August 2, 2018
Extending reporting requirements may help close gender pay gap say MPs
Employers should be required to publish a narrative and action plan under Gender Pay Gap reporting requirements, the inquiry on executive pay and the gender-pay gap by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee has recommended today. It has found that the requirements to publish data which came into force in April this year represents a ‘small but welcome step towards ensuring that women can make their fullest possible contribution in the workplace and to the economy’, but it calls for the Government to be more ambitious. Detailed statistics should be provided to aid analysis and organisations should explain what they are doing to tackle their gender pay gaps. Under the new rules employers would have to provide some narrative reporting alongside their gender pay statistics, with an action plan setting out how pay gaps are being and will be addressed, including objectives and targets. Subsequent reports would include progress against this action plan, including targets set. More →
Employers need to recognise the workplace as integral to delivering a business’ commercial strategy, and treat employees as ‘workplace consumers’ – creating ‘frictionless’ experiences and environments that help them perform to their best ability. This is according to a report: ‘Optimising performance: defining, designing, maintaining and evolving workplace experiences’ from Interserve, undertaken in partnership with Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA). The two-year study into the science behind effective working environments argues there is a need to radically re-envisage workplaces to optimise team productivity and maximise the value of physical working environments. It sets out a series of critical steps for knowledge-based businesses to revolutionise the workplace – and thereby aid employee performance. The report argues that traditional silos, from IT and HR to facilities, need to be broken down to integrate the management of the workplace as part of a ‘one-team’ approach; doing so will ensure companies can deliver a streamlined workplace experience which supports employee productivity.
Built environment organisations are calling for urgent action on issues such as consumption, innovation and infrastructure to prevent the UK slipping behind other nations on poverty, equality and the environment as a new report released today (3 July 2018) highlights the UK’s inadequate performance against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those for the built environment. The report, Measuring up, from the UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development (UKSSD), is the first comprehensive assessment of the UK’s performance against all 17 SDGs and highlights a significant danger that quality of life in the UK will worsen if action is not taken. Just some of the findings of the report include; that the UK is performing well (green) on only 24 percent of its targets; no industry, innovation and infrastructure targets have achieved a ‘good’ performance rating, with gaps in policy coverage and inadequate or deteriorating performance and large scale, sustained investment in replacing ageing infrastructure and creating additional resilient and low carbon infrastructure of all kinds is required.
The digital era, ageing populations, skills shortages, and unpredictable political and economic contexts are persuading multinationals to focus more on mobile talent, new ways of working and assessing the cost of expatriate packages for international employees that are critical to the future of work. This is according to Mercer’s 24th annual Cost of Living Survey which reveals that factors such as instability of housing markets and fluctuating inflation, currencies and prices for goods and services, are impacting the cost of doing business in various cities around the world. UK cities have significantly risen in the ranking this year. 
There is a critical need for to simplify the regulatory framework designed to improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings finds a recent report from the Environmental Industries Commission (EIC) Carbon Management & Sustainable Buildings Working Group. It also suggests that Brexit could act as a spur to rethink the right combination of policies to reform enforcement systems. The report, Improving non-domestic energy efficiency after Brexit, one of a series EIC is publishing setting out its members’ views on the impact of Brexit on environmental policy and how policy should evolve after the UK leaves the EU, covers the breadth of energy efficiency policy for non-domestic buildings. As part of its research, EIC surveyed England’s local authorities, who have responsibility for trading standards, finding that out of those that responded (122 out of 149), no local authorities have been issuing fines for failing to display Energy Performance Certificates or Display Energy Certificates.
June 17, 2018
Fathers Day offers a chance to ponder the disadvantages faced by many working dads
by Julia Waltham • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing
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