Search Results for: opportunities

October 26, 2015

An updated green building standard designed to meet wider business objectives ⁰

by Sue Gregson • Comment, Facilities management, Legal news, Property

The publication in September 2015 of the revised ISO 14001 Global Environmental Management Standard has been heralded as a move that will “shift business focus on the environment from compliance with regulations and direct operations, to placing the environment at the heart of thinking and strategy.” This will assist businesses around the world to respond to increasing global sustainability challenges and ensure long-term business success. Currently there are over 300,000 organisations worldwide that are certified to the ISO 14001 Standard, first published in 1996. According to the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, (IEMA) ISO 14001 is the second most used standard companies employ to manage their performance globally, with 171 countries now represented. Its popularity as a management tool has been linked to both improved financial and environmental performance.

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 13, 2015

Small business demand for coworking space ‘set to soar’ in the UK ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News, Property

New research from the UK solicitors network QualitySolicitors claims that demand for flexible coworking space is set to soar, with 71 percent of SMEs predicting this to be a priority for them in the short and medium term. According to the study of 250 small business decision makers, over two fifths (42 percent) believe that having a flexible and adaptable space where they can grow is ‘more important’, almost a fifth (18 percent) say it’s important to be able to interact and collaborate on ideas with other businesses in their premises and a further 39 percent are looking for a workspace with networking opportunities. It’s not just the space that needs to be flexible however; over half (54 percent) claim they want flexible, short term lets when negotiating their lease and 53 percent would demand a break clause to prevent them from being tied down if the space is no longer practical for their business.

October 7, 2015

Millennial workers value variety over job security and tenure ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Employers may continuously be looking at ways to engage staff to ensure they still loyal to the organisation, but according to new research it seems they needn’t bother. Over one third (37 percent) of US workers — regardless of their satisfaction level — are seriously considering leaving their organizations, up from 33 percent of the workforce who were considering leaving in 2011. According to Mercer’s latest Inside Employees’ Mind research, which surveyed 3,000 people representing a complete cross-section of the US workforce, nearly one out of two employees who said they are very satisfied with their organizations and their jobs (45 percent and 42 percent, respectively) are still looking to leave. And perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s the Millennial workers who seem to value accelerated career paths and diversity (in the workplace and the work itself) over job security and tenure.

September 30, 2015

Case studies illustrate key role of HR in transformational change ⁰

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

A growing understanding of the importance of breaking down silos between workplace disciplines has resulted in initiatives such as the launch of the Workplace Conversation. Now a new report from the CIPD and the University of Bath, features four change management case studies that demonstrate what can be achieved when HR becoming an integral part of the team responsible for designing and implementing all the processes required during periods of transformational change. The report, Landing transformational change: Closing the gap between theory and practice features BBC Worldwide, HMRC, News UK and Zurich UK Life and reveal that in all these cases, the HR function was most successful when it facilitated action, enabling managers to inject their own customisation to suit the needs of their divisions, rather than adopting a more centralised approach to implementing change.

September 29, 2015

Fifth of employers not productive enough to afford Living Wage warns CIPD ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

Although the UK has experienced two years of solid economic growth, a fifth (21 percent) of organisations are still stuck in survival mode and aren’t making the necessary investments in equipment or people to boost their productivity a new report from the CIPD has revealed. A further 29 percent of employers are failing to get the right balance between investment in their workforce and investment in technology and equipment. Investing in Productivity found a clear link between an organisation’s mindset and its approach to investment, which could help to explain the UK’s poor productivity performance in recent years. The CIPD’s chief economist Mark Beatson warns that too many businesses are being held back by an ‘ambition ceiling’ which is preventing them from making the productivity gains needed to achieve business growth and implement the new National Living Wage without risk of job cuts.

September 24, 2015

Weighing up the pros and cons of the BREEAM environmental standard ⁰

by Charles Marks • Comment, Environment, Facilities management, Workplace design

For some years there has been a growing awareness of the need to improve the environmental performance of buildings. This is closely linked to both the Government’s own international commitments to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent over the next 35 years and the need of organisations to act ethically and cut costs while they’re about it. Buildings are important in this regard because of their impact on the environment (and the bottom line). According to The Carbon Trust, buildings produce around 37 percent of the UK’s total carbon emissions, 40 percent of it from commercial buildings.This is commendable stuff but the real problems arise when it comes to meeting such laudable goals in practice. We are learning all the time about how to achieve the best results and we are helped in that with the availability of a number of increasingly sophisticated building environmental standards.

September 22, 2015

The worldwide demographic timebomb is transforming the workplace ⁰

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

There are a number of reasons why we shouldn’t be drawn into blindly accepting the narrative about Generation Y’s impact on the workplace. It seems the most important is also the least talked about. It is that the workforce is actually ageing in the world’s leading economies. While it may be true that 27 is middle -aged for employees at technology companies, for pretty much everybody else, shifting demographics, longer lives, improving health, falling pensions and changing personal preferences are likely to mean they stay in the workforce for longer. This is true in both the UK and US, where Millennials may make up the largest demographic grouping in the workplace but are still in a minority within an increasingly diverse workforce. The dynamics of these changes are playing out in different ways in different countries, but the forces are essentially universal.

September 18, 2015

What Robert Frost can teach us about the changing workplace

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology

The great Twentieth Century American poet Robert Frost is arguably best known these days for two quotations that have – usually in bastardised versions – entered into common usage. The first is the final verse of his poem The Road Not Taken, and especially the final three lines: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I /I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.” The second is a quotation: “The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office”; which should be pinned up in every reception area and is usually rendered as something like ‘when you get to work, don’t leave your brain at the door.’ Both come to mind when you read something like the report entitled ‘Next Generation Working Life’ from Ericsson’s Networked Society Lab.

September 16, 2015

Employees exhausted by a culture of continuous change at work ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

A culture of continuous change may be standard practice within larger organisations, but it can have a negative effect on employees, a new report claims. The seven-country Liquid Change Survey of senior executives at large corporations, commissioned by Ketchum Change, found that some leaders are unaware of the effects of so-called change fatigue, despite their employees struggle to keep up. Among partners and board-level executives, only 28 percent think change fatigue is highly prevalent. The survey suggests that to succeed in an environment of continuous change, a more collaborative approach must replace the old top-downmodel. Outlining a clear strategy and goals (43 percent) and engaging with leaders across the organization to co-create the new environment (41 percent) were cited as the most effective ways to get leaders to believe in and actively lead through change.

September 14, 2015

Staff already dreading the advent of Gen Z at work, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Wellbeing, Workplace

If, like us, you’ve grown tired of the endless media focus on Generation Y and its often unfair portrayal based on a clump of stereotypes, then brace yourself. Generation Z, defined as people currently under the age of 19, is now entering the workforce and, according to a new study commissioned by Ricoh Europe, the three demographics it will join at work are dreading it. Nearly two thirds (63 percent) of Baby Boomer, Generation X and Generation Y employees surveyed in in Europe, Middle East and Asia say they expect workplace tensions to increase with the arrival of a fourth generation and half (52 percent) say their employers are already failing to meet the needs of different generations in the workplace. More positively, there was almost universal agreement (89 percent) amongst the 3,300 respondents that a diverse workforce is an asset to a business.

September 11, 2015

London’s allure for Millennials is less than it was, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

The allure of London for Generation Y appears to be fading, according to a new report from Lloyds Commercial Banking. According to the study of 200 Millennials and 400 SMEs, the most talked about Generation appears increasingly happy to work for a small firm, wherever they are located. The survey claims that relocating to London is not on the agenda for half (51 percent) of Millennials, who would be happy to move anywhere for the right job. Over a third (35 percent) don’t want to move away from home, while less than a tenth (eight percent) insist they will only work in the capital – which the report claims is good news for SMEs located outside of London (assuming they want to employ Millennials in the first place, obviously). According to the report, location ranked seventh on the list of factors that would attract Millennials to a business.