January 15, 2020
Employees value physical office design features and amenities that offer them a greater deal of comfort and functionality in the workplace. They especially favour outdoor views, natural light and on-site food services, according to a new report from CBRE based on a survey of 1,600 North American office users. More →
January 15, 2020
A continued disconnect between HR, Finance and business leaders is an important driver of the UK’s enduring low productivity levels, a new report claims. The research commissioned by OrgVue, claims that if better organisational planning was adopted by UK organisations, GDP could be boosted by £10.4 billion due to improved productivity. More →
January 14, 2020
Office design and expectations around professionalism in the workplace are evolving along with the modern workforce in America, according to a new report from researchers at Olivet Nazarene University. The Modern Office Study claims that office design is evolving in parallel with changes in working culture, especially in the way that traditional North American cubicles, which were once the default model of office design in the US, are rapidly being replaced with open plan layouts. The report claims that these are now found in over half of American workplaces. More →
January 10, 2020
New research by Currys PC World in collaboration with technology expert Theo Priestley claims that outdated technology and delays in finding fixes are eating into around 46 minutes of the average employee’s working day, which could cost a business approximately £2,752 a year. Time and money are not the only things lost to outdated technology, however, as half of Brits admit that it has a negative impact on their productivity in their jobs. What’s more, morale can be impacted when employees feel they have to work overtime to make up the time they have lost due to tech issues. More →
January 8, 2020
Over a third of UK employees (39 percent) at small-to-medium sized businesses are unhappy with their jobs and 36 percent believe their employer does too little to retain them, according to new research from People First. Exploring the attitudes of 250 bosses and 250 employees across the UK, the research claims to identify a major difference in outlook as more than eight-in-ten (86 percent) SMB bosses believe they have a happy workforce. More →
January 8, 2020
Three-fifths of UK organisations are still not ready to report their executive pay gap almost twelve months after the legislation came into force, claims a new poll by HR services provider MHR. This year UK listed companies with more than 250 employees are, for the first time, obliged to publish the pay ratio between their CEO and “average” employees in early 2020 and explain the reason for their executive pay ratios. More →
January 7, 2020
Toyota has revealed plans to build a prototype city of the future on a 175-acre site at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. Announced at CES 2020, the global consumer technology show in Las Vegas, the Woven City will be a fully connected ecosystem, powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Envisioned as a “living laboratory,” the city will be home to full-time residents and researchers who will be able to test and develop technologies such as autonomy, robotics, personal mobility, smart homes and artificial intelligence in a real-world environment. More →
January 7, 2020
L’Oréal UK and Ireland has announced that it will be moving from its current office site in Hammersmith to a brand new bespoke building in White City Place, West London, W12. L’Oréal will occupy six floors of the eleven storey building, which is part of the new creative business district White City Place, developed and owned by Stanhope, Mitsui Fudosan and AIMCo. Other occupiers at White City Place include the fashion designers Ralph & Russo, online luxury fashion retailer Yoox-Net-a-Porter, the BBC and ITV Studios. The workforce of 1,000 employees at L’Oréal’s London-based headquarters are due to move in Autumn 2023 to the new building, which is when the company will reach the end of its current lease. Stanhope claims that the space will reflect L’Oréal’s culture, focused on collaboration, creativity and agility. More →
January 6, 2020
The average FTSE 100 boss will have already earned as much by 5pm today as a typical employee will take home this entire year. According to the analysis from the CIPD and the High Pay Centre, those leading Britain’s biggest companies earn 117 times more than the average worker. The CIPD and High Pay Centre are calling on businesses not to treat the new reporting requirements on executive pay as a ‘tick-box’ exercise and to use it as an opportunity to fully explain CEO pay levels. They also highlight the need for firms to provide a clear rationale for why CEOs are paid what they are and what is being done to address the issue of fair pay in their organisation more broadly. They consider this an important step to help build trust in business amongst employees, wider stakeholders and society. More →
January 6, 2020
New research from The University of Salford’s Professor Kirk Chang, Professor of Human Resource Management, claims that workplace gossip can sometimes have a positive impact on employees. Published in the January 2020 issue of The Chinese Journal of Psychology, the study involved 307 employees in 24 companies operating in a range of industries in Taiwan. The research suggests that 61 percent of gossip in the workplace is positive, and while the impact is not hugely significant, it could be considered beneficial. Professor Chang concludes that by encouraging a more open attitude towards positive workplace gossip, water cooler chat should not be viewed as wasting time, but as an important mechanism for facilitating interactions and developing relationships. More →
January 3, 2020
Flexible working has become an important part of the modern UK economy, with over half of employees taking up a flexible working arrangement. However, Nuffield Health’s latest whitepaper The effects of remote working on stress, wellbeing and productivity has found while remote working is associated with higher workplace wellbeing, it can also present many business challenges including the risk of burnout for an increasingly diverse workforce. More →
January 7, 2020
The culling of freelancers with IR35 is a really, really bad idea
by Dean Sadler • Comment, Flexible working