Search Results for: jobs

May 27, 2015

Smart buildings, smart cities and the promise of infinite data

by Paul Doherty • Cities, Comment, Facilities management, Technology

The rapid urbanization of our world and the weaving of existing and new buildings into the urban fabric of Smart City initiatives are some of the great challenges facing our global industry today. Along with the vast amount of definitions and marketing campaigns surrounding the phrase “Smart Cities” comes the challenge of understanding why the movement is important to the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Facility Management (AEC/FM) industry and how industry stakeholders can profit from, or at the very least, not get run over by the tsunami called Smart Cities. The emergence of Smart Cities as the conduit for ideas, thoughts, policies and strategies for the world’s urban environments is an important milestone for our industry, and it comes at a time of rapid innovation, convergence and redefinitions.

May 19, 2015

Lateness and constant whining are most annoying office habits

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

Someone who is perpetually late is the most annoying workplace colleague according to a new survey of UK office workers, although only a third are prepared to do anything about it. However, just over 40 percent of respondents said that this kind of behaviour made them consider leaving their jobs with a striking five percent having actually followed through with such a decision. Colleagues who whine all the time were found to be the second most annoying people, the study into annoying office habits by Viking reveals. Misspent time was a key theme amongst the top five habits on the list of twenty, with excessive smoking breaks and deliberate procrastination taking top positions. Contrary to popular belief, jargon isn’t the most annoying practice to plague our offices. In fact, both men and women rated jargon in the bottom three.

May 18, 2015

Sedentary working has led to weight gain for over a third of workers

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

More than two in five workers (41 percent) admit they have gained weight at their current jobs, with 18 percent confessing they have gained more than 10 pounds a survey from CareerBuilder.co.uk claims. Only 13 percent of workers claim they’ve lost weight in their current job with sedentary working, exhaustion and time constraints all being identified as obstacles to staying fit. The majority of workers (68 percent) say their employers do not provide gym passes, access to workout facilities or wellbeing benefits. Of these, 41 percent claim they would take advantage of such opportunities, yet only a quarter (24 percent) say their company provides such incentives. Over half of workers (58 percent) also spend most of their time sitting at their desk during the day and skipping proper meals due to time constraints.

May 12, 2015

Commuting costs the UK £148 billion annually, claims new report

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

In spite of the growth of flexible working in the UK, commuting to an office each day costs British workers and the national economy some £148 billion annually. That is the key finding of a new report from recruitment firm Randstad. The study claims that an average commute for staff in the UK covers around 22 miles, taking around 43 minutes. The report claims that the time spent commuting continues to increase as people move further away from their main place of work, especially in the South East and North West of England. London workers – unsurprisingly – spend more than anybody else on commuting. There are also major differences across sectors with the workers in financial services, accountancy and IT industries subject to the most costly commutes.

May 11, 2015

Does declining productivity spell the end for IT and property directors?

by John Blackwell • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Technology, Work&Place

When it comes to increasing organisational output, which in turn directly relates to real wage growth and higher living standards, the only determinant is productivity, measured in terms of output per hour worked. This is at the heart of all businesses and is essential for growth. The basic facts on productivity are clear. For over a decade, productivity has been painfully weak across all the major economies. The UK has performed particularly badly, with productivity having declined by 3.7 percent since 2008. A recent OECD report went as far as saying: “weak labour productivity since 2004 has been holding back real wages and well-being. The sustainability of economic expansion and further progress in living standards rest on boosting productivity growth, which is a key challenge for the coming years”.

May 8, 2015

The death of the office has been overstated but it is changing, study confirms

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Workplace design

The implications for the property industry of more efficient space planning models and the uptake of flexible working are laid bare in a new report from planning and design consultancy Nathaniel, Lichfield and Partners (NLP). The headline figure from the report, Workspace Futures: The changing dynamics of office locations is that the office stock in England and Wales rose by 17 percent in the twelve years to 2012 while the numbers of office based staff increased by around 21 percent. The report includes details on how these trends affect 11 key locations including Manchester, Cambridge, Bristol, Newcastle and Reading and concludes that while ‘the death of the office has been largely overstated’, the market is undergoing structural changes that need to be addressed by developers and government.

May 8, 2015

Cautious welcome by IoD to plans for a Digital Single Market across Europe

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Technology

The Institute of Directors has given a cautious welcome to the plans announced by the European Commission this week to create a Digital Single Market across Europe. At present, online barriers means businesses are not fully benefitting from digital tools; there is less opportunity for cross border selling and Internet companies and start-ups are unable to take full advantage of growth opportunities online. The aim of the Digital Single Market is to remove regulatory walls and eventually move from 28 national markets to a single one. According to the European Commission, a fully functional Digital Single Market could contribute €415 billion per year to the economy and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

May 6, 2015

TfL to occupy first commercial property at International Quarter

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Company news, News, Property

Construction is to begin this summer on the first of a number of office buildings planned for the second stage of the International Quarter, a £2.1 billion mixed-use development in Stratford in East London. Transport for London (TfL) has signed a pre-let with Lend Lease and London and Continental Railways (LCR) to occupy all of the space in the 265,000 sq ft commercial property. An estimated 3,000 TfL workers will relocate to the International Quarter’s new offices and, once completed, an estimated 25,000 people will work at and visit the site each day. The developers claim they are in discussions with other tenants about moving to The International Quarter – which, at a total of four million square feet, will be one of the largest new commercial property developments in the capital.

May 5, 2015

UK digital infrastructure struggling to keep pace with demand

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

The UK is struggling to create the digital infrastructure it needs to keep up with burgeoning employment and investment levels in new technology. A new study from IT recruitment firm Experis claims there has been an 18 per cent increase in the number of permanent job roles in the IT sector advertised across the UK in the first quarter of 2015. Meanwhile, a report from Santander’s commercial business division claims that the UK’s SMEs are planning to invest £53bn in digital business over the next two years. All of this should be good news except for the fact that digital experts are warning that the UK is about to hit the digital buffers over the next two decades, according to experts who will present their findings to the Royal Society next week.

April 27, 2015

How remote working employees go rogue in search of productivity ⁰

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

Although many European employees now spend long hours each week working remotely, many of them don’t think their employers provide them with the tools they need to do their jobs properly and so go ‘rogue’ to find the best ways of communicating with each other and using information. That is the key finding of a new study from internal communications specialist Newsweaver which explores the ways remote working employees use mobile devices. It found that while one in five workers across the EU now spend at least ten hours a week working remotely, 41 per cent do not believe that the tools their company provides meet their needs. They therefore choose to use their own apps instead. This fact is well understood by IT teams with three out of four technology managers admitting they are offering staff outdated tools.

April 24, 2015

Are these this year’s ten most sustainable buildings in North America? ⁰

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

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected what they claim are the nation’s top ten examples of sustainable architecture and ecological design projects. The COTE Top Ten Awards program, now in its 19th year, claims to be the profession’s most rigorous recognition program for sustainable buildings. The program highlights projects that are the result of an “integrated approach to architecture, natural systems and technology … which make a positive contribution to their communities, improve comfort for building occupants and reduce environmental impacts through strategies such as reuse of existing structures, connection to transit systems, low-impact and regenerative site development, energy and water conservation, use of sustainable or renewable construction materials, and design that improves indoor air quality.”

April 14, 2015

The workplace as a strategic resource: a real life CEO’s perspective

by Jim Ware • Facilities management, Furniture, Workplace design

Raise your hand if you agree: “The workplace is obviously a strategic resource.” We facilities management professionals know that to be true. But if you often feel like a voice in the wilderness when speaking to anyone other than a fellow workplace professional, you are not alone. For many if not most senior executives, their facilities are a necessary evil that always cost too much. That reality frustrates me as much as it does you. So my colleague Paul Carder and I conducted two extensive research projects in 2012 and 2013 aimed at making the case (mostly to FM professionals themselves) that facilities and workplaces are incredibly strategic – and very poorly understood. And while we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about the work, we haven’t seen much change in mindsets, management practices or outcomes.