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.

February 11, 2016

Majority of UK’s small businesses would opt for coworking spaces ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Property, Workplace design

Almost three quarters (72 percent) of small businesses in the UK believe coworking spaces are the ideal environment to base a start-up. Although the research was carried out by Regus, which happens to provide just that sort of workspace, the research did detect some strong preferences from small businesses that suggests sharing office space is the best solution for fledgling firms to thrive. When asked about the benefits of coworking compared to other workspace options, more than eight in ten respondents (83%) from the research, which canvassed the opinions of over 2,600 UK-based small companies, claimed it was a much more cost-effective alternative to a fixed office. The opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs (70 percent) was also identified as a major plus point, with 63 percent believing that shared space provides more inspiration than a traditional office setting and 61 percent saying that this kind of workplace offered a more creative environment that regular offices.

February 10, 2016

Moderate growth for global commercial real estate predicted in 2016 ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

US and European office markets will tighten further in 2016 as demand for space outpaces a limited number of new developments, according to CBRE Group’s 2016 Global Real Estate Market Outlook. However, the extent of tightening in individual cities will depend strongly on local job growth in major office-using industries. Global prime rents across the three major property types—office, industrial and retail—are expected to grow 2.2 percent on an annual basis, according to estimates from CBRE’s Global Rent Index. The Americas, thanks to the strength of the US property sector, is expected to see commercial real estate rents rise 3.4 percent in 2016, as consumption growth and rising employment, combined with comparatively limited new supply levels, simulates demand. Rents in EMEA are forecast to rise by 3.2 percent thanks to a combination of increased consumer spending, pent-up demand for commercial space and anticipated further monetary easing by the European Central Bank.

February 9, 2016

Better workplace design and management could save the NHS £1 billion ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector, Workplace design

The National Health Service could make around £1bn in savings if it made better use of its estate, including more efficient workplace design, according to Lord Carter’s wide-ranging 18-month review into the operations and productivity of the NHS. The wide ranging review claimed that a total of £5bn could be saved by adopting a range of best practice standards. Carter examined 32 hospitals as well as looking at systems in the US, Germany, Australia, Italy and France for the report. Among the differences highlighted were variations in the use of floorspace, with one trust using 12 percent for non-clinical purposes and another using 69 percent. Overall, the review suggests that the NHS could save £1bn by 2020 via from the better management of estates, such as lighting, heating and the utilisation of floor space. The challenges of running the NHS estate efficiently have been something of an issue for some time, as we have reported.

February 9, 2016

Report reveals huge surge in use of flexible working worldwide ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

Three quarters of companies worldwide have now introduced flexible working to enable employees to vary their hours and work from home or on the move according to one of the largest global surveys of its kind conducted with 8,000 employers and employees across three continents. The Flexible: friend or foe? survey was commissioned by Vodafone and took place between September and October 2015. The countries surveyed were Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, the UK and the USA. A total of 8,000 employers and employees were interviewed online. The rapid adoption of high-speed mobile data services, fixed-line broadband and cloud services is playing an integral role in this workplace revolution: 61 percent of respondents now use their home broadband service to access work applications and 24 percent use a mobile data connection via their smartphone, tablet or laptop with a broadband dongle.

February 9, 2016

Career progression stalled by lack of respect for mums who work part-time ⁰

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

A recent UKCES report suggested it is career and personal choices that explain the gender pay gap, because so many women work part time after children. Now a new report supports the view that the dearth of women in senior management roles is a result of a lack of access to promotion for those in a part time role. A survey conducted by Mothers Mean Business, claims that mothers returning to work are frustrated at the lack of opportunities to further their careers. The survey canvassed the views of women from a wide range of sectors and varying levels of seniority and found that nearly three quarters (71 percent) returned to work part-time after having their children but 83 percent feel there has been a potential or definite limit to their career options, 71 percent haven’t received a promotion since working part-time and 42 percent said they had received negative comments from colleagues after switching to part-time hours.

February 8, 2016

High urban rents and falling rural land prices drive flight of startups to countryside ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Property, Technology, Wellbeing

We’ve reported before on the flight of tech firms and other startups from the UK’s cities to the countryside. Now it appears that 2016 will see an acceleration in the exodus, as a consequence of the perfect storm of expensive rents in the cities, falling rural land prices and a growing number of people using technology and improving digital infrastructure to live somewhere they feel they have a more balanced life. That is the striking conclusion of a new survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Royal Agricultural University (RAU) indicates. Over the second half of 2015, non-farmers, such as those starting-up cottage industries, accounted for around 25 per cent of rural land sales. This figure was up from just 18 per cent in the first half of 2015, according to the RICS/RAU Rural Land Market Survey H2 2015 and the trend was strongest in South East England where non-farmers accounted for 32 per cent of all sales.

February 8, 2016

CIPD joins forces with the UK Government to tackle workplace cyber security ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Legal news, News, Technology, Workplace

Human resources has a key role to play in improving the cyber security of UK workplaces. That is the key challenge addressed by a new joint initiative from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and the Development and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Data breaches cost companies up to an average of £1.46 million are often a result of human error and malice, according to the CIPD. The initiative includes a free online course called Cyber Security for HR professionals as part of a wider initiative to promote the importance of cyber security at work, as well as the critical role that HR has to play in ‘mitigating the competency and behavioural risks present in the workplace’. Government figures released last year indicated that the costs associated with the most severe breaches now start at £1.46 million for large businesses, up from £600,000 in 2014, and can reach up to £310,000 for small businesses, up from £115,000.

February 5, 2016

Employers believe Millennials are the most demanding workers ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

It seems unfair to brand Millennials difficult, when you consider they are the less experienced generation of workers, but new research suggests they require more hand holding in the workplace. When asked about workers they’ve dealt with, 48 percent of bosses felt that millennials were more reliant on detailed targets and required regular progress meetings in order to stay motivated. However, the majority of bosses (89 percent) agreed that these demands indicated that millennials were highly career driven. Over one third (39 percent) named generation X as the most self-sufficient, as this group required less guidance, with Baby Boomers a close second (34 percent). Millennials were also cited as the generation most incentivised by reward and praise (41 percent), followed by Generation X (26 percent), Baby Boomers (22 percent) and Generation Z (11 percent), while Generation X had the biggest desire for a work life balance (37 percent).