Manchester’s office market set to be fuelled by growth in SMEs

Manchester’s office market set to be fuelled by growth in SMEs

Manchester'sManchester’s office market could see a boost thanks to its 22,850 SME businesses says Cluttons, who have recently launched an office on King Street in the City. Recent research by distribution company Citisprint highlighted that Manchester’s SMEs are also the most confident with 33 percent saying their business is in better shape post-pandemic, and 52 percent expecting to grow in the next 12 months. More →

Three in four IT departments face critical skills gaps

Three in four IT departments face critical skills gaps

ITSkillsoft (NYSE: SKIL), has released its annual Global Knowledge IT Skills and Salary Report, exploring the current state of skills gaps, training and development, compensation, and job satisfaction in the IT industry. More →

Hybrid working could save the NHS more than £4 billion per year

Hybrid working could save the NHS more than £4 billion per year

hybrid workingHybrid working could save the NHS more than £4 billion per year by giving workers more time to look after themselves and their families, according to a new study by Virgin Media O2 Business and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). More →

Built environment sector lacks clarity around its carbon emissions

Built environment sector lacks clarity around its carbon emissions

environmentAccording to new research, the majority (58 percent) of built environment professionals believe the sector is already doing enough to tackle its carbon impact, despite the built environment contributing 36 percent of total global energy-related CO2 emissions, and the most recent available data highlighting that CO2 from operational energy use of buildings reached its highest level yet in 2019. More →

Commercial property markets in major UK cities won’t meet sustainability targets

Commercial property markets in major UK cities won’t meet sustainability targets

Bristol commercial propertySix of the UK’s key regional economic centres risk not achieving their net zero targets, unless significant action is taken to upgrade and improve their commercial property in the next 10 years, according to new analysis by JLL. The report, Sustainability and Value in the Regions, suggests that 90 percent of the office stock in England and Wales’ largest regional office markets is at risk of not meeting the UK government’s target for all non-domestic properties to have an EPC B rating by 2030. These findings come at a time when three of the cities analysed – Birmingham, Bristol (pictured) and Cardiff – have committed to achieving net zero status by 2030. Leeds and Manchester, both aim to be net zero by 2038. More →

Parents are less productive when they feel childcare eats into work-time

Parents are less productive when they feel childcare eats into work-time

childcareParents who feel shame about childcare responsibilities eating into their work-time are less productive when they are working than those who do not feel ashamed, according to new research by Durham University Business School. More →

Majority of employees lack confidence in their company’s return-to-work strategy

Majority of employees lack confidence in their company’s return-to-work strategy

employeesHumanyze has released the second installment of the 2021 Future of Work Report, a holistic analysis of the evolution of work throughout the pandemic and employee sentiments about the post-pandemic future of the workplace. Nearly 2,300 survey responses were collected from individual employees and people managers, and compared to responses from the spring 2021 report, to identify key changes over the last 6 months. More →

Over half of UK employees believe AI skills will make their job easier

Over half of UK employees believe AI skills will make their job easier

employeesAccording to new global research from ABBYY, six-in-ten (64 percent) UK employees say their job is made more difficult through trouble accessing data in documents and one-in-four (27 percent) lose a full day of productivity per week searching documents for information they need to serve customers, higher than the global average. More →

2021 Digital Etiquette study highlights the rise of the invisible workforce

2021 Digital Etiquette study highlights the rise of the invisible workforce

Digital EtiquetteThe 2021 Digital Etiquette Study by Adaptavist, highlights that 43 percent of workers in the UK want to come back to the workplace/office full-time, while the exact same figure (43 percent) favour a flexible/hybrid model and 14 percent want to be remote only. However, as hybrid work increasingly becomes the long-term future for knowledge workers, Adaptavist suggests a growing despair among employees with the tools and technologies they are using to navigate working remotely with many left feeling invisible. More →

Majority of people are overwhelmed by data at work

Majority of people are overwhelmed by data at work

overwhelmedPeople in the UK feel overwhelmed by the amount of data available to them when making critical decisions at work, according to a new study by Oracle NetSuite. The study, which includes insights from 2,000 people across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Nordics and the Middle East, claims that while people believe they have the data to be successful, they are overwhelmed by data quantity and plan to turn to a robot or machine to assist in the decision-making process during the next 12 months. More →

London office market reignites as occupiers implement hybrid working strategies

London office market reignites as occupiers implement hybrid working strategies

LondonResearch from Gerald Eve has highlighted a strong resurgence in activity in the London office market in Q3. Occupier take-up increased 30 percent to 2.8 million sq ft, driven by large commitments by major London occupiers. It was the highest level of occupier activity since before the pandemic and only 7 percent below the five-year quarterly average. More →

Air quality concerns hindering return to five-day office week

Air quality concerns hindering return to five-day office week

officeBusinesses whose personnel are resistant to resuming full-time office working should address the issue of workplace air quality. A survey of UK office workers claims that 80 percent would feel more positive about a return to a five-day office week if action was taken to measure and improve the quality of air in their workplace. More →