Search Results for: economic

Working from home just as unproductive and frustrating as working in an office

Working from home just as unproductive and frustrating as working in an office 0

by • Flexible working, Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

working from homeIt’s always good to see academic research supporting ideas that would appear pretty obvious but go against a widely accepted narrative. So we should all welcome the results of a new study from researchers at the London School of Economics and Political Science, which found that the perceived benefits of working from home disappear over time for both employees and organisations when homeworking is a full-time arrangement. The report concludes that while previous studies have demonstrated how home workers are more productive than office-based workers, the LSE study of more than 500 employees shows that on a long term basis, there are no differences between home and office workers. The reason, according to Dr Esther Canonico from LSE’s Department of Management, the lead author of the report, is that employees no longer see home working as a discretionary benefit or a privilege when it becomes the norm in an organisation.

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Futurist says UK gender pay gap will close much earlier than predicted

Futurist says UK gender pay gap will close much earlier than predicted 0

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Gender pay gapFollowing the latest report that shows that the gender pay gap is still wide open comes claims that in the UK, the gap will close within the next 30 years. That’s the view anyway of futurist, trend forecaster and journalist, James Wallman. While the World Economic Forum believes that the world-wide gender pay gap won’t close by 2133, Wallman paints a more positive picture, forecasting the UK pay gap will actually close much sooner — by 2045. His reasoning is that it’s far harder to hide wage disparity in an age of data digitisation, meaning companies are compelled to be transparent. There is manifest political will behind pay parity, with new legislation meaning that by 2018 all companies with more than 250 employees will have to publish their gender pay gap data. And he argues there are numerous economic imperatives to get women working; if the same proportion of women worked in Britain as in Sweden, it would add £170bn to the UK economy and boost GDP by 9 percent.

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Do people really matter when we design workplaces?

Do people really matter when we design workplaces? 0

by • Comment, Events, Facilities management, Workplace design

HumanSome may think this is a daft question. They’ll argue that of course people matter when we design workplaces. Granted, there are those for whom the human experience of the built environment is really important.  They demonstrate this it in their attitudes and actions. However, based on some of the attitudes and actions I have observed over the years, I would suggest that the belief that people really matter when some designers design workplaces for them is quite frankly all too often skin deep. How do we know this? And if we accept that it is true, it then begs the secondary question of why this should be the case. Is it entirely our fault? What might we do to address the issues? In part, we know that people haven’t really mattered enough in design because of mistakes of the past. Meanwhile, society is facing many pressing challenges, ranging from health to housing, work to economy and climate change to resource depletion.

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The solution to closing the digital skills gap starts at home

The solution to closing the digital skills gap starts at home 0

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace

Digital skillsMuch has already been written about the UK’s digital skills gap, and undoubtedly as the Government continues to develop and roll out its Digital Strategy for the nation, many more headlines will be devoted to it. For a country so focused on technological development it’s a problem which is both acute and imperative. Recent Government figures put 12.6 million Britons at risk of being left behind in terms of the skills needed for a modern economy. Parliamentary plans to address this issue focus firmly on education: including digital development as a key part of apprenticeships, encouraging vocational digital skills courses at universities, and broadening access to other educational courses to help people to learn to code. However, responsibility to upskill the nation’s workforce also resides with employers. Whether the current role demands IT skills or not, technology increasingly impacts and transforms every element of our lives.

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Time to address ‘shocking disconnect’ between boardroom and staff pay

Time to address ‘shocking disconnect’ between boardroom and staff pay 0

by • Comment, News, Workplace

Executive payAs the new prime minister Theresa May has already indicated in her tenure, the growing gap between rewards for those at the top of organisations and everyone else is hard to justify at a time when economic uncertainty is intense and corporate performance mixed. So it’s shocking to learn that the average FTSE 100 CEO earns 129 times more than the firm’s employees, receiving around £5.5 million a year, up from £4.96 million in 2014. According to the annual survey of FTSE100 CEO remuneration packages by the High Pay Centre, rewards at the top continue to grow at a double digit rate, with the most highly paid being part of an all-boys club. No woman has made it into the top ten in either of the last two years. And in contrast to the generous packages awarded to their executives, only a quarter of the 100 FTSE 100 companies are accredited by the Living Wage Foundation for paying the living wage to all their UK-based staff.

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Universal basic income is an idea whose time has come at last

Universal basic income is an idea whose time has come at last 0

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing

Universal basic incomeIt is no longer a question of whether one of the world’s major economies will introduce a universal basic income for all of its citizens, but when. Over the weekend, the leader of the UK’s Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn announced in an interview in the Huffington Post that he was ‘instinctively looking’ at an idea that is already being discussed and piloted in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway and Canada. Corbyn may be one of the current glut of what would have once been political outliers in the Western World, but the idea of a universal basic income is one that is increasingly accepted in mainstream economic thinking. The RSA continues to campaign for it and has even put a number on it, suggesting that every UK citizen should be offered £308 between the ages of 25 and 65. Andrew Flowers offers up a masterful and detailed analysis of the economic and political issues involved in this piece on fivethirtyeight.com.

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Employers doing little to alleviate employees’ job fears over Brexit

Employers doing little to alleviate employees’ job fears over Brexit 0

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Brexit job fears

A majority of employers won’t delay hiring for roles (54 percent) due to Brexit, yet nearly half (48 percent) of jobseekers are concerned about finding a job post the Referendum, new research claims. The survey of both employers and candidates conducted by totaljobs following the EU Referendum, reveals that 44 percent of all candidates believe there will be more competition for jobs following the Brexit vote, while 28 percent say that Brexit has already had an impact on their job search. Nearly a fifth (19 percent) have become less selective about the jobs they apply for, compared with 16 percent who are now more selective. Of those currently employed, 34 percent are worried about their job security as a result of Brexit, whilst half (52 percent) are not concerned. Unfortunately, many employers have not yet taken steps to ease employees’ concerns, as almost three-quarters (72 percent) of employees say they have not been spoken to by their employer about the impact of Brexit.

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One in five UK workers believe their job is less secure due to Brexit vote

One in five UK workers believe their job is less secure due to Brexit vote 0

by • Legal news, News, Public Sector, Wellbeing, Workplace

Around one in five employees in the UK are feeling pessimistic about the security of their current job because of the Brexit vote to leave the EU, a new survey by the CIPD claims. Answering a range of questions, including how they felt about the future as a result of the UK’s vote to leave the EU, around 44 percent of the 1,000 working adults who took part felt pessimistic about the future, with this being particularly high amongst public sector workers (61 percent), voluntary sector workers (58 percent) and people aged 25-34 (63 percent). 22 percent said they felt their job was less secure now. The CIPD’s survey also highlighted incidents of harassment and bullying in the workplace relating to the Brexit decision, with more than one in ten employees saying that they have experienced, witnessed or heard of incidents of harassment or bullying of a political nature and just under one in ten (7 percent) referenced incidents of a racist nature (7 percent).

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Smart cities will play essential role in meeting future energy demand

Smart cities will play essential role in meeting future energy demand 0

by • Cities, Environment, News, Property, Technology

Smart citiesThe changing energy demands of British cities are revealed in a new report published by Smart Energy GB and the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The report’s central claim is that urbanisation, economic growth and new technology will drive cities to meet their energy demands with the greater use of sustainable and renewable sources. The authors claim that  this is the first time that predictions about increases in energy demand in the UK have been analysed and published on a city level. The Powering Future Cities report suggests that this growing demand will primarily be driven by urban population growth, economic growth and a predicted surge in use of new technology, including electric vehicles. The report coincides with an announcement that the World Green Building Council has created a new partnership with the World Resources Institute-led Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) to fast-track improvements to energy efficiency within buildings.

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Working in an office is NOT as bad as smoking, whatever you might read

Working in an office is NOT as bad as smoking, whatever you might read 0

by • Comment, Knowledge, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

sitting is the new smokingThere is a lurid headline in today’s Telegraph proclaiming that ‘Working in an office is as bad as smoking’. It’s been picked up by a number of other news outlets, has been splashed all over search engines and will no doubt join the stream of misleading narrative that distorts the subject and encourages designers to come up with nonsense like this. So, in an almost certainly vain attempt to close the sluice gates, we would encourage people to read the source material. In this case that is a piece of research in The Lancet medical journal published yesterday. What the report actually concludes is that ‘in addition to morbidity and premature mortality, physical inactivity is responsible for a substantial economic burden. This paper provides further justification to prioritise promotion of regular physical activity worldwide as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce non-communicable diseases’. In other words, it supports an existing, well understood conclusion.

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Brexit ‘passporting’ rights will affect City office property market

Brexit ‘passporting’ rights will affect City office property market 0

by • Facilities management, News, Property

City of LondonOccupier demand for commercial offices may cool as a result of the Brexit vote, with recruitment and expansion slowing, particularly in central London, according to the latest UK property snapshot from Colliers. However, despite the current economic and political climate, unique and premium properties in the City of London should remain insulated against downward rental pressures, as landlords remain bullish on rents and incentives for the best quality units; while given the low vacancy environment and anticipated constraints on new supply, new Grade A offices are still set to perform well. Average net effective rents in the West End are set to fall over the next 6-12 months, but with new supply already below trend and potential speculative schemes being delayed, downward pressure may be short-lived. For the future, retaining ‘passporting’ rights to the single market will be an important issue for the City during Brexit negotiations. To view the full report click  here.

China raises retirement age as workforce set to fall by a quarter by 2050

China raises retirement age as workforce set to fall by a quarter by 2050 0

by • Flexible working, News, Property, Workplace

A rapidly ageing workforce is not just a challenge for Western economies. The government of China, the world’s second largest economy, has announced that it expects its workforce to decline by nearly a quarter (23 percent) between now and 2050 as the population ages and more and more jobs are automated. The Government is now considering raising the retirement age from 59 to 65 ahead of an anticipated sharp decline in the numbers of people of working age after 2030, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.  A spokesman for the ministry forecast a fall of 211 million people of working age to 700 million by 2050. China’s demographic challenge is mirrored in many countries but has its own characteristics thanks to its strict and controversial decades-long ‘one child’ policy‘ which it lifted last year. The country now has 220 million people over the age of 60, accounting for over 16 percent of its total population at the same time that its previously stellar economic growth has shown signs of slowing.

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