Search Results for: Gen Z

April 21, 2016

How and why Millennials are shaping the future of remote working ⁰

by Sara Sutton Fell • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Workplace, Workplace design

The future is here. Millennials, the youngest generation in the workforce, are now the majority generation at work. Their potential impact has been discussed for decades, but we’re finally seeing results, as this generation not only enters the workforce, but assumes management-level roles, makes their voices heard, and shifts how we approach work. But why does the Millennials attitude and approach to work have such an impact on how, when, where, and why we all work? And why should employers pay attention? It’s because this generation is shaping remote working. They’ve got sheer numbers behind them. In 2015, Millennials surpassed Generation X to become the largest generation in the American workforce. The vast majority of Millennials want flexible work options, especially the ability to work remotely. In survey after survey, Millennials, more than any generation previously, say that work-life balance and remote work is important to them.

April 21, 2016

Brexit referendum has not diminished demand for London office property ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Political uncertainty over the Brexit referendum has done little to diminish demand for London office property, despite it causing the commercial property market to experience a nervous start to the year. According to the latest research from Colliers, the number of vacant offices still remains low, with occupiers appearing to be relatively un-phased by external political and economic upheaval. There has been some high profile lettings and a healthy number of new large scale enquiries in the first quarter of this year – but transactions and searches have become protracted and supply shortages are undermining occupier expansion plans. However demand for office space amongst media and tech firms is diminishing in some locations. While Q1 2016 figures show that media and tech accounted for 38 percent of demand for office space across London, in the traditional media enclave of the West End, the figure fell to just 13 percent of demand, down from 45 percent in 2015.

April 20, 2016

400 years on, the Bard continues to influence Britain’s workplaces ⁰

by Mark Farrar • Comment, Workplace

It has been well reported that Saturday (23rd April) marks the 400th anniversary of the death of one of Britain’s most famous literary geniuses, William Shakespeare. The reasons for his enduring popularity are clear, as the website Shakespeare Online points out, if you cannot find words to express how you feel about love or music or growing older, Shakespeare can speak for you. What is somewhat less known is that Shakespeare is credited with coining over 1700 words that are now in use in English, generally through changing nouns into verbs and verbs into adjectives, connecting existing words and, in some cases, coming up with wholly new creations. To mark the occasion, the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) has selected five words that the playwright brought into our language which are heard up and down businesses throughout the UK on a daily basis.

April 19, 2016

UK Government extends groundbreaking One Public Sector Estate scheme ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Public Sector, Workplace design

A groundbreaking scheme which encourages UK local authorities to reduce the space they occupy, share offices and cut the amount of property they own is to be extended. The Government is inviting new councils to join the One Public Sector Estate scheme which already has more than 100 participants including Derby City Council (pictured). It has allocated an additional £35 million to expand the programme with councils encouraged to apply for a share of funding. The Government hopes all councils will be signed up by 2018. Although the scheme is in its infancy and results are not yet fully known, the most recent 24 partnerships are expected to generate around £138m in property sales and save £56m in running costs over the next five years, as well as free up space for 16,500 new homes. The scheme is jointly delivered by the Local Government Association and the Cabinet Office’s Government Property Unit. Our special report on innovative approaches to public sector property can be found here.

April 19, 2016

Three day working week is ideal for the over 40s, claim researchers ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Knowledge, News, Workplace

A new report from Australian academics suggests that workers aged over 40 perform better and have generally improved wellbeing if they enjoy a three day working week. Called Use It Too Much and Lose It? The Effect of Working Hours on Cognitive Ability, the study of 6,500 men and women was carried out by researchers at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research at the University of Melbourne. They gauged a range of subjective and objective factors based on data drawn from the Australian government’s Household, Income and Labour Dynamics survey as well as looking at work habits and factors such as type of employment, lifestyle and family. The researchers asked participants in the study to take part in cognitive tests the results of which suggest that the optimum working week is around 25 hours. Conversely the study suggest that the cognitive ability of those working about 60 hours a week can be lower than those who are not employed at all.

April 15, 2016

Employers’ and workers’ views on an engaging workplace differ widely ⁰

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Workplace

Business growth is radically redefining how employees are managed, especially as there is greater competition than ever to hire the best people from a much more demanding employee population. Yet employees report that a lack of development, outdated processes, and discontent with the role of their managers are causing them to feel dissatisfied according to Mercer’s 2016 Global Talent Trends Study, the first to take into account the perspective of both employers and employees. While 85 percent of organisations admit that their talent management programmes need an overhaul, 70 percent are confident about filling critical roles with internal candidates, 28 percent of employees say they plan to leave in the next 12 months even though they are satisfied with their current role. Managing these challenges requires support but only 4 percent of HR professionals feel that the HR function is viewed as a strategic business partner within their organisations.

April 15, 2016

Office demand prompts rise in level of London commercial construction ⁰

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

London has reached the highest level of commercial construction since 2008, with activity totalling £7.4 billion. According to JLL and Glenigan’s latest UK Commercial Construction Index the level of speculative office development under construction in Central London totalled 8.3 million sq ft at the end of Q1 2016, well ahead of the long term average (5 million sq ft) indicating that developers are continuing to respond to London’s burgeoning requirements for new office floor space. In the West End office market alone, construction started speculatively on nine schemes in the first quarter of this year totalling 596,997 sq ft; the highest level of commencements since the end of 2014. The largest starts were at Brunel, W2 at 241,000 sq ft, which is scheduled to complete in 2019 and The Foundry, W8, a refurbishment planned to complete by the end of this year totalling 110,000 sq ft.

April 14, 2016

Londoners work less flexibly than elsewhere, despite longer commutes ⁰

by Sara Bean • Cities, Flexible working, News, Workplace

Londoners are less likely to work flexibly than the rest of the UK, despite having much longer commuting times. This is according to the results of new research by the CIPD which found that many Londoners are travelling for the equivalent of at least one full working day in a ‘typical’ week. They spend an average of 47 minutes travelling to work each way compared to the national average of 31 minutes, and their average travel to work time increases to 56 minutes each way, if you consider a combination of both employees who live in London and those that commute into the capital from outside the M25. The data also reveals that flexible workers in London are more satisfied with their jobs, feel under less pressure and have better work-life balance than those who don’t work flexibly. In its policy programme, Opportunity through work: A manifesto for London, the CIPD is calling for a campaign to increase the uptake of flexible working in the Capital.

April 13, 2016

Competitive workplaces hold women back in their careers ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Wellbeing, Workplace

Women take competition with other women at work too seriously and it could be damaging their careers, new research from UCL School of Management claims. Assistant Professor Sun Young Lee found that women experience competition with same-gender co-workers more negatively than men do because female peer culture values harmony and equality, and competition is at odds with the norm of female relationships. On the other hand, hierarchical ranking and competition is natural in male peer culture, so men’s work relationships do not suffer from competing with male colleagues. But competition with female co-workers taxes women’s work relationships. Women may struggle to interact with female co-workers, becoming overly cutthroat and mean, which can restrict their career progression. The findings suggest that, for organizations with a majority of female employees, competitive practices may not be the best way to organise work.

April 12, 2016

London’s first timber skyscraper could be a step closer to reality ⁰

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Cities, Environment, Facilities management, News, Wellbeing

Londoners may reportedly be growing concerned over the proliferation of tall buildings, but what if they were constructed in wood, rather than steel and concrete? This is the possibility raised by researchers from Cambridge University’s Department of Architecture, who are working with PLP Architecture and engineers Smith and Wallwork, on the development of tall timber buildings in central London. The use of timber is an area of emerging interest for its potential benefits; the most obvious being that it is a renewable resource. Researchers are also investigating other potential benefits, such as reduced costs and improved construction timescales, increased fire resistance, and significant reduction in the overall weight of buildings. Mayor of London Boris Johnson has now been presented with conceptual plans for an 80-storey, 300m high mixed use wooden building integrated within the Barbican.

April 11, 2016

What our enduring love of wooden office furniture tells us about how we work

by Paul Goodchild • Comment, Furniture, Workplace design

As the office continues to evolve so too do the materials used within it. While many corporate headquarters make liberal use of brushed steel, aluminium and glass, an ancient, well loved and sustainable material is becoming increasingly popular all over again. Wood never went away, of course, but the latest ideas about office design seem to have given it a new lease of life as a material. In part this is down to an inherent love for wood, but it is also acknowledges the aesthetic and functional crossover between the office and other places where we work such as cafes, hotels and homes. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the new generation of commercial office furniture designs. In many ways they hark back to the 1950s when the British were introduced to modernism in no uncertain terms. This design movement led the British to reject dark woods and embrace new forms and materials including lighter, arguably more natural woods.

April 7, 2016

The global tension between cost and talent in corporate real estate ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace

Concerns over the health of the global economy, workforce strategies and rising costs and pace of business are heavily influencing real estate decision-making for major corporations, a new survey by CBRE of global corporate real estate executives claims. More than 400 respondents from around the world participated in the survey. Nearly half (49 percent) cited economic uncertainty as their greatest challenge, while 43 percent identified it as cost escalation. Forty-eight percent projected a stable real estate footprint for this year. Seventy-nine percent stated that they are actively using space-efficiency initiatives to manage costs, combining ‘ground-up workplace strategies with top-down cost management initiatives’. Workplace strategies are also driven by initiatives that aim to improve collaborative working and enhance a firm’s pool of talent as well as address other workplace issues such as wellbeing and work life balance.