Search Results for: employees

Could a four-day week help improve UK productivity?

Could a four-day week help improve UK productivity?

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace

Over half (61 percent) of office workers believe they’d improve their performance levels if they worked a four-day week; and 40 percent believe they would be more productive working remotely. This is according to new research which claims that UK productivity has fallen dramatically, with one in three (31 percent) office workers admitting they are unproductive for a huge two hours every day. The report, commissioned by office products firm Fellowes, argues that despite being the fifth largest economy in the world, the UK sits 15th in the productivity table, lagging behind the likes of Sweden (31 hours p/w), Denmark (27.2 hours p/w) and Norway (27.3 p/w) – who all work, on average, less hours per week than Brits (32 hours p/w). As a third of workers are essentially working a six-hour day, many believe it’s time to look towards Scandinavian countries like Sweden – who recently trialled a 6-hour working day – where employees have more flexibility to choose when and where they work.  (more…)

Over a quarter of employers are struggling to keep their workforce engaged

Over a quarter of employers are struggling to keep their workforce engaged

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Nearly one in three (28 percent) of employers are struggling to keep their employees engaged, claims new research from totaljobs, with staff spending too much time internet browsing, being constantly late and chatting with colleagues. Over half of employers said lower productivity (59 percent) and internet browsing (55 percent) were clear signs of lower engagement they were seeing in the workplace. Worryingly, 62 percent said poor performance was a common problem as a result of a lack of engagement. Almost half (48 percent) of employers also report disengaged employees continue to arrive late and leave early, while 41 percent said chatting with colleagues suggested a lack of workplace engagement. The same number again said taking too many breaks during work hours might also indicate disengagement, as well as employees appearing distracted. But when it comes to tackling a lack of employee engagement, one in two employers (51 percent) said clear communication, via email, newsletters and team meetings for example, was an effective strategy to improve engagement. Nearly half (46 percent) of employers said setting out clear objectives for both individuals and teams was also effective.

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New analysis reveals shrinking pool of younger workers in the UK workforce

New analysis reveals shrinking pool of younger workers in the UK workforce

by • Legal news, News, Workplace

New analysis reveals shrinking pool of younger workers in the UK workforceAn increase in the number of UK-born employees leaving the UK’s workforce, either through retirement or emigration is coinciding with a shrinking pool of younger workers, which a fall in immigration can no longer fill, a new report warns. An analysis of the UK’s workforce showed that the UK’s workforce grew in 2016-2017 only because of an increase in EU and non-EU workers. Mercer’s Workforce Monitor showed that retirement, opting out (i.e. due to caring responsibilities) or emigration saw around 143,000 UK-born employees leave the UK workforce with the loss of workers only being offset by the entry of around 147,000 EU-born workers and around 232,000 Non-EU workers.  In sum, the UK’s workforce grew by an estimated 234,000 over 2016-2017. From Q1 2016 to Q1 2017, the number of workers over 50 in the UK economy grew by 230,000, the under 35’s grew by 50,000 while the number of workers aged 35-49 shrunk by 48,000. According to the analysis, if net migration into the UK levels off at 100,000 per year from 2020, the number of under 50s in the workforce will fall by 200,000 by 2025; the over 50s would increase by over 1 million while the number of under-25s in the population would fall by 100,000. This means apprentices and graduates numbers will be less.

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Millennials email habits are at unhealthy levels, resulting in round the clock stress

Millennials email habits are at unhealthy levels, resulting in round the clock stress

by • News, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

Round the clock emailing by Millennials

Email overload amongst under-35s has reached unhealthy levels, a new survey claims, with 42 percent saying they would feel stressed if they were not able to access their emails, compared with a fifth (22 percent) of employees aged between 45-54 years old. According to new research from Bupa it’s now the norm for younger workers to constantly dip into work via email in the early morning and late evening. Although many businesses have taken steps to help ensure their employees have a good work-life balance, it is clear that the idea that the best way to progress is to be available around the clock persists amongst millennials. A fifth (22 percent) of millennials believe that they would be viewed as uncommitted to their job if they did not respond to emails outside of work hours. A third (33 percent) believe that their career progression could be impacted if they only respond to work emails in work time, compared with less than 10 percent of employees over 55 years old.

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One in five UK office workers admit they struggle with tech more than colleagues

One in five UK office workers admit they struggle with tech more than colleagues

by • Facilities management, News, Technology

The digitisation of the workplace may be seen as a boon to productivity, but that also depends on how well it’s being adopted by the workforce. A new survey claims that one in five (23 percent) UK office workers struggle with technology; and helping to solve the problems of these less tech-savvy employees takes up an average of 17 minutes of their colleague’s working day. The survey from memory and storage firm Crucial, found that work with an average of four colleagues in their office that are less tech-savvy than them. These colleagues always seem to encounter IT problems at work, distracting 62 percent of the UK workforce and costing businesses lost time fixing issues. Just over one in five (23 percent) British office workers admitted that they felt they were one of the less tech-savvy colleagues. A third of these aren’t worried about being less tech-savvy because they have other skills, another third (34 percent) admitted trying to fix tech problems themselves but always end up calling someone else, whilst 26 percent know someone will fix it for them anyway.

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The most successful business leaders adopt a courageous approach to technology and the future of work

The most successful business leaders adopt a courageous approach to technology and the future of work

by • News, Technology

Software consultancy ThoughtWorks has published a new report which claims that the best business leaders share a particular approach to the running of their organisations that the report characterises as ‘courage’. The Next Big Disruption: Courageous Executives claims to revealing what sets top business leaders apart from their competition. The report profiles a segment of leaders referred to as “Courageous Executives” in the US, the UK, Australia and India and the findings ‘underscore the critical role technology plays in business strategy, from navigating the chaos of digital transformation to how they’re setting their business up for future success.’ The report also claims to shed light on the leadership styles of Courageous Executives including their tolerance for risk and failure, their use of customer insights and the ways leaders in all four countries are preparing for the future of work.

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Whatever you might be told, this is not the Office of the Future

Whatever you might be told, this is not the Office of the Future

by • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace design

office of the futureIt seems like we don’t have to wait more than a few days at a time before some or other organisation is making its own prognoses about how we will be working in the future, especially at this time of year. The thing these reports about the office of the future all share in common, other than a standardised variant of a title and a common lexicon of agility, empowerment, collaboration and connectivity, is a narrow focus based on several of their key narratives and assumptions. While these are rarely false per se, and often offer some insights of variable worth, they also usually exhibit a desire to look at only one part of the elephant. The more serious reports invariably make excellent points and identify key trends, it has to be said. However, across them there are routine flaws in their thinking that can lead them to make narrow and sometimes incorrect assumptions and so draw similarly flawed conclusions. Here are just a few.

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Being on a temporary or zero-hours contract is bad for your wellbeing, especially if you’re young

Being on a temporary or zero-hours contract is bad for your wellbeing, especially if you’re young

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Two major new studies claim to show the impact of temporary or insecure work on the wellbeing of people, especially younger workers. Research into the lives of 7,700 people from the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) suggests that young adults who are employed on zero-hours contracts are less likely to be in good health, and are at higher risk of poor mental health than workers with stable jobs. Meanwhile, an analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Business in the Community suggests that younger workers (born since 1982) in part-time and temporary work – or who are underemployed and/or overqualified – are more likely to experience poorer mental health and wellbeing, compared to younger workers in more permanent and secure work.

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British businesses at risk of creativity crisis, according to new Microsoft research

British businesses at risk of creativity crisis, according to new Microsoft research

by • News, Technology, Workplace design

British businesses are at risk of a creativity crisis due to workplace cultures that stifle innovation, according to new research launched by Microsoft Surface. Uninspiring workplaces (41 per cent), a stressful atmosphere (34 per cent) and a lack of appropriate spaces to focus and think alone (28 per cent) were all identified as major inhibitors to creativity.  Two in five workers surveyed (40 per cent) say that creativity and innovation are neither encouraged nor rewarded within their workplace – despite creativity being one of the top three skills workers will need to thrive by 2020, according to the World Economic Forum. The research, based on the views of more than 1,100 workers, found that whilst almost three quarters of respondents (73 per cent) consider themselves to be creative, demands of the modern workplace need rethinking, with symptoms such as overworking and stress stifling our ability to tackle problems and produce good ideas. Half of workers (50 per cent) feel least creative when tired, 45 per cent when stressed, while existing workloads (39 per cent) and organisational processes (32 per cent) were also cited as barriers to employees being more creative.

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Retaining working mothers in the workforce is a top HR priority this year

Retaining working mothers in the workforce is a top HR priority this year

by • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Nearly three quarters of employers in a recent poll say retaining female talent in the workforce is the most important issue in HR in 2017, as changes to childcare funding could impact on the recruitment and retention of working mothers. The research, which was carried out by My Family Care and recruitment firm Hydrogen, found that most employers thought that flexible working and supporting working parents and carers was important to them but strikingly, nearly three quarters (70 percent) rate the issue of retaining female talent after parental leave as the most important issue. However, 60 percent of HR professionals said their company provided no form of coaching or training support for their employees going through the parental transition. When it comes to the success of their family friendly initiatives, flexible working proved to be the most successful, followed by their Childcare Voucher Scheme and then enhanced maternity or Shared Parental pay.

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Putting people at the centre of building design could provide large boost to the economy

Putting people at the centre of building design could provide large boost to the economy

by • News, Workplace design

More thoughtfully designed workplaces, centred around people’s needs, could improve performance and help tackle the UK’s productivity gap, according to a new report. Applying design thinking to boost workplace productivity by 5-8 per cent could contribute up to £20 billion to GDP. The potential gain in productivity, equivalent to twice the annual contribution to UK GDP made by the aerospace industry, is revealed in research conducted by researchers from Imperial College London in partnership with Atkins. Atkins commissioned the research to better understand and quantify the economic benefit from human centred design. The research claims to examine the ripple down effect on productivity brought about by an human centred focus on health and wellbeing. This in turn has a benefit for future business growth and can enhance the position of the national economy, according to the report. The research claims to support the importance of employees’ experience of the building in which they work and confirms that steps to create the right working environment can have a material impact on staff productivity and wellbeing.

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Japan introduces new teleworking laws to change work culture in run up to Olympics

Japan introduces new teleworking laws to change work culture in run up to Olympics

by • Cities, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

It’s not just the UK that took time yesterday to reconsider its relationship with work. Japan launched a scheme to promote teleworking in an effort to address the country’s notoriously poor working culture and ease congestion in the build up to the Tokyo Olympics of 2020. Over 900 companies are claimed to have participated in Telework Day, which will be held on July 24 each year from now until the Olympics opening ceremony on July 24, 2020. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has already introduced laws to address Japan’s notorious problems with overwork, raise contract workers’ pay, and curb a general abuse of labour laws. Earlier this year, the Japanese government announced plans to impose a cap on overtime of 100 hours a month to reduce the number of cases of “karoshi”, or death from overwork, among its people. The idea is to restrict overtime to an average of 60 hours a month, with a 100-hour limit in busy periods.

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