and journalist, James Wallman. While the World Economic Forum believes that the world-wide gender pay gap won’t close by 2133, Wallman paints a more positive picture, forecasting the UK pay gap will actually close much sooner — by 2045. His reasoning is that it’s far harder to hide wage disparity in an age of data digitisation, meaning companies are compelled to be transparent. There is manifest political will behind pay parity, with new legislation meaning that by 2018 all companies with more than 250 employees will have to publish their gender pay gap data. And he argues there are numerous economic imperatives to get women working; if the same proportion of women worked in Britain as in Sweden, it would add £170bn to the UK economy and boost GDP by 9 percent.

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August 24, 2016

Nearly three quarters of UK staff say their workplace is a health hazard ⁰

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

Personal injury lawyers may have helped fuel the UK’s overzealous health and safety culture, but the truth is that their services are often called for to challenge negligent employers. Now a new piece of research by Hayward Baker claims that many employees are not only stuck in unsafe workplaces but with unsanitary working conditions, which is putting their health at risk. The research into over a thousand workers on the conditions of Britain’s offices, shops, factories, warehouses and building sites found that 69 percent believe their workplace to be a health hazard. The study revealed 35 percent of working Brits have picked up an illness from their place of work – with 18 percent claiming to have been struck down with food poisoning or caught a stomach bug because of dirty conditions. A further 39 percent have suffered an injury at work – with two in ten (20 percent) having been to hospital due to a work-related illness or injury.

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August 24, 2016

Nearly half of employees work unpaid extra hours to cope with workloads ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Nearly half of working parents in the UK put in unpaid extra hours to keep up with workloads and a third believe that overtime is now an ingrained part of workplace culture, according to a study by pressure group Working Families. The results were announced on the day the group announced details of this year’s National Work-Life Week which will encourage organisations to explore agile and flexible working. The report claims that 27 percent of people believe their line manager expects them to work extra hours, 33 percent believe that unpaid overtime is part of their workplace culture and 42 percent work extra hours to deal with workloads. Sarah Jackson, CEO of Working Families, said: “In the UK we have some of the longest working hours in Europe, with more than one in 10 employees putting in more than 50 hours each week. But success is about productivity, not impressive timesheets, so it’s worrying that our survey showed many parents feel a cultural pressure, or direct pressure from their manager, to stay late.”

August 23, 2016

US Millennials ‘martyred’ behaviour helps drive culture of presenteeism ⁰

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

As the school holidays draw to a close, those Brits who’ve enjoyed their annual two-week holiday break will probably have squirreled away some days to take them through to the end of the year. Not so easy for the average US worker who earns on average just ten paid vacation days per annum, for each year of service. According to a survey carried out last year, many Americans even fail to take that allocated leave for fear of being seen as slacking. And now a new piece of research claims that far from breaking this tradition of presenteeism, US Millennial workers are the most likely generation to forfeit time off, even though they earn the least amount of vacation days. These findings, from Project: Time Off’s new report, The Work Martyr’s Cautionary Tale: How the Millennial Experience Will Define America’s Vacation Culture suggest that Millennials stay at work because they feel more fear and greater guilt about taking time away from the office than any other generation.

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August 23, 2016

Working mothers paid third less as maternal gender pay gap widens ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

The gender pay gap is still prevalent within the UK workforce and the gap only widens further when women have children, according to a report published today. Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that on average, women in paid work receive about 18 percent less per hour than men, but this wage gap is smaller when comparing women before they become mothers. The gap widens consistently for 12 years after the first child is born, by which point women receive a third (33 percent) less pay per hour than men. The widening of the hourly wage gap after childbirth is associated with reduced hours of paid work, but this is not because women see an immediate cut in hourly pay when they reduce their hours. Rather, women who work half-time lose out on subsequent wage progression, meaning that the hourly wages of men (and of women in full-time work) pull further and further ahead.

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August 22, 2016

Birmingham reaches over half a million sq ft office take-up so far this year ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Birmingham is set to surpass the 1 million sq ft mark for office occupational activity this year. Following its busiest first quarter to date – office take-up in the Birmingham city core reached 217,295 sq ft in 40 deals during the second quarter. When added to the 283,697 sq ft in Q1 2016, the half year to date totals 500,992 sq ft. According to Colliers, despite Brexit uncertainty, the level of transactional activity remained strong and was above the five-year quarterly average. While the average size of transactions was lower in comparison to this time last year, due to the much publicised HSBC lease, there were a number of significant deals. Network Rail secured 85,000 sq ft over three floors at Baskerville House in Centenary Square, bringing its three separate Birmingham offices together. However, the supply of Grade A office accommodation remains constrained as a result of continued demand for space from the occupiers, as well as the absence of the delivery of new stock before the end of 2016/early 2017.

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August 22, 2016

Two thirds of employers don’t understand impact of workplace health issues ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing

A new study from Aon Employee Benefits claims that UK employers are less likely than other employers in the EMEA region to have a defined workplace health strategy with just 37 percent understanding the impact of their employees’ health issues. The 2016 EMEA Health Survey suggests that UK employers are less likely than others in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to have a defined health strategy (30 percent vs 40 percent). The survey also claims that UK employers’ actions are out of line with their actual concerns. 63 percent believe their top issue is managing stress and mental health issues, while 51 percent suggest that physical health is their second highest health and wellbeing priority. However, more employers have physical and social programmes to support employee wellbeing (57 percent and 55 percent respectively), while just 41 percent have an emotional or psychological programme in place.

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August 22, 2016

Managers and staff in creative sector disagree on what makes a creative office ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace design

According to a survey by recruitment firm The Creative Group, managers and employees in US based ad agencies don’t see eye to eye on the essential characteristics of a creative office. When asked what the ideal work environment is for on-the-job innovation, the top response among advertising and marketing executives was an open plan workplace. Employees, however, seem to prefer more private, concentrated time, with a private office being the most popular option. According to the study of 1,400 US based ad agency managers, executives and employees, over a third of managers favour open plan environments compared to just a quarter of employees. Twice as many employees as managers would also rather have a private office. Around a fifth of both groups opt for a cubicle. Perhaps the most interesting finding of the report is that just 4 percent of both groups think the best option is remote working.

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August 19, 2016

Employers must lose ‘stiff upper lip’ culture to promote workplace wellbeing ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A ‘stiff upper lip’ attitude towards wellness by UK bosses needs to change in order to advance employee wellbeing, argues a survey by Bupa. It is business leaders who are the key to overcoming the challenges facing employees’ health and wellbeing, it claims. The vast majority (94 percent) of those questioned believe there will be significant change in the employer-employee relationship in the next ten years. 91 percent of business leaders agree that technology will continue to impact the wellbeing of their workforce over the next decade and 71 percent agree the standard 9am-5pm working day is a thing of the past. Seven in ten (68 percent) noted a ‘stiff upper lip attitude’ at executive level, creating barriers to conversations about wellbeing, and three fifths (62 percent) of leaders think they need to show that they don’t suffer from ill health.

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August 18, 2016

Uncompromising job candidates’ demands don’t include flexible work ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Job candidates are becoming more demanding claims a new survey, with three quarters (79.2 percent) of UK workers polled not willing to compromise on certain areas when looking for a new role. Unsurprisingly, 18.2 percent say that a low advertised salary would put them off a role entirely, but other less tangible issues would also dissuade them from pursuing an application. This includes unclear job descriptions (20 percent) and a long recruitment process (10.2 percent); while 7.8 percent revealed that poor communication throughout the recruitment process would drive them away from a company. The research, which was conducted by CV-Library, surveyed 1,000 UK workers and found that candidates are growing increasingly impatient with their job hunt. Other key deterrents cited were poor traits about the businesses themselves, including a bad reputation (9.5 percent), a high staff turnover (7.1 percent) and poor management (6.1 percent).

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August 18, 2016

Economic slowdown curbs demand for office space in Dubai ⁰

by Sara Bean • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property

There has been a reduction in demand for office space in Dubai over the past six months, as the ripple effect of the oil price collapse and the subsequent economic slowdown in the rest of the Gulf reverberates across the emirate’s commercial property market. As firms retrench staff and reconsider their future strategy in the wake of global economic challenges, decisions to acquire, expand or move office space have commonly been put on hold according to Cluttons’ latest Dubai Office Market Bulletin. This has resulted in an exaggeration of the seasonal summer slowdown throughout late Q2 and early Q3 2016. Cluttons’ research also highlights that, the general lack of rental growth is unlikely to change in the short-term. Across the market as a whole, rents are not expected to fall much further, particularly as they are at a point where they are considered to be fair market value and landlords appear unwilling to lease below a certain level.