Search Results for: Gen Z

September 27, 2016

Nearly all UK cities lagging behind European average for productivity ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Property, Public Sector, Technology

The UK’s major cities are lagging behind their European competitors in terms of skills, innovation and productivity, claims a new report from the Centre for Cities think tank. In Competing with the Continent, the authors argue that the onus is on the UK to come up to speed with the 330 cities covered in the report, especially if they want to compete in the new post Brexit European landscape. However, the report notes that the UK has a number of existing, structural advantages over other countries. UK cities generate around a fifth of Europe’s total economic output and contribute more to the national economy than cities in other countries. Major British cities contribute 60 percent of national GDP, compared to just 36 percent in Germany and 32 percent in Italy. The report shows that UK cities lag behind on a range of indicators including skills, innovation and productivity and a number have an industrial mix that has more in common with cities in Eastern Europe than those in the West.

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

CEOs remain confident post Brexit but may consider relocating offices out of UK ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Despite largely voting to remain in the EU, the Brexit vote hasn’t dampened the short or long term confidence of UK CEOs. It has however raised a question mark over the UK’s ability to do business and, as a result, many are putting together contingencies including the possible relocating offices or operations, according to KPMG’s first ‘100 UK CEOs’ survey. The survey of CEOs from companies with revenues ranged between £100 million and £1bn found that, both in the short term (the next year) and the medium term (the next three years), the majority are confident about the future growth of the country, the global economy and their own businesses. However, over half believe the UK’s ability to do effective business will be hindered after leaving the EU. The majority of CEOs felt that a division in society between ‘big business’ and the general public contributed to the EU referendum result, including over a third who believed this ‘to a great extent’.

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 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 23, 2016

Mass media job promotion spells global staff engagement challenge ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

As the global labour market warms up and active job seeking increases, employees’ plans to stay with their current employers are declining. This is due to a shift in attitudes by employees who’ve long believed that the job opportunities they were seeking did not exist in the labour market; but are being convinced otherwise as companies increasingly turn to mass media to promote appealing employment brands and job opportunities. While this is good news for companies looking to attract new talent, employers looking to retain their best people must also take notice. This is according to data from CEB’s Global Talent Monitor, which claims that employees are also putting in less effort at work in all regions except North America and suggests that to keep top talent in place, companies will need to better promote internal job opportunities and benefits, rather than letting employees think they must go elsewhere to find the jobs they want. The research did find though that UK employees are feeling generally less confident due to Brexit uncertainty.

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 21, 2016

Millennials no different from their elders in attitudes to the workplace ⁰

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

The portrait often drawn of Millennials is that of a generation which is keen to stand out from that of its elders, and which is difficult to pin down. They’re said to have difficulty accepting a hierarchical structure and no longer view their salary as the only motivating factor but instead are looking for a sense of accomplishment in their work. Yet as we reported recently, the behaviour and expectations of this younger generation has in fact stayed fairly constant. For them, the ideal company has attributes which are actually fairly similar to those cited by their more experienced colleagues. The result of the latest Edenred-Ipsos barometer into the under 30s suggests that for employers, the issue is not so much about dealing with this generation independently of the others, but rather globally rethinking leadership challenges in an environment which is increasingly digitalized, horizontal and multi-task oriented, taking into account individual countries’ cultural differences.

September 20, 2016

Construction firms still failing to seize opportunities offered by new technology ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, News, Property, Technology

Despite substantial investment in new technology over recent years, the construction industry is struggling to realise the full benefits of key technologies including advanced data and analytics, mobility, automation and robotics. That’s the main finding from Building a technology advantage – Global Construction Survey 2016, the annual state-of-the-industry report from KPMG International. Of the 200-plus senior construction executives who took part in the survey, just 8 percent of their companies rank as “cutting edge technology visionaries,” while 64 percent of contractors and 73 percent of project owners rank as “industry followers” or “behind the curve” when it comes to technology. Two-thirds of survey respondents believe project risks are increasing. According to Armstrong, this is an industry ripe for disruption, yet less than 20 percent of respondents say they are aggressively disrupting their business models.

September 19, 2016

North America leading the way in adopting healthier buildings ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

While building owners, developers, managers and investors in North America are showing increasing interest in practices that prioritise the physical, mental and social well-being of tenants and occupants, European buildings have fewer spaces created with wellness in mind. The Drive Toward Healthier Buildings 2016, by Dodge Data & Analytics and the World Green Building Council, produced in partnership with the Canada Green Building Council and Delos, says the top five healthier building features currently in use include better lighting, products that enhance thermal comfort, spaces that enhance social interaction, enhanced air quality and products that enhance acoustical comfort. However, in an analysis of global trends in health and wellbeing, European respondents reported less frequent use of spaces that enhance tenant mood, spaces that enhance social interaction or spaces that create opportunities for physical activity than their North American or Asian counterparts.

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 19, 2016

Overweight people considered less employable in customer service roles ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A new study from researchers based at Strathclyde Business School suggests that both men and women who are considered overweight are deemed to be less employable in the service sector, with women’s weight in particular affecting their perceived employability. This is true even for job candidates whose weight falls within a healthy BMI range. The study based on the attitudes of 121 women and 61 men gauged the reactions of respondents to images of the faces of job candidates. The respondents were shown images that were distorted to make the candidates appear heavier as well as images of the candidates as they actually appear. The results show that heavier looking candidates were considered less employable, especially for customer facing roles and if the candidates were women. The results suggest that even a subtle simulated increase in a candidate’s BMI, even within a healthy range, is a very real stigma that negatively impacts on people’s life chances.