Search Results for: economy

November 22, 2018

Workers waste too much time in poorly designed offices

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace, Workplace design

One in five UK workers has around two unproductive hours every week caused by poor or inadequate office and work environments, claims new research published today. Disruptive colleagues, no natural light, a lack of coffee and tea facilities and noisy offices are just a few factors cited in the report from Mace and its facilities management arm Mace Macro. Across the whole of the UK the average number of hours lost to unproductive workplaces is 2.4 hours a week, and using Office of National Statistics value of time data, this translates to a cost of £4bn in lost output every year to the UK economy. (more…)

November 21, 2018

UK on target to reach one million women working in STEM fields by 2020

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

According to new research by WISE, the campaign for gender balance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the UK is on track to have one million women working in core STEM roles by 2020. The research shows that there are over 900,000 women working in STEM currently and an estimated 200,000 women with STEM qualifications will reach working age within the next 2 years. The news was announced at WISE 2018 Awards presented by the Patron of WISE, HRH, The Princess Royal.

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November 21, 2018

Career opportunities with SMEs are growing, but graduates not convinced

by Sara Bean • Cities, News, Workplace

Small and mid-sized businesses have hired three times more people than larger businesses over the past five years and could overtake large companies by 2030, according to new analysis of the latest ONS data commissioned by Santander Business Banking. However, separate research commissioned by the bank has found that significant numbers of young people are failing to recognise the significant job opportunities that SMEs offer. Just a third (35 percent) of Generation Z and Millennials leaving full time education say they wish to work for an SME, while an even smaller proportion, just one in six (18 percent), want to work for a start-up or micro business. (more…)

November 19, 2018

Business leaders call for legislation ensuring compulsory mental first aid at work

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Business leaders have called today for the Government to update health and safety legislation to protect mental health in the workplace. In an Open Letter to the Prime Minister signed by more than 50 leaders of some of Britain’s biggest employers including PwC, Royal Mail, WHSmith, Mace, Ford and Thames Water calls on the Government to prioritise its manifesto pledge to amend health and safety legislation to put mental and physical first aid on an equal footing. With mental health issues estimated to cost the UK economy almost £35 billion every year as 15.4 million working days are lost to work-related stress, depression or anxiety the letter, signed by the Chairman of Mental Health First Aid England and the CEO of Bauer Media Group, along with leaders of some of the UK’s biggest employers, are asking that workplaces are required to make provision for mental as well as physical first aid.

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November 16, 2018

More needs to be done to bridge the digital gender divide, says OECD

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Barriers to access, education and skills, as well as ingrained socio-cultural biases, are driving a digital gender divide that is holding back women’s participation in the digital economy, according to a new OECD report. Bridging the Digital Gender Divide: Include, Upskill, Innovate says women are not currently empowered to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital transformation. While G20 economies have taken important actions to narrow gender gaps in general, more needs to be done to increase the participation of women and girls in the digital economy so that they too can contribute to and benefit from the digital transformation that is under way.

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November 14, 2018

Proportion of flexible space within corporate portfolios to increase dramatically

by Sara Bean • Coworking, Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Property

Despite the proliferation of coworking and serviced office operators the majority of global corporates still occupy office space on a traditional lease model, with two thirds of companies in a survey by Knight Frank reporting that co-working, serviced and flexible office space comprise 5 percent or less of their current office space. Knight Frank’s Your Space report, which surveys senior executives at 120 global companies which collectively employ in excess of 3.5 million people worldwide and occupy an estimated 233 million sq ft of office space, found that just a small minority, less than 7 percent, said that flexible workspace exceeds a fifth of their total workspace. (more…)

November 12, 2018

Two thirds of HR professionals say working environment contributes to sickness levels

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

New research carried out by HR consultant AdviserPlus claims that two thirds of HR professionals say that a poor workplace environment can ‘substantially’ contribute to sickness levels. The survey, which asked 300 HR professionals their opinions on the state of absenteeism in the UK, found that factors such as lifestyle and environment played a big part in the levels of absence in their workplace. Absenteeism is said to cost the UK economy £18 billion a year, and an average sick day costs a company around £100 a day.

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November 9, 2018

Poor support offered to professional women returning from maternity leave

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

A new survey of professional, mainly management-level women has revealed a lack of support for maternity returners by employers. According to the survey by working parents website MMB, more than four fifths of pregnant women begin their maternity leave unhappy and lacking in confidence about work – and over a third feel so isolated when they return that they want to hand their notice in. The survey of more than 1,000 mothers, 72 percent of whom were in jobs at management level or above found that only 18 percent of maternity returners felt happy and confident about work – having seen the way previous maternity returners had been dealt with by their employer. Over a third (37 percent) felt so unsupported and isolated on their return that they wanted to leave and just 17 percent felt they received good communication and support through the maternity process.

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November 8, 2018

Modest goals are more appealing to people than maintaining the status quo

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Thanks to a quirk in the way our brain evaluates goals, people feel it’s easier to achieve a small incremental goal than to maintain the status quo, when both goals are assessed in isolation. This is especially true if the context is seen as unfavourable. This finding, which contrasts with the popular belief that no change is easier than any change, is the main conclusion of research led by marketing professors from INSEAD, IE Business School and Pamplin College of Business.

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November 7, 2018

Flexible office market to grow by a third each year for next five years

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

The gig economy has helped lead to the doubling in size of the flexible office space sector since 2014 and it’s set to grow by up to 30 percent per year over the next five years claims new research published by JLL. Disruption or Distraction, a report delving into the growth of flexible office space across Europe explores the main drivers of the sector’s boom – including evolutionary changes in how, when and where people work, shifts in lifestyle, and rapid advancements in technology – and provides unique insights into the risks and rewards for both companies and real estate investors in Europe. (more…)

November 6, 2018

Working parents lead the charge of British workers into the side hustle

by Neil Franklin • News

A new study published by GoDaddy and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), claims that ‘side hustling’, in which people have small business ventures running alongside their main job, has risen by around a third over the last decade. The study claims that the UK’s side hustlers make a substantial contribution to the economy, with every 1000 side hustles creating 876 extra jobs. The report, Side hustle: a way of life, not work also claims that 44 percent of side hustlers are parents with at least one child under 19 living at home.

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November 5, 2018

Employees call for radical new approach to address stress at work

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Today marks the start of International Stress Awareness Week, 5th – 9th November 2018, and new research claims that two-thirds of employees (64 percent) have ‘poor’ or ‘below average’ mental wellbeing according to the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). The research, conducted by The Stress Management Society and commissioned by workplace consultants, Peldon Rose found that over a third (36 percent) of people say their workplace stress has been on-going for the past five years.

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