Search Results for: Gen Z

Self-employment might be good for mental health

Self-employment might be good for mental health

self-employmentThe general picture of self-employment, the gig economy work and mental wellbeing is not a pretty one. Around the world, Uber drivers face wage and security worries. Deliveroo workers have too much competition. Airbnb owners face legal problems in Paris and other cities. But while these headlines suggest a dark cloud over the heads of gig economy workers, recent data I’ve looked at unexpectedly shows that they are about 33 percent more likely to self-report positive mental health traits.
(more…)

One dishonest co-worker can disrupt an entire workplace

One dishonest co-worker can disrupt an entire workplace

The devil takes the hindmost - how the actions of a co-worker can disrupt a businessA vicious cycle can begin with one little white lie from a co-worker, diminishing the ability of other employees to read others and then even undermining the entire workplace or business, finds a new study from researchers at Michigan, Harvard, Virginia and Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. Dishonest deeds diminish a person’s ability to read others’ emotions, or “interpersonal cognition,” the research found. In addition, the consequences can snowball. One dishonest act can set in motion even more dishonesty. (more…)

UK SMEs must leverage tech-friendly culture to secure talent

UK SMEs must leverage tech-friendly culture to secure talent

UK SMEs must create a tech-friendly culture to attract and retain top tech talent, according to a new white paper from Robert Half UK, Recruiting for the future: The challenges for UK SMEs. While remuneration and work–life balance are the top reasons for job moves, SMEs’ ability to offer an innovative  culture with high levels of responsibility is central to their ability to secure and retain talent over larger organisations. With the UK talent market suffering from a lack of digital skills, companies across all sectors are locked in a war for talent, competing with one another to hire skilled technology professionals to help their businesses adapt to increased digitalisation. (more…)

SMEs remain in dark about rights of disabled employees

SMEs remain in dark about rights of disabled employees

Firms unaware of rights of disabled employeesDespite ambitious government policies to get a million disabled people into work over the next ten years, the latest ONS data shows a minuscule 5 percent increase since the 2017 goal, which would only see a total of merely 5,800 disabled people in work by 2027 if the pattern continues. In light of the disability employment issue, a new survey of UK SME owners conducted by Bolt Burdon Kemp claims that 95 percent of respondents don’t know the full legal rights of disabled employees. (more…)

Agile working? This is Frank’s World and the rest of us just live in it

Agile working? This is Frank’s World and the rest of us just live in it

An early example of agile working James Joyce had a word for moments of insight when we see right through convention and suddenly appreciate how things really are. He called such moments epiphanies. Such a flash of insight happened to me three or four years ago in Texas. I had been explaining to the partners of a very large international client how they could use their office space more effectively. Since these partners were rightly concerned with driving down occupancy costs, including rent, property taxes, service charges and energy costs throughout all their operations everywhere, my proposals were very acceptable. (more…)

Organisations upskilling to make sense of people data

Organisations upskilling to make sense of people data

New research claims that there has been a huge rise in the number of people analytics teams as HR is called on to take an increasingly strategic role in shaping business performance. Innovation generation: the big HR tech disconnect, a report released by Thomsons Online Benefits, claims there has been a significant increase in the proportion of UK-based global organisations building people analytics teams, rising from 8 percent to 43 percent in just three years. With tech talent in short supply, the survey of 60 HR decision makers from UK-based companies suggests that employers are looking to upskill existing HR team members to make sense of the data now available to them. (more…)

Commercial property sector shifts focus to wellbeing in response to tenant demands

Commercial property sector shifts focus to wellbeing in response to tenant demands

Wellbeing is an increasing focus for the commercial property sector A new report from the Urban Land Institute (ULI), claims that the wave of interest in wellbeing in the UK is expected to translate into significant investment from the commercial property sector over the next three years. The report, Picture of health: the growing role of wellbeing in commercial real estate investment decision-making, has been published by the ULI UK Sustainability Forum to highlight the rise of wellbeing investment in commercial buildings. The report from ULI UK was sponsored by E.ON and addresses questions about the investment case for incorporating wellbeing into buildings and how to measure its impact. (more…)

New government has unprecedented chance to transform buildings

New government has unprecedented chance to transform buildings

Deloiite London offices is an example of a new generation of buildings with a focus on the environment

The new UK government led by Boris Johnson has an unprecedented opportunity to dramatically shift policy on the built environment and deliver higher standards of safety, sustainability and social justice, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA). It urged the new administration to back up rhetoric around climate change with robust legislation; to enshrine the recommendations of the Hackitt Review to improve fire safety in buildings; and tackle the scourge of late payment that is undermining thousands of SME and driving many into insolvency. (more…)

Perkins and Will to design offices of European Commission

Perkins and Will to design offices of European Commission

officesThe London studio of designers Perkins+Will working with Madrid-based architects Rafael de La-Hoz has won the competition to design the new European Commission offices in Brussels. The consortium’s design was chosen over nine other entries from international teams in a blind competition for the project. The winning team will oversee the creation of the new complex, which is designed to reinvigorate the central European Quarter of Brussels in line with the plans of the local authorities. Alongside the new European Commission offices, which will house more than 5,000 people, will be public and retail space, a public gallery and landscaped gardens for staff, visitors and the local community. (more…)

Two million workers miss out on holiday entitlement

Two million workers miss out on holiday entitlement

Around seven percent of UK workers are not getting or taking their legal holiday entitlement, according to a new study from the TUC. The analysis estimates that nearly two million employees (1.960 million) are not getting the minimum paid leave entitlement they are due. And over a million (1.145 million) are not getting any paid leave at all. The analysis shows that women workers (8.3 percent) are worse affected than men (5.9 percent). In addition, the sectors with the highest numbers of staff losing out on their legal holiday paid entitlement are education (341,000), retail (302,000), and health and social care (264,000). (more…)

Santander reopens closed branch as coworking space

Santander reopens closed branch as coworking space

Work Cafe represents a new form of coworking and retail spaceSantander has opened its first Work Café in the UK. The Work Café concept was initially developed by Santander in Chile in 2016  and its success has seen 50 branches opened in Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina. The bank claims the reopened branch will work as a ‘community hub’ offering banking facilities, free coworking spaces and freshly-brewed artisan coffee. The branch was previously closed at the end of June last year. (more…)

UK could receive £250 billion boost if labour market matched that of Sweden

UK could receive £250 billion boost if labour market matched that of Sweden

The need for a diverse and supportive labour marketNew analysis by economists at PwC claims that, if the UK could match Sweden in terms of its employment rates for women aged 25-54, older workers and the proportion of its young people not in employment, education or training, the potential boost to UK GDP could be as much as 12 percent, or around £250 billion at 2018 values. Although the UK labour market has been strong in recent years – the employment rate is at a record high of over 75 percent and unemployment is at its lowest level since the mid 1970s – new research from PwC indicates that performance is middling compared to other OECD economies. A new composite Labour Market Performance index, combining results from PwC’s Youth Employment, Golden Age and Women in Work indices, finds the UK is 19th overall amongst OECD countries. Iceland and Sweden top the combined index rankings based on the latest available annual data for 2018. (more…)