Search Results for: inclusive

Changing shape of workplace is creating new opportunities for property market

Changing shape of workplace is creating new opportunities for property market

A new report claims that changing approaches to the workplace will create new opportunities for the quickest and smartest to adaptAfter a challenging environment for commercial real estate in 2023, its fallout provides investors, developers and corporate occupiers with significant opportunities for value creation and transformational organisational change in 2024, says leading property management and investment firm, Colliers (EMEA) in its new market commentary: ‘Engage, activate and accelerate performance: next generation real estate strategies’ [registration]. The report claims that new approaches to the workplace will create new opportunities for the quickest and smartest to adapt. More →

RIBA issues new guidance on including more people in decision making on buildings and places

RIBA issues new guidance on including more people in decision making on buildings and places

One of the regular, longstanding gripes of our publisher Mark Eltringham (there are many) is that architects don’t particularly like non-architect folk having any sort of opinion on what they do. You can read him banging on here (ten years ago!) and elsewhere about the problems architects have with muggles. Now the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has pulled a rabbit from the hat by publishing new guidance to ensure that stakeholder engagement is considered, when appropriate, at every stage of planning, designing and constructing buildings and places. It remains to be seen what the rank and file make of this and what it means by ‘when appropriate’. More →

Age gaps between colleagues linked to lower productivity

Age gaps between colleagues linked to lower productivity

Employees who are much younger than their managers report lower productivity than those closer in age due to a lack of collaboration between employees of different generations, according to new research from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in collaboration with consulting firm, Protiviti.  An external survey conducted by LSE of 1,450 employees in the finance, technology and professional services industries in the UK and USA, found that friction between different generations was driving down productivity and that firms need to develop intergenerationally inclusive work practices. More →

Motherhood penalty means many women in tech leave due to care responsibilities

Motherhood penalty means many women in tech leave due to care responsibilities

Women who have flexible working arrangements have a significantly higher retention than those who didn't. These finding emphasise the damage that the 'motherhood penalty' has on the tech industry and its ability to keep women working within it.Almost 40 per cent of female tech leavers cited caring commitments as a decisive factor in their decision to leave the industry, according to research by Tech Talent Charter. Work life balance was ranked the most important consideration, as working parents are juggling careers and full-time caring commitments, prompting the Tech Talent Charter and MotherBoard Charter to join forces to address maternity retention in tech. Women who have flexible working arrangements have a significantly higher retention than those who didn’t. These findings emphasise the damage that the ‘motherhood penalty’ has on the tech industry and its ability to keep women working within it. More →

IDEAS Ltd to Sponsor Design Guild Mark 2024, call for entries

IDEAS Ltd to Sponsor Design Guild Mark 2024, call for entries

Designers and companies have until 19th January 2024 for the final deadline. The application form can be downloaded from the Design Guild Mark websiteDesign Guild Mark are pleased to announce that IDEAS Ltd will be sponsoring the ‘Furniture category’ for the 2024 Design Guild Mark Awards. Founded by Keith Lovelace in 2002, IDEAS is a leading authority in ergonomics and inclusive design for any commercial or public space including leisure, sports, hospitality, healthcare, and education. Keith has always had the philosophy that everything should come under the term ‘Good Design’, meaning that a product has been designed in such a way that it is desirable, inclusive, sustainable, robust, innovative, functional, attractive, and repairable, to name a few – values which are shared by the Design Guild Mark and form the criteria by which each submission is judged. More →

Flexible working is delivering the gift of seasonal productivity

Flexible working is delivering the gift of seasonal productivity

business leaders are still keen to maintain productivity with flexible working amidst the seasonal rush while allowing their team to enjoy the holiday periodEmployees have made it clear that they are keen for flexible working arrangements to stay. In fact, according to the Owl Labs 2023 State of Hybrid Work report, 40 percent of employees would decline a job if they were required to be in the office five days a week. With the festive season in full swing, employees will look to utilise the benefits of flexible working as they return home to their families. More →

MillerKnoll issues 2023 Better World Report, detailing strides to design a better world

MillerKnoll issues 2023 Better World Report, detailing strides to design a better world

MillerKnoll, the global collective of dynamic design brands, has published its 2023 Better World report, detailing the company’s goal to design a better world through sustainability, community impact, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). In 2021, following Herman Miller’s acquisition of Knoll, Herman Miller was renamed MillerKnoll, and the brands’ shared legacies of sustainable and inclusive design were brought together. This report provides metrics and details of initiatives launched by the collective of brands.

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One year on from generative AI hype, people are scared and excited about its use

One year on from generative AI hype, people are scared and excited about its use

Nearly one year after ChatGPT burst into the public consciousness, generative AI (GenAI) has left employees and their organisations both excited and uneasyNearly one year after ChatGPT burst into the public consciousness, generative AI (GenAI) has left employees and their organisations both excited and uneasy. According to a recent study [registration] commissioned by Betterworks and conducted by Propeller Insights, over half of employees are using GenAI at work for complex activities and believe it has the potential to reduce bias across a swath of HR processes, despite the fact that only 41 percent of organisations are actively evaluating it or have made GenAI a priority. At the same time, many employees are concerned about the potential impact of GenAI on both their roles and the possibility of unintentional amplification of bias. More →

Most women say menstruation symptoms have a negative impact on their work

Most women say menstruation symptoms have a negative impact on their work

more than two thirds (69 percent) of women have a negative experience at work because of their menstruation symptomsThe latest findings from the CIPD’s report Menstruation and support at work, which surveyed more than 2,000 women, found that more than two thirds (69 percent) of women have a negative experience at work because of their menstruation symptoms. In response, the CIPD is calling on organisations to create awareness, tackle the stigma associated with menstruation and train managers to be confident, comfortable and inclusive when talking to employees about menstrual health. More →

‘Return-to-office’  rates vary widely across Europe

‘Return-to-office’ rates vary widely across Europe

New data demonstrates varying approaches to the so-called return to office across Europe, with France and Belgium leading, spending an average of 3.5 days working from the officeA new survey from JLL, Is hybrid really working? [registration] claims that the majority of international organisations (87 percent) are encouraging employees to work from the office at least some of the time. In fact, only 20 percent of employees who can work remotely all of the time or one-two days in the office now do so, down from 39 percent a year ago. However, the data demonstrates varying approaches to the so-called return to office across Europe, with France and Belgium leading, spending an average of 3.5 days working from the office. Germany, Netherlands, Spain and the UK are however lagging behind with an average of 2.5 days working from the office. More →

Nothing propinks like propinquity, but tech is still vital for trust when hybrid working

Nothing propinks like propinquity, but tech is still vital for trust when hybrid working

Nothing beats in-person meetings, but tech is vital for hybrid working trust and equality. That is the main conclusion of a new report from Jabra’s LSE Behavioural Lab. According to the study, people are 56 percent more engaged in face to face meetings. In instances where hybrid meetings are required, meeting room participants saw an 84 percent increase in engagement from remote participants when using a professional meeting-room headset and video camera. The study is based on observations of 88 people of 15 different nationalities in a range of work settings. More →

Many people would take a pay cut for more flexible working and shorter hours

Many people would take a pay cut for more flexible working and shorter hours

Two thirds of British workers would be prepared to take a pay cut for an overall better job according to a poll from the hiring platform Indeed. A survey of over 5,000 workers for its Better Work 2023 report found a desire for greater flexibility and less time at work is driving this trend, with a four-day work week (28 percent), a better work life balance (25 percent) and more flexible working opportunities (17 percent) the most likely factors to encourage Brits to take a pay cut.  The mean pay cut workers surveyed are willing to take is 9.2 percent. Given the average salary for UK workers is £33,000, that means the average worker is willing to take a pay cut of £3,036 per annum for a better job. More →