Search Results for: office

September 27, 2016

Businesses failing to look at workplace effectiveness in the right way ⁰

by Tim Oldman • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Workplace design

This month, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Carolyn Fairbairn, suggested that productivity growth across all parts of the UK economy should be the number one priority for business and government. And the CBI isn’t alone in emphasising the importance of honing in on and tackling the ongoing productivity problem. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) economic forecast summary, published earlier this summer, productivity has been exceptionally weak since 2007 and doesn’t show much sign of abating nearly ten years later. Labour productivity per employee has failed to markedly rise since the global downturn and the UK is still miles behind the G7 average – that’s according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) quarterly figures and CBI data. So, to echo Fairbairn, reviving British productivity is essential to sustain growth and living standards.

September 27, 2016

Boost predicted for commercial property transactions across the UK ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Property

The next five years will see demand for commercial property in the South East of England expand at a faster rate than in London according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Annual Occupiers Survey 2016. The survey, conducted in association with EY and Savills found that a fifth (20 per cent) of UK property decision-makers expect to increase rather than decrease the amount of space they own or rent in the South East. In total, a net balance (percentage expecting to expand minus percentage expecting to downsize) of 13 per cent more respondents in the South East expect to increase, rather than decrease their portfolio, nearly double the figure for London at seven per cent. The net balance figures showed the lowest indication of growth was in the South West, at four per cent. The survey also revealed that 41 per cent of UK firms expect to expand the amount of UK property they own or rent over the next five years while only 8 per cent expect to downsize.

September 26, 2016

HSBC moves 300 staff into coworking space in Hong Kong ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Coworking, Flexible working, News, Property

The idea that coworking is primarily for the self-employed, tech startups and other small firms who can’t afford permanent offices in the world’s expensive cities has been challenged with the news HSBC has moved 300 staff into a coworking space in Hong Kong, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. The bank has rented the workstations in WeWork’s space in Causeway Bay, one of the world’s most expensive districts for offices and shops. The bank has taken out a large scale corporate membership with WeWork for the 300 members of its digital and transformation team. According to the report, a spokesman from CBRE claimed that the move is less about saving money than it is with providing short term flexibility in a time of economic uncertainty. However you view that, the bank is saving as much as HK$2.45 million a month with the move (£240,000 or $320,000). The annual cost savings are estimated at HK$23,640 per person.

September 26, 2016

Employers must adopt a trust based approach to flexible working ⁰

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

Employers are being urged to create a more inclusive and flexible working environment for their employees by adopting a trust based approach which focuses on the meeting of objectives rather than hours. This is the advice of Harvard University’s Global Leadership award winner Charlotte Sweeney on the launch of National Work/Life Week. In 2015, 23 percent of employees were reported to be doing some of their work remotely, up from 19 percent in 2003 according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. But more than just adopting agile working, the diversity expert says businesses should begin to focus on individual well-being and supporting employees to enrich all aspects of their lives, their families and their communities. Corporates should implement a trust-based approach, which focuses on employees meeting their objectives, rather than focusing on where they are actually doing the work or even how many hours it takes to complete.

September 25, 2016

Flexible productivity myth + Women’s wear + Millennial motivators ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Newsletter, Property

In this week’s Newsletter; Colin Watson points out that we sometimes forget just how young the Internet is; Paul Carter ponders working off the radar and the rise of co-working hubs and agile working; Mark Eltringham argues we’ve known for some time what makes people happy and productive at work; and says flexible working has developed a reputation as something of a silver bullet. Women’s choice of office attire is subject to unfair criticism by bosses; contrary to popular belief Millennials want the same from the workplace as everyone else; and evidence that sensory inputs can significantly improve productivity and cognitive performance. A new report suggests how technology will impact on real estate; and reasons for the boom in co-working spaces in London are revealed. Download our new Briefing, produced in partnership with Boss Design on the link between culture and workplace strategy and design; visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

September 23, 2016

Tech laggards risk losing employees, claims Future Workforce Study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

Dell has unveiled the European and South African findings from the Dell and Intel Future Workforce Study, which identifies the global technology trends shaping the modern workplace. The results show that almost half of employees in these regions believe their current employer is not effectively making use of the latest technology advances. The 2016 Future Workforce Study, conducted by research firm PSB, polled nearly 4,000 full-time employees from small, medium and large businesses in 10 countries. Of those polled in the UK, Germany, France and South Africa, many do not believe that they will be working in a smart office within the next five years and perceived their current workplace technology as lagging behind personal devices on innovation. With the research showing that the influx of new technology is having a significant impact on what workers expect from their employer, workplaces which don’t enact these new advances may be left behind.

September 22, 2016

Women told to wear heels and vamp up their appearance at work ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Legal news, News, Workplace

It seems the news earlier this year that a woman from an FM company based at PwC had been sent home for not wearing heels is sadly not an isolated incident, as employers regularly tell women to put on more makeup, wear high heels and short skirts. The research by solicitors Slater and Gordon claims large numbers of women feel their employer has unfairly criticised their appearance in the workplace, with nearly one in five (19 percent) saying they felt more attention was paid to their appearance by their bosses than to their male peers. Shockingly, nearly one in 10 women (seven percent) have been told by bosses they preferred them to wear high heels whilst in the office or with clients, because it made them “more appealing”. Many women revealed they had been told to dress more provocatively and to be “sexier” – with almost 90 percent (86 percent) of those pressured to dress “sexier” and feeling their career might suffer if they didn’t comply.

September 20, 2016

If you want to improve the workplace, let employees procrastinate ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

An analysis of workplace habits carried out by office supplies firm Viking claims that the biggest causes of worker procrastination are internal problems within an organisation, and that restricting social media usage could make employees less productive. The survey of over 1,500 office workers claims that almost half of workers (48 percent) procrastinate while waiting for other people’s work to be completed and 40 percent procrastinated in order to take a break from work and reduce their stress levels. The study also claims that people who work in an office experience more stress then those who work from home, which the study concludes is because working from home allows employees to take breaks more frequently. Although the Flexible Working Regulations introduced in the UK in 2014 suggests we’re working towards a more lenient workplace, survey findings suggest that in-office cultures are still struggling to find their footing when balancing work and relaxation.

September 20, 2016

New project invites organisations to explore issue of workplace wellbeing ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Are our offices making us sick? This is the question addressed by a new research project looking at the link between health in the workplace and access to the natural environment. The study is backed by the Soil Association, is endorsed by Kate Humble and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and draws on studies from the past thirty years which have also addressed the issue. The Good Life Project aims to provide evidence-based and cost-effective solutions to the benefits of nature in making businesses happier, healthier and more profitable. The project is led by behaviour expert and author Jez Rose along with a team of psychologists and neuroscientists and is endorsed by the Soil Association. The Project is designed to overcome the problem of workplace absenteeism by trying out a range of workplace initiatives based around the natural environment to see what sort of difference they make to an employee’s feeling of wellbeing.

September 19, 2016

London’s sky high property costs driving uptake of coworking, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Flexible working, News, Property

Start-up tech firms in London face the world’s highest property costs and the result is a boom in coworking, according to a report from Knight Frank. The research, undertaken as part of Knight Frank’s 2017 Global Cities Report, examines the cost of leasing and fitting-out 600 sq ft of office space in the tech and creative districts of the world’s leading cities. Intense demand for space in Shoreditch, London, has seen start-up office costs soar with Knight Frank calculating 600 sq ft of office space to cost US$66,706 per year – the highest of any creative district in the world. This is followed by Brooklyn in New York (US$62,736), Mid-Market in San Francisco (US$61,680), 1st, 2nd and 9th Districts in Paris (US$57,426) and the Seaport District in Boston (US$50,700). However, London’s burgeoning coworking market also shows how firms are using the model to overcome the challenge of finding somewhere to work at an appropriate cost.

September 16, 2016

CoreNet report sets out how technology will reshape corporate real estate ⁰

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

The speed of today’s technological advances is dramatically reshaping the way that corporations manage and use their real estate. It’s a dynamic that has significant consequences for the workplace, urban development and the overall lifestyle of the average worker. Those are the unsurprising conclusions of a new report from trade association CoreNet Global, which was discussed this week at the organisation’s 2016 Summit – EMEA, held in Amsterdam. As ever, the devil is in the detail so the report is worth exploring to get a sense of just how imminent many of the changes will be, especially because they will converge to create a perfect storm of change for the workplace. This marks the new era out from the past when technology developed in more predictable ways. Several CoreNet Global Gold Strategic Partners contributed to the report including CBRE, Deloitte, ISS, JLL, Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, Sodexo and Steelcase.

September 15, 2016

Call for work life balance to help preserve relationships and health ⁰

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

More than a third of UK workers (35 percent) say that their work schedule is detrimental to their relationship with their partner, nearly one in five (18 per cent) say their job has caused arguments, and eight per cent admit that work was a major factor in the breakdown of their relationship. This is according to research, commissioned by Coople that suggests the extent to which work is ruining relationships, causing arguments with partners and even taking a toll on sex lives. Nearly one in 10 (nine per cent) say the pressures faced at work has had a negative impact on their sex life and one in five (20 per cent) report their work has led to a decline in their health and wellbeing, citing stress and depression. Unsurprisingly, the survey also found that 54 per cent of people value a good work life balance in a job the most, above wages, career progression, doing something meaningful in their work or any employee benefits.