Search Results for: generation z

June 9, 2014

The boardroom knows tech is important but leaves IT decisions to others, claims report

There is a recognition within the boardroom of the importance of information and communications technology (ICT), but business leaders see tech as something for technology managers to worry about and many are unable to make effective decisions anyway because they are digitally illiterate (and some are proud of the fact). Those are some of the findings of a new report from Sunguard Availability Services, published in partnership with Professor Joe Peppard of the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin. The study claims that the growing strategic role of technology offers chief information officers (CIOs) a chance to elevate their position and drive the wider business agenda. But also that this can be held back by a lack of engagement, or even the boardroom taking no account of ICT whatsoever, with strategic IT alignment remaining an afterthought for many organisations.

May 29, 2014

New tenants reflect strong demand for office accommodation on Regent Street

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

In one of the most substantial West End lettings this year, global asset and investment manager, Tudor Capital Europe LLP is to locate its new UK headquarters to Crown Estate’s 10 New Burlington Street development. The firm will move into some 40,000 sq ft across two floors at the £250m redevelopment, which forms part of Regent Street’s £1 billion regeneration. This follows on from a 30,000 sq ft letting to Ares Management at the same building. The addition of Tudor Capital Europe to the line-up at 10 New Burlington Street means the office element (around 100,000 sq ft) is 75 per cent let at completion. The move illustrates strong demand for office accommodation on Regent Street, where office take up rose by 90 per cent in the 12 months prior to March 2014, compared to an increase of 31 per cent over the wider West End in the same time span. More →

May 28, 2014

Money alone isn’t enough to attract and hold on to Gen Y employees

by Jessica Pryce-Jones • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

The retention of Gen Y employees is key for all organisations. No organisation wants to invest in their next generation of management only to find that they leave, and someone new needs to be trained. But the 20-30 year old workers of Gen Y exhibit a new-found job mobility. Which makes for a ticking time-bomb of potential cost and disruption to their employers. The iOpener Institute has gathered and studied questionnaire responses from over 30,000 professionals across the world, gaining insights into how employers can retain their Gen Y talent. The research clearly shows that while pay and financial rewards are important to Gen Y (i.e. they are not prepared to be under-paid for their work), there is no significant correlation between increased levels of pay and greater talent retention.

May 23, 2014

Workplace design and management of TMT sector aped by other firms

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Flexible working, Property, Technology, Workplace design

The publication of a report last week by the British Council for Offices highlights the wider impact of workplace design trends and commercial property arrangements in the increasingly important Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) sector. Not least it suggests that they are having a transformational influence on the way firms in other sectors approach leases, workplace design and the changing nature of work. It is no coincidence that the TMT sector is the one most commonly associated with the employment of the much-talked-about Gen Y demographic, nor that the business practices most commonly associated with this overly-stereotyped group are those that are having the greatest influence in the way we design and manage offices.

May 21, 2014

Information overload is a big problem for ‘infobese’ UK workers

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Technology, Workplace

We all know –or should – that we have a real problem with information. We are not only deluged with the stuff, we appear increasingly willing to wallow in it voluntarily, even when we know it’s bad for us. The full extent of the challenge we face managing information is laid bare in a new report from Microsoft called ‘Defying Digital Distraction’. The study is based on a survey carried out by YouGov which found that 55 per cent of 2,000 British office staff experience some form of information overload at work. A similar proportion feel they are distracted by information, just under half (43 per cent) experience stress as a result, a third (34 per cent) feel overwhelmed by it and 28 per cent believe it affects their personal wellbeing. The report is fronted by Dave Coplin, the Chief Envisioning Officer of Microsoft UK who we interviewed last year and coincides with the publication of Dave’s new book called The Rise of the Humans: how to outsmart the digital deluge.

May 1, 2014

Hierarchical organisations ‘stifle’ employee productivity, claims CIPD

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Workplace

Rigid organisational hierarchies hamper the development of management, employee productivity and leadership skills within the workplace, warns the CIPD. Their report, ‘Leadership – easier said than done,’ finds a growing trend in developing the capability of individual leaders and managers, an approach known as ‘distributed leadership’. However, faced with outdated organisational structures and cultures – these managers are unable to apply what they’ve learnt in the training room. The report recommends that leadership development should give greater consideration to the organisation-wide factors that can help or hinder the practical application of great leadership skills by employees at all levels. It urges HR managers to take the next step from training individual leaders, to improving the leadership capacity of the organisation as a whole; focusing on understanding what kind of leadership it requires and what changes are needed. More →

May 1, 2014

Wearable technology will improve productivity and job satisfaction, claims report

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Workplace

It’s remains a cause of a great deal of rancour in workplaces and public spaces around the world but new research from Goldsmiths, University of London claims that wearable technology can boost employee productivity by over 8 percent and job satisfaction by around 3.5 percent. The study was carried out as part of the University’s Human Cloud at Work (HCAW) programme and was designed to explore the effects of wearable technologies such as Google Glass in the workplace and on employee wellbeing, productivity and job satisfaction. HCAW is a two-year collaborative project between the Institute of Management Studies and cloud specialist Rackspace to investigate how cloud-enabled wearable devices will impact on individuals and businesses.

April 30, 2014

CoreNet issues phase one of road-map to zero energy buildings

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

CoreNet Global and the Rocky Mountain Institute have issued new guidance that lays out a framework for corporations to better manage their energy usage. According to Next Generation Energy Management, corporations have made progress in energy management and performance since 2007 when CoreNet Global and RMI first collaborated on this topic. Over two-thirds of corporations now have a sustainability agenda and staff as well as energy management plans, and nearly half have dedicated energy managers, a position that was only just emerging in 2007. However, research indicates that in many cases, these efforts have plateaued, so the new report is designed as Phase One of a road map toward the goal of net-zero buildings, in which buildings use the same or less energy than they generate through the use of renewables such as solar and wind power. More →

April 30, 2014

BCO’s London workplace design and fit-out award winners revealed

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

Yesterday the British Council for Offices announced what it considers London and the South East’s best recently completed workplaces at an awards dinner. The winners included One Eagle Place, BBC Broadcasting House and Brent Civic Centre, who will now go forward to the national awards which will be announced in October. Earlier this month, the regional finalists for Scotland, the Midlands and East Anglia were announced. Ceremonies will be held to announce the regional winners for the North of England and South West during May. Yesterdays’ event saw PwC’s One Embankment Place designed by t p bennett crowned as Refurbished/Recycled Workplace, Argent’s One Stable Street office win the small office category, while the award for Best Fit Out of a Workplace went to The Walbrook Building designed by Scott Brownrigg. The renovation of BBC Broadcasting House and Brent Civic Centre shared the award for Best Corporate Workplace.

April 29, 2014

Half of all young people entering jobs market would work for free

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

The death of an intern at Merrill Lynch last year after working around the clock, exposed the lengths many young people will go to get a foot on the corporate ladder. According to a new research project from Adecco, the demand for intern posts continues to grow; with half (49%) of all young people entering the jobs market willing to work for free. The higher the level of education the greater the intern trend; (38% – GCSE; 50% – AS level; 54% – A levels; undergraduate – 60%; post graduate – 68%). However, the survey of 16-24 years olds across the UK found that almost half (47%) of all young people would do any job that is available. The reason? Contradicting accusations that they are an ‘entitled generation’, 95 per cent of 16-24 year olds believe there is stigma attached to being an unemployed young person. More →

April 10, 2014

A rail network carrying people on blurred lines into the future of work

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design

The UK rail industry has a somewhat ambiguous relationship with the idea of remote working. While the business case for the controversial HS2 rail line was until recently predicated on the remarkable assumption that people don’t work on trains (now replaced by another set of assumptions to get to the numbers it needs for politicians to go along with it all), the number of journeys people make on trains has been increasing steadily for some time, regardless of the potential for technology to make many of those journeys unnecessary. So while we’re already into uncharted territory in our ability to forecast the impact of new technology and working practices on the need for physical presence, the train and the rail network does offer us a touchstone for thinking about it. And what we find in that respect is a blurring of the lines between several worlds, as we do in pretty much every aspect of our lives.

April 7, 2014

Can building design presage a fall from grace for the world’s tech giants?

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, Technology, Workplace design

At the movies, buildings are often used to denote hubris. The ambitions and egos of Charles Foster Kane and Scarface are embodied in the pleasure domes and gilded cages they erect to themselves. Of course, things then invariably go badly wrong. In the real world too, monstrous edifices have often presaged a crash. The UK’s most ambitious and much talked about office building at the turn of the Millennium was British Airways’ Waterside, completed in 1998, just a year after Margaret Thatcher famously objected to the firm’s new modern tailfin designs by draping them with a hankie and three years before BA had to drop its ‘World’s Favourite Airline’ strapline because by then it was Lufthansa. Nowadays BA isn’t even the UK’s favourite airline, but Waterside remains a symbol of its era, albeit one that continues to influence the way we design offices.