Search Results for: population

October 26, 2015

An updated green building standard designed to meet wider business objectives ⁰

by Sue Gregson • Comment, Facilities management, Legal news, Property

The publication in September 2015 of the revised ISO 14001 Global Environmental Management Standard has been heralded as a move that will “shift business focus on the environment from compliance with regulations and direct operations, to placing the environment at the heart of thinking and strategy.” This will assist businesses around the world to respond to increasing global sustainability challenges and ensure long-term business success. Currently there are over 300,000 organisations worldwide that are certified to the ISO 14001 Standard, first published in 1996. According to the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, (IEMA) ISO 14001 is the second most used standard companies employ to manage their performance globally, with 171 countries now represented. Its popularity as a management tool has been linked to both improved financial and environmental performance.

October 16, 2015

Sydney leads the way in activity-based working finds global cities report ⁰

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

If employers want to attract the best, they need to create spaces where their staff want to work, because providing an inspiring and enjoyable office is now the most critical, cost-effective way to successfully attract the world’s most talented employees. Knight Frank’s Global Cities: The 2016 Report highlights a shift in thinking by the newest generation of workers who expect the same kind of environment which historically, was the preserve of technology and media firms. This new office combines collaborative spaces with individual work areas, as well as providing amenities that encourage people to think of work as an extension of home. Sydney is leading the way with just under a third (28 percent) of all offices already offering activity-based working (ABW) for employees, where the workspace is specifically designed to suit the whole range of activities which will be accommodated.

October 12, 2015

How workplace design is more closely reflecting how we actually work ⁰

by Adrian Campbell • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

In years gone by, a ‘one size fits all’ approach to office design might have been the norm, but as the decades have progressed, so too have the options available to businesses designing ‘homes from home’ for their office-based workforces. As new interpretations of the office environment proliferated, so the open plan model came to into being and eventually evolved into the default office design model. This initially brought greater variety than ever before but, ultimately, a one size fits all mentality in workplace design ultimately prevailed – every worker was expected to work in certain ways, utilising the equipment and furniture supplied and designed for them. From inception through to occupancy, the average new office involves a six-year period of design and construction involving varying teams of people discussing the best and most attractive solution for the actual end user.

October 1, 2015

US sees biggest jump in working from home since 2008, claims study ⁰

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

According to an analysis of the just-released 2014 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com, approximately 3.7 million US employees (2.5 percent of the workforce) called home their primary place of work in 2014. This represents a 6.5 percent increase and the largest year over year growth in the number of people working from home since before the recession. The ACS data is based on a nationwide survey of answers to the question “What was your primary means of travel to work during the survey week—’Worked at Home’ is one of the choices. The count only includes those who work at home at least half of the time. According to Global Workplace Analytics far more people work at home on a less frequent basis and many work in “third places” such as coffee shops, co-working facilities, libraries, and just about anywhere there’s an internet connection.

September 28, 2015

A review of the CIFF office design show 2015 in Shanghai ⁰

by John Sacks • Comment, Events, Furniture, Workplace design

Shanghai’s population is reported to be in the region of twenty six million, more than double that of London, and the city continues to creep outwards inexorably, attracting even greater numbers. For the casual visitor however, its vast size does somehow seem to be manageable, just. The traffic is very heavy of course, but it does move, albeit slowly. There are few commercial vehicles on the city’s roads during the day and, in an effort to control the rampant pollution, almost all of the private cars and scooters are either electric or hybrids. This means that there is an eerie near-silence from the massive volume of traffic, interrupted only by the occasional police siren or outbreak of hooting from an impatient motorist. After dark, on poorly-lit streets, pedestrians are at real risk of getting run over by the silent cars or scooters that rarely use their lights – an economy measure?

September 22, 2015

The worldwide demographic timebomb is transforming the workplace ⁰

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

There are a number of reasons why we shouldn’t be drawn into blindly accepting the narrative about Generation Y’s impact on the workplace. It seems the most important is also the least talked about. It is that the workforce is actually ageing in the world’s leading economies. While it may be true that 27 is middle -aged for employees at technology companies, for pretty much everybody else, shifting demographics, longer lives, improving health, falling pensions and changing personal preferences are likely to mean they stay in the workforce for longer. This is true in both the UK and US, where Millennials may make up the largest demographic grouping in the workplace but are still in a minority within an increasingly diverse workforce. The dynamics of these changes are playing out in different ways in different countries, but the forces are essentially universal.

September 17, 2015

Growth of on demand economy is transforming work and workplaces ⁰

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

Some of the key characteristics of the workplace of the near future are starting to crystallise pretty rapidly. In many ways, employees are aware of this to a greater extent than employers, legislators and politicians. For example, this week and over recent weeks Uber has been arguing in courts around the world that its drivers are not employees but are in fact self-employed. This is the shape of things to come. In the UK, around a fifth of the workforce is already freelance or self-employed, something which politicians like to misinterpret as small business, possibly because it makes them look better because they associate it with entrepreneurialism and the prospects of these firms employing other people. The idea this is simply not the case is supported by a new report from software provider Intuit which claims that just 13 percent of British workers think they will be in traditional employment in 2025.

August 27, 2015

People are surprisingly ignorant of basic technological terms ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

One of the assumptions we might make about people in our increasingly digital world is that everybody has a pretty good grasp of what some of the more basic technological ideas actually mean. That cosy assumption is challenged by a new study from IT firm Daisy Group which claims that a fifth of the UK population don’t know what WiFi is, three quarters have no idea what is meant by VoIP, nearly half (43 percent) don’t know what The Cloud is and a similar number (44 percent) are baffled by the term ‘fibre broadband’. Even business owners and managers, for whom a basic grasp of this kind of stuff would seem essential, are at a disadvantage. Nearly a third (29 percent) of 1,100 surveyed couldn’t define fibre broadband (29 percent), a quarter (26 percent) hadn’t the foggiest about The Cloud and pretty much everybody is left cold by data centres.

August 26, 2015

Women in full time work earn 22 percent less than men, claims study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Legal news, News, Workplace

Women managers are effectively working for free nearly two hours every day, according to a report into the gender pay gap from the Chartered Management Institute and Xpert HR. The report draws on a survey of 72,000 UK managers published which found that women working in full-time roles earn 22 percent less than men, which the authors claim means they are ‘unpaid’ for 1h 40m a day. According to the analysis of the data from the 2015 National Management Salary Survey, for men and women of all ages and in all professional roles the pay differential now stands at an average of £8,524, with men earning an average of £39,136 and women earning £30,612. In 2014, the gap stood at £9,069, or 23 percent. The difference rises to £14,943 for senior or director-level staff, with men earning an average of £138,699 compared to the average for women of £123,756.

August 19, 2015

Home-workers are happier, healthier and more productive than ever ⁰

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

Home-workers are more productive, happier and more capable of attaining a healthy work/life balance than those who work in an office, claims a new survey. Around 84 percent of home-workers believe they are equally or more productive then their office-based colleagues; and over three quarters (77 percent) of the UK’s working population agree that working from home has a positive impact on productivity. The survey of 1,800 professionals from CV library found that 18 percent work from home, with a further 15 percent splitting their time between home and the office, and the data shows that flexible working hours contributes to increased productivity (28 percent and 26 percent respectively). Although well over half (66 percent) of home-workers believe they work longer hours, more than three quarters (83.2 percent) find it easier to manage a good work/life balance.

August 18, 2015

That story about sexist air conditioning systems…roundly debunked ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Wellbeing, Workplace

The main story of the silly season so far has been that one about the inherent sexism of air conditioning systems from a week or two back. Based on a study published in the esoteric journal Nature Climate Change, it appeared that standards for heating and ventilation in building systems were founded on the metabolic rate of an average man which suggested women were toiling away in unconducive, if not exactly unbearable, conditions. This was a compelling tale picked up worldwide by major media outlets including The New Yorker and The Daily Telegraph. There were only two problems with it all. Firstly, the original study was extremely flimsy, based on a tiny sample and ignorant of some basic facts. Secondly the science behind it has now been roundly rejected by ASHRAE, the main US body responsible for informing debate on such matters.

August 14, 2015

Far from being on board, older women still face recruitment bias ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Workplace

The news that the Davies review has met its 25 per cent target for female representation on boards, and is now considering setting a target that a quarter of executives at FTSE 100 companies should be female, has been met with approval by the Institute of Directors, which said it was right that the focus is on increasing the number of women in senior executive positions. But what about those further down the salary scale, where many older women struggle to even get a job interview? A recent study carried out by Anglia Ruskin University’s Lord Ashcroft International Business School shows that older jobseekers face widespread discrimination in the UK, with older female applicants more likely to experience bias than men. The study found no significant link between a company having a HR department or providing commitments to equal opportunities, and the level of discrimination it displayed.