September 24, 2019

Employment of mothers shapes working lives of children

by Neil Franklin • News, Working culture

A new report from the IZA Institute of Labor Economics claims that working mothers serve as role models for the working lives of their children, especially their daughters. The report suggests that while the inter-generational correlation of labour market outcomes has been a subject of interest among both academics and policymakers for a long time, much of the literature has focused on the correlation of earnings. The new report argues that not only is the potential to earn transmitted across generations but also the willingness to work more generally. More →

September 24, 2019

Skills gap driven by changing structure of labour market

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

Recent years have seen a widespread drop in global unemployment rates but what continues to puzzle economists has been the subsequent failure of wage inflation to follow suit. This has created an unusual phenomenon of wage stagnation across global markets, according to the eighth edition of the Hays Global Skills Index, a report into skills and the skills gap published by recruitment firm Hays in collaboration with Oxford Economics. More →

September 23, 2019

Having data about people and their behaviour does not create a science

by John Rapley • Comment, Technology, Workplace

Two questions: is it good or bad that professional athletes earn 400 times what nurses do, and is string theory a dead end? Each question goes to the heart of its discipline. Yet while you probably answered the first, you’d hold an opinion on the prospects of string theory only if you’ve studied physics. More →

September 23, 2019

Office design alone cannot motivate us or make us happy at work

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Knowledge, Workplace, Workplace design

There’s a good reason why we find it hard to establish the causal links between our working lives, office design and our personal happiness. It’s because it’s all very complicated. So complicated in fact that you can sidetrack any discussion on the subject by asking elementary questions such as: ‘what do you mean by happy?’ or ‘should it be the role of work to make us happy?’ More →

September 23, 2019

Growing number of organisations pledge to take action on climate change

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Property

As world leaders meet in New York for today’s UN Climate Action Summit, a group of 59 large multinationals including Swiss Re, Ikea, and L’Oréal have signed up to the UN Global Compact to pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The compact now has 87 corporations as signatories, including Astra Zeneca and Unilever who signed up earlier this year, with a combined market value of $2.3 trillion. As is the case with countries, there is still a way to go for more companies to take decisive action on climate change, however. More →

September 23, 2019

Flexible working continues to thrive in the public sector

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

More than two in five public sector workers were able to enjoy flexible working in the last quarter of 2018, official figures from the Office for National Statistics show. According to the data, around 42 percent of public sector workers said they had worked flexibly in the period from October to December 2018. The proportion of people offered flexible working patters was double that of private sector workers, 21 percent of which reported arrangements such as flexitime, compressed hours and term-time only work. More →

September 23, 2019

Work is creating mental health issues for two in five employees

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Although two in five (39 percent) UK workers experienced symptoms of poor mental health related to work in the last year, according to a report released by Business in the Community (BITC), in partnership with Mercer Marsh Benefits and BITC’s Wellbeing Leadership Team. The report also claims that most employers do not acknowledge or deal with the adverse impact work has on employees’ health. More →

September 20, 2019

Flexible working now routine for two thirds of US workers

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing

A new report from Owl Labs claims that although two-thirds of US workers now work away from their main place of work some of the time, there are still many people and organisations that are unaware of the benefits, processes and challenges involved in flexible working. The new report explores the effect flexible working has on personal happiness, recruitment, retention and skills as well as exploring the attitudes of people who are based in a fixed place of work.

September 20, 2019

Climate change demands we shift our focus from productivity

by Simon Mair • Comment, Environment

Climate action is often about sacrifice: eat less meat, don’t fly, and buy less stuff. These things are essential. But climate action can also be about gain. Many causes of climate change make our lives worse. So transforming our societies to stop climate change offers us the chance to make our lives better. More →

September 20, 2019

Managers lack confidence in their ability to develop employee skills

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Despite acknowledging the importance of new skills, 45 percent of managers don’t feel confident in their ability to develop the skills employees need today, according to a poll by Gartner. In addition to a lack of confidence, Gartner research also claims that managers lack time to coach their direct reports, with managers spending on average 9 percent of their time on developing their direct reports. More →

September 19, 2019

Design what you like, but people may have different ideas ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

The story goes that, when Rem Koolhaas was appointed to design the McCormick Tribune Campus Center at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2003, the legendary architect noticed how students had created their own pathways between the buildings as they had made their way around the site. The site of the new building included a field on which their footprints had worn down the grass to such an extent that distinct grooves had been carved out that reflected their movements.

September 19, 2019

Flexible working becoming preserve of the well paid

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

The number of highly paid workers offered some form of flexible working has trebled in the past four years, according to the latest Flexible Jobs Index from flexible work consultancy Timewise. It found that the proportion of jobs with salaries of more than £80,000 advertised with flexible working options is up to 16 percent, compared to 9 percent last year and 5 percent in 2016. More →