November 5, 2019

World Economic Forum announces major circular economy initiative

The World Economic Forum is creating a new partnership which it claims will harness the potential of technology innovation and smart policy to fast-track the circular economy. WEF claims that SCALE 360 will collaborate with government, business, civil society and entrepreneurs around the world to find bright new ideas that will help us cut the waste in the world’s economies. It defines a circular economy as a regenerative approach to production and consumption, in which products and materials are redesigned, recovered and reused to reduce environmental impacts. Research shows that this transition could generate $4.5 trillion in additional economic output by 2030. More →

November 5, 2019

HR leaders feel unprepared for the future of work

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

Only 9 percent of chief human resources officers (CHROs) agree that their organisation is prepared for the future of work, according to a new report from Gartner. The study ties in to Gartner Gartner ReimagineHR conference, which took place last week. It concludes that to address the needs of organisations and workers in the future, HR leaders must focus on five areas of work. It suggests that tackling the future of work should not mean looking at the various changing aspects of work, such as AI, the gig economy and the multigenerational workforce, in silos. Istead, HR leaders should focus on the big picture of what the future of work can and should look like in their organisation. More →

November 4, 2019

Brexit continues to dampen UK commercial property market

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

The Brexit impasse is contributing to perceptions that the UK Commercial Property Market is in the downturn phase of the property cycle, according to the Q3 2019 RICS UK Commercial Property Market Survey. The latest results suggest that the highest proportion of respondents sensing the overall market is in the downturn phase of the property cycle since the series began in 2015 (+62 percent up from +53 percent in Q2), with anecdotal evidence suggesting that Brexit is having an increasingly detrimental impact on market activity. More →

October 31, 2019

Digitalisation hindered by lack of leadership

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

Despite its importance in staying competitive and accelerating growth, business leaders are not seen as driving their company’s digital transformation, according to Mercer’s latest survey report, ‘Still transforming or already performing?. While 61 percent of UK HR leaders confirm that digitalisation is embedded in their company’s corporate strategy, only 3 out of 5 rate leadership as the main driver of transformation. More →

October 30, 2019

The workplace of the future and its tech must work for the good of society

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Technology, Wellbeing

October 29, 2019

Here is how you should handle racial discrimination in the workplace

by Karen Holden • Comment, Legal news, Workplace

While progress has been made with tackling racial discrimination in recent decades, it is clear that it still lives on in the workplace in less overt and more nuanced forms. A survey commissioned by the Trade Union Congress found that over 70 percent of ethnic minority workers say they have experienced racial harassment at work and around 60 percent state that they have been subject to unfair treatment by their employer. Karen Holden, Founder of A City Law Firm, is keen to outline the laws surrounding racial discrimination in the workplace and exactly what the employers responsibilities are. More →

October 29, 2019

Workplace values matter more than career progression to young dads

by Han Son Lee • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

With recent research showing that over half of young dads (58 percent) are more actively involved in day to day parenting than ever before, it is increasingly important that employers put health and wellbeing and other workplace values at the heart of their offer to employees. In particular, they should be able to offer flexible working options in order to retain their best staff. Our research looking at the Millennial Dad at Work also highlighted starkly that some business sectors are more accommodating than others when it comes to flexible working. Perhaps surprisingly, the construction industry came out of the research very well with 48 percent requesting a change in working hours since becoming a father of which 78 percent of those were successful. The retail sector and the pharmaceutical industry also did well. More →

October 27, 2019

Over 50s account for total five year increase in night working

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The number of people regularly working night shifts is at its highest level since the Office for National Statistics began collecting records in their current form, according to a new analysis from the TUC. The analysis of official data shows that 3.25 million people (more than 1 in 9 workers) work in Britain’s night-time economy – 100,000 more than five years ago. While the number of over 50s doing night work has accelerated in recent years, fewer young workers are doing night shifts. More →

October 25, 2019

Fine tuning office design and its most wonderful invention to our needs

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

The best workplaces are always focused on people. Which is why many of the great pioneers of workplace thinking are from the social sciences, including disciplines such as psychology, ethnography and anthropology. These are the people who have shared the insights that help us to understand the characteristics of great office design. In particular, this relies on an awareness of the ways in which people interact in particular spaces. More →

October 25, 2019

How office design trends in different countries feed off each other

by Steve Elliott • Comment, Workplace design

The term Global Village has passed into general use to describe many of the phenomena we associate with the modern globalised world. But it actually dates back to 1962 when coined by Marshall McLuhan to describe an emerging, electronically contracted world in which cultures converge alongside political, business and legislative frameworks. These forces have been instrumental in bringing nations and organisations closer together and yet each nation continues to be shaped by little differences and residual cultures and conditions. More →

October 25, 2019

The push and pull of the workplace for parents

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

The experiences and attitudes of working parents are explored in two new reports which offer contrasting views on what happens to the careers and skills of mothers and fathers. The first from CWJobs uncovers the fears parents have of being left behind by technology while they take time away from their careers to care for children, while the second looks at the ways in which parenthood might improve people’s skills and ability to deal with complex roles. More →

October 22, 2019

Women less likely to progress at work than male colleagues after childbirth

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Women and men experience a ‘large divergence’ in their career paths in the years following childbirth, according to a study following more than 3,500 new parents. Only 27.8 percent of women are in full-time work or self-employed three years after childbirth, compared to 90 percent of new fathers. And while 26 percent of men have been promoted or moved to a better job in the five years following childbirth, the figure is just 13 percent for women.