Search Results for: people

June 18, 2016

Productive workplaces + Long hours link to ill health + Coworking rise ⁰

by Sara Bean • Cities, Comment, Environment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Furniture, Newsletter, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

In this week’s Newsletter; Mark Eltringham says we must question the idea that there is one ideal form of office; and argues events such as Clerkenwell Design Week wouldn’t function unless there was some consensus on what constitutes good and bad design. The supply of flexible workspace in London outstrips conventional office space; emerging technologies will create more organic workspace; and employees thrive in a workplace that is sensitive to their needs and well-being. Women who work long hours could be damaging their health; the UK remains in the grip of a digital skills crisis; people welcome the idea of robot help and the IEA says cities can contribute to a cut in carbon emissions. You can download our Insight Briefing, produced in partnership with Connection, on the boundless office; visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

June 17, 2016

Home or away. What should employers be doing about the game? ⁰

by Anita Rai • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, Workplace

The Euros 2016 are underway. It’s an exciting time for the nation, but not so much for businesses that are potentially facing a largely absent workforce, be it physically or simply because they will spend at least 90 minutes of their afternoon glued to their mobile phones watching the match. Some employees might have been organised enough to book annual leave for the afternoon, but for many, they will be devising a cunning plan as to how they can get away to watch the match. Employers can expect to be faced with a hike in “sickies” and last minute requests to work from home as suddenly there’s a delivery due or a poorly child to look after. Some employees will just decide to chance it and not come back to the office after their lunch breaks, with no pre-authorisation at all. So what should you be doing as an employer?

June 17, 2016

Women’s long hours working linked to alarming increases in serious illness ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Knowledge, Wellbeing, Workplace

Women who put in long hours for the sake of their careers may pay a heavy price including life-threatening illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer. Work weeks that averaged 60 hours or more over three decades appear to triple the risk of diabetes, cancer, heart trouble and arthritis for women, according to new research from Ohio State University and published in The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The risk begins to climb when women put in more than 40 hours and takes a decidedly bad turn above 50 hours, researchers found. Men with tough work schedules appeared to fare much better, found researchers who analysed data from interviews with almost 7,500 people who were part of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. More scheduling flexibility and on-the-job health coaching, screening and support could go a long way toward reducing the chances employees become sick or die as a result of chronic conditions, according to the report.

June 17, 2016

Younger and older workers share many of the same attitudes to the workplace ⁰

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

The behaviour and attitudes of young people in the workplace are very similar to those of older generations. We keep repeating this point but it’s always worth reminding ourselves given the prevailing narratives that obscure this truth. Indeed, so powerful is the narrative that even when a piece of research or a survey contradicts it, there is often an attempt to ignore the report’s own finding’s in favour of something that fits the meme. This happens more often than you think which is why it’s always worth going beyond the headlines to look at what lies beneath. This week, two reports have appeared which highlight just how much a younger generation of workers shares the same attitudes and challenges as other generations. According to the reports, this is true for issues such as presenteeism and the need for the company of colleagues and so suggest we don’t need to treat different age groups quite so differently as is often claimed.

June 17, 2016

Homeworking loses appeal as workers prefer flexible office environment ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Furniture, News, Workplace design

Most workers now look for flexibility in where and how they work finds a new survey from the British Council for Offices. But this doesn’t mean homeworking; as less than a third (28 percent) of workers now say they would prefer to work from home, a figure that has dropped from 45 percent in 2013, when the research from the BCO and Savills was last conducted. Over three-quarters of respondents (77 percent) said that they currently work in a traditional office, with the majority (60 percent) choosing to work from a dedicated workstation compared to only four percent that are asked to share desks with colleagues. This desire for a dedicated desk has increased over the past three years, rising from a figure of 41 percent in 2013; but despite demand for a dedicated desk, most workplaces (70 percent) now also include a communal environment to work from, providing a space for more dynamic working.

June 16, 2016

Most likely scenario of a Brexit vote is minimal impact on employees ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, Legal news, News, Workplace

A more nuanced and balanced view from both leave and remain campaigns on how the EU Referendum will affect employees is needed, a leading HR authority has warned. Commenting on how the outcome of the EU Referendum will affect employees, Professor of Human Resources Chris Rowley, at Cass Business School, said: “The deluge of increasingly extreme polar dichotomy arguments and claims regarding possible post-Brexit life also applies to the critical area of work and employment where the Remain and Leave camps have some of their greatest internal tensions and contradictions. Both sides betray a lack of historical and contemporary grounding and analysis of both employee relations and politics. One problem is that there is much counterfactual argument of causation – what would have happened anyway.” In the short term and possibly even in the longer term he says that a Brexit vote would be unlikely to impact employment law, as so much is already enshrined at work.

June 15, 2016

New workplace technology will automatically adapt offices to needs of staff ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Case studies, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace design

A new generation of workplace technology that allows the working environment to adapt to the needs of individuals will attract people to work in offices and contribute to their productivity, wellbeing and happiness. That is the key finding of a new report from US office furniture giant Haworth. According to the white paper Enabling the Organic Workspace: Emerging Technologies that Focus on People, Not Just Space a new generation of sensors will measure how offices are used and allow them to adapt on a day to day basis by changing temperature and lighting levels and responding to employees’ needs and influencing their behaviour in other ways. The white paper suggests this will be a development of existing technologies in the way it adapts the immediate working environment to the specific needs of an individual or group. This might even entail using biometrics to assess their psychological and emotional needs, according to the report.

June 15, 2016

Biggest risk to company cyber security is mainly staff carelessness ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Bad habits and a lack of awareness about security mean that employees are inadvertently leaving companies’ cyber doors wide open to attack. New research by Norrie Johnston Recruitment (NJR); which forms part of NJR’s cyber security report: how real is the threat and how can you reduce your risk, shows that 23 percent of employees use the same password for different work applications and 17 percent write down their passwords, 16 percent work while connected to public wifi networks and 15 percent access social media sites on their work PCs. It’s not that people are unaware of the cyber threat. The research also shows that just over 50 per cent have experienced a cyber scam in the last twelve months. 29 have received a fake email from PayPal, Apple or a bank, 12 percent have been targeted by a Facebook scam and 7 percent have clicked a link that put a virus on a PC.

June 14, 2016

Home workers happier, able to balance responsibilities despite long hours ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

New research claims that home-based employees are choosing to work more hours than those who work in traditional offices. According to the study carried out by homeworking agency Sensée, despite opting to work more hours daily, home workers are generally happier because they’re empowered to choose the hours they work so they can still attend to family responsibilities. Three quarters of home workers (77 percent) stated that working from home enables them to achieve more, including caring for family members or friends and exercising more. Time and money saved on commuting – along with more control over their day – were cited among the top three benefits of working from home. The research also claims there is a desire to work from home among office-based employees. Three-fifths (81 percent) of office-based employees said they would take the opportunity to work from home either full time or part time to care for a family member or friend.

June 14, 2016

Winning over employees during the great Summer of sport ⁰

by Jamie Mackenzie • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

The summer brings about many challenges for both employers and employees. The longer days, warmer weather, and reduced staff numbers are an annual occurrence that managers need to factor in; 2016 also brings a particularly exciting season of sport. High profile events such as Wimbledon, Euro 2016 and the Olympics are already upon us, with many of the events taking place during working hours. Research from Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services suggests that 1 in 5 people say they typically feel the least motivated during summer or when there is a sporting event taking place. Managers need to combat this in order to maintain productivity levels throughout the summer – but how can this be achieved? And how can they use the opportunity presented by the Summer of sport to build closer relationships with employees that will have longer term benefits for the business than the immediate challenges they present?

June 13, 2016

UK faces digital skills gap … but simply hiring Millennials won’t close it ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Workplace

Although the UK remains a global tech leader, the country remains in the grip of a digital skills crisis which is holding back productivity and costs around £63 billion each year, according to a report published today by the Commons Science and Technology Committee. The report claims that 12.6 million UK adults lack even basic digital skills, and nearly half of these people (5.8 million) have never even used the internet. Meanwhile, a coincidental report published by Cisco claims that those organisations who apparently assume they can close the gap by merely employing so-called Millennials, will be disappointed because there’s no great correlation between age and confidence in using digital technology. The Digital Culture Clash report found the only meaningful correlations were between the type of work an individual does, their level of employment and their competence and confidence in using technology.

June 10, 2016

Plans unveiled to double size of MediaCityUK over the next ten years ⁰

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

MediaCityUK, best known as the new home of the BBC, is to double in size over the next decade under ambitious plans submitted to Salford City Council. Up to ten new buildings are envisaged with a development value of more than £1 billion. Key features of phase two of MediaCityUK include 50,000 m2 (540,000 sq ft) of offices, 1,800 apartments, retail and leisure, complemented by public spaces with a pedestrian promenade running through the scheme. Outline approval for the plans was granted in 2006. A condition of that permission was that detailed proposals, including all building designs and specifications, needed to be brought forward this year. The plans are expected to be considered by Salford’s planning panel in September. MediaCityUK is a joint venture between Peel Land and Property and Legal and General Capital, who share a long-term commitment to the further expansion of a creative and digital hub which already houses 250 businesses including the BBC, ITV, dock10, Ericsson and SIS.