Search Results for: economy

May 16, 2017

Pay levels are falling but job market remains robust, despite Brexit relocation plans ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Public Sector, Workplace

The UK economy is about to be hit by a fall in basic pay awards and real wages warns the CIPD, which has found that employers’ median basic pay expectations in the 12 months to March 2018 have fallen to 1 percent compared to 1.5 percent three months ago, which is lower than at any time during the past three and a half years. The findings from the latest CIPD/The Adecco Group Labour Market Outlook survey are consistent with recent Labour Market Outlook reports, which have indicated a slowing in the rate of basic pay growth, and with official labour market data. The report also found that 12 percent of private sector firms say the UK’s decision to leave the European Union has led them to consider relocating some or all of their business operations abroad. Popular relocation destinations include the Republic of Ireland (18 percent), Germany (17 percent) and France (13 percent).

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May 11, 2017

CIPD calls for range of measures for British workforce ahead of General Election ⁰

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

The next Government needs to put ‘good work’ at the heart of its thinking in order to improve the economy, boost individual welfare and prosperity – creating the conditions for good work in organisations across the country, says the CIPD ahead of the General Election. In its ‘Manifesto for Work’ the CIPD is calling for publication of pay ratios, additional rights for zero-hours workers and increased investment in adult skills. The manifesto’s package of aim to address the systemic problems in the UK economy by focusing on the positive influence the world of work can have on productivity and wellbeing. As well as an overhaul of the UK Corporate Governance Code, the CIPD is also calling on the next Government to protect and raise awareness of employment rights, make skills the centerpiece of their industrial strategy and take steps to improve gender diversity in the boardroom. It also calls for organisations to focus more on greater organisational transparency so that businesses are more accountable for incorporating the principles of good work across their organisations.

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May 10, 2017

The new normal arrives for the commercial property sector ⁰

by Gary Chandler • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Workplace design

Traditionally, the two principle vectors for change in the commercial property market have been lease lengths and space standards. Both have shrunk markedly over recent years, subject to the miniaturising effects of technological and cultural change. Even so, the effects of this contraction have taken place within an existing paradigm so have been easily understood, if not always acted upon.So it has been that major property organisations such as the British Council for Offices and CoreNet have been able to produce guides and reports based on well understood principles and without challenging the business models and assumptions of developers, landlords, workplace designers and occupiers. For most the challenges remained the same, not least how to resolve the sometimes conflicting timescales of people, place, property and technology that is the defining tension at the heart of office design and management.

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May 8, 2017

Scotland needs to develop new skills as era of automation threatens half of jobs ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Workplace

Urgent reform is needed to deal with the rise of automation, which threatens half of Scottish jobs, a leading think-tank has warned. The stark warning comes in a new report from IPPR Scotland, supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. Scotland’s Skills 2030 outlines the need to reskill Scotland’s workforce for the world of work in 2030. The study claims that 46 percent of jobs in Scotland – or 1.2 million – are at high risk of automation up to 2030 and beyond. It suggests that Scotland’s skills system needs to “retrofit” the workforce with the skills to be ready for technological change – 2.5 million adults in Scotland today (or 78 percent) will still be of working in 2030, report adds.

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May 5, 2017

Improving adult skills can help countries benefit from globalisation, claims OECD ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

In an increasingly competitive international environment, providing workers with the right mix of skills can help ensure that globalisation translates into new jobs and productivity gains rather than negative economic and social outcomes, according to a new OECD report. The OECD Skills Outlook 2017 reveals big differences in the extent to which countries are equipping workers with the right knowledge and ability to benefit from the globalisation of production chains. The report finds a country with a skills mix that is well aligned with the requirements of technologically advanced industries can specialise in these industries on average 8 percent more than other countries, and up to 60 percent more than countries with a low alignment between the mix and these industries requirements. A supplementary note covers the UK’s situation.

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May 3, 2017

Gender differences in global corporate culture begin earlier than supposed ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

While the last 50 years have seen a notable convergence between men and women in labour force participation, hours worked, wages, and educational level, despite all this progress women are still less often found in high-paying occupations. Now a new study by Finnish economist Antti Kauhanen of the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy suggests that a substantial gender wage gap in corporate cultures emerges in early careers. In the latest IZA World of Labor report, Kauhanen cites a number of recent studies which conclude that women are much more likely than men to begin their careers at the bottom levels in the hierarchy; and this difference in initial job assignments is partly due to a divergence in educational background. Although the gender differences in years of education are small, differences in the field of education chosen remain large and are affecting career outcomes. Furthermore, in addition to educational choices and career interruptions, the hours worked, discrimination, and preferences and psychological attributes also contribute to the gender wage gap.

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May 2, 2017

Immigration and skills will be key to success of next UK Government ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

The next Government must ensure the construction sector has enough skilled workers post-Brexit or its housing and infrastructure manifesto pledges will be redundant, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). The FMB has called on all major political parties to recognise the importance of migrant labour to the construction sector as part of its ‘Programme for Government’, that has been launched the day before Parliament is dissolved for the General Election. The organisation claims that the UK construction sector’s demand for skilled migrant workers from the EU and beyond cannot be overstated. It suggests that in London alone, there are more than 157,000 non-UK construction workers constituting almost half of the industry’s workforce in the capital. Pre-Brexit, 60 percent of small construction firms are already having trouble hiring key workers even before the Government unveils its intentions for the free movement of people.

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April 21, 2017

Governments need to address perfect storm of low wages, productivity and automation ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Governments need to act now to address issues such as productivity, automation and stagnating or falling wages, according to two new reports from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In both its Spring global policy agenda and world economic outlook, the IMF claims that workers are subject to a perfect storm of factors that will destabilise their jobs and lives unless governments implement robust policies to help them work more flexibly, acquire new skills and work alongside the new generation of automated technologies instead of in competition with them. Addressing the issues in a speech last week, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said that governments need to create a new economic and social architecture that allows everybody to take advantage of the opportunities offered by technology and the current growth in the world economy.

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April 19, 2017

UK lags behind international competitors in key employment skills, warns CIPD ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

As the country gears up for another general election, the CIPD warns today that the UK lags well behind its competitors in Europe and much of the OECD in literacy and numeracy, learning and development, and digital skills. According to the new analysis, this is largely due to the fact that UK employers train less and invest less in skills than most other EU countries. In its report – From ‘inadequate’ to ‘outstanding’: making the UK’s skills system world class’ – the CIPD warns that the UK is sleepwalking into a low-value, low-skills economy which leaves the nation ill-prepared for its post-Brexit future, particularly if the UK is to face restrictions on accessing talent from outside of the UK. The HR body is urging the Government to make funding available to tackle the problem in the workplace. The analysis, which forms part of the CIPD’s formal response to the Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper, highlights multiple failings in the UK.

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April 13, 2017

UK productivity crisis deepens…but technology probably isn’t the solution ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News

Following last week’s report from the ONS on the UK’s intransigent productivity challenge, and the Bank of England’s Chief Economist Andy Haldane’s intervention on the issue, a new report from accountants and business advisers BDO claims that the UK’s productivity crisis is deepening, rather than improving. The latest report claims that while firms are continuing to hire more staff, business output is struggling to pick up. The amount of output produced for each hour worked is therefore likely to slow further, undermining the UK’s already low productivity levels. This is despite the steady increase in employment levels which have been relatively unaffected by the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

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April 13, 2017

Rents start to surge in Australia’s thriving high rise commercial property market ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Australia can justifiably claim to lead the world in thinking about office design and management right now, but it may be coming at a cost as rents surge for high rise office space in its major cities. The cost of renting office space in the skyscrapers of Sydney and Melbourne (pictured) is rising faster than in any other major global city, as a lack of space pushes up rates. The costs of space have yet to hit the heights of tall buildings in cities like Hong Kong, but Knight Frank’s Skyscraper Index claims that the cost of renting space in the upper floors of skyscrapers in Melbourne had risen by 11 per cent to £40.98 per square foot per year in the six months to the end of last year, while those in Sydney had risen 10.1 per cent to £78.39 per sq ft.