Search Results for: benefits

February 12, 2018

Business leaders increasingly optimistic about benefits of artificial intelligence in the workplace

Executives at major organisations increasingly believe that pairing humans alongside machine intelligence will create a more effective, engaged, and meritocratic workplace, according to a new study released by software provider Pegasystems Inc (registration required). The authors surveyed 845 senior executives working globally across industry sectors including financial services, insurance, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and media, and government, on the increased role of automation and artificial intelligence in the workplace of the future. The potential impact in the workplace seems to outweigh any lingering fears, the report claims. Around 69 percent of of respondents say “workforce” will refer to both humans and machine intelligence in the future. Nearly three-quarters of executives said using machines to augment human abilities would lead to increased efficiency. Over 60 percent said it could be used to improve customer service.

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February 1, 2018

Green buildings provide billions of dollars in additional benefits, claims Harvard study

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Environment, News, Property

A new sponsored study from researchers at Harvard University claims that green buildings deliver billions of dollars of social and health benefits beyond those associated with reduced energy consumption. The researchers examined a subset of green-certified buildings over a 16-year period in six countries: the U.S., China, India, Brazil, Germany and Turkey. The study identified nearly $6 billion in combined health and climate benefits. The results are published in the peer reviewed Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.

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October 18, 2017

Over a third of UK staff say employers offer no flexible working benefits

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

British workers are lagging behind employees from other countries when it comes to flexible working hours and benefits like extended leave, suggests new research. New independent research commissioned by travel specialists Opodo.co.uk compared Britain with other nations across Europe and the USA, which reveals that British companies are lagging behind other businesses when it comes to flexible working. Three-quarters of employees in the UK (75 percent) don’t believe they have a generous holiday allowance and 84 percent aren’t offered time back in lieu for days worked over the weekend. It’s of no surprise then that 69 percent of Brits don’t think they have a good work-life balance.

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September 28, 2017

Number of large scale IoT projects doubles worldwide as range of benefits increase

by Sara Bean • AI, Facilities management, News, Technology

Doubling of large scale IoT projects as benefits increase, but security still a concern The number of large scale Internet of Things (IoT) projects have doubled in the last year, as projects move from small pilots to global rollouts, according to Vodafone’s fifth annual IoT Barometer Report. The range of benefits that users are getting from IoT is also widening as adoption increases – greater business insights, reduced costs and improved employee productivity top the list globally. Large scale users report some of the biggest business gains with 67 percent of them highlighting significant returns from the use of IoT. Energy and utility companies are at the forefront of the largest IoT projects worldwide, with applications such as smart meters and pipeline monitoring. Security in IoT is still the biggest barrier for organisations regarding deployment. However, in companies with 10,000 or more connected devices in operation only 7 percent say security is their top worry. Organisations are taking more steps to tackle security concerns including an increase in security training for existing staff, working with specialist security providers and recruiting more IT security specialists.

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September 15, 2017

Regional office property market benefits from growth in office based employment

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

Strong demand and a lack of supply is helping to boast the regional office rental market, according to Savills’ latest Regional Offices Market Watch. The firm anticipates that take-up will reach 9.8 million sq ft (910,450 sq m) by the end of 2017, a 4 percent increase on 2016 and 9 percent up on the 10 year average. This is due to a number of large Government Property Unit (GPU) deals completing in the second half of the year. As a result of strong demand, total availability across the UK fell by 1 percent to 30 million sq ft (2.787 million sq m) in the first half of the year, which equates to just 1.8 years worth of available Grade A supply. What’s more, Savills notes that office based employment across the regional cities is forecast to grow by up to 4.6 percent over the next five years, leading to a net additional 55,000 jobs, representing a need for a further 5 million sq ft (464,616 sq m) of office space.

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June 29, 2017

Self-employed would value receiving sick pay above other benefits ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

UK micro-business owners and freelancers would be more interested in receiving sick pay than any other statutory benefit, according to new research carried out in collaboration between cloud accounting software firm FreeAgent and The Freelancer & Contractor Services Associatio n (FCSA). A poll of nearly 900 UK micro-business owners conducted by FreeAgent and FCSA claims that sick pay provision is the benefit that self-employed workers would most welcome, coming way ahead of other benefits such as maternity pay, job seekers allowance and pension auto-enrolment. The survey claims that 76 percent of respondents currently do not have any method of providing sick pay, maternity/paternity leave, holiday or redundancy pay in their business. Projected across the country’s 5.2 million-strong micro-business sector, this potentially equates to millions of people working without the same kind of basic entitlements that employed workers have. Notably, people’s appetites for additional benefits varied depending on the structure of their business with sole traders more likely to value benefits (rating sickness provision 8.7 out of 10) compared to those working through their own limited companies who gave a score of 6.4 out of 10 for sickness provision.

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January 9, 2017

Global lack of female leadership, despite benefits to companies’ performance ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

Gender inequality remains high around the world – despite the fact that new research suggests how female leadership increases companies’ performance. A new report published by IZA World of Labor looks at the reasons for the persistence of wage and leadership gender gaps and their causes and consequences and emphasizes the beneficial role of female leaders in reducing gender inequality. The report claims that gender wage gaps and women’s under representation in leadership positions exist at remarkably similar magnitudes across countries at all levels of income per capita. In a new IZA World of Labor report the economist Mario Macis of Johns Hopkins University, USA summarizes recent research which shows that although women in many developed countries have reached parity with men in terms of formal educational attainment and employment, earning disparities between the genders are actually greater in richer countries.

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October 20, 2016

Small businesses failing to reap full benefits of digital skills ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Small businesses in the UK are failing to invest enough in digital skills even though there is clear link between digital orientation and commercial success, according to Lloyds Bank’s third annual Business Digital Index. The reports key finding is that firms with a string digital focus are twice as likely to see an increase in turnover than those that aren’t. The report also found that 65 percent of small business owners in the UK have already used digital tools to cut costs. On the down side, the study also found that 38 percent of small firms lack “basic digital skills”. The report claims that independent sole traders have the lowest levels of digital skills with around half having just basic levels of expertise. Despite this, over three quarters (78 percent) of these had no plans to invest to increase the levels of expertise in their business. The study gauged five factors that contribute to a firm’s digital skills score including managing information, communicating, transacting, creating and problem solving, with 62 percent of small businesses were found to have all five skills.

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October 19, 2016

Staff engagement boosted by learning opportunities over benefits ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

It is often assumed that salary, bonuses and office perks are essential to staff engagement as the most important criteria valued by employees, but a new survey suggests otherwise. Instead, the survey by totaljobs found that across all age groups and industries what people value far more than anything else is learning on the job, selected by almost all (97 percent) of 6,829 people questioned. Loyalty and variety in a role, valued by 93 percent of respondents, also came out strong, emphasising that for most people work is about a lot more than a pay check. The need to feel they are progressing, learning new things and the company appreciates their contribution were all important factors in how much people enjoy their jobs. The other things valued most by employees were variety in a role (93 percent); working autonomously (68 percent); perks and benefits (67 percent) and structured teams (64 percent).

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October 5, 2016

Employees increasingly value health and wellbeing benefits ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employee benefits that help promote a healthy workforce are increasingly important when you consider that (perhaps unsurprisingly) 69.8 percent of employees say they felt less productive if they come into work whilst ill. But these benefits are increasingly as important to employees as an aide to productivity. A range of employee benefits are still a crucial recruitment and retention tool, with almost three quarters (69 percent) of employees saying they are more likely to stay with an employer that offers a good employee package compared with 66 percent in 2015. New research from the fourth annual Capita Employee Benefits Insight Report also reveals that 44.8 percent of respondents would judge an employer based on the quality of the health and wellbeing packages they offer. This is particularly valued by higher earners where nearly half (48.8) percent of employees earning over £45,000 a year said they would evaluate their employer or potential employer on the strength of their commitment to employee wellbeing.

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August 16, 2016

A well executed wellness strategy benefits staff and employers ⁰

by Beate O'Neil • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employee health and wellbeing is moving up the agenda of many companies. A recent report from the Reward and Employee Benefits Association (Reba) and Punter Southall Health & Protection found that a third of companies have a wellness strategy in place, with 80 per cent having introduced one in the last three years. Of the 70 per cent that don’t yet have a strategy, a third plan to implement one this year, a third plan to implement a plan in the next few years and the final third have it firmly on their wish list. This is driven by the fact that the UK is experiencing a major demographic change – in 2014 the average age of the population exceeded 40 for the first time. With the percentage of the total population over 60 predicted in a report from AgeUK to rise from 24.2 percent at present to over 29 percent in 2035, employers are beginning to wake up to the fact that wellness is good for staff and good for business.

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July 25, 2016

Many UK workers don’t think current employee benefits meet their needs ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

A new study published to coincide with Smarter Working Day (today, apparently) claims that almost half of UK workers (48 percent) don’t think their current employee benefits package is tailored to their needs. The study of 1,000 UK workers published by payroll lending provider SalaryFinance claims that 38 percent of UK workers currently have access to flexible working although only 26 percent say they prefer the chance of flexible working to financial and psychological wellbeing benefits. Fewer than one in five (19 percent) currently have access to benefits designed to support mental wellbeing, such as counselling services, and only one in four (26 percent) receive financial wellbeing support from their employer. In contrast, one in three (32 percent) receive ad hoc incentives such as free lunches, birthday cakes and duvet days. With 58 percent of people saying that their employer has never asked for feedback on their benefits programme, employers could be falling out of touch with the needs of staff, claims the research.