September 20, 2019

Flexible working now routine for two thirds of US workers

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing

A new report from Owl Labs claims that although two-thirds of US workers now work away from their main place of work some of the time, there are still many people and organisations that are unaware of the benefits, processes and challenges involved in flexible working. The new report explores the effect flexible working has on personal happiness, recruitment, retention and skills as well as exploring the attitudes of people who are based in a fixed place of work.

September 9, 2019

Aping our robot overlords, Instagrammable buildings and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

What happens to people when their skills become obsolete? If you’re not asking yourself this question already, you probably should. A new study from researchers at MIT and Wharton is the basis for this piece in Quartz at Work which considers the implications for what looks like a small technological change and its consequences for a large number of people who had to reset what they offered employers. More →

July 26, 2019

Number of flexible benefits programmes continues to rise

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

New research from Aon, claims that flexible benefits programmes continue to be popular within organisations, despite communication challenges and a potential impact from 2018’s optional repayment arrangement (OpRA) regulations. Aon’s Benefits and Trends Survey 2019 claims that 45 percent of employers say they already have an online benefits or flex portal, with a further 20 percent saying they plan to introduce one within the next three years. This compares with last year’s 37 percent and 26 percent, respectively. More →

July 24, 2019

Organisations upskilling to make sense of people data

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

New research claims that there has been a huge rise in the number of people analytics teams as HR is called on to take an increasingly strategic role in shaping business performance. Innovation generation: the big HR tech disconnect, a report released by Thomsons Online Benefits, claims there has been a significant increase in the proportion of UK-based global organisations building people analytics teams, rising from 8 percent to 43 percent in just three years. With tech talent in short supply, the survey of 60 HR decision makers from UK-based companies suggests that employers are looking to upskill existing HR team members to make sense of the data now available to them. More →

June 25, 2019

Tech laggards face extinction unless they innovate

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Many larger businesses are struggling to implement digital transformation in spite of the dangers to their long term survival, a new joint report from CBI and Oracle claims. According to Bigger, Faster, Stronger, the improved adoption of technology could unlock productivity and wage growth. Research shows that more adoption, coupled with better management practices, could add £100 billion to the UK economy and cut income inequality by 5 per cent. However, only 54 per cent of UK companies believe disruptive technologies play an important role in their organisation, much lower than in countries such as France, Germany, India and Russia. More →

June 4, 2019

Culture fit essential for personal productivity

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Employees who feel they are a good fit for their role and the culture of their company are 36 percent more productive, claims a new report from ThriveMap (registration). The paper claims to reveal what a difference feeling like a natural fit for a job and organisational culture makes to employees. The survey of 1,000 people used in the report claims that employees who felt they fit their role and the culture of their employer rated their productivity at 7.2 out of 10. This compares to just 5.3 out of 10 for those employees who felt they were a poor fit for both these factors.

May 27, 2019

The workplace revolution is already here

by Tony Antoniou • Comment, Workplace design

We should all count ourselves privileged to witness first-hand the most dramatic changes in working practices in over two hundred years. This workplace revolution has been brought about mainly by technology which has allowed freedom of movement through Wi-Fi and cloud technology. This freedom has been embraced by the smart companies, allowing their people to thrive by creating workspaces that take advantage of this opportunity to unshackle themselves from fixed desk positions. They have given them great spaces in which to work, to go out and enjoy their environment and to have the ideal place in which to perform each task they are working on throughout their day. More →

April 16, 2019

British organisations could save £61 billion a year by prioritising wellbeing

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Vitality has published the results of its annual Britain’s Healthiest Workplace study, developed in partnership with RAND Europe and the University of Cambridge. The report claims that many businesses are failing their employees, with three-quarters of ill-health related absence and presenteeism last year, equating to £61bn, arising from factors such as depression, poor lifestyle choices, and stress – all of which can be targeted through health and wellbeing initiatives. The study also suggests that employers lose, on average, 35.6 working days per employee per year due to health-related absence and presenteeism.

April 11, 2019

Signs that somebody is about to quit are there nine months in advance

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

The first signs that an employee is considering quitting appear clearly nine months before they actually depart, with declining loyalty as a key indicator, claims a study called The 9-month warning: understanding why people quit—before it’s too late (registration) from Peakon. Based on more than 33 million employee survey responses across 125 countries, the study also claims that the key factors that drive a person to quit include unchallenging work, the inability to discuss pay and no clear path for career/personal growth. In most cases, people quit because of poor managers, not because of colleagues or company culture, the study suggests. More →

April 4, 2019

People, not cost now most important factor behind corporate real estate decisions

by Marie Hillen • Facilities management, News, Property

The corporate appetite for flexible space continues to grow as around two-thirds of occupiers rank employee engagement (68 percent) and talent attraction & development (65 percent) as two of the three most important drivers of corporate real estate (CRE) strategy. According to the 2019 EMEA Occupier Survey by CBRE over a third of companies see labour and skills shortages as a key strategic challenge, double last year’s result. In line with last year’s survey, technology disruption (36 percent) economic uncertainty (43 percent) and cost escalation (31 percent) all feature highly as key challenges for occupiers.

April 2, 2019

Gaslighting widespread in the UK workplace

by George Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

More than half of people questioned in research by HR software and services provider MHR claim they have experienced what they consider to be gaslighting at work. The Twitter poll of 3,033 people aged between 18 and 54 found that 58 percent of respondents have experienced what they consider to be gaslighting during their working lives. Thirty percent of respondents said they hadn’t experienced gaslighting in the workplace, with 12 percent saying they didn’t know. More →

March 13, 2019

We need to change the terms of the open plan office debate

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, News, Workplace design

New workplace data from the Gensler Research Institute claims to challenge the current narrative surrounding the open plan office ‘debate’ and uncovers the right way to invest in work-focused amenities, including coworking, that result in higher employee engagement, business performance and profit. The 2019 Gensler US Workplace Survey includes the input from more than 6,000 US office workers across a variety of industries and demographics to provide new insight into not only what makes an effective workplace, but the investments companies can make to improve employees’ workplace experience and performance. Reports for the UK, Germany, Latin America and Asia are also available here.