Search Results for: budget

February 19, 2018

Employers support post-Brexit immigration system that tackles skills and labour shortages

Demand for labour is likely to remain relatively strong in the near-term which is one of the main reasons why employers support a national approach to tackling the UK’s skill and labour shortages post-Brexit, in comparison with a regional or sectoral one. According to the latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook from the CIPD and The Adecco Group the preference for a national labour or skills shortage occupation scheme reflects the main reason given by organisations for employing EU nationals, which is that they have difficulty finding local applicants to fill lower skilled roles, as cited by 18 percent of employers. The national survey of more than 2,000 employers found that the relative majority of employers (41 percent) would prefer a UK-wide immigration system that is based on national labour or skill shortage occupations in the likely event of migration restrictions once the UK leaves the European Union. In contrast, around one in ten (13 percent) favour a sector-based policy and just 5 percent would back a regional policy.

January 29, 2018

New RSA report highlights increasingly precarious and diverse nature of work

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

Britain is dividing into seven new classes of worker as the gig economy grows, according to think-tank the RSA (the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). Striving, Thriving or Just About Surviving has been published to coincide with the launch of the RSA’s Future Work Centre, following RSA chief executive Matthew Taylor’s employment review for Theresa May last year. The report warns of a 30:40:30 society: while around 30 percent live comfortably, economic insecurity is “the new normal” with 40 percent just managing and a bottom 30 percent not managing to get by.

January 18, 2018

Occupiers concerned about lack of innovation from commercial property sector

by Mark Eltringham • Coworking, News, Property

The UK’s productivity is lagging behind other G7 countries and property directors are concerned that landlords’ lack of proactivity around commercial property innovation may hamper efforts to move the UK up the productivity league table, according to the newly published results of a survey carried out at the Property Directors Forum in December 2017, hosted by Avison Young. Attendees at the event held at The Royal Society of Chemistry, Piccadilly, were asked to provide their thoughts on property innovation and the role that landlords have in leading the way. The survey revealed that not one of the property directors have been approached by their landlord(s), proactively, to discuss property innovation and, in fact, 40 percent of directors reported their landlord as being reluctant to innovate.

January 9, 2018

SMEs employers’ recruitment strategies have altered as a result of Brexit

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Half of SMEs (50 percent) questioned in a new survey have changed the way that they recruit their staff as a result of Brexit. The Albion Growth Report 2017 of more than 1,000 SMEs suggests that for businesses which have changed their strategy as a result of Brexit, 15 percent have decreased recruitment resources, 10 percent have begun recruiting in different ways and 9 percent have made redundancies. A difficulty in finding skilled staff is one of the biggest barriers to growth, behind broader political uncertainty and cash flow, which the research claims could lead to a potential war for talent which is likely to become more intense in the post-Brexit environment. By contrast, SMEs view difficulty in finding unskilled staff as the least significant barrier to growth. The report finds that nearly two thirds (65 percent) of SMEs believe their business lacks expertise. More than a quarter (26 percent) of businesses lack marketing talent, followed by business planning (19 percent), IT (17 percent), and software developers and technology specialists (17 percent). Despite critical skills deficits, only a third of SMEs (33 percent) are currently hiring new employees.

December 22, 2017

Five employment law milestones from the past year we need to remember in 2018

by Lucy Gordon • Comment, Workplace

The past twelve months have been an eventful period for employment law; from the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the rights of EU Nationals working in the UK, to the mounting attention on employee data protection as the GDPR edges ever closer. Issues of Employment Tribunal fees, holiday pay and the gig economy have similarly captivated headlines, and these significant milestones from the past 12 months are set to have a big impact on the challenges facing the sector into 2018. More →

December 20, 2017

CIPD predicts tighter labour market and continued poor productivity next year

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

There is little evidence that the pay squeeze will end soon, with only falling inflation likely to lead to meaningful wage increases next year. This is according to a CIPD analysis, which predicts that 2018 will see pay, productivity and migration top the agenda as the UK looks ahead to its exit from the European Union. It adds that the UK workforce could tighten, and with increased constraints on labour supply, 2018 could be the year that the UK finally runs out of people to fill jobs, despite unemployment levels being unlikely to see much change. There are also indications there will be no improvement in productivity, with continued stagnation in UK productivity, which will remain well below pre-crash levels. In the CIPD’s annual labour market predictions, Ian Brinkley, Acting Chief Economist, anticipates a flattening of employment growth and weak pay growth as the UK continues to struggle with its productivity problem.

November 30, 2017

Government targets 50 percent cut in greenhouse gases from the built environment

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

The UK government has set some ambitious targets for construction and the environmental performance of buildings following the announcement of a Sector Deal for the construction sector. The sector deal was an integral part of the Industrial Strategy White Paper published earlier this week. In a statement, Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark revealed more details of the deal supported by £170m of government investment and £250m of match funding from the built environment sector. The announcement sets out ambitious new targets for the built environment and infrastructure including a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gases and a third reduction in the costs of construction and whole life costs of buildings.

November 28, 2017

Government unveils Industrial Strategy to boost productivity and wealth

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Technology

The UK government has published its ‘ambitious’ Industrial Strategy, which it claims sets out a long-term vision for how Britain can build on its economic strengths, address its productivity performance, embrace technological change and boost the earning power of people across the UK. With the aim of making the UK the world’s most innovative nation by 2030, the government has committed to investing a further £725 million over the next 3 years in the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) to respond to some of the greatest global challenges and the opportunities faced by the UK. This will include £170 million to ‘transform the construction sector and help create affordable places to live and work that are safer, healthier and use less energy’

November 28, 2017

BPF submits real estate sector deal proposal to government

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

The British Property Federation (BPF) has announced it has submitted a Sector Deal proposal to government on behalf of the real estate industry. The announcement follows yesterday’s publication of the government’s Industrial Strategy White Paper – and of the first three Sector Deals committing industry and government to achieving the Industrial Strategy’s ambition in partnership. The real estate Sector Deal proposal sets out how the real estate industry underpins the UK’s economic and social wellbeing, and how it will be essential to the delivery of other Sector Deals including construction. The proposal ‘seeks a partnership with government where both sides are working together to maximise the real estate industry’s contribution to the economy, and to creating infrastructure and great places to live, work and relax across the country’.

November 23, 2017

Support of gender diversity charter to widen digital and tech talent pool

by Sara Bean • AI, News, Public Sector, Technology, Workplace

As we reported yesterday there are gender as well as economic imbalances which could cause long term problems for the tech sector. While there is a looming digital skills gap – with the UK needing one million more tech workers by 2020, just one in ten females are currently taking A-level computer studies. Currently only 17 percent of the tech/ICT workforce in the UK are female, well below the 47 percent of women in the workforce overall. To help address the issue, the Tech Talent Charter is a commitment by organisations (including Nationwide, BBC, HP, Monster and Cancer Research) to a set of pledges designed to increase gender diversity in the UK tech workforce. These pledges include inclusive recruitment processes and contributing company employment and diversity data anonymously to be published publically annually. Following yesterday’s budget, the Tech Talent Charter is announcing today that it has received Government funding as it welcomes its 90^th signatory.

November 13, 2017

New evidence low productivity is having a significant bearing on pay growth

by Sara Bean • News, Public Sector, Workplace

Most private sector workers are still not pushing for pay rises, despite falling real wages and low unemployment, according to the latest quarterly CIPD/The Adecco Group Labour Market Outlook survey. Only a quarter (24 percent) of employers in the private sector say they are under some or significant pressure to raise wages from the majority of their workforce, while almost four in ten private sector firms (38 percent) say they face no pressure at all to raise wages. The most common reason given by private sector employers (23 percent) for the lack of pressure to raise wages is a recognition among workers that the business cannot afford more generous pay increases, underlining the productivity challenge many firms face. The survey of more than 2,000 UK employers shows a slightly higher proportion of private sector employers (36 percent) cite either some or significant pay pressure to raise wages for certain roles, particularly among high and middle-skilled jobs.

October 30, 2017

Employees are investing their own time and money to remain competitive in the changing workplace

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

Capgemini and LinkedIn have published a new global report exploring the ‘digital talent gap’, which analyses the demand and supply of talent with specific digital skills and the availability of digital roles across multiple industries and countries. The report, The Digital Talent Gap—Are Companies Doing Enough? claims to reveal the concerns felt by employees when assessing their own digital skills and the lack of training resources currently available to them within their workplace. Highlights include the fact that nearly 50 percent of employees, rising to close to 60 percent for what the report calls digitally talented employees are investing their own money and additional time beyond office hours to develop digital skills on their own. Capgemini surveyed 753 employees and 501 executives at the director level or above, at large companies with reported revenue of more than $500 million for FY 2016 and more than 1,000 employees. The survey took place from June to July 2017, and covered nine countries – France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States and seven industry sectors.