Search Results for: Gen Z

Manchester incubator aims to develop region’s strength in tech and research

Manchester incubator aims to develop region’s strength in tech and research

by • Cities, News, Property, Technology

Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP) has opened its new £2m tech incubator which it hopes will help create up to 2,000 jobs in data science and technology innovation companies over the next decade. Reflecting the ambitions of the updated Greater Manchester strategy to build on the city region’s strengths in technology and digital innovation, the incubator will provide start-ups with a wide package of business support services including: access to finance, talent and markets advice. Manchester is already a European top 20 digital city and this new incubator is designed play a role in strengthening the city’s status as a location for technology businesses over the coming years.

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UK office workers spend limited time outside and over half complain of lack of fresh air

UK office workers spend limited time outside and over half complain of lack of fresh air

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

UK office workers spend limited time outside and over half complain of lack of fresh airUK office workers spend an alarmingly limited amount of time outdoors each day, claims new research from Ambius, which found that almost 40 percent spend a maximum of just 15 minutes outside, excluding their commute to work, and an additional 22 percent spend a maximum of 30 minutes outside. This is even less than prisoners, who require ‘at least one hour of suitable exercise in the open air daily’, according to UN guidelines. On average, the British workers surveyed spend more time per day at their desk or workstation (6.8 hours) than they do in bed (6.4 hours), relaxing at home (3.5 hours) or outdoors (37 mins). A lack of fresh air (57 percent), insufficient natural light (49 percent), and an absence of indoor plants (36 percent) were the biggest source of frustration for employees. Introducing indoor plants (49 percent), nicer artwork (50 percent), and a more interesting colour scheme (54 percent), topped the list of employees’ requests to improve their workplace.

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London’s tech startups and SMEs shift focus from normal hotspots to migrate South of the river

London’s tech startups and SMEs shift focus from normal hotspots to migrate South of the river

by • News, Property

Hubble, an office and coworking marketplace, has published new data which it claims shows that tech startups and other growing SMEs in London are leaving the capital’s best known tech hotspots, including Shoreditch and Soho, for south of the river.  Hubble’s search data suggests that London Bridge (29 percent of all searches) is the most popular location in London for companies searching for flexible office space in 2018 (a sharp rise from 3.7 percent of searches in 2017), beating Shoreditch with 27 percent of all searches. More than 37 percent of searches were for office space in south London, counting London Bridge and the Southbank (8.5 percent). Startups and SMEs are branching out to different creative “hub-spots” within London, but most prominently is an unprecedented shift to south of the river. Searches for London Bridge specifically make up 29 percent of all searches and the Southbank, as a whole, making up 37.5 percent of all search queries.

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Digital media overload as over half of workers unable to find information easily

Digital media overload as over half of workers unable to find information easily

by • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Over half of UK workers (57 percent), are regularly experiencing an inability to locate information easily across a range of digital media, including emails, apps, messages and the internet, a new survey claims. The survey conducted via YouGov, for Evernote, also revealed that 87 percent of digital workers use up to four devices such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop, and/or a smart watch on a daily basis to access information. The majority (83 percent) of people use at least one app a day to source information. 31 percent of workers are accessing between five to nine apps per day and 18 percent are utilising over 10 apps a day. However, when it comes to face to face communications rather than digital, respondents were much more positive, with nearly half of those asked (45 percent) expressing that they felt they had the right number of meetings at work, and just 16 percent of those saying they feel their work day is filled with too many meetings.

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Open plan offices make people more image and status conscious

Open plan offices make people more image and status conscious

by • News, Workplace design

Employees may subconsciously act and dress differently in open plan office environments, according to a new study published in the journal Gender, Work and Organization. The research carried out by academics from Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Bedfordshire over the course of three years analysed the behaviour of around 1,000 employees at a UK local authority that moved from six separate departmental buildings into a new shared office building. The design of the building made extensive use of glass and incorporated large, open-plan offices and collective spaces, with the usual aim of eroding hierarchical and departmental boundaries and promoting interactions.

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The quest for wellbeing has taken over from our search for productivity

The quest for wellbeing has taken over from our search for productivity

by • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

For decades, humankind has sought to establish the link between office design and productivity. And by humankind I mean a parochial band of researchers, suppliers, workplace specialists, futurologists and designers with a special interest in the whole thing. Most other people only expressed a passing interest in the subject. It did not seem to matter to this band that the whole thing had been proved many times over many years, invariably falling on cloth, if not exactly deaf, ears. We’ve known for some time what makes people happy and productive at work and much of the new research has merely served to proved something we already know. Undaunted, researchers maintained their quest for the evidence that would get the message across to an apparently indifferent world. This quest has mutated over the past few years into something that is at first glance only slightly different but which has some rather interesting implications. The go-to workplace topic of the early 21st Century is no longer productivity per se, but wellbeing, and that is making all the difference.

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Presenteeism hits record high in UK organisations, linked with stress and depression

Presenteeism hits record high in UK organisations, linked with stress and depression

by • News, Wellbeing

Presenteeism, defined as people coming into work when they are ill, has more than tripled since 2010, according to the latest CIPD / Simplyhealth Health and Wellbeing at Work report.  According to the study, 86 percent of over 1,000 respondents to the 2018 survey said they had observed presenteeism in their organisation over the last 12 months, compared with 72 percent in 2016 and just 26 percent in 2010. The survey also found that ‘leaveism’, such as people using annual leave to work, is also a growing problem. More than two-thirds of respondents (69 percent) reported that leaveism has occurred in their organisation over the last year.

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Quarter of UK managers would take a pay cut for a job with a clear purpose beyond profit

Quarter of UK managers would take a pay cut for a job with a clear purpose beyond profit

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Quarter of UK managers would take a pay cut for job with purpose beyond profitMore than a quarter of managers (27 percent) in British companies would likely accept a salary cut to work for a company that has a clear purpose beyond profit a new report claims.  A third (32 percent) would actually consider leaving their job if a greater purpose was unclear, while more than half (53 percent) would if their company’s values and purpose didn’t align with their own. The YouGov survey, commissioned by Danone UK, highlights the importance of having a defined company purpose that marries commercial success with social progress.  The findings support a new report by not-for-profit think tank Tomorrow’s Company and Danone UK, that explores the importance of having a purpose beyond profit in helping companies to prosper in the face of workplace challenges created by an uncertain world. The Courage of their Convictions is built from interviews with senior leaders from within some of the UK’s biggest purpose-driven brands, including Danone, John Lewis, Mars, Philips, Tata Consultancy Services and Unilever.

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Humanscale launches first ever task chair made from recycled fishing nets

by • Company news, Furniture, Products, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Humanscale has launched its Smart Ocean chair; an adaption of the legendary Diffrient Smart chair that incorporates almost 1kg of recycled fishing net material (NetPlus). Sourced from Bureo, an emerging venture developing solutions to prevent ocean plastic pollution, this is the first product available to purchase from the consortium of companies under the NextWave initiative. The nets used in the production of the new task chair are from Bureo’s Net Positiva recycling program, which facilitates the collection of discarded plastic fishing nets and provides incentives to participating coastal communities. The nets are then transformed  into plastic pellets and used to manufacture products such as skateboards, sunglasses, and now an ergonomic task chair.  Humanscale plans to replicate material solutions across their product line, supporting the expansion of Bureo’s recycling program and lowering dependency on new plastics.

 

Faced with era of AI, employers focus on skills and employees crave jobs with purpose

Faced with era of AI, employers focus on skills and employees crave jobs with purpose

by • News, Technology, Workplace

According to Mercer’s 2018 Global Talent Trends Study – Unlocking Growth in the Human Age, 96 percent of UK companies have innovation on their core agenda this year and 92 percent are planning organisation design changes. At the same time, employees are seeking control of their personal and professional lives, with more than half asking for more flexible work options. As the ability to change becomes a key differentiator for success in a competitive global climate, the challenge for organisations is to bring their people along on the journey, especially as the top ask from employees is for leaders who set clear direction, claims the report.

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Majority of staff say managers don’t care if they’re happy, even if it impacts performance

Majority of staff say managers don’t care if they’re happy, even if it impacts performance

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Majority of staff say managers don’t care if they’re happy, even if it impacts performance

It probably comes as no surprise to learn that people work better if they’re happy, but according to a new survey over three quarters (79 percent) of workers believe their boss doesn’t care whether or not they are happy at work, even if being happier helps improve their performance.  The 2018 Happiness Survey from One4all asked employees from different age groups, genders and industries about the impact their happiness at work has on their productivity, and found that 39 percent of workers will work harder if they are happy in their current role or place of work. It suggests that happiness amongst workers goes a long way: almost a third (30 percent) of workers said they would even be more willing to work overtime or for longer when they are happy. The data also revealed that 38 percent of workers say their happiness impacts their performance at work, which means employee productivity and results also see a positive effect from a happy workforce.

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A few demonstrable truths about agile working that aren’t talked about enough

A few demonstrable truths about agile working that aren’t talked about enough

by • Comment, Workplace design

Some topics generate a level of debate totally out of proportion with the underlying facts. Whether it’s the benefit of sit-stand desks, the influence of colour on productivity or the threat (or potential) of robotics in the office, too often it’s all sizzle and no sausage. Agile working falls into that category. It’s one of those ideas that sounds too good to be true: give people a raft of settings to work in, power them up with a few mobile gadgets and you can magically transform your workspace to ‘Google standards’ and attract all the best talent in town. But what about the reality?

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