July 29, 2020
An updated report from Aon claims that 26 percent of European HR directors believe that half of their workforces will comprise of so-called gig workers in five years time, while 18 percent of UK respondents say that 75 percent or more of their workforce will be made up of contractors over the same period. More →
July 22, 2020
So, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told the British people to get back to work by Christmas. This means that millions would be renewing their season tickets, getting up in darkness to dress up for work, crowding onto those trains, buses and tubes while swaddled in facemasks and battling their way into the office (which for the time being will be a pretty dull experience with social distancing). More →
July 17, 2020
In the week the ONS announced that the number of self-employed people in the UK had dropped by 178,000 over the last quarter, a new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Study suggests that the growing number of people who turn to self-employment do so despite a drop in their incomes. On average, they earn nearly £500 (30 percent) less a month than they did before falling out of traditional employment. More →
July 16, 2020
New research from the CIPD claims that employers now expect the proportion of people working from home on a regular basis will increase to 37 percent compared to 18 percent before the pandemic. Employers also expect the proportion of staff who work from home all the time to rise to 22 percent post pandemic compared to 9 percent before lockdown measures started to be imposed. More →
July 16, 2020
The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented job losses and economic uncertainty. As governments and businesses look to stimulate growth, a new study from the World Economic Forum claims that ‘nature-positive’ solutions can create 395 million jobs by 2030. The Future of Nature and Business Report says this is a $10.1 trillion business opportunity. More →
July 13, 2020
There are so many unknowns about the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic will shape our world in the coming months and years but what it has highlighted are the strengths and weaknesses in the global and UK economy and their implications for the commercial property sector. In its latest white paper, property consultancy and chartered surveyors Bruceshaw examines the macro and micro economic challenges that will shape the property sector for many years to come. More →
July 13, 2020
New research by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) think tank, funded by Standard Life Foundation, suggests that low paid workers are bearing the brunt of the Covid-19 crisis. The analysis provides what it says is the first detailed assessment of official Labour Force Survey data for the post-crisis period. More →
July 9, 2020
In March, coronavirus presented a stark challenge to businesses attempting to cope with workplace absence. FirstCare statistics show that during Q1 2020, more than 98 percent of Covid-19-related absences were due to unconfirmed cases, self-quarantining as a precaution, or caring for dependents. This has resulted in huge financial pressure on businesses. Now though, as restrictions are gradually eased, human resources must respond to the mental health challenges the pandemic has manifested in workers, including grief, trauma, PTSD and more general anxiety. More →
July 7, 2020
London has once again been declared the smartest city in the world, according to the seventh edition of the IESE Cities in Motion Index 2020. New York takes the second spot, followed by Paris. The top 10 list is rounded out by Tokyo, Reykjavik, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam, Singapore and Hong Kong. More →
July 5, 2020
However much we know about the forces we expect to come into play in our time and however much we understand the various social, commercial, legislative, cultural and economic parameters we expect to direct them, most predictions of the future tend to come out as refractions or extrapolations of the present. This is a fact tacitly acknowledged by George Orwell’s title for Nineteen Eighty-Four, written in 1948, and is always the pinch of salt we can apply to science fiction and most of the predictions we come across. More →
July 3, 2020
New research from Property Consultants Bidwells claims that up to 20 million sq ft of new lab and office space will be required in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc within the next two decades to keep pace with demand, twice the volume of the previous 20 years. The new report, ‘Oxford-Cambridge Arc Beyond the Covid-19 Crisis’, also estimates that the Arc will represent almost 11 percent of UK GVA by 2050, up from 6 percent today, equivalent to £100bn a year. More →
July 31, 2020
Return to work offers us a unique opportunity to change everything
by Simone Fenton-Jarvis • Comment, Facilities management