Search Results for: values

February 1, 2018

Rent falls due to Brexit and concerns about oversupply of serviced offices in London

by Sara Bean • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property

There have been 18 months of faltering net effective rents within the commercial office market in the Capital since the Brexit referendum, with ten of the 18 Central London office submarkets monitored in Cluttons’ latest London Office Market Outlook report registering rent falls in the final quarter of 2017, buoyed by additional incentives such as contributions to fit out costs and even delayed completions becoming commonplace in many locations. The report also raises concerns about the potential for an oversupply of serviced offices within the Capital. However, despite this and a perception that Central London offices are currently fully prices or possibly over-priced, by both occupiers and domestic investors, London remains a resilient city, continuing to attract high volumes of overseas capital. Employment growth is of course expected to be influenced by both the levels of GDP growth during 2018 and the Brexit divorce proceedings, which in turn will affect rental values. But says the report, aside from concerns over Brexit, there is no evidence from recruitment agencies to suggest a current, or planned exodus of finance and banking professionals from the City.

January 17, 2018

Managers’ increasingly long hours behind rise in stress and mental ill health

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Managers are working an extra 44 days a year over and above their contracted hours, up from 40 days in 2015. These long hours are taking their toll, causing a surge in sick leave amongst managers suffering from stress and mental ill health, claims the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), which is calling on UK employers to provide greater support. Long hours and constant communication are having a detrimental effect on the wellbeing of managers it argues resulting in one in ten managers taking time off for mental health in the last year, and for those who do take time out, it’s for an average of 12 days. Of the 1,037 managers surveyed for the report, the average boss puts in an extra day each week. This is an extra 7.5 hours beyond their contracted weekly hours (44.4 hours actual compared to 37.3 contracted), adding up to an extra 43.8 days over the course of the year. This is up from 39.6 days in 2015. The rising gap between contracted and actual hours of work is in addition to an ‘always on’ digital culture, with 59 percent of managers saying they ‘frequently’ check their emails outside of work – up from 54 percent in 2015.

January 12, 2018

The complex relationship between productivity, technology and working anywhere

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

A new report produced by Lancaster University’s Work Foundation and commissioned by Citrix, highlights the complex and often strained relationship between productivity, technology, work and the idea of working anywhere. Despite the march of digital transformation, one in four (24 percent) UK managers questioned for this report believe their organisation is not technologically ‘forward thinking’. With Britain’s productivity slowdown the largest of the G7 economies since the recession, over three in five (63 percent) of knowledge workers polled believe they are no more productive today than they were three years ago, with 17 percent even claiming to be less industrious. The paper – Productivity, technology & working anywhere – shows an undeniably positive link between correctly-implemented technology and workplace productivity. However this progress can soon by marred by poor business planning, a lack of innovation, outdated IT and low uptake of flexible working cultures. The research is supported with survey responses from 1,000 knowledge workers and 500 managerial level employees within medium and large organisations across the UK.

January 11, 2018

Culture shift needed to drive a better gender balance in property and construction

by Niki Fuchs • Comment, Property

Despite compelling evidence of the bottom line benefits of gender diversity, too many sectors remain stubbornly male dominated. This is certainly the case with the property and construction industry where women still represent only 15 percent of the workforce. The growth of prop-tech, entrepreneurialism amongst women and a growing emphasis on service, demonstrated by the growth of the flexible office and serviced apartment sectors, which tend to have more balanced gender ratios, is helping to address this balance. However, many women in the industry still do not occupy managerial roles, and so the gender pay gap stubbornly remains. For these imbalances to be addressed a cross-industry, cultural shift needs to occur, and individual companies must work to drive change from the top down.

December 19, 2017

We need to have an honest conversation about presenteeism

by Steve Brewer • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

We have talked before about the risks of over thinking problems. It is not just something that consultants, designers and the workplace intelligentsia are guilty of – everyone does it. It is why we do not switch off when we are ill and still insist on going to work. We over think the consequences of not being in our workplace. Likewise, many traditional line managers simply cannot get their head around their teams working from home. After all, modern management mantras all talk about creating a great atmosphere in which teams all work together – in the same space at the same time? We all tend to over complicate most things and that is one of the main reasons in the UK we struggle with the concept of working from home. A consequence of this is the rise in presenteeism, which is mainly linked to illness, people ignoring how bad they feel and because of a perceived pressure, still turning up for work.

December 1, 2017

Employee engagement only captures a small part of what ‘work’ means

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

The biggest driver of a positive employee experience at work is ‘meaningful’ work, claims a new survey. According to the findings of the latest edition of ‘The Employee Experience Index around the Globe’ survey from Globoforce’s WorkHuman Research Institute in partnership with IBM’s Smarter Workforce Institute – in the UK, meaningful work emerged as the single largest contributor (30 percent) 3 points above the global average. Meaningful work ensures that employees’ skills and talents are being fully utilized and there is greater alignment to shared, core values. The survey also notes a shift away from employee engagement, which only captures a small portion what ‘work’ means, towards employee experience. Experience is seen as being broader and more holistic – capturing the entire set of perceptions that employees have about their experiences at work, matching the higher expectations that employees bring to the workplace.

October 27, 2017

HR Directors turning their attention to workplace design and experience

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

The role of HR Directors is going to change in the future as they will increasingly become “curators” of the office, charged with generating the right atmosphere to inspire millennial workers, according to a study of 100 HR Directors by Unispace. The study claims found that there will be greater HR ownership of the physical workplace in the future as human resources becomes more focused on the employee “experience”. A key to future success will be ensuring workers are “engaged with the workplace” and enable them to collaborate in better ways and become more productive. A recurring theme identified during the interviews was a change to the overall decision-making process around physical space. Previously the remit of property and facilities management, it now includes HR representation as standard practice in large organisations. Bringing HR to the table enables the working environment to embody organisational values and contribute towards achieving strategic “people-led” business objectives, such as better staff retention and productivity.

October 25, 2017

Wellbeing named as top priority for 2018 by human resources managers

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

A vox pop poll carried out by employee engagement firm Reward Gateway at a recent conference claims that wellbeing, pay and benefits and recognition will be the top employee engagement priorities for HR professionals in 2018. The research, which polled 565 HR professionals at Employee Benefits Live 2017, echoes two studies undertaken by the same firm earlier this year. These studies found that companies are looking to invest in areas which UK employees have said are crucial to them, but don’t feel as though their employers are adequately providing: wellbeing and recognition. As the top agenda point, the importance of wellbeing in the workplace was echoed in a study conducted in September 2017, which claimed that 22 million British workers, or 7 in 10 employees (71 percent), have felt stress or financial strain in the last five years. Despite these numbers, the same research also claims that a third of respondents said that their company currently offers no wellbeing programmes.

October 18, 2017

Calls for commercial property sector to have a greater focus on customer experience

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Workplace design

The UK commercial property industry is undergoing a fundamental shift towards a more customer centric approach, with an increasingly greater emphasis being placed on delivering outstanding customer service to occupiers. This is the key finding of a new report from The British Council for Offices (BCO) entitled ‘Office Service Standards and Customer Experience: a best practice guide’. While for those who hold a very traditional landlord occupier relationship this change in thinking, attitude and operation may feel revolutionary, the report argues we are already seeing the industry evolve across the board. It claims that this is accelerated by new ‘property sector disruptors’, who are driving a shift in the relationship between property owners and corporate occupiers. To ensure they are keeping pace with their changing requirements and aspirations, property owners and managers are increasingly realising the need to invest in building strong relationships with their occupiers

September 28, 2017

Offices rents in London skyscrapers and tech hubs are amongst highest in world

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Rents for office space in London skyscrapers are still the highest in Europe, according to a report from Knight Frank, suggesting that the capital remains one of the most sought after business hubs in Europe despite Brexit. Knight Frank has also reported on the costs of office space in East London’s tech hubs and found they are amongst the highest in the world, with rents akin to those seen in the City of London. According to the study, prime rents in London buildings over 30 storeys stood at $110 per square feet over the first half of the year, nearly double the $58 per square feet and $54 per square feet rent for buildings in Paris and Frankfurt respectively.

September 28, 2017

How smart workplaces increase performance and attractiveness ⁰

by Kati Barklund • Case studies, Facilities management, Premium Content, Technology, Work&Place, Workplace design

The workplace can and should be used as a strategic tool to support work and cooperation, to shape the experience of the brand and to produce competitive advantage for the organization. Even when not used as a strategic tool the workplace still affects all these parts and there is always a risk that the workplace has instead a negative impact if we are not aware of the relationship and really use workplace as a strategic tool to affect attractiveness, productivity, efficiency and sustainability. The workplace makes a great difference and it is becoming an important differentiator between successful and less successful organizations. I also strongly believe that the workplace management area is a key for us in the FM industry to bring FM to a higher level, to shift from cost focus to more value focus, and this is something we need to do together within the FM industry and we really should take the driver’s seat. But, let’s start from the beginning.

September 19, 2017

London faces potentially large loss of office stock under office-to-residential conversion rights

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

A total of 13.3 million square feet of London office space could be lost to office-to-residential conversions carried out under new Permitted Development Rights introduced in 2013, according to new research published by the British Council for Offices (BCO). This figure comprises of 7.5 million ft² of office space in London which has already been converted to homes since the introduction of the rights, with a further 5.7 million ft² of conversions in the capital having approval. An average of 2 million ft²/year has been converted each year since the rights were introduced in 2013, or 0.7 percent of the total London office stock.