Search Results for: wellbeing

February 17, 2015

Why would you want a Google office when you can create your own?

by Maciej Markowski • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace design

Google has dramatically shaken up the world of the Internet and also changed the face of the traditional office environment forever. Nothing has ever been the same, since the ubiquitous four-colour logo first appeared on the worldwide web. Everything that Google does creates a ripple in the business world. Whether it’s giving employees 20% of their time to focus on their own projects, allowing them to form teams to peruse the idea of their choice or installing slides instead of stairs many are asking “should we also be doing that?” And it’s not surprising. All companies want to be successful and there’s no better success story around than Google. So let’s try and model ourselves on or imitate Google, right? I have lost count of how many times I’ve heard “could we have an office a bit more like Google?”

(more…)

February 16, 2015

Two fifths of employees say work has a negative impact on their health

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Millions of the UK’s workforce feel they’re putting their heart health at risk due to the pressures of their job, according to a new survey carried out by the British Heart Foundation during the charity’s Heart Month. The survey shows that a large number of employees feel their working life leads them to eat a poor diet, not doing enough exercise and drinking and smoking more than is good for them. The BHF is calling for employers to encourage their workforce to spend at least 10 minutes a day improving their lifestyle during February. The survey found two in five (41 percent) people feel their job has had a negative impact on their health in the last five years, with more than half (55 percent) saying they have become more stressed as a result of their job over the same time period.

(more…)

February 12, 2015

RIBA calls for next Parliament to focus on the built environment

by Sara Bean • Architecture, News, Property, Public Sector

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has called on all parliamentary candidates to focus on the built environment in the forthcoming general election. Along with a renewed focus on building more quality homes and schools, RIBA is campaigning for improving the planning process; developing flood-proof communities; delivering energy efficient buildings and retrofitting those that are not; and providing a good quality built environment to accommodate an ageing population and encourage more people to become healthier. The #BuildaBetterBritain campaign is based on RIBA’s report and recommendations, Building a Better Britain: A vision for the next Government. RIBA has created a campaign website to enable architects and constituents to find and make contact with their candidates.

(more…)

February 4, 2015

Flexible workers returning to the office to re-engage with employers

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

Research by office furniture maker Steelcase claims to show that the cost of disengaged employees is having a major impact on the performance of businesses. As a result many are now encouraging staff to spend more time in the office and working alongside colleagues as a way of re-engaging them. The report claims that in the UK only 83 percent of employees say they are disengaged at work with just 17 percent claiming to be actively engaged, compared to 30 percent in the US. This level of disengagement should be of serious concern for organisations, according to Catherine Gall, Director, Design Alliances for Steelcase.”Speaking at the HR Directors summit in Birmingham this week, she said: “The impact of employee engagement – or the lack of it – cannot be underestimated. It is a global issue and is affecting a wide range of companies.”

(more…)

January 29, 2015

Wellness programmes may be causing more problems than they solve

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Far from making employees healthier, a corporate focus on their wellness may actually be making them unhappier and more prone to illnesses. That is the conclusion of a new book published by two researchers at Cass Business School and Stockholm University. In the book, The Wellness Syndrome, the authors Andre Spicer and Carl Cederström claim that the fixation with monitoring wellbeing and initiating wellness programmes may be having the obverse effect to that intended. The book argues that an obsession with wellness obliges some people to pretend to be happy at work, even when they are not and that the pressure to fit with a corporate notion of what constitutes a ‘well’ person makes them depressed and anxious that they will be labelled by their employer and colleagues if they don’t fit an ideal.

(more…)

January 16, 2015

‘Squeezed generation’ of middle-aged workers take most sick days

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employers’ concerns regarding the ageing workforce are usually based on the belief older workers will tend to struggle more with health problems. However, new data from AXA PPP healthcare reveals it’s the middle band of workers (30-49) that take more sick days than any other age group; averaging 2.3 sick days in the past six months; with a quarter of these workers taking three or four days off sick. Twelve per cent of this middle age group have taken the equivalent of a working week off sick (5 or 6 days) in the past six months, double the number of 18-29 year olds (6%) and just 5 per cent of those 50-69. This ‘squeezed generation,’ faced with the pressures of balancing work and home, takes least positive steps to help ensure good health; has a fairly negative outlook regarding their jobs and is more stressed than other age group.

(more…)

January 14, 2015

Bosses failing to tackle workplace bullying say staff

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The majority (91 percent) of staff polled on bullying at work say their employers do not deal adequately with the problem and over three quarters (78 percent) are reluctant to complain for fear of their job. According to charity Family Lives, the anxiety associated with workplace bullying greatly affects emotional health and wellbeing. Of the 1,500 workers it polled, 73 percent said the bullying was verbal, including threats, whereas 60 percent felt the bullying was social, including being excluded, ignored and isolated. Two thirds (66 percent) of respondents witnessed bullying at work with 43 percent stating they were bullied by their line manager, 38 percent bullied by a colleague and 20 percent bullied by SMT or CEO.

(more…)

January 12, 2015

Aging workforce driving uptake of flexible working in UK firms

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A growing number of employers see flexible working arrangements as an important tool for meeting the needs of their aging workforce, according to a new report from insurance industry trade association Group Risk Development (GRiD). The report highlights how changing attitudes, demographics, longer life expectancy and the abolition of the UK’s Default Retirement Age three years ago have encouraged employers to look at how to foster the wellbeing and meet the needs of older employees. Over a quarter (27 percent) of the 500 UK businesses who took part in the study had introduced flexible working specifically to meet the needs of their ageing workforce and many (22 percent) of employers said dealing with an ageing workforce was among their top three wellbeing issues.

(more…)

January 8, 2015

Report outlines steps firms can take to banish the workplace blues

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The back to work blues following the festive holidays are a challenge for businesses and their employees. However, new research from office furniture maker Steelcase claims that prioritising employees’ wellbeing at work is one way to help employers and staff overcome their annual seasonal hurdle. The study of the link between workers’ wellbeing and the business’s bottom line claims that employees who are in a positive frame of mind are not only healthier, but more productive at work and better able to deal with workplace challenges. Steelcase has also produced a list of measures that the firm claims can help to create a working environment that looks after the wellbeing of employees and helps them to become more productive.

(more…)

December 17, 2014

Flexible working is best built on the foundations of a great office

by Charles Marks • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

It’s getting on for two years since Yahoo’s much talked about decision in 2013 to ban its staff from homeworking but, in many ways, the fallout has continued ever since. Certainly a lot of commentary on the subject refers back to CEO Marissa Mayer’s trend bucking decision. This can only be because it was a defining event in what is an enduring debate about where we work and what that means for a range of factors including our productivity, wellbeing, sense of belonging, access to information, the way we structure our time and our ability to communicate with and develop relationships with our fellow human beings. If those things were the same regardless of how and where we worked, there would be no discussion in the first place. But they do make a difference and there is a discussion.

(more…)

December 9, 2014

UK employers lag behind on the importance they place on workplace health

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Two in five (40%) of UK employees say their employer offers no health or wellbeing benefits, a new study on workplace health has revealed. Although the research, conducted by Bupa, found that two thirds (64%) of UK employers agreed that a healthy workforce is a more productive one, two in five (40%) employees said their employer offers no health or wellbeing benefits. Three in ten (28%) employees went as far as saying that when it comes to wellbeing, their company is all talk but no action. UK employers lag behind many other countries on the importance they place on workplace health. Just 57 per cent of UK employers agreed that good health makes good business sense compared to 85 per cent in Australia and 82 per cent in Poland. Meanwhile just over half (58%) of UK employers think that an unhealthy workforce is a risk to business performance compared to 81 per cent in New Zealand and 80 per cent in Spain.

(more…)

November 24, 2014

Latest Insight newsletter: weaving together the strands of people, place and technology

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Newsletter

The latest issue of the Insight weekly newsletter is now available to view online. This week; reflecting on the key messages of this year’s Worktech conference, Sara Bean and Mark Eltringham concur that while the office may be entering a new phase, we still have a need for human interaction and a place we call the workspace. Ergonomics expert Lee Jones warns that the leap in the number of cases of workplace musculoskeletal disorders is a reminder there is a world of difference between an iPad on a sofa and a PC on a workstation and Sam Robins comments on Government plans to measure wellbeing. In news; why the UK’s largest companies are calling for the greater uptake of flexible working, green building credentials become a driver of investment performance and the gender pay gap reaches its lowest point in history. If you don’t already receive a copy, please sign up using the simple subscription form in the right hand sidebar and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.