Search Results for: health

March 25, 2016

Career development most important driver for employee engagement ⁰

With a lack of career development opportunities being the number one reason why employees leave organizations; employers are increasingly recognizing alternative rewards as an essential component of a competitive total employee rewards strategy. In fact, companies prioritise career development more than other alternative rewards, benefits and bonuses, according to new research by the Hay Group division of Korn Ferry (KFY). Nine in ten organizations (90 percent) surveyed employ four or more alternative methods of rewarding employees (including career development programmes, health and welfare benefits, additional paid time off and other benefits) as part of their HR strategy. More than 8 out of ten organizations surveyed said that alternative rewards are key to being an employer of choice (89 percent), remaining competitive (87 percent) and engaging employees (81 percent). Eighty-seven percent of respondents also agreed that alternative rewards are an important tool in retaining the organization’s existing talent.

March 24, 2016

Flexible working is a more important perk than nap time for employees ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Headline grabbing employee perks such as free catered lunches and massages; whether Google’s free nap times during the day or Netflix’s free unlimited holidays are all very well, but they are hardly the norm. Back in the real world, over half (61 percent) of people in the UK believe they don’t get near enough employee incentives at work. Yet, when losing and hiring employees is far more costly than keeping current employees happy and motivated – for instance, an Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) study revealed that 17 percent of employees claimed they were looking for a new career due to feeling under-appreciated in their place of work – it might be wise to find out what employees really want. Workplace services supplier Direct365 did just that and discovered that workers want perks that they can relate to and enjoy, and which cater towards and take into consideration their individual needs. Unsurprisingly, flexible working is at the top of the list.

March 23, 2016

The choice of a clear or messy workplace is an expression of personality ⁰

by Michael Page • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

When it comes to each individual’s working space and workstation area, a question that is always worth asking (and often is) is whether it is best to back off and let people customise their immediate surroundings to fit with their own tastes and needs or whether a company-wide tidy desk policy and uniformity of approach be imposed to protect a specific look and standard. One factor that is relevant is that there seems to be a pendulum swing between aesthetics and wellbeing going on at the moment, with many companies going back and forth in pursuit of the best approach. A study, conducted a few years ago by psychological scientist Professor Kathleen Vohs, along with a number of other researchers from the University of Minnesota, considered the behaviour of people working on both messy and clean desks and found that the individuals working in messier spaces came up with more creative and interesting results in their work overall.

March 22, 2016

While politicians squabble, here’s what the Budget meant for the workplace ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Legal news, Workplace, Workplace design

Strange as it may seem now, there was a Budget last week. We’d planned to produce a report on it once the dust had settled but given that whatever dust had originally been kicked up has now been swept away by a political storm, it’s only now we feel able to offer some perspective a few days out. As ever these days, the budget touched on a number of aspects of the workplace, sometimes hitting the mark and sometimes suggesting politicians don’t yet understand how people work. There was the usual stuff about rates and commercial property but also plenty to digest about the freelance economy, productivity, new technology, flexible working legislation and the current, often faltering attempts to develop wealth and infrastructure as well as the 21st Century creative and digital economy in places other than London. There’s plenty to digest here and plenty of people have already had their say, so a chance to grab a coffee and take all or some of it in.

March 19, 2016

The Insight newsletter for March 18 is available to view online ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Newsletter, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

In this week’s Insight Newsletter; Mark Eltringham on the seven ways flexible working is chaining us more firmly to work and why there are more ways than one of providing recyclable office furniture. Google scales back its plans for its Californian campus; US businesses waste up to $1.8 trillion annually on mundane tasks; new guidance is published on delivering sustainable fit outs; and many organisations only hold on to paper-based document for their signature. Confirmation that companies that don’t offer their employees a convenient location and appealing workplace are more likely to lose them; Hong Kong and London are the world’s most expensive office locations and the unhealthy effects of commuting by car. Download our latest Insight Briefing, produced in partnership with Connection, on how the boundless office can be freed from the shackles of time and place and access the latest issue of Work&Place. Visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

March 18, 2016

Increase in commercial office take up across Europe expected to continue ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

The commercial property occupier markets across Europe recorded healthy improvements in activity during 2015, with the total take-up in the major office markets rising by 10 percent, according to Knight Frank’s latest European Quarterly Report. Although there was a drop in take-up in Europe’s two largest markets, London and Paris, this was made up by the strong performance of German, Iberian and Central and Eastern Europe markets. Commercial property rents rose by around 3.5 percent over the course of 2015, largely due to growth in markets such as Dublin, London, Madrid and Stockholm. Rental growth is expected to spread to a wider range of cities in 2016 with Paris, for example, expected to see prime office rents rise following more than two years of stability. A total of €64.5 billion was invested in European commercial property in Q4 2015, taking volumes for the full year to €238.5 billion. This represents a 25 percent increase on 2014.

March 16, 2016

A new guide to delivering successful sustainable fit-out projects ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

Today marks the publication of a new guide which claims to help contractors and end-users deliver sustainable fit-out projects. Published by trade body the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), the Fit-out environmental good practice on site guide (C757) claims to be a more practical guide than other publications and standards and addresses the most important challenges for those responsible for fit-outs across a range of sectors including offices, retail, education, leisure and health. The authors claim that the fit-out sector faces unique challenges that include the need for a quick turnaround of projects, the need to control costs as well as deal with project specific site constraints. The guide aims to help the managers of fit-out projects to meet these challenges as well as helping them to deliver projects that are sustainable both during the fit-out phase, occupancy and the life of the completed project.

March 11, 2016

What that story about menstrual leave teaches us about flexible working ⁰

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

There’s nothing that makes you yearn more for the end of humanity quite like the comments section on a website. There is such a direct correlation between your zeal for the apocalypse and the amount you expose yourself to the fetid bullshit that seeps from some people’s heads on to the Internet that you could graph it pretty accurately, with an especially steep curve formed by the stuff that lie below the surface of YouTube videos and certain newspaper articles. It’s wise to limit your exposure to this stuff because whenever you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back into you. Occasionally though, the eye may drift below the content and catch a glimpse of how a lot of people think. One example cropped up recently when it was announced that a Bristol based company called Coexist had decided to offer its women employees menstrual leave, meaning they could work from home or take time out if they felt they needed it.

March 9, 2016

The nine workplace trends every organisation must learn to address ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

The latest company to set out its vision of workplace trends is food services provider Sodexo. The company’s 2016 Workplace Trends Report suggests there are nine key areas that managers should address, each linked by the common theme of striking the right balance between the organisation’s commercial objectives and the needs of its stakeholders. The report is a detailed meta-analysis based on primary research, client feedback and research from academics, trade associations and FM providers. The report covers the most talked about themes in workplace design and management including wellness, work-life balance, diversity, green building and workforce engagement. The authors acknowledge the challenge firms face in striking the balance between these complex and conflicting demands and call for an ‘holistic’ approach to resolve them (which may suggest they have as much of an idea about the right answers as anybody else).

March 8, 2016

Eight in ten women believe gender discrimination still prevalent at work ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

Today is International Women’s Day, which marks the official day of the year when gender equality across the world comes under the spotlight. In the UK, a poll by Investors in People found that 8 in 10 of women (83 percent) in full time employment believe gender discrimination is still present in the workplace. According to the poll of 2000 employees almost half of women (45 percent) think they have personally experienced discrimination in the workplace because of their gender. And what is depressingly unsurprisingly to many women is that when the poll explored employee perceptions of gender discrimination versus the reality, 30 percent of men believe there is no difference between men and women’s pay, when according to the facts, women are earning on average 19 percent less than men an hour (UKCES, 2015). More encouragingly though, 41 percent of employees believe their workplace has a culture of encouraging gender equality, a statistic that has room for growth.

March 8, 2016

Classrooms are starting to mimic the form and function of the office ⁰

by Tricia McCall • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Technology is not the only factor impacting the way education is being approached in the classrooms of today. While it’s true that many classrooms have begun to adapt to the inclusion of technology in the curriculum, there are also several “offline” options which have clearly trickled down from business design. Globally known companies such as Google and Apple have long been getting attention for the offbeat office culture they are cultivating. This trend has been fanning out into the other companies and industries as well. In-house chefs, rock climbing walls, and unconventional meeting spaces are a few of the unusual features popping up in offices all over the globe. Employers are striving to entice potential job candidates and retain their existing employees through unique and engaging environments. It may well be that the bells have already tolled for the conventional cubicle culture of the past.

March 2, 2016

Why WELL rather than green is the new black in building design ⁰

by Darren Bilsborough • Comment, Environment, Facilities management, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Businesses that seek to occupy premium or grade A office accommodation are traditionally seduced by the next big thing. What was once a bespoke architectural design, then became an icon, a taller building, one made of glass and finally the inevitable iconic, tall, glass tower. Now it seems a good number of those businesses have moved on to green buildings as a must have upgrade to the skyscrapers of glass and steel. Green, it appears, is the new black. But is that really the next big thing or is being green merely the last big thing? Even worse, does going green in terms of building design actually deliver the types of benefits that an occupier or landlord was anticipating, beyond the significance of branding and an alignment with grade A quality office space? The green building narrative is a particularly powerful one and the growth of LEED and BREEAM rated buildings over the last decade is proof of that power.