Search Results for: career

September 22, 2015

John Fogarty reflects on a career in office furniture spanning five decades ⁰

by John Fogarty • Comment, Furniture, Workplace design

I was lucky to enter the office furniture industry in 1971, at the beginning of a decade shaped by the explosive advent of new office technology. What had gone before would not have looked that different to anyone who’d worked a corporate office in the 1890s: serried ranks of desks occupied by clerical staff bashing away on manual typewriters and comptometers (calculating machines). Although electric typewriters had been around for most of the century, decades of global conflict had constrained their development. The first major advance came with the launch of the IBM Selectric golf-ball in 1961. Although a beautiful object – I recall this being the first item associated in my mind with the term ‘product design’ by a named designer (Eliot Noyes) – it remained expensive and rare until the price reductions driven by the multi-licensing in 1972 of the Diablo daisy-wheel print head.

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July 2, 2015

Employees prefer diverse working experiences to traditional career ladder

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Employees value a varied working experience and flexibility over traditional, linear career progression, a global study published by the Top Employers Institute claims. The Career & Succession Management Report identifies the global developments forcing employers to rethink career and succession management strategies. These include skill shortages resulting in a global competition for best talent and an increased risk of losing business-critical knowledge due to the ageing of the workforce. There is also a new generation of workers seeking diverse work assignments and flexibility, who are taking greater responsibility for their own career management, resulting in less loyalty to employers and less interest in the traditional step-by-step climbing of career ladders. The findings suggest that HR needs to move from assuring the smooth succession of leadership to concentrate more on wider long-term staff engagement and retention.

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June 2, 2015

A relaxed office environment and rapid career progress are key for Millennials

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

The latest research on the aspirations of so-called Millennial workers (born 1980 – 1999) reveals a cohort that wants to rise up the career ladder as quickly as possible, but do so in a less traditional workplace than previous generations. According to a whitepaper – ‘Attracting and Retaining Millennial Professionals’ from recruitment firm Robert Walters, 91 percent of Millennials say the opportunity for rapid career progression is one of the most important things about their job, with 68 percent citing a clear path to grow in a role is the most important factor in keeping them engaged. While Millennials are not that different from their older colleagues – they favour a more relaxed working environment where technology is seamlessly integrated into their working practices. They also place a higher value on personality, communication skills and fit within a team than they do on hard technical skills.

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April 28, 2015

Work life balance ranked over performance in global career poll ⁰

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

A global survey has revealed being happy at work is more important to staff than a high performance, while nearly half of those polled (45%) in the career survey of 1,225 employees worldwide, by Right Management say achieving a work life balance is the most important issue in their career. This was compared to 17 percent who voted ‘being the best at what they do’ as their top career aspiration. More than half of European workers, (55%) aspire to a work life balance, followed by Asia Pacific (37%) and North America (35%). And in terms of age, it is Millennials at 14 percent that are least likely to aspire to be the best at what they do, compared to Baby Boomers (22%) and Gen X (17%). When it comes to success, enjoyment/happiness at work trumps performance and salary: as 26 percent of employees define success in the workplace as enjoyment/happiness.

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March 27, 2015

Civil service addresses work conditions and careers of disabled employees

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

The UK Cabinet Office has published a report in partnership with Disability Rights UK to look at ways the Civil Service can better support the careers of its 27,000 staff with disabilities and health conditions. The report claims that ensuring that disabled employees ‘fulfil their potential makes basic business sense and would significantly enhance the Service’s performance.’ It claims that there has been some progress since the last report on the subject in 1998, but that barriers remain. Nearly 9 percent of civil service employees now claim to have a disability which is more than double the reported rate of 4.1 percent in 1998. The report identifies the underlying challenges and looks to share best practice. It notes that while there is strong commitment to disability equality from senior champions, this has not been translated into line manager action and cultural change.

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February 25, 2015

The pressing need for more women to forge careers in STEM disciplines

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Property, Technology, Workplace

One of the most pressing economic challenges facing the UK is producing enough qualified professionals in the key science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) disciplines. And, as a number of new reports make clear, the problem is compounded by the failure of enough women to develop careers in those areas that will define the country’s economic future. It was a point raised in a recent Government report into the UK’s digital future. Writing for the BBC earlier this month Dame Prof Ann Dowling the President of the Royal Academy of Engineering laid out the scale of the problem; by 2022 the UK will need at least 1.82 million new engineering, science and technology professionals. What is also becoming clear is that, while many women are keen to develop STEM careers, they face a series of obstacles at every step.

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October 30, 2014

Employee engagement and satisfaction levels increase, despite career concerns

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Workplace

Levels of job satisfaction and employee engagement are on the up, despite the fact that more than a quarter (28%) of employees report being either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the level of career training and development offered by their current employer. The latest CIPD/Halogen Employee Outlook survey found that one in three employees (33%) felt their career progression to date has failed to meet their expectations, however, levels of job satisfaction have increased over the last 12 months, rising by four percentage points to +44. The survey suggests that although employees might be satisfied in their current job role, there is a clear link between satisfaction with the level of career training and development and job-seeking intentions. Only 12 per cent of those satisfied with the level of career training and development are looking for a new job with another organisation, compared to almost a quarter (23%) of employees overall. The proportion of engaged employees has also grown to reach 38 per cent from 35 per cent in spring 2014, now matching the levels of engagement a year ago. (more…)

October 23, 2014

Half of women would consider remaining childless rather than risk career

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

The expansion of flexible working rights was not only intended to improve workplace wellbeing and productivity, but encourage mothers to remain in the workforce. But it seems there is much work to be done to convince women that work and motherhood can mix. New research from the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) has found that half of women believe that having a baby poses such a risk to their career that they would consider remaining childless. The survey among women of childbearing age also found that two-thirds of women (67%) are concerned about the impact that having children might have on their career and half of the women who don’t currently have children (49%) feel their current career doesn’t offer them the flexibility they would need to care for a family. Over half of mothers (55%) admitted that balancing childcare and work has been a barrier to staying in work, with one in five (20%) stating that a lack of support from their employer has made life as a working mum more difficult. (more…)

April 3, 2014

Remove flexible working stigma to improve women’s career chances says report

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

Employers need to stop viewing female progression as a diversity issue and see the promotion of women in the workplace as a core business priority. This is according to a major new report by charity Opportunity Now, which surveyed 23,000 women between the ages of 28 and 40 as well as 2,000 men, to try and determine why women tend to be less successful than men at work after the age of 28, The report found a gap between organisational policies and the actual experiences of women at work, particularly women aged 28-40, including real challenges around bullying and harassment. And in a challenge to proposals for female-only programmes, the research found that women actually want better line management and initiatives such as flexible working – without the stigma it can cause which can often be an obstacle to progression.

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March 3, 2014

Flexible working mothers often resented by colleagues and worry about career

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Working women who are offered flexibility to help them balance their jobs and childcare are often resented by their colleagues, according to a new report from campaign group Opportunity Now. The survey of 25,000 working women aged between 28 and 40 found that two thirds of those surveyed believe they are expected to work longer hours than mothers. Conversely, working mothers are often perceived by their colleagues as less committed according to around half of respondents and there was a general feeling across all those surveyed that flexible working can be detrimental to careers. The report is the latest which highlights the problems many people encounter in working flexibly as a way of achieving a work-life balance.

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February 13, 2014

New BIFM professional standards give FMs yet more career choices

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News

Unlike HR, which is wholly represented by the CIPD, FM continues to offer a choice of professional bodies. RICS boasts it is the only one that gives FMs the opportunity to achieve Chartered Status, something which the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) is yet to offer. The BIFM has now announced the launch of a set of standards to “form a global competence model for the profession”. The Facilities Management Professional Standards its says, can be used to benchmark skills, knowledge and competence for those working at all levels in the FM profession. While RICS positions itself as the preferred route for a strategic facilities management career, the BIFM competences are intended to define each level in an FM’s career, from a support role through to a strategic role. FMs then, are still faced with the choice, to follow one or both organisations. (more…)

December 5, 2013

Dressing down for work could improve career chances says Harvard Business Review

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

In his book How to Lose Friends & Alienate People writer Toby Young recalls when advised he could dress ‘casually’ for his first day at glossy magazine Vanity Fair, he opted for a tee shirt which said ‘Young, dumb and full of…. ‘ you can guess the rest. While most people wouldn’t so grossly misjudge what to wear to work; those who play it safe could learn from the latest research from Harvard Business Review. In The Red Sneakers Effect: Inferring Status and Competence from Signals of Nonconformity the researchers advise that non-conforming habits, such as wearing red sneakers to work can boost your prestige. A series of studies demonstrates that people confer higher status and competence to nonconforming rather than conforming individuals. The next step presumably is determining the accepted level of non-conformity that equals success.