Search Results for: workplace

Overwhelming majority of property professionals now view proptech as an opportunity

Overwhelming majority of property professionals now view proptech as an opportunity

The vast majority of property professionals in the UK now regard proptech as an opportunity rather than a threat, new research has found. However, a majority also remain sceptical about their own organisations’ progress on adopting new technology. Those are the key findings of a survey of more than 300 property professionals carried out by Trident Building Consultancy, in association with RICS, GoReport and Teesside University.

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Growing number of lawyers see flexible working and consultancy as attractive

Growing number of lawyers see flexible working and consultancy as attractive

A report published by law firm Allen & Overy’s flexible working service Peerpoint suggests that lawyers are increasingly looking to new ways of working to achieve their career goals. The Future for Legal Talent report is based on a survey of over 1,000 lawyers and law students. It also found that more than 80 percent of respondents believe new entrants to the legal profession will feel the work and commitment needed to reach partnership status may not be worthwhile. Even among those who want to become partner, just 21 percent feel they will make it. One in four (24 percent) said they have considered quitting the profession altogether.

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War for talent is increasing as recruits have higher expectations than ever of a new job

War for talent is increasing as recruits have higher expectations than ever of a new job

War for talent grows, with recruits having higher expectations than ever of a new jobAs employment levels rise, employers are facing stronger competition to attract and retain staff. Now the latest research suggests there is an escalation in the ‘war for talent’, as nine out of 10 new hires admit they would leave a job that fails to meet expectations within a month. According to research commissioned by Robert Half of 9,000 candidates in 11 countries across four continents, nearly half (47 percent) admit they decide whether they would or wouldn’t accept a position straight after the initial meeting. Highlighting that first impressions count, a further one fifth (20 percent) know if they are interested after the first communication (call/email), while 17 percent typically decide within the first five minutes of the interview.  Less than one in 10 (9 percent) wait until they have completed subsequent interviews to decide and merely 7 percent decide during contractual negotiations. Even once candidates have accepted a role, 91 percent admit they would consider leaving a job within their first month and 93 percent during their probation period.

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Women are less optimistic than men about the future of work

Women are less optimistic than men about the future of work

Women in the US are less optimistic than men about the future of work, according to a new survey from B2B research firm Clutch. When asked how they view their future career, more than a quarter (27 percent) of working women feel worried or neutral, compared to 20 percent of men. Workers overall have a positive outlook about their future careers, the survey finds. Over three quarters (76 percent) are optimistic about their future careers, compared to 1 in 5 workers (20 percent) who say they are worried. However, gender differences correlate with other factors that impact optimism, including decision-making authority at work, according to the survey’s findings.

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Your happiness at work is not just down to your employer

Your happiness at work is not just down to your employer

When Google promoted a software engineer named Chade-Meng Tan to the role of “Jolly Good Fellow”, his career – and the entire culture of Silicon Valley – took a sharp turn. Meng, a cheerful employee valued for his motivational qualities, went from developing mobile search tools to spreading happiness across the organisation. Happiness became his job. Google wasn’t the first to hire someone with the sole remit of enforcing employee contentment. In 1999, when Google was still a start-up, French fashion brand Kiabi hired Christine Jutard as its chief happiness officer. She was one of the first to perform the role. But once Google did it, happiness at work became a key metric and other organisations quickly adopted their approach. Three years after Meng’s appointment, fast food giant McDonald’s even promoted Ronald McDonald from brand mascot to CHO.

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Two-thirds of employers believe agency and gig workers should be able to request a stable employment contract

Two-thirds of employers believe agency and gig workers should be able to request a stable employment contract

Two-thirds of employers (67 percent) back the introduction of a new right for agency workers and zero-hours contract workers to request a stable contract, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. The findings, which form part of the CIPD’s response to the Government’s consultation on the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, are based on a survey of 1,000 employers. The survey found that 67 percent of respondents said they support the right to request a stable contract, which would potentially allow agency workers to request a permanent contract of employment and zero-hours contract workers to request regular or guaranteed hours.The CIPD believes the right to request should be available to people who have 12 months of continuous service with one organisation, a suggestion supported by 41 percent of employers. 32 percent of respondents supported a period of at least six months and 20 percent were in favour of at least three months. More →

How our noisy world was foreseen by the 20th Century’s great minds

How our noisy world was foreseen by the 20th Century’s great minds

Over the past few years we’ve become more aware of the problems associated with the pace and clatter of modern life and not least among them its noise. Authors like Susan Cain have highlighted not only how distracting noise can be for everybody but how it affects different personality types in different ways. She is perhaps the world’s most high profile proponent of the idea that sometimes we need to work quietly and alone and is the author of Quiet: the power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking and the person responsible for this now famous and archetypal TED Talk presented on the effects of sound and the need for more silence and privacy. But she is not alone in making these claims, nor is she the first person to do so and the warning signs have been around for quite some time. The first calls for people to heed the racket of modern life came at least a hundred years ago as we began the 20th Century transition to office based life with its distractions of noisy things and people.

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Additional 1.5 million people planning to trade the rat race for the gig economy

Additional 1.5 million people planning to trade the rat race for the gig economy

Rise of the gig economy is transforming the UK employment landscapeMore than 6 million UK adults are already self-employed or working as a contractor in the so-called gig economy, with a further 6 percent of currently  full-time professionals looking to make the transition this year. New research of more than 2,000 UK adults commissioned by WeMa Life claims to reveal how the rise of the gig economy is transforming the UK’s employment landscape, with one in five (19 percent) working adults currently identifying themselves as being a freelancer, sole trader or self-employed. The study found that 71 percent of gig economy workers identified flexibility as the biggest appeal for working on a contractor or temporary basis. Furthermore, having control over the hours and types of jobs undertaken has also empowered a new section of the workforce that were previously unable to access full-time employment – it was uncovered that nearly half (46 percent) of those working in the gig economy do so because they are not in a position to work a full-time job due to other commitments in their life.

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Fewer than half of Australians now work in a traditional job

Fewer than half of Australians now work in a traditional job

Fewer than half of employed Australians now hold a standard, traditional job, according to a new report into the growth of insecure employment published by the Centre for Future Work. The report, The Dimensions of Insecure Work: A Factbook, reviews eleven statistical indicators of the growth in employment insecurity over the last five years: including part-time work, short hours, underemployment, casual jobs, marginal self-employment, and jobs paid minimum wages under modern awards. It defines a standard job as permanent full-time paid work with leave entitlements. According to the authors, all the indicators of job stability have declined since 2012, thanks to a combination of weak labour market conditions, aggressive profit strategies by employers, and passivity by labour regulators.

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Majority of global workforce now work somewhere other than the office every week

Majority of global workforce now work somewhere other than the office every week

Majority of global workforce now work remotely from the office every week

Technological change, globalisation and changes in employee expectations mean that over two-thirds of global employees now work remotely every week, and over half do so for at least half of the week. Though it must be said this is according to a new study from IWG, which is the parent group of workspace companies including Regus and Spaces, the study found that every week 70 percent of employees are working at least one day a week somewhere other than the office. More than half (53 percent) work remotely for half of the week or more, whilst more than one in 10 (11 percent) people work outside of their company’s main office location five times a week. The survey adds also that flexible working and the use of shared workspaces are no longer the preserve of start-ups. The world’s most successful businesses – including varied companies such as Etihad Airways, Diesel, GSK, Mastercard, Microsoft, Oracle and Uber – are already adopting a flexible workspace approach.

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Upcoming tasks and appointments may make us less productive, claims new research

Upcoming tasks and appointments may make us less productive, claims new research

Available time seems shorter when it comes just before an appointment, say scientists who found that an upcoming task may make us less productive. In a series of eight studies, both in the lab and real life, researchers found that free time seems shorter to people when it comes before a task or appointment on their calendar. The study appears online in the Journal of Consumer Research. In an online study of 198 peopl were asked to imagine they had a friend coming over to visit in one hour and “you are all ready for your friend to come by.” The others were told that they had no plans for the evening. All participants were asked how many minutes “objectively” they could spend reading during the next hour and how many minutes they “subjectively” felt like they could spend reading during that same hour.

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Australia is leading the world in the adoption of activity based working

Australia is leading the world in the adoption of activity based working

Over half of those employed in the banking sector in Australia now find themselves in agile and dynamic activity based workplaces. The banks have set the pace. The overall growth of the phenomenon has been exponential in the last 5 years, with sources suggesting two thirds of Australian organisations will have adopted Activity Based Working (ABW) by 2020. Furthermore, by looking at the number of Activity Based Working projects in the pipeline this move away from the 20th century office seems unstoppable. Despite global economic challenges the banking sector in Australia is particularly strong and stable, which contributes to the organisations’ ability to take a long term view. Alongside this robust financial picture we are also seeing a shift in purpose emerge, where the banks move away from a purely financial role to one where they embrace a sense of community and stewardship thus developing a broader contribution to society.

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