UK workers are amongst least engaged in the world, claims new report

by • News, Workplace

demotivatedThe latest survey highlighting how disconnected the world’s workers feel from what they do comes courtesy of researchers ORC International. In its Global perspectives survey of over 7,000 employees in 20 countries, the researchers found that UK employees are amongst the most disengaged in the world. Engagement has declined sharply over the last year for UK based workers with under half (48 percent) claiming to be engaged with their jobs, down from 56 percent last year. This puts the country in 18th position, with only Japan and Hong Kong coming out worse. Only 40 percent think their managers motivate and inspire them and only 37 percent feel encouraged by their employers to innovate. In fact the UK’s score fell according to every measure used in the report including the wellbeing index with a rating of 57 percent, down from 61 percent last year.

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Employers welcome an age-diverse workforce, but need to be prepared

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Age diversityA recent report by the UKCES that predicted that the workplace of the future will see four generations of employees working side by side is being welcomed, rather than feared by employers, but they need to begin planning for the future now, or risk a skills shortage and being at a competitive disadvantage. The revelation that by 2030 four-generation or “4G” workplaces – will become increasingly common as people delay retiring, even into their 80s, prompted UKCES Commissioner Toby Peyton-Jones to ask whether this emerging multi-generational workplace would spell stress and culture clashes or create positive tension leading to innovation. Now a new study, Managing an age-diverse workforce, from the CIPD, shows that employers and employees see clear benefits from an increasingly age diverse workforce but need to do more to take full advantage. (more…)

Happiness and wellbeing more important to people than economy

by • News, Workplace

International Happiness DayWhatever their opinion on yesterday’s Budget, the vast majority of Britons think levels of happiness and wellbeing matter more than the size of the economy. In a YouGov poll commissioned to mark today’s United Nation’s International Day of Happiness, a majority (87%) of UK adults were found to prefer the “greatest overall happiness and wellbeing”, rather than the “greatest overall wealth” (8%), for the society they live in. And despite the Conservative Party’s much lampooned attempts to appeal to working class people who they presume enjoy bingo and beer, this majority was found to be broadly consistent across all regions, age groups and social classes. LSE economist and co-founder of Action for Happiness, Lord Richard Laya says the results show that more priority should be given to mental health and wellbeing. (more…)

European executives overconfident about their ability to manage change

by • Comment, Facilities management, News, Technology

SupertankerThere are a number of casual truisms about the modern workplace that everybody accepts to the point they become clichéd. But knowing something and knowing what to do about it can be two completely different things. While we might all agree that ‘change is a constant’ and the ‘main driver of change is technology’, both ideas are subject to the interconnected and immutable law that whatever we do is likely to be wrong to a greater or lesser degree. According to new research from the Economist Intelligence Unit, one of the main reasons for this is that organisations and business leaders are not very good at judging how responsive they are to change, make the converse misjudgements about the readiness of their competitors. In the words of the survey, they tend to see themselves as speedboats while viewing their competitors as supertankers when the reality is often the other way around.

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Employers say improved morale has helped reduce staff absences

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A third (34%) of UK employers have seen their absence rates improve over the last 12 months and almost two thirds think this is due to improved morale in the workplace. The new research, from trade body Group Risk Development (GRiD), echoes that of recent ONS Labour Market statistics which showed that UK sick days were down by 47 million since 1993. The employers polled also revealed they have better measures in place to reduce absence and improve attendance; with more than two in five employers (44%) using return-to-work interviews, 36 per cent having flexible working initiatives and 26 per cent having disciplinary procedures in place for unacceptable absence. Employers are also feeling more confident about working with fit notes, with 40 per cent saying they feel they can work with the advice given. (more…)

RIBA submits plans for new offices near its landmark Art Deco HQ

by • Architecture, News, Property

76 Portland Place W1

76 Portland Place, W1

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has submitted a planning application for the creation of new high-quality new offices near its London headquarters. 76 Portland Place, London W1, which currently houses the Institute of Physics is being designed by a team led by award-winning architects Theis and Khan and is next door but one to RIBA’s Art Deco landmark building at 66 Portland Place. Built in 1958, it was designed by Howard V Lobb and Partners and had a ground floor extension added in the mid-1990s. The planning application includes the complete refurbishment and alterations of the existing office building to create office spaces and meeting rooms for around 180 staff – located over five floors; including first to sixth in the main building and first and second in the mews building. (more…)

Might a lack of joined-up thinking undermine UK high-tech ambitions?

by • Comment, News, Property, Technology

Old Street: the UK's tech epicentre

Old Street: the UK’s tech epicentre

Over the past week both Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson have offered up visions of economic success founded on new technology. Yet, as the CBI points out in a new report pinpointing the dearth of talent needed to  make such dreams a reality, politicians often appear to ignore the realities of a situation. In its new report, Engineering our Future,  the CBI calls for significant action to make a career in the key disciplines of science, technology, engineering and maths more attractive and easier to pursue. The report points out that these are the skills needed to underpin the Government’s stated focus on the tech, environmental, engineering and manufacturing industries that will shape the country’s future and is calling for a cut in tuition fees, new courses and inter-disciplinary qualifications to allow those skills to flourish.

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Research finds the treadmill desk improves wellness and productivity

by • Facilities management, News, Workplace

Workplace fitness

Despite employers offering staff access to a gym to help promote wellness, actually getting people to use the fitness facilities is another matter. The answer could be to bring the fitness equipment directly to their office; as new research shows that employees who use treadmill workstations as they work not only receive physical benefits but also are more productive. According to a recently published study by researchers from The University of Texas at Arlington, the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota, sedentary employees from a non-profit financial service company who had their current cubicles and offices outfitted with treadmill desks were found to burn an average of 74 more calories per day than they did before they received the treadmill workstation. They were also found to be more productive. (more…)

Over three quarters of staff say employers play equal role in their health & wellbeing

by • News, Workplace

Over three quarters of staff say employers play equal role in their health & wellbeingNearly 80 per cent of UK workers believe responsibility for managing staff health and wellbeing should be shared between both employer and employee. The ‘Employee View – Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace’ survey, conducted by health insurance provider Westfield Health, found the majority (79%) of respondents felt there should be an even balance between them and their employer when it came to taking care of their wellbeing. Nearly three-quarters (74%) also said knowing their employer cares about their health would make them more likely to be satisfied, loyal and motivated at work. And almost a third (30%) asked for better communication in the workplace about the types of wellbeing programmes on offer to them. (more…)

£56m office development planned for Salford’s regeneration area

by • Company news, News, Property, Public Sector

Salford £56m regeneration schemeWork is to start on a £56m Grade A office and car park development in Salford’s Greengate Embankment regeneration area. The joint venture partners behind the development are Carillion, Ask Real Estate and Tristan Capital Partners, with Carillion acting as the main contractor. Work on the site, which was part of the former Manchester Exchange railway station, will start in June, with delivery of the 172,640sq ft office and car park planned for spring 2016. Salford City Council has signed an eight-year pre-lease on the whole of the first office building and Q-Park has agreed a 35 year pre-lease for the 442 space car park. The site, which was acquired from Network Rail, also has planning permission for a second phase which comprises another Grade A office building providing 150,000 sq ft of space. (more…)

Interminable UK public sector procurement deters suppliers, claims report

by • Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector

Snail's paceLast week’s story about the jaded view UK organisations have of the way public sector organisations buy goods and services provoked a great deal of discussion on LinkedIn. Now new research from specialist purchasing data analysts Spend Network has revealed that the UK government is the third slowest in the EU when it come3s to tendering. The UK government takes 53 days longer than the EU average, with only Greece and Ireland taking longer, and they’ve had their own particular economic problems to deal with over the last few years. The data is comprehensive, covering 1.8 million EU tenders over a period of five years. It found that it takes 172 days for the UK government to award a contract after the posting of an OJEU notice, at a cost to the economy of £22bn.

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Employees have spent average of £500 on BYOD, claims European survey

by • News, Technology

Iphone-5It’s not so long ago that companies were looking to ban employees from using social media and their own phones during work hours, or at least introducing policies to make it a disciplinary issue. Oh, we can LOL about it now but at the time it was routinely compared to the smoking ban, forcing educated adults to huddle outside fire escapes for a quick Facebook fix while their old-school colleagues sat in the warmth, offline but manning the phones. Of course, all this was before firms worked out they could actually get employees to pay for their own stuff and save themselves the expense. All they had to do was label it BYOD and talk about empowerment and people would cheerfully fork out what turns out to be a reasonable amount of money so the firm doesn’t have to.

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