Search Results for: business

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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October 4, 2016

Motherhood or livelihood? Pregnancy discrimination in the workplace ⁰

by Tar Tumber • Comment, Legal news, Wellbeing, Workplace

Recent research by the Commons Women and Equalities Committee suggests that around 54,000 expectant and new mothers have no choice but to leave work due to pregnancy discrimination or concerns over the safety of their children; and shockingly, this figure has doubled in the last decade alone. Other research carried out by the Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills shows that despite 77 percent of working mothers reporting potentially discriminatory or negative experiences, only 28 percent raised the issue with their employer, and less than 1 percent pursued a claim through the tribunal system. As a mother of two young children, this is a topic very close to my heart. I have worked in HR for over 18 years now, and advised on all manner of employee relations issues and know from personal experience that being pregnant and suffering discrimination or redundancy is not at all unusual.

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October 4, 2016

Disconnect between employers and staff on attitudes to mental health ¹

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

There is a massive difference between employers’ perception of the way in which they address mental health in the workplace and those of their staff, according to a new report being published today. While the majority (97 percent) of senior managers believe that they are accessible if employees want to talk about mental health problems, almost half (49 percent) of employees would not talk to their manager about an issue. The findings from the Mental Health at Work report, by the charity Business in the Community are that more than three quarters (77 percent) of employees have experienced symptoms of poor mental health in their lives, and for 62 percent of employees work has been a contributing factor to their symptoms. Despite this, over half of employees (56 percent) who disclosed symptoms of said that their employer took no mitigating actions and only 22 percent of managers have had relevant mental health training at work.

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October 2, 2016

Apple HQ + Limits of workplace design + Workplace effectiveness ⁰

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

In this week’s Newsletter; Tim Oldman argues that businesses are failing to understand the basis of workplace effectiveness; Mark Eltringham looks at ways of using workplace design to influence the feelings and behaviour of others; and takes part in a podcast with Hari Kalymnios, author, trainer and Leadership Speaker at The Thought Gym. HSBC moves 300 staff into a coworking space in Hong Kong; Apple reveals it is to occupy the redeveloped Battersea Power Station and post-Brexit employment levels maintained by the growing gig economy. The global introduction of sustainable building regulations remains slow; the UK’s commercial property market remains robust in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union; and evidence that offering flexible working to Mums could boast the economy by billions. Download our new Briefing, produced in partnership with Boss Design on the link between culture and workplace strategy and design; visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

September 28, 2016

Apple agrees to lease half million sq. ft. office at Battersea Power Station ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Property, Technology

Apple has confirmed the rumours that began in the Spring of this year by announcing that it is to relocate its UK headquarters from its current base in the West End along with several other sites to the redeveloped Battersea Power Station. The site’s developers say that Apple will become the largest office tenant at the £9 billion Battersea Power Station mixed use development occupying approximately 500,000 sq. ft. across 6 floors of the central Boiler House inside the iconic building. Apple is expected to move into the Power Station in 2021 at which time the office will account for circa 40 percent of the total office space in the whole development. 1400 Apple employees from existing offices around London will relocate to one of London’s best known landmarks. Apple has added, that this is a great opportunity to have its entire team working and collaborating in one location while supporting the renovation of a neighbourhood rich with history.

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September 28, 2016

Offering flexible working to mums could boost economy by £62.5 billion ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

More than two thirds of stay-at-home mothers with young children would go back to work if flexible working was an option, a new study from Digital Mums and the Centre for Economics and Business Research claims. The survey of 1,600 mothers also suggests that more than a third of those already in work would put in more hours if they had better childcare arrangements based around flexible working. The WorkThatWorks report claims that women (and presumably some fathers) would contribute billions to the economy if more organisations were to offer parents more flexible work conditions. The report claims that currently, some 2.6 million mothers are out of the labour market although two thirds (68 percent) feel unable to return to work because of the lack of flexible working options. In addition, 60 percent of mothers already in work do not have access to flexible work despite the introduction of legislation in 2014 that offers them the right to request it.

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September 28, 2016

Nearly third of workforce believe daily commute is a waste of time ⁰

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

The anytime, anywhere connectivity potential of mobile technology has supposedly made the daily commute more bearable, but a new survey claims it is still regarded as wasted time for nearly a third of professionals. Regus surveyed its customer base (which presumably includes those already partial to using flexible workspaces) to establish whether commuting time was viewed as personal time, work time or simply wasted time. For 31 percent of UK respondents, the daily struggle to and from the office is regarded only as time wasted. According to the TUC, UK commuting times rose by three minutes a day between 2004 and 2014, from an average of 52 minutes to 55 minutes. For many professionals, this time could be usefully spent responding to emails or drafting copy. At the very least, commuters want the time to themselves to read, make personal calls or listen to music. However, the nature of today’s commute means that neither work nor personal tasks can be completed.

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September 27, 2016

Nearly all UK cities lagging behind European average for productivity ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Property, Public Sector, Technology

The UK’s major cities are lagging behind their European competitors in terms of skills, innovation and productivity, claims a new report from the Centre for Cities think tank. In Competing with the Continent, the authors argue that the onus is on the UK to come up to speed with the 330 cities covered in the report, especially if they want to compete in the new post Brexit European landscape. However, the report notes that the UK has a number of existing, structural advantages over other countries. UK cities generate around a fifth of Europe’s total economic output and contribute more to the national economy than cities in other countries. Major British cities contribute 60 percent of national GDP, compared to just 36 percent in Germany and 32 percent in Italy. The report shows that UK cities lag behind on a range of indicators including skills, innovation and productivity and a number have an industrial mix that has more in common with cities in Eastern Europe than those in the West.

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September 27, 2016

CEOs remain confident post Brexit but may consider relocating offices out of UK ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Despite largely voting to remain in the EU, the Brexit vote hasn’t dampened the short or long term confidence of UK CEOs. It has however raised a question mark over the UK’s ability to do business and, as a result, many are putting together contingencies including the possible relocating offices or operations, according to KPMG’s first ‘100 UK CEOs’ survey. The survey of CEOs from companies with revenues ranged between £100 million and £1bn found that, both in the short term (the next year) and the medium term (the next three years), the majority are confident about the future growth of the country, the global economy and their own businesses. However, over half believe the UK’s ability to do effective business will be hindered after leaving the EU. The majority of CEOs felt that a division in society between ‘big business’ and the general public contributed to the EU referendum result, including over a third who believed this ‘to a great extent’.

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September 27, 2016

Boost predicted for commercial property transactions across the UK ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Property

The next five years will see demand for commercial property in the South East of England expand at a faster rate than in London according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Annual Occupiers Survey 2016. The survey, conducted in association with EY and Savills found that a fifth (20 per cent) of UK property decision-makers expect to increase rather than decrease the amount of space they own or rent in the South East. In total, a net balance (percentage expecting to expand minus percentage expecting to downsize) of 13 per cent more respondents in the South East expect to increase, rather than decrease their portfolio, nearly double the figure for London at seven per cent. The net balance figures showed the lowest indication of growth was in the South West, at four per cent. The survey also revealed that 41 per cent of UK firms expect to expand the amount of UK property they own or rent over the next five years while only 8 per cent expect to downsize.

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September 26, 2016

Employers must adopt a trust based approach to flexible working ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employers are being urged to create a more inclusive and flexible working environment for their employees by adopting a trust based approach which focuses on the meeting of objectives rather than hours. This is the advice of Harvard University’s Global Leadership award winner Charlotte Sweeney on the launch of National Work/Life Week. In 2015, 23 percent of employees were reported to be doing some of their work remotely, up from 19 percent in 2003 according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. But more than just adopting agile working, the diversity expert says businesses should begin to focus on individual well-being and supporting employees to enrich all aspects of their lives, their families and their communities. Corporates should implement a trust-based approach, which focuses on employees meeting their objectives, rather than focusing on where they are actually doing the work or even how many hours it takes to complete.

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September 23, 2016

Tech laggards risk losing employees, claims Future Workforce Study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

Dell has unveiled the European and South African findings from the Dell and Intel Future Workforce Study, which identifies the global technology trends shaping the modern workplace. The results show that almost half of employees in these regions believe their current employer is not effectively making use of the latest technology advances. The 2016 Future Workforce Study, conducted by research firm PSB, polled nearly 4,000 full-time employees from small, medium and large businesses in 10 countries. Of those polled in the UK, Germany, France and South Africa, many do not believe that they will be working in a smart office within the next five years and perceived their current workplace technology as lagging behind personal devices on innovation. With the research showing that the influx of new technology is having a significant impact on what workers expect from their employer, workplaces which don’t enact these new advances may be left behind.