Search Results for: employee

January 29, 2016

Delivering the low-down on the sit-stand workstation phenomenon ⁰

by Ashley Hayward • Comment, Furniture, Wellbeing, Workplace design

While the UK, US, Australia and other nations continue to treat them as something of a novelty, across Sweden, Norway and Finland, over 80 per cent of office workers use sit-stand desks. Offering employees a height adjustable work station is now mandatory in Denmark. However, sit-stand working is still in its infancy in the UK, with only 2 per cent of similar workers having access to variable-height workstations. Given the huge amount of news coverage devoted to the subject of sedentary lifestyles in the last couple of years, ‘sit-stand’ and ‘active working’ have become buzz terms in UK workplace design. The ‘On Your Feet Britain’* campaign has raised awareness of the health perils risked by the many Brits who spend an average of 8.5 hours a day sitting, whether at their desk or slumped in front of the telly. Inevitably, savvy employers will be asking themselves if they can afford to ignore the problem.

January 27, 2016

Employers embrace workplace engagement, but find it hard to measure ⁰

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

Businesses may appreciate the benefits of workplace engagement, but quantifying these remains a challenge. According to new research of European employers by Oracle, 93 percent acknowledge employee engagement is strategically important to their company and a majority say it positively impacts collaboration (65 percent), helps boost business performance (61 percent), and contributes to improved customer service (60 percent). Yet nearly two thirds (31 percent) say it’s difficult to measure the return of investment on their wider business, and 30 percent say boardroom decision-makers cannot easily understand its impact. And despite the availability of advanced analytics to measure engagement, the report also claims that current processes are not being optimised to drive engagement, as 68 per cent of businesses still rely on standard staff surveys to gauge engagement levels, with only 37 percent using more sophisticated methods.

January 27, 2016

Gap in the provision of wellbeing initiatives undermines UK workplaces ⁰

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

Although there is much consensus among employers of the importance of actively supporting health and wellbeing in the workplace, there remains an ‘implementation gap’ that is threatening individuals’ health and long-term business sustainability. This is according to a new report from the CIPD, ‘Growing the health and well-being agenda: From first steps to full potential’, which found that fewer than one in ten (8 percent) of UK organisations currently have a standalone wellbeing strategy that supports the wider organisational strategy; that the majority of employers are more reactive than proactive in their approach to wellbeing (61 percent) and nearly two-fifths of employees [38 percent] are under excessive pressure at work at least once a week. With the average cost of absence now standing at £554 per employee per year – the CIPD is recommending employers take a more proactive approach to implementing a wellbeing programme.

January 26, 2016

The road to Bali and other destinations for the world’s remote workers ⁰

by Georgi Georgiev • Comment, Flexible working, Property, Technology

The number of people who work from home or travel as freelancers has grown rapidly in the last 25 years. In 1990, as a percentage of the US population only 5 percent fit this classification, today it is closer to 30 percent. From photojournalists to graphic designers, to computer programmers – an increasing number of people are leaving the traditional office behind. The underlying reason is not difficult to establish. People are taking advantage of the opportunities offered them by technology. It’s no coincidence that the number of people working remotely has risen in parallel with the growth of home computing and internet connections, and more recently mobile technology. While the majority of those that traditionally followed this path became self employed, today companies are beginning to hire people to key positions without actually needing them to work from the office. Remote work is no longer just a freelancer’s game.

January 25, 2016

Active building design may have positive health benefits, claims study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

A study published this month in the journal Occupational Medicine suggests that buildings designed to promote active workstyles have a positive effect on the health of occupants. The research, led by Dr Lina Engelen of the University of Sydney, set out to explore whether an ‘active design’ office increased the physical activity, productivity and mindset of occupants. Although a small scale study with just 34 employees working in four locations at the University, the results suggested that people responded to the active design of the spaces by spending less time sitting and more standing and consequently reported lower levels of back pain. However, there was no improvement in productivity or physical activity. The research was based on 60 percent of people working in open plan areas, compared to just 16 percent before. Other studies have shown that sedentary work is linked to a wide range of ailments including heart disease.

January 22, 2016

New smart working code of practice launched by BSI and Cabinet Office ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Flexible working, Legal news, News, Public Sector

We’ll return to this in detail next week, but yesterday the business standards company BSI working with the Cabinet Office launched a new code of practice on Smart Working. The Smart Working Code of Practice, BSI Publicly Available Specification (PAS3000) has been designed to support organisations in implementing smart working principles. The Cabinet Office sponsors it on behalf of the Smart Working Charter Steering Group of industry, academia, institutions and other public sector bodies. According to the Cabinet Office, the code brings together best practice from across the world and across disciplines and will enable organisations to move from principles to standards and benchmark themselves against high performers in smart working. At the launch, the organisers also announced the second annual The Way We Work (TW3) Awards, a Civil Service programme recognising government teams that have created smarter ways of working.

January 22, 2016

Digital media is having ‘largely positive’ effects on professional lives ⁰

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

The digitization of content and data, along with new digital communication technologies, has fundamentally changed the way work gets done, and affected the nature of the employment relationship. While it has a largely positive impact on peoples’ lives, including individuals’ ability to find work, learn and develop skills, and balance work and life, it can, in some cases, lower worker productivity and increase inequality. These are among the key findings from Shaping the Future Implications of Digital Media for Society – a report by the World Economic Forum conducted in collaboration with Willis Towers Watson and presented at the WEF 2016 annual meeting in Davos. In the study, which included a survey of more than 5,000 digital users from five of the world’s most important markets; Brazil, China, Germany, South Africa and the US, over half (56 percent) reported digital media has transformed the way they work, and two-thirds said digital media has improved their ability to do work.

January 20, 2016

Third of firms introduce flexible working to cut absenteeism, claims study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Over a third of UK employers have introduced flexible working to reduce absenteeism, claims research from insurance industry trade association Group Risk Development (GRiD). Its survey of 501 employers also found that a quarter (25 percent) have seen absence rates improve over the last 12 months, compared to 40 percent last year. One in ten have actually seen rates worsen over the same period and 54 percent of employers say their absence rates have remained the same, which the report’s authors claim suggests a general slow-down or even complacency when it comes to managing absence. The report found that 57 percent of businesses said absence cost them up to 4 percent of payroll, but employers are using a range of initiatives to address this. This includes introducing flexible working (36 percent – up by 4 percent from last year), return to-work interviews (28 percent) and disciplinary procedures (17 percent).

January 20, 2016

British companies lead the Bloomberg Best Employers UK 2016 Survey ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Public Sector, Wellbeing, Workplace

The UK’s top three employers are Jaguar Land Rover, AstraZeneca and Harrods according to an independent survey conducted by Statista for Bloomberg’s content and research arm. The results were from an extensive online employee survey among 15,000 workers in more than 1600 UK-based firms with at least 500 workers. They revealed that 70 percent of the best employers within the top 50 are British firms, including the top three. Microsoft, Nike and Google led the US companies within the top 50 which make up 12 percent. Microsoft is the only technology firm in the top 15 of the full ranking, with Google in second place, ranked 16th. The survey found that employees working in the Professional Services industry were the most likely to recommend their employer, while employees in Government Services were the least likely. The complete list of 400 firms across 25 industry sectors and the methodology can be found at the Bloomberg Best Employers UK 2016 site.

January 19, 2016

Fourth industrial revolution will result in five million job losses by 2020 ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

Disruptive global employment trends, including flexible working, the rise of robots, other forms of automation and Big Data analytics will see over five million jobs disappear worldwide over the next four years, a new report claims. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report has calculated that current disruptive labour market trends, including improvements in artificial intelligence, cloud technology, the Internet of Things and flexible working arrangements, could lead to a net employment loss of more than 5.1m jobs in the 15 countries surveyed. The report estimated that new trends would result in a total loss of 7.1m jobs – two thirds of which are concentrated in the office and administrative functions – and a total gain of 2m jobs. The WEF surveyed those who it felt were best placed to observe the dynamics of workforces including heads of HR departments and CEOs in 15 developed and emerging economies.

January 19, 2016

Skilled migrants attracted to regional and city work hubs, not countries ⁰

by Sara Bean • Cities, News, Property, Workplace

Highly-skilled migrants are increasingly attracted to cities and regions rather than countries, the latest Global Talent Competitiveness Index has revealed. Silicon Valley, Dublin, Helsinki-Espoo, Dubai [pictured] and London are the real hubs, rather than the United States, Ireland, Finland, the United Arab Emirates or the United Kingdom. The index, produced by Adecco Group, INSEAD and the Human Capital Leadership Institute, ranks the factors driving the international movement of skilled migrants of 109 countries, covering 87 percent of the global population and 97 percent of global GDP. Switzerland is in top place, followed by Singapore and Luxembourg in second and third place. At seventh place, the UK is ahead of Germany and France, but behind top performers such as the United States and Canada. It also trails behind in terms of gender diversity; ranking 56th for female graduates and 71st for the gender earnings gap.

January 19, 2016

More than half of US firms allow smoking in the workplace, study finds ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Legal news, News, Wellbeing

Now here’s a thing. It appears that more than half of American workplaces continue to allow smoking in the workplace. That is the possibly surprising finding of a new study from the US based Society for Human Resource Management, in spite of the facts that there are laws prohibiting the practice in many US states, the majority of employers have formal smoking policies and that a 2012 report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention declared a majority of US workplaces to be smoke-free. The report is based on a survey of HR managers working for 376 organisations across the country and found that just over one-half (53 percent) of respondents indicated their firms allowed smoking in the workplace. The study also found that more than four-fifths (85 percent) had a formal, written smoking policy in place while 8 percent had an informal, unwritten smoking policy. Of those with a formal policy, 58 percent have designated smoking spaces.