Search Results for: Working from home

October 10, 2015

UK’s best workplace? + Apple’s new office + Design and happiness ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Newsletter, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

In this week’s issue; Mark Eltringham says Jeremy Hunt’s views on the UK’s need to work longer hours does not make practical sense and explains why workplace design isn’t the only way to engage people. The Civic Centre & One Stop Shop in Keynsham, near Bath wins ‘Best of the Best workplace in the country’ in the BCO awards; Apple plans to add another tech palace alongside its Norman Foster designed campus in California; and a new survey finds that companies are rethinking the tools they use to keep employees loyal. Employers admit to an ad hoc approach to flexible working practices; millennials prefer value accelerated career paths and diversity over job security; and we preview a new Technology and Trends event. Visit our new events page, subscribe for free quarterly issues of Work&Place and weekly news here. And follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

October 3, 2015

Death of the office + Gen Z at work + Transformational management ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Flooring, Newsletter, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

In this week’s issue; Mark Eltringham on why the facts don’t support the myth that the office is dying; and what Anaïs Nin can teach us about the way we design and use workplaces. The CIPD issues a new set of case studies that demonstrate the important role of HR in aiding transformational change; the BSIA explains why Generation Z is the first tribe of true digital natives; and human error is still the leading cause of data loss for UK organisations. More Americans than ever choose to work from home, but homeworking Brits are growing increasingly disconnected from their colleagues. And evidence that a caring and supportive boss is the missing link between employee engagement and mental health. Visit our new events page, subscribe for free quarterly issues of Work&Place and weekly news here. And follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

September 26, 2015

Visions of the future of work + Gen Y hype + flexible firms ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Flexible working, Furniture, Newsletter, Property, Workplace, Workplace design

In this week’s issue; legend of the UK office furniture sector, John Fogarty reflects on his five decades of experience; Mark Eltringham argues the TMT sector no more fell from the heavens than Gen Y, and Charles Marks weighs up the pros and cons of the BREEAM environmental standard. The financial sector dominates the annual list of Top Employers for Working Families and we reveal there’s a tendency to drift into caricature when describing multigenerational working. Activity in Europe’s commercial property markets is at its highest level since 2007 and colleagues, not bosses can make people feel more engaged at work. Check out our video evidence which shows how some visions of the future of work can be remarkably prescient while others get it completely wrong. Visit our new events page, subscribe for free quarterly issues of Work&Place and weekly news here. And follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

September 22, 2015

John Fogarty reflects on a career in office furniture spanning five decades ⁰

by John Fogarty • Comment, Furniture, Workplace design

I was lucky to enter the office furniture industry in 1971, at the beginning of a decade shaped by the explosive advent of new office technology. What had gone before would not have looked that different to anyone who’d worked a corporate office in the 1890s: serried ranks of desks occupied by clerical staff bashing away on manual typewriters and comptometers (calculating machines). Although electric typewriters had been around for most of the century, decades of global conflict had constrained their development. The first major advance came with the launch of the IBM Selectric golf-ball in 1961. Although a beautiful object – I recall this being the first item associated in my mind with the term ‘product design’ by a named designer (Eliot Noyes) – it remained expensive and rare until the price reductions driven by the multi-licensing in 1972 of the Diablo daisy-wheel print head.

September 12, 2015

Productivity myths + Gen Y shun London + Wellness & Work ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Newsletter, Wellbeing, Workplace

In this week’s issue; Mark Eltringham says when it comes to productivity, not everything at work is a motivator and lists five ways your colleagues might be driving you mad. Researchers say that green cities could result in global savings in the trillions; the allure of London for Generation Y appears to be fading; and business leaders in the Capital are concerned about retaining employees and improving the infrastructure. The number of people working excessive hours in the UK increases by 15 per cent since 2010; US workers admit that that when they need to get important work done, they avoid the office completely; and wellness policies are overlooking the effects of the workplace on health. Check out our new events page, subscribe for free quarterly issues of Work&Place and weekly news here., You can follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

September 11, 2015

London’s allure for Millennials is less than it was, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

The allure of London for Generation Y appears to be fading, according to a new report from Lloyds Commercial Banking. According to the study of 200 Millennials and 400 SMEs, the most talked about Generation appears increasingly happy to work for a small firm, wherever they are located. The survey claims that relocating to London is not on the agenda for half (51 percent) of Millennials, who would be happy to move anywhere for the right job. Over a third (35 percent) don’t want to move away from home, while less than a tenth (eight percent) insist they will only work in the capital – which the report claims is good news for SMEs located outside of London (assuming they want to employ Millennials in the first place, obviously). According to the report, location ranked seventh on the list of factors that would attract Millennials to a business.

September 10, 2015

Five ways in which your colleagues might be driving you completely nuts ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

It’s always worth reminding ourselves that while a well designed workplace and favourable working conditions are very desirable prerequisites of a good job, what really makes work enjoyable and what really makes a great culture are the people with whom we work. This simple fact is one reason why some people are happy in poorly designed offices full of all the things that supposedly make them unhappy and unwell, while other people can be miserable in airy, daylit, tastefully furnished corporate palaces. Just as Peter Drucker once said that culture eats strategy for breakfast, we also know that it washes it down with a piping hot mug of office design. Culture is defined in large measure by the people around us, it can be they who determine how much we enjoy work. Here are just five ways they can drive us nuts based on recent data.

September 9, 2015

Five unconventional ways to attract and retain Millennial talent ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Knowledge, News, Workplace

Almost one third of millennial staff (29 percent) claim that a higher salary is the biggest contributor to their loyalty, despite only 20 percent of the broader American workforce reporting the same; the Staples Advantage Workplace Index, a study of office workers in the US and Canada claims. US office workers consider title and work responsibilities (38 percent) and work-life balance (30 percent) as leading contributors to their loyalty, but Millennials favour less traditional benefits including more flexibility; generous office amenities, such as gyms; a company which promotes and supports sustainable practices; a more sociable working environment with plenty of breaks; and finally, lots of positive feedback from their direct line manager. Unsurprisingly, unlike other generations of workers, Millennials say that the use of social media enhances rather than detracts from their productivity.

September 3, 2015

Three quarters of US workers avoid the office to get important work done ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Three quarters (76 percent) of US workers surveyed by online job site FlexJobs say that when they need to get important work done, they avoid the office completely. Of over 2,600 respondents, 50 percent reported that their home is their location of choice to be most productive on important work-related projects. Another 12 percent said they would choose a coffee shop, coworking space, library, or other place besides the office. Fourteen percent would choose the office but only outside standard hours, leaving less than a quarter who prefer the actual office during regular working hours as a place to complete important work. The main reasons for fleeing the corporate embrace were to avoid interruptions from colleagues (cited by 76 percent), escape distractions (74 percent), evade office politics (71 percent), reduce the stress of commuting (68 percent) and work in more comfortable surroundings (65 percent).

September 3, 2015

Traffic congestion costing UK firms £4.5 billion a year, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

The daily grind of commuting to work is not only taking its toll on the health, wellbeing and fuses of employees, it is also costing businesses billions of pounds a year in lost working hours, claims a new report from fleet management firm Lex Autolease. The study, part of the firm’s annual survey of trends in corporate car use, estimates that employees spend around 13 percent of their work-related journey times held up by jams and congestion and that the 1,041 people surveyed also spent an average of 70 minutes each day in their car travelling to and from work. In addition, around one in twenty (5 percent) of people commute for more than three hours each day, while just 8 percent said they were based from home so commuting wasn’t an issue. The study concludes that this costs UK employers some £4.5 billion each year.

September 2, 2015

We need to do more than pay lip service to workplace wellbeing ⁰

by Ann Clarke • Case studies, Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Too many companies continue to talk about employees as their ‘greatest asset’ yet their fine words are not always not borne out in their behaviour, be that through working culture, remuneration or environment. With more and more investors using employee wellness and engagement as a barometer for the health, stability and culture of the business – the concept of workplace wellbeing is finally garnering the attention it deserves. Our workplace behaviours, cultures and environments are not keeping us fit, well, productive, happy or profitable. Finally businesses are accepting their moral responsibility to take better care of their people. So what affects employee productivity, creativity and happiness and how can changes to the workplace promote the best financial and moral outcomes for businesses and employees alike?

September 1, 2015

Government announces plans to improve national levels of fair pay ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

A package of measures designed to improve levels of fair pay have been announced by the Government today; including doubling the penalties for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage and the new National Living Wage; increasing the enforcement budget and setting up a new team in HMRC to take forward criminal prosecutions for those who deliberately do not comply. A new team of compliance officers in HMRC will investigate the most serious cases of employers not paying the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage when it is introduced in April 2016. This team will have the power to use all available sanctions, including penalties, prosecutions and naming and shaming the most exploitative employers. Employers who fail to pay staff at least the minimum wage they are legally entitled to will have to pay double what they do now.