February 19, 2016

UK in bottom four of European countries for workplace benefits ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Social benefits for people in the workplace in Europe are generally far more generous than in the US, but the UK is in the bottom four overall taking into account factors such as maternity and paternity leave, general parental leave, paid holiday allowance, paid sick leave and unemployment benefits. Only the Swiss, the Irish and the Americans have a more frugal government policy. According to a report by Glassdoor of 14 key European neighbouring economies, conducted in cooperation with Llewellyn Consulting, the countries offering the most generous workplace and welfare benefits overall are Denmark, France and Spain. In terms of paid annual leave, Sweden, France and Denmark all offer 25 working days a year as minimum –the highest entitlement. The UK is bunched towards the bottom again with the likes of Italy, Greece, Germany, Portugal and Switzerland – all offering the minimum 20 days.

February 19, 2016

A fifth of UK commercial property may fail to meet new energy standards ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

Earlier this week, we reported on the surprisingly large proportion of the UK’s commercial property that emitted far more carbon than it was designed to produce. Now, a new report from Cushman & Wakefield suggests that nearly a fifth of commercial buildings in England and Wales could be barred from being let because it does not comply with new Government energy standards. The report urges owners and investors to understand their risk and where necessary make improvements to ensure their buildings exceed the minimum energy efficiency standard – or face the prospect of the value of their assets decreasing significantly. The Government’s Energy Act, passed in the last Parliament, included a provision that from April 2018 it will be unlawful to rent out a business property with an EPC rating below the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES), which is an ‘E’ rating. Any building that fails to meet this requirement (rated ‘F’ or ‘G’) will be classed as “sub standard” and may suffer a substantial drop in value.

February 19, 2016

RIBA consults on the future use of its landmark Art Deco HQ building ⁰

by Sara Bean • Architecture, News, Workplace design

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has launched an open consultation on the future use of its landmark Art Deco HQ building in central London. The first part of the consultation strategy is an online survey, to be followed by focus group sessions to gather more detail. RIBA Client Advisor, Sarah Williams said: “This survey is the start of a detailed process which will include defining the role that 66 Portland Place plays in the RIBA’s long term vision and values. Our detailed consultation will gather views and ideas from our members, staff and other users of the building including visitors, neighbours, meeting room clients, cultural partners, sponsors and patrons.I encourage everyone to participate to help us shape the use of this important building for the next 80 years.” Click here to participate in the survey and learn more about the consultation for 66 Portland Place.

February 18, 2016

What would happen if you didn’t turn up for work tomorrow? ⁰

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

You might assume that most people would like to think of themselves as more or less indispensable at work. And if they’re not already, would like to make themselves indispensable at some point. But what exactly would happen if you simply didn’t turn up for work tomorrow? It might be nothing, as the recent case of Joaquin Garcia proved. The Spanish civil servant hadn’t turned up to work for at least six years, according to reports from last year. His absence only came to light when his employer decided he was eligible for a long term service award. His case became something of a sensation in Spain, where he earned the moniker el funcionario fantasma – the phantom official. But his story isn’t a one off. In a grim news item from 2004, a Finnish tax inspector died at his desk and the fact went unnoticed for two days.

February 18, 2016

The UK public sector workplace is disempowered and can’t cope with change ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A new report claims that the typical public sector workplace in the UK is dysfunctional on a number of levels. That is not the conclusion of some right wing think tank, but instead comes from Civica’s Invigorating the Public Sector Revolution report, commissioned in partnership with Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE). Based on a survey of 276 senior and middle management staff, a mere 7 percent of respondents said that the public sector offered an empowering working culture and just 25 percent believe their management teams have the skills and attitudes to lead the organisation over the next ten years. Of particular concern was the ability of organisations to cope with change. Just under half (47 percent) of those surveyed believe their leadership team lacks the management skills needed for ‘a period of massive and accelerating change’.

February 17, 2016

Younger workers more engaged at work than middle aged staff ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Companies with stronger financial performances and better customer experience have employees who are considerably more engaged than their peers, a new survey by Temkin Group claims. The research also shows that out of all the industries, the construction sector has the highest percentage of engaged employees. Organisations with 501 to 1,000 employees have the highest percentage of engaged employees and companies with 10,000 or more employees have the lowest level of engagement. Employees who are highly educated, high-income earners, executives, male, and have very good bosses tend to be the most highly engaged. 63 percent of highly engaged employees always try their hardest at work, compared with 42 percent of disengaged employees. And for those who doubt the commitment of millennials – 25- to 34-year-old employees are the most engaged group, while 45- to 54-year-old employees are the least engaged.

February 15, 2016

UK commercial buildings emit far more carbon than they were designed to ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, News

Commercial buildings in the UK may be producing an average of 3.8 times more carbon than the estimate presented at their design stage, according to research from InnovateUK. The study examined six years of data from Innovate UK’s Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) Programme. It found that only one of the 48 buildings studied produced the amount of carbon specified by its design. In some cases, total emissions were 10 times the rate calculated for Part L compliance. ‘Building Performance Evaluation Programme: Findings From Non-Domestic Projects’, identifies complex energy controls and building management systems (BMS) as significant factors in poor levels of carbon emissions, suggesting that they should be simplified. Although two-thirds of the buildings studied employed renewable energy, a significant proportion of these experienced problems that had a negative impact on their energy consumption and carbon emissions.

February 15, 2016

Government needs to play catch up with needs of the self-employed ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

Politicians and legislators are failing to keep pace with the changing nature of work and as a result many of the UK’s growing army of freelancers feel like second class citizens. That is the key finding of a new report commissioned by the Government and authored by entrepreneur Julie Deane. She claims that the Government should do more to bring the self-employed into line with legislation affecting the wider working population, including access to higher rates of parental leave and pay. The report sets out ten key recommendations, notably that the parental allowance should be brought into line with the rules for employees, who are paid a higher portion of their salary for the first six weeks of statutory maternity pay before the percentage drops. It also suggests that the education system should do more to prepare young people for a changing world of work and that more should be done to offer a choice of workplaces for the self-employed..

February 15, 2016

Employers must meet productivity challenges of paying Living Wage ⁰

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

A quarter of private sector employees will be directly affected by the implementation of the new National Living Wage, (NLW) over double the proportion of public sector employees. The research, conducted by the Social Market Foundation in partnership with Adecco Group UK & Ireland, warns these employers will need to overcome significant productivity challenges in order to cope with the cost. The NLW cut-off at age 25 means businesses will be faced with potential discrepancies in wages across their younger workforce. While almost a fifth (18 percent) of employees who will benefit from the NLW are younger workers surprisingly, workers aged 50 or over will make up a third. Part-time workers make up around half of the workforce in severely affected workplaces. The research also found that the workplaces severely affected by new National Living Wage tend to have low-skilled employees and are much less likely to offer in-work training.

February 12, 2016

Unpredictability and office environment are key causes of workplace stress ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The two most common factors influencing work related stress levels are unpredictability (26 percent) and workplace environment (21 percent) according to a poll by US jobs site CareerCast.com. The results, based on 834 respondents found that most of the respondents (62 percent) rated their jobs as highly stressful, while just 11 percent felt the amount of stress on the job was low. Other key stressors were deadlines (20 percent) and safety of others (16 percent). Interestingly, few people felt that length of work day/week (7 percent), personal well-being in danger (5 percent), potential for promotion (3 percent) and travel (1 percent) were major job stressors. Any number of factors can contribute to an unpredictable workplace; either the flow of responsibility changes from day-to-day with new tasks added or changed at random intervals or expectations may change. Running a close second is the workplace environment and culture, which includes interactions with bosses, co-workers and clients/customers.

February 11, 2016

Manchester set to run out of Grade A office space this year, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Property

Manchester could completely run out of ready to occupy, Grade A office space this year, according to a new report from Colliers International. The snapshot of the commercial property market in the city claims that take-up of space in Manchester during 2015 was over a third (37.5 percent) above a ten year average and the rate of occupation by both UK and overseas firms was double that of the previous three years. As a consequence, the local property market is currently unable to keep pace with demand and the availability of Grade A space declined by 61 percent during the year to reach its lowest level since 2006. There is now just 216,000sq ft of Grade A stock available to let in Central Manchester, with major new developments in the key Spinningfields district (above) and elsewhere not expected to complete until later this year and into 2018. Even some of these spaces are already let, according to the study.

February 11, 2016

New chair of Women on Boards to review FTSE 350 representation ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Public Sector, Workplace

The government has appointed a new chair to carry on the work of Lord Davies’s Women on Boards Review which was set up in February 2011 to determine the obstacles preventing more women from reaching senior executive positions. The Chair of GlaxoSmithKline, and former Chair of RBS and Sainsbury’s, Sir Philip Hampton, has been appointed to lead the review of representation at FTSE 350 companies. Dame Helen Alexander, Chair of UBM, will take on the role of Deputy Chair to the review. The new review will continue on from Davies’s voluntary business led initiative, which saw female representation on boards in the FTSE 100 rise from 12.5 percent to beyond the target of 25 percent. The next phase of the review will focus on one of the key recommendations from Lord Davies’s report, building a pipeline for female executives and emerging non-executive directors to improve representation at the executive layer of companies.