Search Results for: sustain

Nearly a third of UK workers favour fines for companies who breach ethics

Nearly a third of UK workers favour fines for companies who breach ethics

Nearly a third of UK workers favour fines for companies who breach ethicsAlmost two thirds (64 percent) of SME employees believe that companies should make a positive contribution to society, while half of all UK workers (50 percent) would be discouraged from working for an organisation with no interest in community or ethical goals. According to The Future Workforce from Unum and independent researcher The Future Laboratory this emphasis on a company’s ethical credentials comes in the wake of a movement towards greater awareness of global issues, which has led to demands for more transparency in how organisations do business and less tolerance of unethical corporate behaviour. As a result, an ethical employer can be an important factor when it comes to deciding whether to join or stay with an organisation –In addition, The Future Workforce report found that just under a third (30 percent) of UK workers believe that companies who are not participating in any civic or ethical contributions should be fined.

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When workplace strategy builds bridges between people and place

When workplace strategy builds bridges between people and place

The world of work is changing rapidly and profoundly in a way that we haven’t seen since the time of the industrial revolution. Yet even as we stand at a momentous, game-changing inflexion point, the 21st century workplace strategy sector is still dithering about whether to join in the revolution. They are like the industrial mill owners of 19th century England who adopted a ‘make do and mend’ approach to business and failed to invest in new technology only to be forced out of business by foreign competitors who had invested in radical new, state of the art technology.Today the technological game changer is digital technology rather than weaving technology, but the effect is the same. Unless the workplace strategy sector embraces change and builds bridges between the ‘people’ side of the business and the ‘place’ side with other workplace specialists, their industry will become as dead as a dodo.

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Digital Board could help Local Authorities deliver smart initiatives

Digital Board could help Local Authorities deliver smart initiatives

Digital Board could help Local Authorities deliver Smart initiativesLocal authorities, which are on the front line of implementation when it comes to smart, place-based digital initiatives could be helped to deliver positive, sustainable citizen outcomes for their locality with the formation of a Digital Board – a new report claims. Launched at techUK’s Local Gov Transformation: Creating smart places event, What makes a ‘good’ Digital Board? draws upon the expertise of techUK industry members and public sector stakeholders to guide local authorities through building a stronger understanding of digital, data and technological solutions into decision-making levels by establishing and maintaining a good Digital Board. (more…)

Crown Estate HQ becomes first office in Europe to achieve WELL Platinum Certification

Crown Estate HQ becomes first office in Europe to achieve WELL Platinum Certification

The Crown Estate has announced that it has been awarded WELL Certification at the Platinum Level for its head office at No 1 St James’s Market, London by the International WELL Building Institute. The Crown Estate earned the distinction based on seven categories of building performance—air, water, light, nourishment, fitness, comfort and mind—and achieved a Platinum level rating.

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Call for employers to do more for older workers

Call for employers to do more for older workers

A new report from the charity and lobbying group the Centre for Ageing Better has called for employers to be more age-friendly and inclusive of those over 50, including doing more to tackle age discrimination in the workplace. According to the study, significant numbers of older workers feel they are being discriminated against at work because of their age, including believing they have been turned down for jobs (9 percent) and being offered fewer opportunities for training and progression (32 percent).

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Working long and hard? It may do more harm than good for your productivity and wellbeing

Working long and hard? It may do more harm than good for your productivity and wellbeing

Nearly half of people in the EU work in their free time to meet work demands, and a third often or always work at high speed, according to recent estimates. If you are one of them, have you ever wondered whether all the effort is really worth it? Employees who invest more effort in their work report higher levels of stress and fatigue, along with lower job satisfaction. But they also report receiving less recognition and fewer growth opportunities. And they experience less job security. So increased work effort not only predicts reduced wellbeing, it even predicts inferior career-related outcomes.

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We should measure wellbeing and security if we want to create Good Work, claims the RSA

We should measure wellbeing and security if we want to create Good Work, claims the RSA

Job security, workplace mental health, and how well-supported workers feel by their employer, should be monitored annually by the government, a report led by the RSA and the Carnegie UK Trust recommends. The need to better monitor quality of work in the UK was called for in RSA chief executive Matthew Taylor’s 2017 employment review for the Prime Minister. The UK Government subsequently committed to delivering on this proposal; and Measuring Good Work now sets out a roadmap for how the ambition can be achieved. The report highlights that employment has a major impact on people’s wellbeing and quality of life, arguing that since the 2008 financial crisis, despite record employment, the overall figure on the number of people in work fails to account for issues like worker pay; whether employees feel they are trapped in a job below their skillset; are working too few or too many hours; or are facing excessive workplace pressure.

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London pledge to make all new buildings operate at net zero carbon by 2030

London pledge to make all new buildings operate at net zero carbon by 2030

London pledges to make all new buildings zero carbon by 2030London has joined 18 other cities around the world, including Paris, New York and Tokyo, in a landmark commitment to make all new buildings operate at net zero carbon by 2030. Regulations and planning policy will also target existing buildings to make them net-zero carbon by 2050. Net zero carbon buildings are buildings which reduce all energy use as far as technically possible, with remaining demand met through renewables. The commitment has been orchestrated by C40 cities, a global group of major cities committed to delivering on the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement at the local level. As city authorities do not have direct control over all the buildings in their area, the commitment includes a pledge to work together with the private sector as well as state and regional governments to drive the transformation. This pledge from cities is part of the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment for businesses, cities, states and regions.

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Extending reporting requirements may help close gender pay gap say MPs

Extending reporting requirements may help close gender pay gap say MPs

Extend reporting requirements to help close gender pay gap say MPs

Employers should be required to publish a narrative and action plan under Gender Pay Gap reporting requirements, the inquiry on executive pay and the gender-pay gap by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee has recommended today. It has found that the requirements to publish data which came into force in April this year represents a ‘small but welcome step towards ensuring that women can make their fullest possible contribution in the workplace and to the economy’, but it calls for the Government to be more ambitious. Detailed statistics should be provided to aid analysis and organisations should explain what they are doing to tackle their gender pay gaps. Under the new rules employers would have to provide some narrative reporting alongside their gender pay statistics, with an action plan setting out how pay gaps are being and will be addressed, including objectives and targets. Subsequent reports would include progress against this action plan, including targets set. (more…)

Google should be an example to all when it come to interactive workplace design

Google should be an example to all when it come to interactive workplace design

Google is known to be a wonderland for tech professionals everywhere. It is a sought after and coveted workplace, which is designed to cater to the individual. Comparably has recently named Google as the “tech company with the best corporate culture”, but how does this culture work beyond the realms of the Google institute? The question that many employers are asking is, does the Google culture really work? And is it sustainable for a normal business? Company culture has become a focus for recruiters and hiring managers, but if we break this down what does it actually mean? Company culture is shaped by the employees for the employees and should work in collusion with the services a business is providing. Google’s company culture model is based around flexibility and the freedom to be creative in a fun environment.

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A beauty industry veteran makes the case for corporate wellness

A beauty industry veteran makes the case for corporate wellness

Wellness is a term that today transcends the consumer and business worlds, but it is so much more than a buzzword.  Today, the wellbeing of employees is essential for organisations to flourish, so much so that the term has in many ways replaced ‘productivity’ as the way to measure the success of an organisation. Both the beauty and workplace design sectors are very personal areas of high emotional involvement. There is a very real and physical contact with these products — in beauty, women are particularly (and increasingly men too) engaged in developing a customised routine because it gives them a sense of happiness, wellbeing and identity.

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BIFM members vote in favour of change of name

BIFM members vote in favour of change of name

Members of the British Institute of Facilities Management have today voted to approve its Board’s recommendation to change the Institute’s name to the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM). A Manifesto for Change unveiled by Chairman Steve Roots on 1 March which set out to reframe facilities management by emphasising its ability to make a real contribution to organisations’ performance has been resoundingly supported by members who today voted overwhelmingly to adopt the new name.

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