Search Results for: Gen Z

August 4, 2016

Connectivity creep is driving more people to switch off their devices ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing

Fifteen million UK internet users have undertaken a ‘digital detox’ in a bid to strike a healthier balance between technology and life beyond the screen, according to a new Ofcom study. The study of around 2,500 people suggests that our reliance on the internet is affecting people’s personal and working lives, leading many to seek time away from the web to spend time with friends and family. Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2016 finds that one in three adult internet users (34 percent), equivalent to 15 million people in the UK, has sought a period of time offline, with one in ten (11 percent) doing so in the last week alone. Of these digital down-timers, 25 percent spent up to a day internet-free; 20 percent took up to a week off; and 5 percent went web-free for up to a whole month. The most common reasons for taking a time out were to spend more time doing other things (cited by 44 percent) and more time talking to friends and family (38 percent).

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August 4, 2016

Employers doing little to alleviate employees’ job fears over Brexit ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A majority of employers won’t delay hiring for roles (54 percent) due to Brexit, yet nearly half (48 percent) of jobseekers are concerned about finding a job post the Referendum, new research claims. The survey of both employers and candidates conducted by totaljobs following the EU Referendum, reveals that 44 percent of all candidates believe there will be more competition for jobs following the Brexit vote, while 28 percent say that Brexit has already had an impact on their job search. Nearly a fifth (19 percent) have become less selective about the jobs they apply for, compared with 16 percent who are now more selective. Of those currently employed, 34 percent are worried about their job security as a result of Brexit, whilst half (52 percent) are not concerned. Unfortunately, many employers have not yet taken steps to ease employees’ concerns, as almost three-quarters (72 percent) of employees say they have not been spoken to by their employer about the impact of Brexit.

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August 2, 2016

What Anaïs Nin can teach us about the way we design and use workplaces

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

Although the author and feminist icon Anaïs Nin was born and raised in France by Cuban parents, she is most commonly seen as an American literary figure. Like many of the mid 20th Century’s most pioneering writers and thinkers on social and gender issues, her fame appears to have slowly eroded, perhaps because much of what she wrote about at the time was for the time. She documented much of her life in diaries and letters and so we know a great deal about her as a person, including how much she loved New York while remaining open minded about its deficiencies. In a 1934 letter to her then lover Henry Miller, she laid out her thoughts on the city, and especially its physicality. One of the most eternally resonant aspects of her description is the idea that it is what a person brings to a place that makes it come alive. Culture eats design for breakfast. The stage setting is meaningless without the play and the players.

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August 2, 2016

Seven workplace stories we like and think you should read this week ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, News, Property, Workplace, Workplace design

1 The next big thing in office design is not what you think but is certainly a sign of the times, according to a story in Inc; it is bullet proof office screens. 2 An exhibition in London offers up spectral images of abandoned buildings from the Soviet era. 3 We’ve been saying for a while that Millennials don’t exist as a separate species, but perhaps not as powerfully as Adam Conover does in this talk delivered, ironically, at a conference focused on marketing to Millennials 4 Maybe the UK Government has finally discovered that an awful lot of people live outside London as it announces the creation of three large civil service ‘hubs’ in Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester. 5 Philip Tidd of Gensler powerfully offers up an inconvenient truth for the UK workplace. 6 More evidence that the Brexit vote was largely a general protest vote rather than a specifically anti-EU vote from the What Works Centre for Wellbeing. 7 A letter to the FT from construction industry leaders urges the UK to maintain its role as a leader in tackling climate change.

August 1, 2016

Smart cities will play essential role in meeting future energy demand ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Environment, News, Property, Technology

The changing energy demands of British cities are revealed in a new report published by Smart Energy GB and the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The report’s central claim is that urbanisation, economic growth and new technology will drive cities to meet their energy demands with the greater use of sustainable and renewable sources. The authors claim that this is the first time that predictions about increases in energy demand in the UK have been analysed and published on a city level. The Powering Future Cities report suggests that this growing demand will primarily be driven by urban population growth, economic growth and a predicted surge in use of new technology, including electric vehicles. The report coincides with an announcement that the World Green Building Council has created a new partnership with the World Resources Institute-led Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) to fast-track improvements to energy efficiency within buildings.

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July 29, 2016

Still inequalities, despite more over 50s in work than ever before ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Employers that focus only on keeping a generation of younger workers happy are ignoring the fact that an increasing proportion of the UK working population is getting older. The latest Government figures reveal that there are now more people aged 50 to 74 in work than ever before. According to Labour Force Survey statistics there are now 9.4 million people in work aged 50 to 74, with 3.7 million more in this age bracket than there were 20 years ago. The figures also show the unemployment rate for people aged over 50 has dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest level since 2009, and there are over 1.1 million people working beyond age 65. Legislation to end the retirement age and allow more flexible contracts, have, argues the Government contributed to a more positive attitude towards older workers. However, according to the Centre for Ageing Better, many over 50s are still being forced out of work or offered fewer working hours than they’d requested.

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July 28, 2016

Growing number of people past retirement age still work to boost income ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Legal news, News, Wellbeing

For all that everybody bangs on about Millennials, it’s increasingly apparent that the workforce in most nations is actually getting older and that it’s not just Governments who are keen to keep older staff in work, but also people themselves. A new study from MetLife based on Government data claims that nearly one in seven over-65s in the UK are boosting their retirement income by working, earning around £296 in addition per week. The data suggests that the numbers of over-65s working has increased from just 8 percent of the pensioner population to 13 percent in the last ten years, the equivalent of 1.1 million people. Median earnings from working are £296 a week adding up to annual pay of nearly £15,400. The need to keep working is underlined by the continuing squeeze on saving and investment income, which generates just £312 a year for pensioners on average. The proportion of pensioners earning money from investments has dropped from 72 percent in 2004/05 to around 64 percent now. Around 72 percent of all pensioners have private or company pensions compared with 66 percent a decade ago.

July 28, 2016

Acas issues guidance for employers on impact of Olympic Games ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

New guidance from Acas has been issued to help employers prepare for potential problems with employees that could arise during the 2016 Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro next month. With Rio 2016 taking place in Brazil between 5th and 21st August, Acas has advised employers and small businesses to have agreements in place that cover requests for time off, sickness absence, website use during working hours or watching TV during this period. It is advised that employers should start planning as soon as possible to reduce the impact that the Olympic Games could have on their business as annual leave requests could be generally higher during the summer holiday period. Employers might want to gauge the level of interest in the games with their employees, have open communications about suggested changes to working practices which balance staff request with the needs of the business to minimise any potential impact on productivity.

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July 27, 2016

A third of people have experienced mental health issues while working ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

According to new research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the number of people saying that they have experienced mental health issues while in employment has climbed from a quarter to a third over the last five years. Despite this, the majority of employees still don’t feel that people experiencing mental health issues are supported well enough at work. In response, the CIPD is calling on organisations to take a more preventative approach to employees’ mental wellbeing, encouraging a culture of openness in their workplace, whilst at the same time, training line managers to provide and signpost support for employees, in order to create healthier, more engaged and more productive workplaces. The new research from the CIPD claims that in 2016, almost a third (31 percent) of the over 2,000 employees surveyed said they have experienced a mental health problem at some point during their working life, compared with a quarter (26 percent) in 2011.

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July 27, 2016

Seven ways managers and employers can build trust in the workplace ⁰

by Matias Rodsevich • Comment, Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

How many people in the workplace genuinely trust their managers and employers? It’s a question that we should ask because the answer unfortunately is not as many as you might think. It’s almost certainly well below what an organisation supposes or expects. For example, a recent study by strategic communications firm Edelman found that one in three employees don’t trust their employer. Another related study by consultants EY found that the number might well be even lower, with only 46 percent having trust in their organisation, and 49 percent in their line manager and team mates. This situation has been allowed to develop in spite of the fact that trust is one of the most important things we all need in the workplace. Without it we won’t have the environment we need for an effective feedback culture to grow and for people to feel engaged with what they do and for whom they work. So how can you help close the trust gap between employees and managers?

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July 26, 2016

Working with people and on complex tasks slows cognitive decline ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Wellbeing

Working on complex tasks and work that is based on interactions with other people rather than data or things appear to protect against cognitive decline, according to research presented at the Alzheimer’s Association’s International Conference in Toronto. Researchers in two separate studies claim that people whose work requires complex thinking and activities are better able to withstand the wider causes of cognitive decline. The results suggest that working with people, rather than data or physical things, contributed the most to the protective effect and could offset the widely reported effects of a Western diet on cognitive ability. Researchers found that people with increased white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) – white spots that appear on brain scans and are commonly associated with Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline – could better tolerate WMH-related damage if they worked primarily with other people rather than with things or data.

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July 26, 2016

Workplace design that hands people control is the key to their wellbeing ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Giving employees more control over workplace design is the single most important contributing factor to their wellbeing, according to a new study. The Workplace & Wellbeing report examines the workplace design factors that influence wellbeing. The research team discovered that an invitation to participate in the design of the work environment raised levels of wellbeing, although increasing the level of participation did not necessarily increase the level of wellbeing. The research was led by the Royal College of Art’s Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design in partnership with architects Gensler and supported by a consortium of leading industry names: Milliken, Bupa, Royal Bank of Scotland, Kinnarps and Shell. The context for this project lies with a current ‘wellbeing deficit’ in the workplace which means absence from work costs the UK economy more than £14 billion a year according to the Confederation of British Industry.