Search Results for: inclusive

MPs to investigate impact of placemaking and built environment on productivity

MPs to investigate impact of placemaking and built environment on productivity

by • Cities, News, Property, Workplace design

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Building Communities is calling for evidence and contributions from all organisations with an interest in the built and natural environment to contribute to its new consultation, which aims to explore how placemaking can lead to greater productivity in the UK. As part of its remit, the APPG seeks to conduct research on the concept of ‘placemaking’ and investigate design practices that maximise the social value of infrastructure. In this way the APPG hopes to build an evidence base that can be used by policy makers when engaging with the build and natural environment.

 

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Interiors are not enough to win the war for talent

Interiors are not enough to win the war for talent

by • Comment, Workplace design

I often refer to Google and Facebook in my blog, due to their influence on workplace design. Many consider them to be workplace interior’s holy grail. But today’s big employers are competing with one another on a much broader set of principles. Cool interiors alone just won’t cut it. Zürich, like many European cities is home to a large number of global brands, with bustling financial services and tech sectors. I regularly hear of people with multiple job offers taking a job with a lower salary, rather than accepting a role in a company that doesn’t reflect their ideals. This decision can be influenced by office design and facilities, career development options, corporate culture and much more. More →

When exactly did busyness become a sign of status?

When exactly did busyness become a sign of status?

by • Comment, Wellbeing

When exactly did “busyness” become a status? At work, in our personal lives and online, the competition to “live our best lives” and “hustle harder” is being taken to the extreme. Neuroscientists refer to busyness as a state of “cognitive overload.” This state can hinder our productivity, as well as our abilities to think clearly, plan and control our emotions. In the early 1990s, John Maynard Keynes predicted that, by 2028, living conditions would improve so much that the working day would shrink to three or four hours. However, it is now 2019 and we are busier than ever.

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Great Big Workplace Adjustments survey needs your input

Great Big Workplace Adjustments survey needs your input

by • News

A leading not-for-profit business and disability organisation is asking employees and managers to share their experiences of requesting and arranging workplace adjustments via an anonymous online survey. Business Disability Forum wants to use ‘The Great Big Adjustments Survey’ to create a clear and up-to-date picture of what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to making and managing adjustments. The membership organisation will use the findings to develop what it hopes will be one of the most informed pieces of research on the topic, ever created. More →

Northern English cities held back by lack of opportunities for low skilled workers

Northern English cities held back by lack of opportunities for low skilled workers

by • Cities, News

Despite higher living costs, southern English cities such as Oxford and Exeter lead the country in their ability to provide opportunities for people with low skills.  A new report from the Centre for Cities on low-skilled workers claims that employment opportunities are greater for people with fewer or no qualifications in southern English cities than those in the North or Midlands. The report Opportunity Knocks? claims that, despite higher living costs in cities in southern England, their stronger economies create significantly more jobs for people with fewer qualifications. More →

On International Woman’s Day – why advancing women is still not a business priority

On International Woman’s Day – why advancing women is still not a business priority

by • Comment, Legal news, News, Workplace

It has probably not escaped your notice that today is International Woman’s Day, which for Workplace Insight means a plethora of studies on the topic of women/jobs/salaries and ways women might work differently to men. We’ve decided not to waste anyone’s time and ignored most of them (particularly the patronizing ones on how ladies are so intuitive) but managed to find a few kernels of information. First, the good news that women have doubled their share of top jobs at technology companies, pulling in higher salaries than men last year, according to executive search firm Odgers Berndtson. More →

Businesses pledge to work towards mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting

Businesses pledge to work towards mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting

by • Legal news, News, Workplace

Businesses pledge to work towards mandatory ethnicity pay gap reportingThe government is being encouraged to implement mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting when it announces the outcome of its ‘Ethnicity pay reporting’ consultation, which closed in January. Pre-empting that, fifteen companies have signed a commitment today to work towards mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting. Signatories include the Bank of England, Deloitte, KPMG, WPP, Santander and EY. The commitment, driven by membership organisation INvolve, aims to get more businesses voluntarily reporting on their ethnicity pay gap. In 2018 The Resolution Foundation estimated the ethnicity pay gap at £3.2bn. A report from INvolve also showed that white people earn on average between £67 and £209 more per week compared to similarly qualified individuals of a different ethnic background, and that the most ethnically diverse workplaces are 35 percentage points more likely to financially outperform industry averages. 

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When assessing workplace strategy: we should always test rather than guess

When assessing workplace strategy: we should always test rather than guess

by • Facilities management, Features, Workplace design

Would an investor plow millions of dollars into a stock and never bother to track how the investment does? Of course not. Nor would they confuse the expected return on investment (ROI) with the actual results. We don’t guess about financial investments. We don’t base investment decisions on what some stranger does or how they say they’ve done. So why then, do many of the largest companies in the world invest millions of dollars in buildings or renovating their workplaces and never even bother to measure results. Why are they so willing to copy the unproven workplace strategy of others? Why are they satisfied with projected results, rather than measuring how their investments actually perform?  More →

Boost in adult learning essential when preparing for the future of work

Boost in adult learning essential when preparing for the future of work

by • Automation, News, Workplace

Many OECD countries need to urgently scale-up and upgrade their adult learning systems to help people adapt to the future world of work, according to a new OECD report. Getting Skills Right: Future-Ready Adult Learning Systems says that new technologies, globalisation and population ageing are changing the quantity and quality of jobs as well as the skills they require. Providing better skilling and re-skilling opportunities to workers affected by these changes is essential to make sure the future works for all.

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Landlords must respond in new ways to the changing world of work

Landlords must respond in new ways to the changing world of work

by • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Hammocks, remote working, hot-desking. Contrary to common belief, these aren’t the only conversations landlords are having with designers on how to approach their workspaces for today’s tenants. Rising property values, the growth of flexible offices and political uncertainty have forced landlords to change the way they market their properties to respond to the demands of occupiers. And with no sign of London’s commercial office marketplace calming in the near future, the need for landlords to remain flexible and create channels of communication with their tenants, remains strong. More →

More than 600 people quit work to look after older and disabled relatives every day

More than 600 people quit work to look after older and disabled relatives every day

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

New research by Carers UK claims that 2.6 million have quit their job to care for a loved one who is older, disabled or seriously ill, with nearly half a million (468,000) leaving their job in the last two years alone – more than 600 people a day. This is a 12 per cent increase since Carers UK and YouGov polled the public in 2013. The findings also show that more people are caring than previously thought, with almost 5 million workers now juggling their paid job with caring – a dramatic rise compared with Census 2011 figures of 3 million.

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Majority of businesses fail to see a return on their technology investments

Majority of businesses fail to see a return on their technology investments

by • News, Technology

According to a new report from Accenture, the majority of businesses don’t see a return on their technology investments and just 14 percent of businesses manage to realise the full potential of their tech investments. Roughly $3.2 trillion was spent on new technology in the last five years. Businesses that were most successful with their investments were the ones investing in bold moves, rather than incremental shifts.

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