November 1, 2015

Firms use workplace improvements to invest in their human capital ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace, Workplace design

A survey by CoreNet Global and Cushman & Wakefield claims that 88 percent of EMEA corporate real estate professionals are actively investing in workplace improvements, and 95 percent are addressing workplace technology as part of those upgrades. The results emphasise the importance of human capital, suggesting that factors such as office environment, flexible working and company culture continue to be seen as critical to attracting and retaining talent. The global Talent Agenda Survey, completed by 250 respondents, addresses how occupiers are managing their talent pool against an ever-changing and unpredictable business environment. The survey focused on categories such as the cost of human capital and its value; the key challenges relating to talent access, assembly and retention and the critical role that real estate plays in workplace innovation, efficiency and talent retention.

October 29, 2015

Facilities management must become more strategic or risk becoming irrelevant ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace design

A new report claims that there are persistent and well-founded perceptions at boardroom level that facilities management is a support function with little or no strategic relevance and that this poses a serious risk to the discipline. While this may raise few eyebrows amongst those who have been aware of the problem for many years, what is startling is that the report comes from the International Facilities Management Association. The report, Redefining the Executive View of Facility Management, authored by Richard Kadzis, highlights the long reported mismatch between this perception and that of facilities managers themselves who believe they represent an industry that continues to adapt to a changing world and add value to the organisation. Conversely, senior executives see FMs as ‘glorified custodians’ whose performance should be measured in terms of the money they save the organisation.

October 29, 2015

HSE publishes latest report on workplace ill health and injuries ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The Health and Safety Executive has released its latest statistics on work related illnesses, injuries and death in UK workplaces. The main takeaway from the data appears to be that after more than a decade of substantial falls across a spectrum of conditions and injuries, there are signs that numbers are starting to stabilise. According to the data for 2014/15, more than a million UK workers were made ill by their work during the year, losing some 27.3 million days and costing the economy £14.3 billion. This represents a fall of over 30 percent since 2002. Most absence is now down to stress, depression, anxiety (collated as a single issue for this particular report) and musculoskeletal disorders. These two groupings account for 9.9 and 9.5 million days off work respectively. The average days lost per case for stress, depression or anxiety (23 days) is higher than for musculoskeletal disorders (17 days).

October 28, 2015

UK firms turn to flexible working and wellbeing to bridge productivity gap ⁰

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

It’s not just larger organisations and governments that are having to grapple with the UK’s persistent ‘productivity puzzle’ but also smaller businesses who are increasingly turning to flexible working and other people centric initiatives to address the problem. That is one of the main findings of a new report from trade association Group Risk Development (GRiD). According to their survey, nearly a quarter of employers (23 percent) believe productivity is an issue facing their business. According to the office for National Statistics (ONS) this is a common problem across the entire UK economy as output per hour is stubbornly around 20 percent below the average for all G7 economies. This is the widest gap ever recorded and, according to GRiD is driving employers to seek ways of addressing their own shortfall with flexible working and wellbeing initiatives as well as investment in new equipment and technology.

October 27, 2015

Study links green building design to higher cognitive performance ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

People who work in well-ventilated offices with below-average levels of indoor pollutants and carbon dioxide have significantly higher cognitive functioning scores in crucial areas such as responding to a crisis or developing strategy than those who work in offices with typical levels. That is the headline finding of a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, SUNY Upstate Medical University, and Syracuse University published this week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.The researchers looked at people’s experiences in “green” vs. “non-green” buildings in a double-blind study. The findings suggest that the indoor environments in which many people work daily could be adversely affecting cognitive function-and that, conversely, improved air quality could greatly increase the cognitive function performance of workers.

October 27, 2015

OECD report urges firms to use Big Data analytics for growth and wellbeing ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

A new OECD report claims that organisations could be doing far more to use the data they and their employees generate to deliver a wide range of social, economic, commercial and personal benefits. In Data-driven innovation for growth and wellbeing, it suggests that governments do more to encourage investment in Big Data and promote data sharing. The report urges countries to act to train more data scientists, reduce barriers to cross-border data flows and encourage investment in business processes to incorporate data analytics. It also claims that few companies outside the ICT sector are changing internal procedures to take advantage of data. This is particularly the case for small and medium-sized companies who face barriers to the adoption of data-related technologies such as The Cloud, partly because they have difficulty implementing organisational change due to limited resources.

October 25, 2015

Vacant property management survey seeks FMs main concerns ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

When squatting in a residential building became a criminal offence three years ago an Orbis survey revealed that a third of property managers predicted a rise in squatters targeting commercial properties as a result. Orbis has now launched a new vacant property management survey for 2015 with the BIFM to obtain views from property and facilities managers about the empty buildings in their portfolio. It seeks to understand what facilities managers’ main concerns are when it comes to empty buildings, their understanding of the legal and insurance requirements around empty properties and how they currently manage them. The survey also considers urban exploring, the exploration of man-made structures, to determine whether this is a growing trend and a threat. Guy Other, chief executive officer of Orbis said: “With this new survey we will better determine the extent of the problem in 2015, and the extent of any new threats.” Click here to take part

October 23, 2015

Multi office occupiers in the City of London could face millions more in taxes ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Legal news, News, Property

Multi office occupiers in the City of London could face an additional tax bill of an estimated £720million thanks to the recent Woolway v Mazars Supreme Court decision, which could allow the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to assess business rates on a floor by floor rather than the entire area a company occupies, Cluttons has warned. Currently the VOA applies an allowance, or discount in layman’s terms, on substantial accommodation occupied over several floors in a building, subject to the size and specification of areas occupied. Within the Square Mile allowances starts from 70,000 sq ft for Grade A office space, 50,000 sq ft for Grade B and 21,000 sq ft for basic or poor accommodation. However, the Supreme Court’s decision, which contradicts previous case law and the VOA’s current policy, could mean businesses may lose any size allowance on their existing rating assessments.

October 22, 2015

UK’s digital leaders set to deliver £92 billion boost to economy ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Company news, News, Technology

A new report from Virgin Media Business and Oxford Economics claims that the UK’s ‘Digital Leaders’ are set to use digital technology deliver a massive boost to the UK economy in the very near future. The study of 1,000 companies employing 470,000 people claims that the UK economy could see an increase of 2.5 percent in GDP (£92 billion) and create more than a million new jobs over the next two years. According to the respondents, they had already increased their revenues by 4.4 per cent and reduced costs by 4.3 per cent over the past year by making better use of digital technology, generating an estimated £123 billion contribution to the UK’s economy, equivalent to 3.4 per cent of GDP. In terms of jobs, 44 per cent of executives don’t expect any jobs to become obsolete and, across the economy, companies anticipate hiring 1.1 million employees as a result of digital investments.

October 22, 2015

Shrinking Asian workplace density could impair business performance ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace design

Workplace static density, i.e. the space per sq. ft. per workstation, has halved in many Asian markets over the last decade and in many parts of Asia, this has already reached a point where further reductions will impact productivity, performance and retention. In Hong Kong, India and China, workplace space has shrunk from 100 sq. ft. per desk to 50-60 sq. ft. per desk. This figure is nearly half that of Europe and the US, where density norms are around 150-200 sq. ft. per desk. Elsewhere, in Australia and New Zealand, standards remain more generous at around 90-150 sq. ft. per desk. CBRE’s recent report, Space Utilization: The Next Frontier, looks at how organizations across the region are now under pressure to drive down costs by increasing their workplace ‘static density’ and suggests ways in which companies can use workplace density and utilization data to drive efficiency and business performance.

October 21, 2015

Small businesses vital for cities, but London SMEs struggle with property costs ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Property

Two new surveys demonstrate that while small firms in creative sectors are essential for the economic success of the UK’s cities, many small businesses are struggling to find appropriate and well-priced office space in London and are now calling on the incoming new Mayor of London to address the issue as a matter of urgency. While a report from the Centre for Cities shows how small businesses in the creative, professional and digital sectors drive job growth, productivity and average wages in ten key UK cities, the study by the Federation of Small Businesses claims that the cost of commercial property remains one of the most pressing concerns for many SMEs based in London. The FSB study also found that the cost of living in London was also a concern for small employers in the capital, with many claiming it makes it incredibly hard to attract and retain employees.

October 21, 2015

Far fewer working women than men receive an annual bonus ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Workplace

Nearly three quarters of the UK’s working women don’t receive any form of annual bonus. Glassdoor’s latest UK Employment Confidence Survey found that only 29 percent of women at work receive a bonus, compared to 44 percent of men, which presumably is one reason why 44 percent of men remain positive about the outlook for their employer as opposed to just one in three women. The survey, which is carried out twice a year, also found that over the last six months, nearly half of all businesses in the UK that had made negative changes in the workplace (49 percent) had made employees redundant/and or communicated plans to implement further redundancies. The result is that nearly a third of employees (32 percent) are concerned that they will be made redundant over the next six months, up from 21 percent from the beginning of last year.