March 6, 2020
The future infrastructure of smart cities will rely on the analysis of data relayed by the sensors in buildings, infrastructure, transportation and power grids; enabling city authorities to make critical decisions in real-time, according to GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Smart cities – Thematic Research’ (paywall). (more…)
March 6, 2020
Nearly all organisations (93 percent) say that growing and managing their employee base in new countries limits their international expansion to some degree, with more than one in ten (12 percent) stating that it limits their expansion completely. This is according to the HR Challenges of International Expansion report (registration) by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), commissioned by ADP. (more…)
March 6, 2020
CIBSE has updated its Technical Memorandum 40: Health and wellbeing in building services (paywall), to reflect what it says are “significant changes in the environmental conditions we are exposed to and advances in our knowledge of how these environments affect our health, comfort and cognitive performance.” (more…)
March 5, 2020
Here’s an interesting exercise you may want to try. Off the top of your head and without thinking about it too much, write down the names of five iconic office furniture designs. The kind that your Aunt Sheila might recognise if she saw them but wouldn’t necessarily be able to name. When I did this recently while writing a piece about design trends, the products I came up with automatically were things like Frank Lloyd Wright’s desks for the Larkin building, Action Office, the 3107 chair (pictured), and Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair. (more…)
March 5, 2020
Despite holding firm in 16th place, the UK is being outpaced by greater improvements in female employment prospects in other OECD countries, according to PWC’s latest Women in Work Index, which analyses female economic empowerment across 33 OECD countries. While the UK performs above the OECD average and is second only to Canada when compared to other G7 economies, its position has barely budged since 2000 when it stood in 17th position, despite improving its performance across all five indicators. (more…)
March 5, 2020
The latest research from recruitment agency Robert Half UK, claims that the majority of businesses are pursuing workplace culture improvements during the first half of the year. Increasing diversity and inclusion is a top priority for over a quarter of business leaders, as companies seek to improve workplace culture in a competitive hiring market. (more…)
March 4, 2020
Almost half of employees in the UK would be willing to leave their job because of an unappealing office, according to a new survey of almost 1,000 UK office workers. The research, carried out by Matthews & Goodman, claims that 44 percent of workers would ‘definitely’ look for a new job because of an unpleasant workspace. In addition, a further 45 percent said it ‘might’ encourage them to look around for a new job. (more…)
March 4, 2020
Siemens Smart Infrastructure has launched a smart building suite designed to create more efficient and flexible workplaces where people are at the core. The suite of IoT (Internet of Things) enabled devices, applications and services turn offices into a competitive advantage for companies. (more…)
March 3, 2020
Working from home is known to be good for a strong work-life balance, advantageous for employee productivity, and is even touted as being beneficial for the environment. However, telecommuting has also carried a stigma that employees who work remotely have difficulties rising in their career. (more…)
March 3, 2020
Britons suggest climate change is one of the most important issues facing the country in the next 20 years, claims research led by Cardiff University. A wide-ranging survey examining social attitudes to the risks and impacts of climate change suggested the issue was now second only to Brexit for the British public. The survey, carried out by a team of researchers from Cardiff University and Climate Outreach, also highlighted rising public concern about storms, flooding and, in particular, heatwaves, and suggested strong support for policies to address these. (more…)
March 3, 2020
Accountants are wary about the impact that the government’s IR35 off-payroll tax reforms will have on the UK’s contracting industry and would like to see them repealed altogether, a new survey claims. According to research by FreeAgent, an accounting software provider, 95 percent of UK accountants believe that the reforms will have a negative impact on the UK’s contracting industry when they are implemented in April this year and call for them to be scrapped.
• 84 percent call for private sector “off-payroll” reforms to be abolished
• 95 percent believe IR35 will negatively impact UK’s contracting industry (more…)
March 9, 2020
Out of the shadows – and staying out?
by Neil Usher • Comment