Search Results for: economic

Cities need to open themselves up to Nature, report claims

Cities need to open themselves up to Nature, report claims

by • Cities, Environment, News

natural world in citiesCities contribute 80 percent to global GDP – but they also account for 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Integrating nature-positive solutions can help protect cities from growing risks associated with extreme weather while driving sustainable economic growth, according to a new study from the World Economic Forum. In collaboration with the Alexander von Humboldt Institute and Government of Colombia, WEF’s BiodiverCities by 2030 Initiative published a report addressing the urgency of cities’ untenable relationship with nature. The Initiative’s goal is to reverse this existential global threat and move forward with a plan that will result in cities and nature co-existing in harmony by the end of the decade. (more…)

Risk of job losses has been falling for years, but at a price

Risk of job losses has been falling for years, but at a price

by • News, Workplace

job lossesDecades of declining change in the UK labour market has reduced the risk of damaging job losses, but also limited opportunities for pay-enhancing job moves, according to new research published by the Resolution Foundation for The Economy 2030 Inquiry. (more…)

Pandemic highlights the need for smarter, more adaptable offices and cities

Pandemic highlights the need for smarter, more adaptable offices and cities

by • Features, Technology

pandemic and smart citiesThe coronavirus pandemic is a new experience for every one of us. It has changed life as we know it – at work, at home and for public interactions. As some countries start to ease restrictions on public life, how can we go back to ‘normal’ while still maintaining social distancing and feeling safe? How do we manage crowded public spaces like shopping malls, cinemas and restaurants? How do we optimize safety in our offices and factories? More importantly, how do we avoid shutting down entire cities and countries when the next pandemic hits? (more…)

Drawing on internal skills can help firms cope with Great Resignation

Drawing on internal skills can help firms cope with Great Resignation

by • Comment, Workplace

internal skillsThe UK’s workforce is undergoing rapid transformation as employees’ expectations and motivations radically change. The impact of Brexit, COVID-19 and long periods of furlough have created a tidal wave of resignations across every industry. Workers are re-thinking career paths, work conditions and long-term goals after a turbulent 18 months; with one study finding that 38 percent of people are looking to change roles in the new year.  (more…)

Councils can meet net zero targets with help of building renovation

Councils can meet net zero targets with help of building renovation

by • Environment, News, Property

Public Sector Estate and net zeroThe UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), together with the World Green Building Council, several European Green Building Councils, Climate Alliance and the Buildings Performance Institute Europe, has published a framework to support cities and local authorities to measure the impacts and wider benefits of building retrofit as a way of meeting their net zero targets. (more…)

Artificial Intelligence to guide organisations through new challenges

Artificial Intelligence to guide organisations through new challenges

by • News, Technology

artificial intelligenceThe World Economic Forum published the “Human-Centred AI for Human Resources: A Toolkit for Human Resources Professionals” to scale the responsible use of artificial intelligence in Human Resources (HR). The toolkit includes a guide covering key topics and steps in the responsible use of AI-based HR tools, and two checklists – one focused on strategic planning and the other on the adoption of a specific tool. (more…)

There are thirty-eight ways to win an argument, but this ain’t one

There are thirty-eight ways to win an argument, but this ain’t one

by • Comment, Flexible working

A painting of Socrates to depict the ways we have discussions about the workplace There are 38 ways to win an argument. That is according to the 19th Century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer who laid them out in an essay called The Art of Being Right. We’ve probably added a few more since it was published in 1896, but whatever we’ve come up with since probably works on the same basis. Despite the essay’s title, the stratagems are not actually about being right at all, but about winning an argument. (more…)

Longer lives significantly contributing to European economies, new reports claims

Longer lives significantly contributing to European economies, new reports claims

by • News, Wellbeing

A series of reports published by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) highlights the economic opportunities of longer lives across Europe. According to the reports, older people’s contributions across the European region are significant, and growing. The reports call for countries to better support older people’s economic contributions, particularly through greater investment in preventative health measures that support healthy ageing – the authors call for governments to invest at least 6 percent of their health budgets on these interventions, such as vaccines, screenings, early detection and management of disease. (more…)

Pandemic-driven shifts have made the workforce smaller, younger and more female

Pandemic-driven shifts have made the workforce smaller, younger and more female

by • Flexible working, News, Working lives

pandemicThe pandemic has not led to mass unemployment as many feared, but has instead driven wider shifts that have increased employment among younger women, but pushed many men and older workers out of the labour market altogether, according to new research. (more…)

Flexible working currently contributes £37bn to the UK economy

Flexible working currently contributes £37bn to the UK economy

by • Flexible working, News, Working lives

economyNew research, ‘Flexonomics: The economic and fiscal logic of flexible working’, highlights the economic benefits of flexible working to the UK economy. Flexonomics builds on our long-standing support of the Flex Appeal campaign by Anna Whitehouse, aka Mother Pukka, and follows the publication of our “Forever Flex: Making flexible working work beyond a crisis” report, published last year. (more…)

Mindspace raises 72 million dollars from institutional investors

Mindspace raises 72 million dollars from institutional investors

by • Company news

Mindspace, the global flex office provider, secured a funding of $72 million. The investment round is intended to support the continuation of the company’s growth and its further expansion in Europe, the United States and Israel. The round was led by Harel Insurance Investments and Financial Services Ltd., More Provident Funds, Shalom Meckenzie, Arkin Holdings and existing investors. Existing investors include: Yoav Harlap, Kobi Rogovin and Globalworth (GWI:LSE). (more…)

Wondering what to do about that office of yours? Hold the line.

Wondering what to do about that office of yours? Hold the line.

by • Features, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

Bruntwood Bloc Manchester office

At the end of April, New York magazine’s cover feature was headed ‘Remember the Office?’ The article reminisced about a world of cubicles and water-coolers, coffee points and staff parties. Its tone was elegiac, implying that it wasn’t just the enforced distance of 13 months of COVID-19 restrictions that lent enchantment to communal workspace, but the possibility that offices had gone for good.?  (more…)

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