July 11, 2019
Enthusiasm among international investors for the UK commercial property market has continued to wane over the past quarter, according to BrickVest’s latest commercial property investment barometer. According to the data ,capturing the views of over 6000 international professional real estate investors, only 27 percent view the UK as their preferred market, a 4 percent fall in the past 12 months. More →
July 10, 2019
A new report claims that 86 percent of Britain’s largest businesses are worried about raising their productivity with two-fifths (39 percent) calling their productivity ‘very concerning’, but that they are investing just 0.25 percent of turnover in measures to improve it, less than they invest in telecoms. The report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) and Concentra Analytics also suggests there is a “spray and pray approach” to driving productivity caused by a lack of insight into the performance of people. More →
July 2, 2019
Firms in the FTSE 100 are on track to reach the target of 33 percent of women on boards by 2020 that was set by the Hampton Alexander Review. In its July update, the organisation reports that 27.5 percent of FTSE 250 board positions now held by women, up from 24.9 percent three years ago. The figures suggest that if progress matches the same gains made over the last 3 years, then FTSE 100 companies are on track to meet the 2020 target. Just under a third (32.1 percent) of FTSE 100 board positions are now held by women, up from 12.5 percent in 2011. More →
June 25, 2019
Leesman, the workplace experience analysts, and Delos, a wellness real estate and technology firm, have announced a new collaboration to investigate how real estate strategy can better support wellbeing at work. With a variety of strategies being promoted as a secret to ‘wellness at work’, this collaboration aims to test and validate the impact of real estate strategies on worker wellbeing on an ongoing basis, and not only when an office is new.
June 24, 2019
New research from Oracle and the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management claims that many organisations have invested in the right technologies to enjoy the benefits of digital transformation, but lack the culture, skills or behaviours necessary to reap them fully. According to the report (registration), business efficiency increases by two thirds when the right technology is implemented alongside seven key factors but only by a fifth when implemented without them.
June 19, 2019
The London Office of Innovation and Technology (LOTI) has been officially launched, ushering in what the fifteen councils behind the initiative claim will be a new era of digital transformation. The councils claim that London’s public services will benefit from faster adoption of technology, data and digital skills. The city-wide venture is a collaboration between all 32 London boroughs with the Mayor of London’s backing.
June 17, 2019
The idea that spending recreational time in natural settings is good for our health and wellbeing is hardly new. Parents have been telling their kids to “go play outside, it’s good for you” for generations. Now, colleagues and I have published a study in the journal Scientific Reports which suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing, a figure that applies to every demographic we could think of (at least in England). More →
June 7, 2019
Setting clear and bold targets has become part of leadership 101. We take it for granted that the first action for anyone taking over the helm of a business or team is to state or re-state targets. The rise of “management by objectives” in the 1970s drove the initial focus on target-setting and, in line with shoulder pads and lapel width, the 1990s saw a shift in management culture to ‘bigger is always better’. In 1994 Jim Collins and Jerry Porras wrote their highly influential best seller Built to Last. In it, they memorably wrote of the power of BHAGs – big, hairy, audacious goals. Targets were no longer for hitting but represented something bigger, a longer-term vision of the future.
June 6, 2019
Noisy, distracting, toxic and disastrous. These are just a few words that have been used to describe open plan office layouts. Though the open office layout model was originally conceived to promote collaboration, innovation and stronger workplace relationship, if recent press is to be believed, it’s had the opposite effect at many companies. More →
May 31, 2019
Over recent years, we have witnessed significant changes when it comes to the workplace. Women are continuing to push through the glass ceiling, offices are starting to look more likes homes and businesses are opting for a more flexible and sociable working environment. This rise in coworking and other forms of flexible office space is just one of the latest trends to emerge from the corporate world, and according to a report by office brokers Office Freedom, London is at the forefront of this growing market. More →
May 31, 2019
The last three months have seen steady growth in the number of advertised jobs on offer, despite Brexit uncertainty, according to the latest UK Job Market Report from Adzuna. Pay rates are also on the rise, as average UK advertised salaries have outpaced inflation rates of 2 percent. Compared to the average salary on offer in April 2017 (£32,678), wages have been boosted 9.3 percent. Competition for jobs has also fallen to a record low, with a ratio of 0.21 jobseekers per vacancy in April. This means there are around five times more jobs being advertised than workers looking for new roles, the highest rate recorded since Adzuna began collecting the data seven years ago. Competition for jobs is now significantly lower than the ratio of 0.43 jobseekers per vacancy recorded a year ago, with the talent war showing no signs of letting up.
June 11, 2019
What is workplace technology really for, anyway?
by Pete Trainor • Comment, Technology