November 29, 2019

People need to feel comfortable about being themselves at work

Over a quarter of people (28 percent) in the workplace suffer bullying and/or discrimination on issues such as gender, age or sexual orientation, according to a new study. The Workplace Wellbeing Census, conducted by leading healthcare provider Bupa, found that such actions are the most harmful factors influencing workplace wellbeing at work. Women in the workplace face significant challenges with over a third (34 percent) experiencing bullying or discrimination, compared to 22 per cent of men. Women are also more than four times as likely to suffer negatively from workplace gender discrimination than men (13 percent vs 3 percent). (more…)

November 27, 2019

UK falling behind in global skills race

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

New research published today by City & Guilds Group claims that the UK risks being left behind as employers across the world race to upskill their workers. As digitalisation and fluctuating economies transform the skills needed in the workplace today, employees are less confident than their bosses that they’ll have skills they need for the future. The study, conducted by City & Guilds Group business Kineo, surveyed 6500 employees and 1300 employers across 13 international markets. It found that employers in developing countries with rapidly emerging economies are among the most likely to ramp up investment in upskilling their workforce in the near future, compared to developed economies such as the UK.

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November 26, 2019

UK could receive £83 billion GDP boost by halving regional productivity gap

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

UK GDP could be boosted by 4 percent – or £83 billion – if local areas with below-average productivity levels could make up half of the gap, according to PwC’s latest UK Economic Outlook. The report examines UK regional productivity, revealing wide variations in domestic productivity per job, as well as from an international perspective. PwC concludes that UK output per worker is around 10-15 percent behind Germany, France and Sweden and more than 30 percent behind the US. (more…)

November 22, 2019

Office design can be a vehicle for equality and change

by Jeni Durksen • Comment, Workplace design

The way companies design physical environments is a direct reflection of their values and beliefs. Inequality is hardwired into the “standard” office layout, with perimeter offices and fixed desks offering limited settings for unstructured collaboration and recreation, further perpetuating the issue. Modern office design often favours extroversion and emphasises a hierarchy with values that benefit only a small portion of the overall workforce, contributing to organisation-wide imbalance. So how do we create more inclusive workplaces that can be leveraged as vehicles for change? (more…)

November 19, 2019

Young people mistakenly associate self-employment with more pay and leisure time

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Students and school-leavers see self-employment as a route to a higher income, better work-life balance and more family time and so one in five 16 to 21 year olds think they will self-employed at some point, a new analysis from the Office for National Statistics shows. However, other studies from the UK government paint a different picture with people in self-employment generally earning less and working longer hours than their employed contemporaries, but often happy to forgo the certainties of paid work for greater flexibility and control. (more…)

November 18, 2019

Gulf between the values of businesses and those of employees

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

A new study from The Institute of Leadership & Management claims there is a significant gulf between the organisational values held by UK businesses and the personal values of their workers, and highlights the different values considered important to men and women, younger and older workers and between sectors. (more…)

November 13, 2019

Drawing back the curtain on the new workplace

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

It’s a shame that Rhymer Rigby’s piece in The Times on creativity at work is behind a paywall because it says something perfectly obvious and demonstrable about workplace creativity that more people should read. The gist is that a cult has grown up around creativity that should be subject to more scrutiny and we should stop thinking about all work as the potential outlet for the creative instincts of people who may not have any, may not work in a job that involves them or who may not want to express them during their shifts in the Amazon warehouse. (more…)

November 12, 2019

Oxford and Reading are best cities in which to live and work in the UK

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Wellbeing

Oxford has been recognised as the top performing city in the UK to live and work for the fourth year in a row in a nationwide study carried out by PwC. The city has emerged ahead of Reading thanks to work-life balance, income, transport and skills with Bradford being crowned as the most improved city. Published today (12 November 2019), the annual Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities 2019 sets out to show there’s more to economic well-being than just measuring GDP. The index measures the performance of 42 of the UK’s largest cities, England’s Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and ten Combined Authorities, against a basket of ten factors which the public think are most important when it comes to economic well being. These include jobs, health, income and skills, as well as work-life balance, house-affordability, travel-to-work times, income equality, environment and business start-ups. (more…)

November 11, 2019

Brexit uncertainty yet to affect UK jobs market

by Neil Franklin • Business, News

More news on the patchy effects of Brexit on the UK economy comes in the latest Labour Market Outlook from the CIPD. The report claims that Brexit uncertainty has yet to take its toll on employers’ hiring expectations, with both public and private sector employers expecting staff numbers to increase in the final quarter of 2019. There has been a surge of confidence among public sector employers on increasing both pay and staff numbers in the next quarter. Although still positive, private sector pay award expectations have decreased, narrowing the gap between the public and private sector. The forward-looking indicator surveyed 1,016 UK employers in September 2019 on their recruitment, redundancy and pay intentions. (more…)

November 8, 2019

Infosys opens new digital innovation centre in Duesseldorf

by Freddie Steele • Cities, Company news, Technology

Infosys has announced the opening of its new Digital Innovation Centre in D?sseldorf, Germany.The Centre has been created to help Infosys work more closely with its clients in the region in supporting their digital transformation journey, while focusing on next-generation business suites such as SAP HANA, as well as cloud based services, Internet of Things, 5G, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. (more…)

November 7, 2019

More active lifestyles would have far reaching economic impact

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

The results of a new academic study on the relationship between global economic growth and physical activity, carried out by Vitality and RAND Europe, reveal significant benefits to the economy and life expectancy if people adopted a more active lifestyle. The study suggests that the world’s GDP would gain more than $100bn (£80bn) each year until 2050 if people adopted a more active daily routine that could involve simple choices such as walking 15 minutes more a day, jogging slowly for half a mile a day, or walking 1,500 extra steps a day. (more…)

November 6, 2019

Cyber security remains a key tech priority for businesses

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

Organisations are prioritising investment in cyber security to strengthen their defences against their perceptions of a growing threat, according to a new survey of its customers to gauge their technological priorities by Softcat. According to a BBC report, 55 percent of UK firms have experienced a cyber-attack in 2019, up 15 percent compared to last year, signifying a growing threat so their fears may be well-founded. Softcat’s survey claims that 83 percent of industries ranking cyber security as their biggest technology priority for the year ahead. (more…)