March 19, 2021
Search Results for: benefits
March 16, 2021
HR technology that doesn’t help employees may just disappear
by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Workplace
Human resources research and advisory firm Josh Bersin Research, claims that the biggest change in the HR technology market is the spread of HR applications into areas beyond payroll and employee administration to support a broad set of work activities. Other evolutions in the HR tech market include rising corporate determination to improve overall employee experience (EX) and the growth of HR tools designed for employees, not managers. (more…)
March 15, 2021
Serfs up for the self-employed and gig economy workers (and the middle class)
by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Working culture
One of the most significant consequences of the 2008 economic crash was a remarkable shift in the nature of employment. The recession led to a surge in the number of people categorised as self-employed. The numbers have been increasing ever since, albeit at a lower rate. By the end of 2019, the number of self-employed people in the UK exceeded five million people for the first time. Fifteen percent of the workforce. (more…)
March 11, 2021
BCO offers new guidance on indoor air quality
by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing
A new BCO research paper, Thoughts on ventilation design and operation post COVID-19, has called for UK offices to ensure they have adequate ventilation ahead of the return to work. The paper highlights that while most offices that follow good practice guidelines do benefit from indoor air quality, there are also many examples of poorly ventilated offices that fall short of the best practice guidelines set out in the BCO’s 2019 Guide to Specification. Poorly ventilated indoor spaces have been linked to COVID-19 super spreader events and the paper states that ventilation in these offices must be “addressed urgently.” (more…)
March 9, 2021
Working near home could save employees over £2,200 a year
by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working culture
Employees could save over £2,200 a year and ‘get back’ 98 mins a day if companies adopted a ‘Work Near Home’ model for offices in the future, claims research from workspace company, The Instant Group and site location company, Hickey. For companies that adopt this approach, they could save upwards of 23 percent by utilising a “Hub and Spoke” model that removes reliance on city centres for office locations. (more…)
March 5, 2021
From the archive: Flexible working may improve productivity, but does it diminish creativity?
by Maciej Markowski • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace
Originally published in December 2014. Homeworking seems to have become a bit of a hot topic this year, but one sentence published on the www.gov.uk website brought a cold sweat to the brows of many managers and employees across the United Kingdom. “From 30 June 2014, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working – not just parents and carers.” (more…)
March 5, 2021
Half of employers don’t have a financial wellbeing policy
by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Wellbeing
Despite the financial hardship wrought by COVID-19, half of employers (49 percent) don’t have a financial wellbeing policy. This is according to the latest Reward Management Survey from the CIPD (which 420 employers responded to). (more…)
February 26, 2021
UKGBC launches framework for defining social value
by Jayne Smith • Environment, News
The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published a Framework for Defining Social Value in the Built Environment, designed to help built environment practitioners define and deliver social value on their projects. Social value is often considered especially hard to define for built environment projects, as each project serves a different community with their own unique set of requirements. (more…)
February 26, 2021
Workers hatred of Mondays and Fridays threatens post Covid-19 environmental dividend
by Jayne Smith • Environment, Flexible working, News
With the Government setting out its roadmap for the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, workers are set to return to offices later this year. However, new working practices mean they will still split their time between the office and home. (more…)
February 24, 2021
Employees believe their employer has a social responsibility to them
by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives
Employers are now more aware of their employee’s personal situation and family commitments than they were pre Covid-19, according to the Re:Me report from MetLife UK. This report, which explores the changing relationship between employers and employees amid the global pandemic, claims that seven in ten (71 percent) employees now feel ‘employers have a social responsibility to them’. (more…)










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March 17, 2021
No jab, no job? Can employers enforce a vaccination programme?
by Karen Holden • Comment, Legal news, Wellbeing