Search Results for: change

May 4, 2017

Brexit bonfire unnecessary as employers back the UK’s existing employment rights ⁰

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

UK employers do not believe a bonfire of employment law is necessary under Brexit, as negotiations over the country’s departure from the EU begin. According to new research by the CIPD and the employment law firm Lewis Silkin, employers back the UK’s existing employment rights framework with all twenty eight areas of employment law rated as necessary by a majority of employers. In the survey of more than 500 employers, organisations were asked whether they viewed more than twenty different aspects of employment law as necessary or not. The list included unfair dismissal laws, rated as necessary by 93 percent of businesses, as well as national minimum wage (87 percent), parental rights at work (82 percent), agency workers laws (75 percent) and the Working Time Regulations (74 percent). The research, which looked at a wide variety of employment laws and practices, also found more than half (52 percent) of employers go beyond the legal minimum requirements when implementing employment law.

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May 3, 2017

Employee freedom and self-regulation is the key to successful home working ⁰

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

The lazy assumption that employees who work from home are invariably shirking work is gradually dissipating, as flexible working becomes part of accepted working practice. Now new research suggests that to really get the best from their home workers, employers need to treat them as responsible adults who can actually be trusted. A new study, conducted by Nick van der Meulen of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) has revealed that job performance in working from home is driven by employee self-regulation and decision-making freedom rather than previous beliefs that it was achieved through managerial or peer control. In fact, any suggestion of shirking is erased by the evidence of a positive relationship between the extent of telework and number of hours worked. On average, full-time teleworkers perform just as well as those who do no telework at all — even under conditions of infrequent communication with the manager, low peer performance monitoring, and no outcome reward systems.

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May 1, 2017

Government should end bogus gig economy jobs, claims parliamentary report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Companies operating in the gig economy and relying on supposedly self-employed workers are denying workers their rights and freeloading on the welfare state, according to a new report from The Commons Work and Pensions Committee. The report cites what it calls “appalling practices” in its inquiry into self-employment and the gig economy. The committee said the numbers of self employed had grown to 5m, or 15 per cent of all UK workers in recent years, fuelled in large parts by the firms like Uber and Deliveroo, whose business models rely on a largely self-employed workforce. In its report the Work and Pensions Committee says Government must close the loopholes that are currently allowing “bogus” self-employment practices, which are potentially creating an extra burden on the welfare state while simultaneously reducing the tax contributions that sustain it.

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April 28, 2017

BIFM issues new guidance for FMs on managing the transition to agile working ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News

New guidance to help facilities managers manage the transition to agile working within their organisation has just been published by the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM). The Agile Working Change Management Guidance Note is aimed at FMs working at a senior and/or operational level and covers the benefits of agile working and how to successfully plan and implement an integrated approach to deliver sustainable change in working behaviour. Agile working describes a range of work settings that allow people and organisations to make new choices about when, where and how they work. It is underpinned by mobile technology and applies to people working both in and away from the traditional office, such as at home, on the road or remotely in other locations. BIFM’s research and information manager Peter Brogan said: “As an Institute, we recognise the importance of the workplace agenda for FMs and this newly commissioned Guidance Note aims to address the current lack of knowledge around some of the emerging workplace practices.”

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April 26, 2017

Best workplaces in London honoured by British Council for Offices ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace design

The British Council for Offices has announced the six winners of regional property awards for London and the South East of England. The winning entries, announced at a lunch at the Park Lane Hilton were Sky Central (main image), 8 Finsbury Circus, The Estée Lauder Companies, 20 Eastbourne Terrace, 67-71 Beak Street and Sea Containers House by BDG architecture + design. The prestigious BCO awards programme claims to recognise ‘the highest quality developments and sets the standard for excellence in the regional and national office sector.’ The winner of the Best Commercial Workplace was 8 Finsbury Circus while Sky Central took home the prize in the Best Corporate Workplace Category.

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April 26, 2017

BCO launch new research project into health and wellbeing in offices ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

A major research study into Health and Wellbeing in offices has been launched by the British Council for Offices (BCO). “Wellness Matters: Health and Wellbeing in offices and what to do about it” is a year-long project which aims to provide definitive guidance on how to enable office Health and Wellbeing across a building’s lifecycle. The major research study has been commissioned to critique existing Health and Wellbeing measurement and certification, identify the most recent and relevant medical evidence justifying a proactive approach to Health and Wellbeing in the built environment, and give guidance on the business case for investment in this space beyond simply improving productivity. Most significantly, this research aims to deliver a practical guide to creating a healthy environment across the different stages of a building’s life cycle, from design, construction and leasing to the most important aspect by time and value: occupation and asset management.

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April 25, 2017

Study confirms effect of workplace autonomy on wellbeing and job satisfaction ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Knowledge, News, Wellbeing

New research into workplace culture has found that employees with higher levels of autonomy in their work reported positive effects on their overall wellbeing and higher levels of job satisfaction. Researchers at the University of Birmingham Business School examined changes in reported well-being relative to levels of autonomy using two separate years of data for 20,000 employees from the Understanding Society survey. The research, published in the journal Work and Occupations, found that levels of autonomy differed considerably between occupations and by gender. Those working in management reported the highest levels of autonomy in their work, with 90 percent reporting ‘some’ or ‘a lot’ of autonomy in the workplace. The finding backs up research from Cass Business School, the German Institute for Economic Research, Abraham Maslow and elsewhere.

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April 25, 2017

Proactive approach needed to improve accessibility within the built environment ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Legal news, News, Property, Public Sector, Workplace design

Inaccessible workplaces are too common problem that disabled people face in accessing buildings and public spaces, and the Government must lead a charge in improving access and inclusion in the built environment, according to a report by an influential cross party committee published today. The Women and Equalities Committee’s Disability and the Built Environment inquiry has been examining the extent to which those with accessibility issues are considered and accommodated in our built environment, and whether more could be done to increase the accessibility and inclusivity of both new and existing properties and spaces. The report recommends public procurement, fiscal initiatives and transparently modelling best practice, while bringing the full range of work on improving access and inclusion in the built environment into a coherent and transparent strategy, with the Department for Communities and Local Government held responsible for making this happen. The report found that many workplaces are inaccessible, there is very little choice of where to live and the public spaces through which people need to move can be prohibitively excluding; all of which constitute an unacceptable diminution of quality of life and equality.

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April 24, 2017

Commercial property lenders should drive sustainability through financial innovation ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, News, Property

The commercial real estate finance sector is witnessing a dramatic shift in attitudes towards the issue of sustainability, according to a new report from the Better Buildings Partnership. It claims that major commercial property lenders are already exploring new opportunities that go well beyond traditional risk management through sustainability initiatives that ‘drive new business, strengthen customer relationships and improve the data they hold on the buildings in which they have underwritten’. The report, Beyond Risk Management: How sustainability is driving innovation in commercial real estate finance, is sponsored by CREFC Europe, GeoPhy, ING Bank and Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, and claims to reveal pioneering examples of how lenders are incorporating sustainability into their core business activities.

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April 21, 2017

Governments need to address perfect storm of low wages, productivity and automation ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Governments need to act now to address issues such as productivity, automation and stagnating or falling wages, according to two new reports from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In both its Spring global policy agenda and world economic outlook, the IMF claims that workers are subject to a perfect storm of factors that will destabilise their jobs and lives unless governments implement robust policies to help them work more flexibly, acquire new skills and work alongside the new generation of automated technologies instead of in competition with them. Addressing the issues in a speech last week, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said that governments need to create a new economic and social architecture that allows everybody to take advantage of the opportunities offered by technology and the current growth in the world economy.

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April 20, 2017

Walking or cycling to work associated with lower risk of cancer and heart disease ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing

A new study published in the British Medical Journal suggests that cycling to work could halve the risk of cancer and heart disease and that any active form of travel to work offers similar health benefits. Although the report does not claim to establish the direct causal links, the five year study of 250,000 commuters in the UK concludes that “cycle commuting was associated with a lower risk of CVD, cancer, and all cause mortality. Walking commuting was associated with a lower risk of CVD independent of major measured confounding factors. Initiatives to encourage and support active commuting could reduce risk of death and the burden of important chronic conditions.” The five-year study compared people who had an active commute with those who were mostly sedentary in cars and public transport. The report found that regular cycling to work cut the risk of death from any cause by 41 percent, the incidence of cancer by 45 percent and heart disease by 46 percent.

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April 20, 2017

Number of data scientist jobs soars as Big Data moves up the corporate agenda ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

Advances in tech have boosted Data Scientist roles by 57 percent globally in one year, according to a Big Data Analytics and Business Intelligence Observatory run by Politecnico di Milano School of Management. Advances in big data analytics are encouraging increasing numbers of industries – including banking, media and big pharma – to maximise this tool by employing more data scientists. The research, which surveyed 280 international data scientists, revealed the 57 percent annual increase in positions allocated, as well as role availability in nearly a third of companies. The research suggests that international businesses will increasingly be looking to integrate Data Scientist roles into their hiring strategies.