Search Results for: office

June 5, 2014

Record uptake of flexible working masks what is really changing about the way we work

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

This week the Office for National Statistics has released new figures which show that flexible working is at a record high in the UK. The headline figure from the ONS is that 14 percent of the UK workforce now either work at home full time (5 percent) or use their home as a base (8.9 percent). This represents a 1.3 million increase over the six years since the onset of the recession. The report shows that those working from home are typically skilled, older (half between the age of 25 and 49 with 40 percent of over 65s classed as homeworkers) and better paid than the average worker (30 percent higher than the national average). The Government is claiming it as a victory for the promotion of flexible working through legislation and the TUC as a sign of the increasingly enlightened approach of bosses in helping employees find a better work life balance. And they’re both wrong.

June 3, 2014

Commercial property helps fuel rise in number of new construction projects

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Construction growth in the three months to June was at its highest peak since the start of the year, driven by a renewed strengthening of non-residential properties, according to new figures from industry analysts Glenigan. Following reports from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) that the economy is growing at its fastest pace since its records began in 2003,the Glenigan Index, which covers the value of projects starting in the UK over the previous three months, is 20 per cent higher than a year ago. Its non-residential index is up by 24 per cent compared to the same period in 2013, the strongest rate of growth seen since the three months to January of this year; largely fuelled by the private sector, with the industrial, office and hotel and leisure sectors all seeing healthy improvements. More →

May 29, 2014

What is expense management costing you and your business?

by Richard Gyles • Comment, Workplace

Time is money. That’s why organisations are placing an ever-growing emphasis on improving productivity and streamlining administrative processes to encourage employees to focus on value-added activities. So I’m staggered by how many otherwise forward-thinking companies are still reliant on old-fashioned, paper-based expense management processes. Expenses are an obvious time-sink for claimants themselves and is often portrayed as a dull task; but badly managed expense processing costs employees and businesses money. A survey conducted by Access aCloud has discovered that employees are losing £45 a year owing to interest charges due to the waiting period of reimbursement – with a collective £2.1 billion lost by 46 million workers each year. In the UK, the average waiting time for expenses to be paid is 3.3 weeks. However, the survey revealed that over 20 per cent of people spend 6.3 weeks chasing their employer for their claims to be paid. More →

May 29, 2014

Green light (at last) for nine acre Birmingham City Centre mixed use development

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, News, Property

The developer of a major new mixed use project on a 9 acre site in the centre of Birmingham has announced that work will begin soon, after nearly ten years of delays. The £500 million Arena Central scheme was initially announced in 2004, then significantly extended and revised in 2011 to double the amount of commercial property available as part of the development. The first impressions of the finalised plans were published earlier this year and featured open public spaces, an urban meadow, cascading water features, ramps and a pedestrian spine that connects the elements of the site and connects to the main shopping areas in Broad Street and city centre residential areas to the South. All in all, landscape architect Gillespies has designed four acres of soft landscaping within the development, nearly half of its total footprint. The first office building for the site will be designed by Make Architects. The building, named Arena 1 will be a 144,000 sq. ft. set to complete in 2016.

May 26, 2014

Flexible working just one factor that can lift the workplace blues

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

New research commissioned by office supplies firm Viking claims that many people working for small businesses are unhappy, stressed and demotivated in the workplace for much of the time but that their misery can be alleviated with flexible working, training, social events and generally a bit more information and attention from their employers. The research found that a third of the employees surveyed, all of whom work for firms with fewer than 50 employees, claim to be unhappy for more than half of their time at work, with 42 per cent saying they are also stressed and unmotivated. The respondents claim that these issues could be resolved with more flexible working, social events, personal development and business updates. With workers rating such displays of affection more highly than a pay rise, a spend of less than £500 per employee each year on the things they cherish could make them more happy and motivated.

May 23, 2014

Workplace design and management of TMT sector aped by other firms

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Flexible working, Property, Technology, Workplace design

The publication of a report last week by the British Council for Offices highlights the wider impact of workplace design trends and commercial property arrangements in the increasingly important Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) sector. Not least it suggests that they are having a transformational influence on the way firms in other sectors approach leases, workplace design and the changing nature of work. It is no coincidence that the TMT sector is the one most commonly associated with the employment of the much-talked-about Gen Y demographic, nor that the business practices most commonly associated with this overly-stereotyped group are those that are having the greatest influence in the way we design and manage offices.

May 21, 2014

Homeworking has environmental benefits, says Carbon Trust

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Flexible working, News

There have been some doubts cast recently on the environmental benefits of flexible working. At the recent ThinkFM conference, Lord Rupert Redesdale, the CEO Energy Managers Association said that keeping buildings open for longer to accommodate flexible workers could become unfeasible for many businesses. But what if you simply increase the numbers of home workers instead? Homeworking reduces employee commuting, resulting in carbon, money and time savings. If office space is properly rationalised to reflect this, homeworking can also significantly reduce office energy consumption and rental costs. This is according to new research from the Carbon Trust, which found that if adopted and encouraged by employers across the country, homeworking could result in annual savings of over 3 million tonnes of carbon and cut costs by £3 billion.

May 21, 2014

Information overload is a big problem for ‘infobese’ UK workers

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Technology, Workplace

We all know –or should – that we have a real problem with information. We are not only deluged with the stuff, we appear increasingly willing to wallow in it voluntarily, even when we know it’s bad for us. The full extent of the challenge we face managing information is laid bare in a new report from Microsoft called ‘Defying Digital Distraction’. The study is based on a survey carried out by YouGov which found that 55 per cent of 2,000 British office staff experience some form of information overload at work. A similar proportion feel they are distracted by information, just under half (43 per cent) experience stress as a result, a third (34 per cent) feel overwhelmed by it and 28 per cent believe it affects their personal wellbeing. The report is fronted by Dave Coplin, the Chief Envisioning Officer of Microsoft UK who we interviewed last year and coincides with the publication of Dave’s new book called The Rise of the Humans: how to outsmart the digital deluge.

May 19, 2014

Managers rate early starters more highly at work, claims new research

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Workplace

Humans remain wedded to long-held ideas about the times and places in which we work best so if you want to get ahead in your career, you need to be in the office nice and early, regardless of any flexible working arrangements. That is the conclusion of new research from the University of Washington due to be published in full later this year in the Journal of Applied Psychology. The research is flagged up by its authors in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review. It shows that our attitudes to presence are so pervasive that workers who get an early start are rated as more effective by their line managers regardless of the number of hours they work and what they achieve in that time. Researchers conclude that managers have a profound morning bias that leads them to confuse conscientiousness with an early start.

May 19, 2014

Availability of commercial property in London lowest for six years

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

According to a report from CoStar News, prepared by CBRE, the availability of commercial property in Central London continued a long term fall during April to 13.76m sq ft, the lowest level since June 2008. This caused the availability of offices in central London to fall to 6.2 per cent, significantly below the 10-year average of 7.6 per cent, the agent said. Demand remains strong according to the report with the volume of office space under offer in central London up by over 65 per cent since the end of last year to reach the highest level for 13 and a half years. Under offers are currently at 4.73m sq ft, their highest point since September 2000, when under offers stood at an all-time high of 5.92m sq ft. The report claims that there are a total of seven buildings across central London with more than 100,000 sq ft currently under offer, including 10 Fenchurch Avenue (above). More information here.

May 16, 2014

Four million people in UK now work from home, claims TUC

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

Figures released today by the TUC to mark National Work from Home Day show that more than 4 million people now regularly work from home; a rise of more than 62,000 over the course of the last year. The number of people who say they usually work from home increased by 62,000 over the course of last year to reach more than four million for the first time. The findings are from a new TUC analysis published to mark national work from home day, organised by Work Wise UK. The TUC analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics shows that the number of regular home-workers has risen by over a half a million since 2007 – an increase of more than 10 per cent. Millions of workers across the UK occasionally work from home too, says the TUC. More →

May 16, 2014

UK one of the top global business destinations for sales growth and profitability

by Mark Eltringham • Furniture, News, Workplace design

Global manufacturing executives rank the UK as one of the top destinations for future sales growth and profitability, according to KPMG’s latest Global Manufacturing Outlook report published this week. This places the UK ahead of Germany, India and Japan and alongside China, beaten only by the US. The report also notes that the UK is leading the world in the growth of 3D printing. The survey of 460 executives representing business with an annual turnover in excess of $5 billion reveals that the UK is ranked third in terms of those countries in which global companies expect profit growth over the next two years. The focus on new technology and materials in the report reveals that 85 percent of UK manufacturers are already moving to 3D printing to reduce their product development life cycle, as British office furniture maker Senator did in prototyping its Ad-Lib range (pictured).