Search Results for: generation z

August 4, 2016

Connectivity creep is driving more people to switch off their devices ⁰

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

Fifteen million UK internet users have undertaken a ‘digital detox’ in a bid to strike a healthier balance between technology and life beyond the screen, according to a new Ofcom study. The study of around 2,500 people suggests that our reliance on the internet is affecting people’s personal and working lives, leading many to seek time away from the web to spend time with friends and family. Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2016 finds that one in three adult internet users (34 percent), equivalent to 15 million people in the UK, has sought a period of time offline, with one in ten (11 percent) doing so in the last week alone. Of these digital down-timers, 25 percent spent up to a day internet-free; 20 percent took up to a week off; and 5 percent went web-free for up to a whole month. The most common reasons for taking a time out were to spend more time doing other things (cited by 44 percent) and more time talking to friends and family (38 percent).

August 1, 2016

Smart cities will play essential role in meeting future energy demand ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Environment, News, Property, Technology

The changing energy demands of British cities are revealed in a new report published by Smart Energy GB and the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The report’s central claim is that urbanisation, economic growth and new technology will drive cities to meet their energy demands with the greater use of sustainable and renewable sources. The authors claim that this is the first time that predictions about increases in energy demand in the UK have been analysed and published on a city level. The Powering Future Cities report suggests that this growing demand will primarily be driven by urban population growth, economic growth and a predicted surge in use of new technology, including electric vehicles. The report coincides with an announcement that the World Green Building Council has created a new partnership with the World Resources Institute-led Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) to fast-track improvements to energy efficiency within buildings.

July 29, 2016

Still inequalities, despite more over 50s in work than ever before ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Employers that focus only on keeping a generation of younger workers happy are ignoring the fact that an increasing proportion of the UK working population is getting older. The latest Government figures reveal that there are now more people aged 50 to 74 in work than ever before. According to Labour Force Survey statistics there are now 9.4 million people in work aged 50 to 74, with 3.7 million more in this age bracket than there were 20 years ago. The figures also show the unemployment rate for people aged over 50 has dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest level since 2009, and there are over 1.1 million people working beyond age 65. Legislation to end the retirement age and allow more flexible contracts, have, argues the Government contributed to a more positive attitude towards older workers. However, according to the Centre for Ageing Better, many over 50s are still being forced out of work or offered fewer working hours than they’d requested.

July 26, 2016

Workplace design that hands people control is the key to their wellbeing ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Giving employees more control over workplace design is the single most important contributing factor to their wellbeing, according to a new study. The Workplace & Wellbeing report examines the workplace design factors that influence wellbeing. The research team discovered that an invitation to participate in the design of the work environment raised levels of wellbeing, although increasing the level of participation did not necessarily increase the level of wellbeing. The research was led by the Royal College of Art’s Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design in partnership with architects Gensler and supported by a consortium of leading industry names: Milliken, Bupa, Royal Bank of Scotland, Kinnarps and Shell. The context for this project lies with a current ‘wellbeing deficit’ in the workplace which means absence from work costs the UK economy more than £14 billion a year according to the Confederation of British Industry.

July 25, 2016

Outmoded desk phone will disappear within next couple of years ⁰

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

A new survey has confirmed the imminent death of the ‘nearly useless’ desk phone, which while still in evidence within many organisations, is believed by one third of workers will disappear in two to three years. With both corporate and remote workers increasingly away from their desks, 65 percent already have a ‘desk phone optional’ work environment and over half (59 percent) believe the desk phone is outdated. The 2016 Report on Business Communications in the Era of the Anywhere Worker, by Dialpad, among end users to executives, on cloud communications adoption rates and expectations, also found that businesses of all sizes are adapting to the “anywhere worker” movement and as employees increasingly rely exclusively on mobile technologies, the organisations they work for are quickly evolving to meet their mobility demands and prepare for more anywhere workers in the future. In fact, 84 percent of responding companies already have remote workers.

July 22, 2016

The people centric urge to personalise space helps firms to engage employees ⁰

by Paul Goodchild • Case studies, Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

In America at least, the great symbol of corporate conformity is the office cubicle. Satirised in the Dilbert cartoons and a staple in any movie about the degrading aspects of modern working life, the cubicle provides a perfect shorthand way of portraying an individual crushed by the corporate jackboot. Yet what these things miss is the propensity of people to personalise their surroundings and claim a space as their own, even if only for the short time they may be there. This seems to be particularly the case when it comes to office design and so we were much taken with this blog which lists the most far out and quirky ways people in the US have found to personalise their cubicles. Of course the need and urge to personalise space are not limited to the US. We often find in the course of our own installations that the first thing people do when they occupy an office for the first time is to personalise their space.

July 21, 2016

Young people entering the workforce are not prepared for office politics ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace

Office politics is the one thing many young people are least prepared for when starting their first job, according to a new study by the Co-op. The study comes as many them are about to enter the workforce for the first time. With more young people opting for the world of work in the form of apprenticeships and on the job training rather than higher education, the members of ‘Generation Y’ often find they are unprepared for these softer skills needed to get on in the office according to the poll of 1,100 16-25 year olds. Over half of young people (54 percent) said that they were not prepared or informed about office politics. The study is part of the Co-op’s campaign to champion young people in the workplace by taking a closer look at what motivates 16-25 year olds. The research suggests that young people could find it harder to express opinion and ideas in the workplace, which in turn could lead them to feel isolated and unsupported.

July 21, 2016

Offices not yet smart enough to support new ways of working ⁰

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

Employees believe their workplace is not making best use of latest technology, but expect this to improve as remote work begins to provide both quality of life and productivity benefits. In the latest Future Workforce Survey conducted by Dell and Intel, nearly half of global employees believe their current workplace is not smart enough, while 42 percent of millennial employees say they are willing to quit their job if technologies are not up to their standard. The research suggest that the addition of collaborative tools and innovations such as internet of things (IoT) and Virtual Reality (VR) will soon become vital to the workplace. According to the poll of nearly 4,000 full-time employees in ten countries, over half (57 percent) believe they will be working in a smart office within the next five years, while 51 percent believe that better technologies will make face-to-face meetings redundant within the next five years.

July 19, 2016

Millennials will stay engaged in the workplace if they feel they are valued ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

The “ability to make an impact on the business” matters notably more to millennial employees than their salary and other benefits. According to a new survey from recruitment firm Korn Ferry, income comes in last on their list. The Second Annual Korn Ferry Futurestep Millennial Survey highlights the younger generation’s workplace preferences, including a need for feedback and a willingness to work long hours. In the survey, which asks what will make a millennial choose one job over another, 38 percent said “visibility and buy-in to the mission and vision of the organisation.” The survey also found that consistent feedback is key to managing millennials, with three quarters of respondents saying this generation needs more feedback than other generations. However, only 13 percent of respondents said they offered more feedback sessions to this group, and less than half offered mentorship opportunities.

July 13, 2016

Gensler publishes latest US and UK Workplace Surveys for 2016 ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Facilities management, Features, Flexible working, Workplace design

Gensler has announced the results of its Workplace Survey 2016 for both the UK and the US. Key claims of the UK report based on a study of 1,210 respondents include that the UK workforce seems to be divided into ‘haves and have-nots’, with mid and lower-tier workers confined to poor quality environments, 67 per cent of the workforce feel drained due to their office environment at the end of each day and that ‘innovators’ spend just 3.5 days of the working week in the office, highlighting the need for greater flexibility. Meanwhile, the key finding of the US study of 4,000 respondents is that a statistical link between the quality and functional make-up of the workplace and the level of innovation employees ascribe to their organisation, and found that a workplace that prioritises both individual and group work creates ‘an ecosystem of innovation’ across organisations and is a crucial predictor of how innovative an employee sees their company to be.

July 12, 2016

Skyscrapers in London will be hardest hit by new business rates ⁰

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

As we reported yesterday there are plans afoot to surround the ‘Walkie Talkie’ winner of last year’s Carbuncle Cup with other tall building. However for organisations interested in occupying a London skyscraper it’s worth noting that according to Colliers, businesses in London’s twenty tallest skyscrapers can expect to pay an extra £50 million under forthcoming major changes to business rates. In a data analysis published recently, Colliers has assessed the likely effects of forthcoming business rates changes – floor-by-floor – on the occupiers of London’s twenty tallest buildings. Overall, firms will need to cough up an extra £50m as business rates bills go from £194m to £243m over the next three years. And the infamous ‘Walkie Talkie’ at 20 Fenchurch Street, and now fully occupied – will see the largest increase with office occupiers and luxury rooftop restaurants faced with a business rates bill of over £19m by 2019, an increase of £5.1m compared with current levels.

July 11, 2016

Multi-tasking and workplace distractions don’t allow us to focus on the essentials

by Charles Marks • Comment, Knowledge, Workplace, Workplace design

Although the structure of our brains is largely the same as that of our hunter-gatherer prehistoric ancestors, that does not mean they are immutable. Research shows that the way our brains change in response to technology and the changing workplace suggests they are subject to a certain degree of ‘rewiring’. For example, a recent study found that the emotional response of adults to smileys in emails and texts is exactly the same as they would have to real faces. Tellingly, however, this appears to be learned behaviour because babies do not exhibit the same response. One other aspect of working life that is now proven to change the way our brains work – and not in a good way – is multitasking. Research published by Kep Kee Loh and Ryota Kanai of the University of Sussex found that “Individuals who engage in heavier media-multitasking are found to perform worse on cognitive control tasks and exhibit more socio-emotional difficulties”.