August 3, 2018
Financial centres in UK cities outside London are set to suffer most from Brexit
Although news reports about the impact of Brexit on the UK’s financial services sector have focused almost exclusively on London, a new report from the Centre for Cities claims that the decision to leave the EU will have a disproportionately larger impact on the centres in the UK’s other major cities, which employ two thirds of all people in the sector. The report explores the financial and professional services sectors in cities across the UK, and looks at what the relationships are with London-based firms in these industries. The report by the think tank supported by the City of London Corporation London: The geography of financial services in the capital and beyond looks at how much individual cities across the UK export in services, and what proportion of these services exports came from the financial sector.
Traditional job roles are becoming more complex due to digital transformation initiatives a new poll claims, with UK businesses having to wait more than five months, on average, for new joiners to get up to speed in their jobs. In the research by Robert Half of almost 5,000 CFOs in 14 countries, CFOs in the UK report that the key skills for finance professionals are changing. With digital transformation a priority for many organisations, there is now more focus on skills such as data analysis (cited by 43 percent of CFOs), financial analysis (35 percent), and data forecasting (34 percent). Finding the right people with these abilities is made even more challenging by the fact that businesses around the world are struggling to find qualified professionals. Almost all (93 percent) UK businesses find it challenging to attract qualified accounting and finance professionals. Globally, the issue is equally pronounced, with 94 percent of businesses also reporting similar challenges.
Employers need to recognise the workplace as integral to delivering a business’ commercial strategy, and treat employees as ‘workplace consumers’ – creating ‘frictionless’ experiences and environments that help them perform to their best ability. This is according to a report: ‘Optimising performance: defining, designing, maintaining and evolving workplace experiences’ from Interserve, undertaken in partnership with Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA). The two-year study into the science behind effective working environments argues there is a need to radically re-envisage workplaces to optimise team productivity and maximise the value of physical working environments. It sets out a series of critical steps for knowledge-based businesses to revolutionise the workplace – and thereby aid employee performance. The report argues that traditional silos, from IT and HR to facilities, need to be broken down to integrate the management of the workplace as part of a ‘one-team’ approach; doing so will ensure companies can deliver a streamlined workplace experience which supports employee productivity.
Long corporate lunches were once the cornerstone of the corporate expense account, but new figures show just 13 percent of today’s workforce claim expenses for lunch at a restaurant, compared to 36 percent of those in the 1970s and 37 percent in the 80s. The data, released by Barclaycard, also claims that just 10 percent claim dinner at a restaurant with a client on their expenses. This is less than half the proportion who did so in the 1960s (34 percent), 70s (27 percent) and 80s (28 percent). Employees are also less likely to catch up with clients over drinks, with just seven percent regularly footing the bill for a round – approximately a quarter of the proportion who say they did so in the 1980s (27 percent). The expense management process itself has also become more formal, with a clear shift to self-service – almost two-thirds of today’s employees file their own expense claims compared to just over a third in the 1960s.
Sexual harassment in the workplace is widespread and commonplace, with unwanted sexual behaviours such as sexual comments, touching, groping and assault seen as an everyday occurrence and part of the culture in workplaces, and the Government, regulators and employers are failing in their responsibilities to tackle the problem says an influential group of MPs. Employers and regulators have ignored their responsibilities for too long, found the Women and Equalities Committee following a wide-ranging six-month inquiry and often legal protections are not available to workers in practice. The Committee found that despite 40 percent of women and 18 percent of men having experienced unwanted sexual behaviour in the workplace there has been a failure to tackle unlawful behaviours, despite the Government’s obligations under international law. The report calls on Government to focus on five priorities to put sexual harassment at the top of the agenda for employers.
July 31, 2018
Google should be an example to all when it come to interactive workplace design
by Alice Porter • Comment, Workplace design
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