Search Results for: Gen Z

Lack of skills hampering business growth say UK CEOs

by • News, Property, Workplace

Lack of skills training is hampering growth say business leaders

Nearly two thirds (65 per cent) of UK employers say a lack of key skills is hampering their growth prospects – with construction, mining, engineering and energy companies reporting the most chronic shortage of skilled employees. Yet, according to a PwC global survey, while three out of four UK CEOs said creating a skilled workforce should be the Government’s highest priority only a third intended to do anything about it for the coming year. Instead, they see it as a longer-term goal; with 70 per cent of respondents saying they plan to increase investment in their workforce over the next three years. (more…)

What Søren Kierkegaard can teach us about workplace design and management

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

KierkegaardSøren Kierkegaard was a Nineteenth Century Danish philosopher and proto-existentialist. Not for him the hazy, romantic ideals of many of his contemporaries. He was one of the thinkers who gave birth to the Twentieth Century with its focus on the individual, reality and life in a sometimes uncaring world, although he was no atheist like many of the true existentialists. If he’s generally well known for anything these days it is for a single quotation that reads like a greeting card aphorism but is no less true for that. He said: ‘Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.’ Looking back can give you a real handle on the present. I moved offices recently and as these things happen, a number of books that I routinely ignore fell open while I was looking for some displacement activity.

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Corporate culture of presenteeism leads to inequality

by • News, Workplace

 

Corporate cultures celebrate presenteeism

Over half (60 per cent) of senior executives say their productivity would be increased if their organisations played a more active role in helping them balance their work and non-work lives; the majority by 10 to 25 per cent. The research by the Inspire board network and executive search firm Harvey Nash also reveals that male dominated corporate cultures are the biggest barrier to women reaching the board, with over half (52 per cent) believing that today’s corporate cultures which celebrate presenteeism, dramatically reduce the length of time women are prepared stay and develop their career with their employer. (more…)

Diversity is key to an effective board finds global study

by • Knowledge, Legal news, News, Workplace

Boardroom diversity is a major global challenge

As we’ve previously reflected, progress has been slow in promoting more women to executive levels, and there are increasing concerns on a lack of diversity within the built environment. Now new evidence has emerged which helps prove just why boardroom diversity is such a pressing issue. According to a major report released by law firm Eversheds there is a global trend towards smaller boards, which means that although companies with smaller boards tend to deliver better share price performance, chairmen and nomination committees have to balance size with a number of other important factors shown to demonstrate better share price performance, such as appointing more executives to boards and encouraging greater diversity in the broadest sense. (more…)

Majority of employers support flexible working but perception problems persist

by • Knowledge, Legal news, News, Workplace

flexible work

As we reported last week, the Millennial generation of workers born in the 80s and 90s would describe work as a “thing rather than a place”, and want more flexibility in where and how they work. While the Yahoo home working ban debate uncovered a lot of exasperation and suspicion towards this trend, it’s interesting to see two separate studies, from the UK and the U.S. that show a far less combative attitude. But, as the U.S study discovered, while a majority of employees enjoyed real productivity benefits from home working, nearly half would still go into the office because it is what is expected of them and a small percentage still go because it gets them out of the house. (more…)

CIBSE creates diversity panel to reflect varied workforce

by • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace

Diversity in the workplace

Efforts to encourage a more inclusive culture within the built environment appear to have moved up a gear. RIBA President Angela Brady has voiced concerns on the “gender inequality that continues to pervade the profession,” and now the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineering (CIBSE) has launched a Diversity Panel. Formed to encourage diversity in all its forms, whether race, gender, age, sexual orientation or disability, it is made up of CIBSE members who are keen to increase the routes to the profession through educational paths and by promoting a diverse workplace. Commented CIBSE: “The employment and retention of a varied workforce is integral to meet the building services engineering skills gap and to therefore improve building performance.” (more…)

Client focus as crucial as great design says RIBA

by • Architecture, Facilities management, Knowledge, News, Workplace design

The architectural profession can't rely on great design alone, but needs to be more business and client focused

The architectural profession can’t rely on great design alone, but needs to be more business and client focused warns the Royal Institute of British Architects. According to RIBA’s 2012/13 Business Benchmarking Survey, 62 per cent of practices do not have a business plan and, of those that do, only 13 per cent plan beyond one year. Interestingly, the survey also finds that 50 per cent of the profession’s work is won as the result of a direct approach with no competitive process. RIBA President Angela Brady said: “One key element exposed in these latest results is the acute split in business management, profitability and specialisms between large and small practices on how to make the most of their own position in the market place. What is clear is that if growth is on the agenda for a practice, then simply being a great designer, or a good project runner, is unlikely to be enough.” (more…)

Stressed staff contribute average ten hours free labour a week

by • Knowledge, News, Workplace

Stressed workers contributing average 10 extra hours work a week

British employees contribute an extra £142 billion a year to their employers, by working on average, an unpaid ten extra hours per week. According to a study by Travelodge of 2,000 workers across the UK, nearly three quarters (72 per cent) routinely do the extra hours, which translates into an average saving of £6,635 for employers. So great is the trend, that one in ten workers cram a whole extra week of unpaid work on top of their normal working schedule so that they can manage their workload, and a third of Britons now work an additional 16 hours a week for free than they did prior to the start of the recession. (more…)

Shortlist for green business awards published on Earth Day

by • Environment, Facilities management, News

Earth day celebrations

Green charities, consultancies and a range of businesses that have helped to promote and facilitate environmental progress within the corporate community over the past year have been nominated for a BusinessGreen Leaders’ Award. The shortlist for the green business awards, which celebrate leading businesses and individuals’ contributions to the green economy is published today on Earth Day, when it’s expected that over one billion people in approximately 192 countries will be taking action to protect the environment. The day is being marked in Seattle by the formal opening of the “greenest commercial building in the world,” the Bullitt center by one of Earth’s day’s founders, the environmental activist Denis Hayes. (more…)

Female-friendly employers named as progress of women in boardrooms stalls

by • Comment, Knowledge, News, Workplace

Top 50 Employers for Women named

In an interview this week on BBC’s Newsnight, Facebook’s CFO Sheryl Sandberg, revealed how she’d come to notice a growing gender imbalance as she moved up the corporate ladder. As her new book Lean in, points out, 30 years after women became 50 per cent of the college graduates in the United States, men still hold the vast majority of leadership positions. This is just one of many reasons why the publication this week of the Times Top 50 Employers for Women list of the UK organisations that are leading the way in gender equality in the workplace is to be welcomed.

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High wire act: balancing attitudes and expectations in the workplace

by • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Workplace, Workplace design

This week, with some fanfare and a modest splash on social media, CBRE, the Global real estate services provider launched The Workshop Idea. One of its stated aims is the revitalisation of our high streets and, with the introduction of local venues in a number of differing guises, an increase in the degree of choice and flexibility of places in which to work when not travelling into the office. A whitepaper is due out shortly and we will cover this specific initiative once that has been given the proper consideration and thoughtful analysis it deserves. However, it raises some initial thoughts on expectations, attitudes and behaviours that need to be overcome in the way we view our high streets and places of work and the degree to which those who provide services respond.

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Fully mobile workplace for Cisco’s new Singapore regional HQ

by • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace design

Cisco Singapore HQ offers fully flexible working

IT giant Cisco has opened a new regional headquarters in Singapore that features utilisation-based space allocation that for the first time allows all of its staff to work just about anywhere in the building, using whichever kind of mobile device they prefer. The move reflects the findings of Cisco’s recent report which revealed that growing numbers of workers prefer to use an iPad or iPhone rather than a PC. The new offices, located at UE Biz Hub, within the Changi Business Park in Singapore, brings together 1,000 employees from Cisco’s previous four offices around the island and has reduced around 40 per cent of the required workspace.

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