Search Results for: employee experience

Under a quarter of US staff enjoy optimal working environment, claims report

by • Architecture, Facilities management, Flexible working, Knowledge, Workplace design

American flag cakeArchitecture firm Gensler has released the results of its 2013 US Workplace Survey. The report claims that under a quarter (24 percent) of US workers work  in an optimised working environment with the remainder suffering from unnecessary lost productivity and a lack of innovation and engagement. The survey of more than 2,000 knowledge workers from across the US examined specific design factors across four work modes defined by Gensler: focus, collaboration, learning and socialising. The report concludes that the modern workplace has a  number of new and increasingly important drivers including new technology, globalisation, generation Y and so on which define where, when and how workers perform their jobs and concludes that the ability to balance focus and collaboration with strategic workplace design is essential.

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Employers struggling to recruit the right talent finds survey

by • Knowledge, News, Workplace

Employers struggling to recruit the right talent

Employers are having to work harder than ever to find the right talent to fill vacancies, with the proportion of employers reporting an increase in competition for well-qualified talent increasing threefold from 20 per cent in 2009 to 62 per cent in 2013. The annual CIPD/Hays Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey 2013, which examines resourcing and talent planning strategies across private, public and voluntary sector organisations, reveals that six in ten organisations had experienced difficulties filling vacancies in the past year, and although more than half of organisations report that they make use of social media in resourcing, just two fifths have a dedicated strategy. (more…)

Sickness absence rates stall, despite employer and government efforts

by • Knowledge, Legal news, News, Workplace

 Progress in reducing sickness absence has stalled in the UK, despite a growing number of companies initiating return to work interviews, line manager training, setting stretching absence targets and providing employees with occupational health and wellness initiatives. The 2013 EEF/Westfield Health Sickness Absence survey, found that longer-term sickness absence is increasing (40 per cent) rather than decreasing (24 per cent) and that employers have lost faith the government’s flagship ‘fit note’ programme is getting people back to work.  The three most popular health and well-being employee benefits are health screening/health checks (56 per cent), access to counselling or employee assistance programmes (EAPs) (54 per cent) and subsidised private medical insurance (40 per cent). (more…)

Why facilities managers deserve a seat at the design table

by • Comment, Facilities management, Furniture, Workplace design

Co-op

For a long time there has been a distant relationship between facilities management (FM) and design, with FM treated as a post occupancy issue rather than a valuable consideration during the design process. The truth is that effective collaboration between facilities managers and designers can yield innovation and even better product design, be that in relation to a new head office building, or the systems and furniture that are housed within it. The compartmentalised view that design occurs and then facilities managers come along to operate and maintain is inaccurate and outdated.

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New report offers latest evidence of link between office design and productivity

by • Briefing, Knowledge, Workplace, Workplace design

ProductivitySo, does workplace design have any impact on productivity and business performance? Well duh. So why are we still trying to convince managers when there is so much evidence and experience to prove it. The latest study to demonstrate the link builds on decades of research and adds further compelling evidence in a debate that should have been over a long time ago. In this report, workplace strategist Nigel Oseland and the  Atomic Weapons Establishment’s estate masterplanner Adrian Burton describe their research quantifying the effect on worker performance of improvements to the office environment. The question these reports always beg is why the argument still has to be made.

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Flexible working going into reverse in parts of UK public sector

by • Knowledge, Public Sector, Technology, Workplace

Broken elastic bandA briefing from the Society of IT Management claims that while nearly all UK public sector organisations have adopted some form of flexible working, the practice remains far from universal and is going into reverse in some departments. The report found that  around  97 percent  of UK public sector organisations have now  adopted the practice in the form of home working, desk sharing and mobile working in four of the public sector functions surveyed. While while there have been large increases in adoption the adoption of flexible working in the revenues and benefits functions and some in education, four other services show a significant decline with others appearing to be static.

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How ingrained assumptions about the workplace are eroding

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

Ad agency RKCR © Jefferson Smith

Ad agency RKCR © Jefferson Smith

The first day at a new job used to mean getting the answer to that all important question: “so which is my office?”  In today’s mostly open plan environments, the same psychological attachment has been transferred to the desk – ‘my’ desk. However the current trend for flexible approaches to where people work means that even the concept of having one’s own desk is now under attack. So how much does having your own desk matter to the UK office workforce these days? We have been asking employees how they feel about having their own desk. The results seem to be that more than half, on average 56% (of a total of 2,653 employees surveyed at 5 recent client projects), think that it is ‘very important’ and a further 25% think it is ‘quite important’.

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Resistance to workplace change marks the passing of the old order

by • Comment, Facilities management, Technology

ChangeWhen Vodafone announced in March that the UK’s businesses could save up to £34 billion with the more widespread application of flexible working models, the research to support the claim had two very familiar components. The first was a crystal clear business case, the second an admission that the message was still not quite getting through to those at the top. In fact, Vodafone claimed, around two-thirds of business leaders continue to insist their business can’t afford to reduce the number of workstations they use despite all evidence to the contrary. A third haven’t even considered the idea of reducing the number of workstations they use as a way of cutting costs.

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Older workers remain untapped resource for employers

by • Knowledge, Legal news, News, Workplace

DRA

Employers who ignore Britain’s growing population of older workers could suffer skills shortages and lose an important competitive edge, warns a new government guide. “Employing older workers”, published by the Department for Work and Pensions, warns that Britain is running out of workers. There are 13.5 million job vacancies which need to be filled over the next ten years, but only seven million young people are projected to leave school and college over that time. Yet despite a predicted surge in numbers of employees over 50, employers remain reluctant to recruit older people.

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Bosses bonus boom widens long-term pay gap

by • Knowledge, News, Workplace

 Bosses bonuses widen pay gap

Among the renewed debate on whether the Thatcher years sowed the seeds of social and economic inequality, comes new salary data by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and XpertHR, which reveals company directors (including chief executives) enjoyed pay increases almost twice the size of the average UK executive over the last 12 months. The research also found that the number of employers struggling with staff recruitment continues to increase year-on-year. Almost two thirds (64.7 per cent) of employers experienced problems with staff recruitment over the last 12 months – up from 58.7 per cent in the 2012 report and 48.9 per cent in 2011. (more…)

Third of global employers have formal wellness plans

by • Knowledge, News, Workplace

Bosses favouritesLess than half of organizations worldwide actively apply the basic elements of a health management programme, with just a third having a formal strategic plan for health and wellness. This is according to Mercer’s Talent Barometer research which explores key accelerators of talent effectiveness – education, health and wellness, and career experience – and their impact on successful workforce practices. While employers are investing in talent, with 60 per cent of organizations increasing spending in this area in recent years, only 24 per cent say their current plans are highly effective in meeting immediate and long-term human capital needs.

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Flexible working: Falling out of fashion

by • Comment, Legal news, Workplace

 Image credit: <a href='https://www.123rf.com/photo_8784138_young-attractive-female-fashion-designer-working-at-office-desk-drawing-while-talking-on-mobile.html'>nyul / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Just as ACAS concludes its consultation on flexible working, the practice has been declared démodé by none other than Alexandra Shulman, the editor of British Vogue. Writing in response to the recent news that Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer ordered the company’s 11,500 staff back to the office, the Vogue editor has argued that working from home is not an adequate alternative to showing your face in the workplace. Ms Mayer goes on to note that in a creative environment, important opportunities are missed when absent colleagues are tottering, undressed around their kitchens. The best stories, she says, arise from chance remarks, gossip and jokes between colleagues working alongside each other. (more…)

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