Search Results for: business

Employers urged to create age friendly workplaces to help retain older workers

Employers urged to create age friendly workplaces to help retain older workers 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employers urged create age friendly workplaces to help retain older workers

Employers should provide full and equal access to flexible working arrangements, occupational health support and appropriate workplace adaptations to help older workers to manage health conditions at work. This is according to a new report from the Centre for Ageing Better, Fulfilling work: what do older workers value about work and why? which identifies the characteristics of work that are important to people aged 50 and over, and explores actions employers can take to attract and retain them. Understanding what older workers want is the first step in helping employers, policy makers and others create age-friendly workplaces. By 2020, one in three workers will be over 50 but while the employment rate for all working age adults remains at a record high of nearly 75%, for people over 60, this falls to around 50%. and there are currently 12 million people heading towards an insufficient retirement income. Ageing Better commissioned the Institute of Employment Studies to carry out the study as to ways of helping people stay at work and the report finds that health is the most important factor affecting older workers’ decisions to continue in work, ahead of job satisfaction and job quality.

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Excessive unpaid overtime contributing to worker’s stress levels, claims survey

Excessive unpaid overtime contributing to worker’s stress levels, claims survey 0

by • News, Wellbeing

Almost three quarters (71 percent) of office staff are so overwhelmed with work they have to put in an 180 extra unpaid hours every year, according to a survey from Printerland. British workers spend on average, an extra 44 minutes every week – that’s 36 hours annually – checking emails, answering phone calls and completing other tasks outside their contracted hours. Over 51 hours a year are spent working late, with two thirds (63 percent) of staff still in the office after hours at least once a week, while 6 percent never go home on time. Many employees are also dining ‘al desko’, with average through lunchtime 2 days a week totalling 93 hours a year, while over half (53 percent) don’t escape the office for the entire day and 16 percent don’t get any screen breaks all day.

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London salaries fall as UK becomes less capital-centric, and it could be due to Brexit

London salaries fall as UK becomes less capital-centric, and it could be due to Brexit 0

by • Cities, News, Property, Workplace

London salaries fall as UK less capital-centric, and it could be down to BrexitLondon continues to be the region with the highest number of advertised vacancies (248,605) and the highest average salaries (£38,449), but its previously unassailable supremacy may soon be challenged, a new survey suggests. According to the latest UK Job Market Report from Adzuna real-time jobs data average salaries in the capital have fallen more (-3.9 percent) than any other region in the UK in the past year as salary growth in the rest of the UK catches up at a more consistent rate. This also represents a wider shift in the jobs market as the Government creates a solid post-Brexit UK economy that drives growth across the whole country. It is likely growing trends such as companies relocating their headquarters to cities outside the capital such as Manchester will continue as well as reinvestments into northern powerhouses to revitalise former struggling areas and industries.  With competition for jobs per jobseeker per vacancy rising from 0.43 to 0.45 in January, jobseekers in the capital may have two hurdles ahead in the shape of a more competitive job market and pedestrian salary growth.

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The Boston Consulting Group: pushing the art and science of workplace design

The Boston Consulting Group: pushing the art and science of workplace design 0

by • Case studies, Features, Workplace design

This month, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) opened its doors to its latest office in what’s been described as the new heart of New York; namely, the up-and-coming Hudson Yards development. Thought leaders from the world of workplace design including a representative from including Workplace Insight were invited to the launch of the new workspace to find out how the world’s leading advisor on business strategy has pushed the art and science of workplace design. BCG, which is consistently ranked near the top of Fortune’s annual Best Companies to Work For survey, worked with an array of experts for input into the design and use of innovative technologies, including Gensler, Humanyze and Unwork. Leesman was brought in to offer a neutral voice when the project was already in motion to validate the design proposal.

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Flexible hours is main reason self-employed are happier than traditional workers

Flexible hours is main reason self-employed are happier than traditional workers 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Self-employed happier than traditional workers due to flexible workingFlexible working hours and being their own boss makes the UK’s self-employed much happier than those in traditional employment a new survey claims. According to the latest set of findings from the ‘Definitive Study of the Self-Employed,’ commissioned by Intuit QuickBooks, the self-employed generated mean annual revenues of £32,623 (£5,000 more than the average UK salary), despite working 10 hours less per week. Of those who have been a salaried worker, two thirds (66 percent) claim to be financially better off or the same and 65 percent also feel better off in terms of ‘life satisfaction’. When the research considered nuanced reasons for choosing to work for oneself ;control of schedule (77 percent), more flexibility to work to one’s own terms (68 percent) and liking being one’s own boss (65 percent) were leading reasons, with not worrying about workplace politics (47 percent) also regularly referenced.

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Majority of employers predict more challenging economic conditions this year

Majority of employers predict more challenging economic conditions this year 0

by • Legal news, News, Workplace

Majority of employers predict more challenging economic conditions this year

Three quarters of UK employers (76 percent) expect economic conditions to be more challenging in 2017 compared to 2016 and there are signs that the jobs market is slowing, claims the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) latest JobsOutlook survey. Employers intending to increase their permanent staff headcount within the next three months has reduced to one in five (21 percent), down from 24 percent reported last month. Similarly, demand for permanent staff has reduced in all sectors except health & social care and education. More positively, despite harsh economic conditions, businesses remain self-confident with three quarters of employers polled (74 percent) saying that their business will perform better this year compared to last year. Skills shortages remain a challenge for businesses however, as half of all employers (50 percent) anticipate a shortage of suitable candidates for some permanent roles this year. Employers anticipate that roles in engineering & technology, health & social care, and hospitality will be particularly affected by skills shortages.

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Global workforce fears it won’t adapt fast enough to the digital workplace

Global workforce fears it won’t adapt fast enough to the digital workplace 0

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Workers across the globe are excited by the potential for technology to enhance their work lives and create new career opportunities, but over a third (40 percent) fear that they won’t be able to keep up with the rate of change required by digital business, claims a new survey. Across Europe 77 percent of workers acknowledge that disruption and increased competition will require more people with digital skills in order to compete on a global scale; however, the level of encouragement employees believe they are currently receiving to drive change in the workplace varies greatly throughout the world. Only 64 percent of respondents in the US saying they feel empowered by their company culture to lead innovation, whereas 90 percent of employees in Mexico feel their workplaces encourages them to drive change. The BMC study of over 3,200 office workers in 12 countries worldwide found that 88 percent of office workers across the world strongly believe that employers must create an innovative culture to retain staff and enable them to be successful with increasingly digital roles and responsibilities.

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The impact of technology on corporate real estate: A Panglossian future?

The impact of technology on corporate real estate: A Panglossian future? 0

by • Features, Property, Technology, Workplace design

arton233Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the concept of Loss Aversion in 1984, highlighting people’s tendency to strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. Most studies suggest that losses are twice as powerful, psychologically, as gains. Lose £100 and we will feel a remorse that easily outweighs winning £100. In a similar fashion we find it very hard to see future positives when confronted with short term loses. We understand easily what we have lost but cannot imagine what there is to be gained. Furthermore, as Frederic Bastiat wrote in an 1850 paper, “That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen”, man has a tendency to “pursue a small present good, which will be followed by a great evil to come, rather than a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil”. Put these together and it is no wonder that, by and large, the future of work, corporate real estate and the workplace is so widely misunderstood.

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Wellbeing, culture and engagement are three main drivers for positive workforce

Wellbeing, culture and engagement are three main drivers for positive workforce 0

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

 

The three main drivers of positive employee experiences are wellbeing, culture and engagement claims the latest State of the Industry Survey by Virgin Pulse. The report goes on to suggest that organisations that invest in these three key areas will see a measurable impact on business performance and outcomes. For example, the results revealed that 78 percent of organisations view employee wellbeing as a critical component of their business strategy; and 74 percent of employers with strategic, holistic wellbeing programs saw improvements in employee satisfaction and 65 percent saw improvements in organisational culture. In fact, 95 percent of organisations view culture as important for driving business outcomes; while 80 percent of organisations plan to improve corporate culture in the coming year. Engagement investments also have a strong impact on business results.

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Over half of workforce feel physically sick due to workplace pressures

Over half of workforce feel physically sick due to workplace pressures 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Over half of workforce feel physically sick due to workplace pressures

More than half of the workforce (53 percent) report that they have felt physically unwell due to a poor work-life balance, and a similar number (52 percent) go so far as to say that work makes them more unwell than anything in their personal lives, claims new research from Bupa UK. In addition to physical sickness, work stress is keeping half (51 percent) of employees awake at night. Two fifths (42 percent) even state it is ‘ruining their life’.The research revealed that people find workplace demands such as presenting at an important meeting (71 percent) or managing a project (65 percent) just as stressful as buying a first house (69 percent) or getting married (66 percent). The research indicated that there is a pressing business need for organisations to better understand and address the wellbeing needs of their employees, as it is impacting profitability.

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Employers should offer flexible working to solve recruitment crisis in EMEA

Employers should offer flexible working to solve recruitment crisis in EMEA 0

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Employers must offer flexible working to solve recruitment crisis in EMEAEmployers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are facing an increasingly competitive recruitment landscape in 2017, but what might help candidates choose one organisation over another will be more opportunities for flexible working, claims a new global study by the Futurestep division of Korn Ferry. Specifying which qualities they thought would entice candidates to choose one organisation over another in five-years-time, respondents reflected that flexible working (27 percent) would likely lead the charge. In Part One of Talent Forecast Futurestep’s global survey of more than 1,100 hiring professionals almost half (48 percent) of EMEA respondents report that it has become harder to source qualified candidates over the past 12 months. Additional findings compiled for the report suggest that ongoing disruption and changing candidate demands will combine to create an increasingly volatile market for talent in 2017.

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Interaction completes transformation of Grade II listed Victorian castle into new office

Interaction completes transformation of Grade II listed Victorian castle into new office 0

by • Case studies, Company news, Workplace design

Design and build firm Interaction, has completed the design and fit out of a Grade II listed Victorian ‘castle’ in Cirencester as the new head office of financial comparison website money.co.uk. In 2015 the firm was ranked the second fastest growing business in the UK by The Sunday Times and needed its workplace to reflect this growth, convey its culture and attract new talent. The core concept was a juxtaposition of the traditional architecture of The Castle with a contemporary interior. The design features include a bespoke Star Wars themed cinema complete with popcorn machine, two gyms, hand painted suits of armour as well as ‘Rolling Stones’ and ‘Steam Punk’ themed bathrooms. The new office incorporates a number of settings for informal meetings, private work, training, relaxing or socialising. This includes an ‘ice cave’ which can be used for an informal meeting, or to eat and socialise. There is also a ‘ski lodge’, which can be accessed through a secret door. (more…)

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