Search Results for: employer

December 3, 2015

Dog-friendly offices more appealing to Millennials than play rooms ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace, Workplace design

Only a third of US workers believe that promotion offers the potential to advance their career with more than a third of all workers and 44 percent of Millennials preferring to jump ship if the right opportunity arises. Addison Group’s second annual generational workplace survey found that regardless of generation, healthcare benefits was most important benefit (70 percent), followed by a high salary (59 percent). However, Millennials would choose one company over another that paid a higher salary if free meals, beverages and snacks (40 percent) and tuition reimbursement (36 percent) were provided. Millennials also rank a dog-friendly office (14 percent) higher than a napping room, concierge services and a play room with ping pong, billiards and video games. They also value the social aspect of the workplace highly, with nearly twice as many (15 percent) marking work-sponsored happy hours as important compared to Baby Boomers (8 percent).

November 25, 2015

This might be the reason why firms are failing to fully engage their employees ⁰

by Matias Rodsevich • Comment, Knowledge, Technology, Workplace

One of the enduring quests organisations continue to undertake is that for the fully engaged employee. They do this for very good business reasons. Managers who understand the benefits of employee engagement can expect to reap the substantial benefits of a more collaborative work environment. In turn, this will lead to an engaging and productive workspace. However, in a majority of organisations, employee engagement remains lower than 35 percent. In light of this principle, Impraise has conducted a study based on over 30 000 feedback interactions between hundreds of managers and employees to see how they would differ from each other when asking for feedback. The results that were found resulted to be interesting and gave a better understanding of the how engaged employees are, and what firms can do to address the chronic levels of disengagement.

November 24, 2015

Many staff are planning to bunk off or shop online at work this Black Friday ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Whatever you make of Black Friday, and we see it quite clearly as an alien intrusion that taps into the worst instincts of some people, there is no doubt that it has quickly captured the imaginations of pretty large parts of the UK population. Although only on these shores for a couple of years, its influence is such that the media has already begun what promises to be an annual hand-wringing over this coming Friday’s outpouring of consumerism. Meanwhile logistics companies are dusting off their mothballed depots to cope with demand and gum up the roads while retailers continue to ponder whether they want to associate themselves with the whole wretched exercise in the first place. It’s also a growing problem for employers as two new surveys show that a significant number of their employees are planning to spend at least some part of their day shopping online, throwing sickies or taking the day off work.

November 23, 2015

Two thirds of managers have little idea what their organisation’s strategy is ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Workplace, Workplace design

While facilities and human resources managers continue to agonise over their lack of strategic influence, a new study from researchers at the London Business School and MIT confirms what cynics may have suspected all along; a significant number of senior managers don’t have any real idea what their organisation’s strategy is in the first place. According to the study of 11,000 senior executives and managers from 400 companies worldwide, only around a third of respondents were able to correctly identify their employer’s main strategic priorities. “We asked people to list their company’s top three to five priorities”, says Rebecca Homkes, a fellow of London Business School, who led the study. “Even with five tries, on average only around 50 per cent could list the same one priority and only a third can list their firm’s top three priorities. For firms to execute a strategy well, that strategy must be clearly communicated and understood throughout the organisation.”

November 19, 2015

Stalled career progression could prompt rise in employee turnover ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

A lack of career opportunities is resulting in more people leaving their job and this increase in employee turnover is costing organisations thousands in lost productivity, finds a CEB survey of more than 12,000 employees worldwide. Traditional, linear career paths where employees climb the corporate ladder one promotion at a time are a thing of the past, but the resulting flat organisational structures mean employees spend more time at each level – roughly three more years than in 2010. This stalled progression has caused 70 percent of employees to be dissatisfied with their opportunities, leading to greater turnover. Rather than encouraging an environment where promotions are the measure of career progression, companies should build growth-based cultures where moves across functions are not only planned but encouraged says CEB. Doing so not only improves engagement but also helps improve the bottom line.

November 18, 2015

Women earn less than men because they make different choices, report confirms ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, News, Workplace

In spite of its own attempts to link it to the gender pay gap a new report, Opportunities and outcomes in education and work: Gender effects, released yesterday by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), merely confirms that the key factors that determine how much people earn are the jobs they do and the hours they work. The report shows that male workers are paid on average 19 percent more than female workers. However, a report this year from the ONS confirmed that women now earn slightly more than men in like for like jobs up to the age of 35 and the UKCES report shows that it is career and personal choices that explain the gap in incomes across the whole economy. This confirms that the keys to closing the overall pay gap are for women to enter higher paying fields such as STEM and construction as well as employers offering flexible working arrangements and greater support for parents in their careers.

November 17, 2015

Office politics, heavy workloads and poor managers create anxious workers ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A third (33 percent) of UK workers cite office politics as a major contributing factor to feelings of unhappiness in the workplace. According to new research from recruiter Adecco over half (57 percent) of workers name a heavy workload as the cause of stress and anxiety, whilst 33 percent cite a lack of managerial support. The research revealed that negative feelings are having a significant impact on people’s working lives with nearly a third (29 percent) of UK workers spending every Sunday dreading the coming working week. A third (33 percent) of workers described their workplace as unhappy and a worrying 28 percent of workers admit that they fear going into work so much that they have called in sick. An additional third (36 percent) would now consider leaving their employer due to such severe anxiety and more worryingly, one in ten (9%) have already taken that step due to such overwhelming feelings of unhappiness.

November 16, 2015

People and businesses remain unprepared for next wave of technology ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Workplace

The attitudes of businesses, public sector employers and people to the next wave of technological change remains a tangled and sometimes conflicting mishmash of fear, uncertainty and indifference according to three new reports. According to a new study published by Vodafone and YouGov, while businesses are aware of their need to keep pace with technological developments, around half doubt they will be able to keep up over the next five years. Meanwhile, a study from marketing technology firm Rocket Fuel claims that British people are broadly aware what is meant by artificial intelligence and many feel it will have a positive impact on their lives, especially millennials. However, another study from jobsite Indeed claims that a fifth of young people are unaware of the idea of automation and its potential impact on the jobs market and around half don’t even consider it when making their career choices.

November 15, 2015

Acas analysis for anti-bullying week reveals workplace bullying is on the rise ⁰

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Workplace bullying is on the rise but many people are too afraid to talk about it according to a new study by Acas published to mark the beginning of anti-bullying week. The paper Seeking better solutions: tackling bullying and ill-treatment in Britain’s workplaces looks at the latest research on workplace bullying as well as calls to the Acas helpline. The analysis claims that bullying and ill-treatment is growing in Britain; and there are more incidents of bullying within certain groups such as public sector minority ethnic workers; women in traditionally male-dominated occupations; workers with disabilities or long-term health problems; lesbian, gay and bisexual and transgender people; and workers in health care. The helpline has received around 20,000 calls over the past year with some callers reporting that bullying caused them to self-harm or consider suicide.

November 12, 2015

The three workplace professions need to face up to a new reality ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace

The modern workplace consists of an often unholy trinity of people, place and technology and each of these facets has its own associated profession; HR. IT. FM. Six letters. Three disciplines. One big mess. When life was simple, with people generally going to work in the same place and at the same time, each of these professions could operate in its own bubble, with a clear sphere of influence and control. Sure, they could behave in interdisciplinary ways, they could have their intersections, but at the end of each encounter they could each go their separate ways. That is no longer true. The workplace is no longer primarily physical, but digital and cultural too. The boundaries of space and time have slipped and taken with them the clear demarcations between the three main workplace professions. All of this is bound to provoke as big an existential crisis for the professions as it does for the workplace itself.

November 12, 2015

Workers say regular wellness reviews would help improve productivity ⁰

by Sara Bean • Wellbeing, Workplace

Over half of UK employees are struggling to make long-term changes to their lifestyles, but believe they could adopt healthier practices with more help from their employers, new research by Bupa claims. In the study of 2,000 UK employees, 52 percent admitted that their changes generally last no longer than a few weeks, and just 7 percent have been completely successful. But more than 85 percent of employees believe they would be more productive if they were able to stick to positive lifestyle changes in the long-term, two in five (44 percent) would love their work to help them make positive changes to their lifestyle and half (48 percent) say a regular wellness review would help with this. The research showed that three quarters of employees (73 percent) have chosen to change their lifestyle to feel more physically healthy, with nearly half (46 percent) changing to improve mental health.

November 11, 2015

British workers tend to take the most holiday leave in the world ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

British workers are the most likely to take all of their paid holiday leave – and they get a lot more of it, new YouGov research from around the world claims. During the Eurozone and Greek debt crises, the economic situation was blamed on laid back, siesta-taking southern Europeans. In fact Greece ranks fourth among OECD countries for average annual hours actually worked, and Spain ranks one place above the UK. Meanwhile German workers, with a reputation for working very hard, work the smallest number of hours. But out of 22 countries polled worldwide, spanning North America, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Europe, British people are the most likely to say they will take all of their holiday leave this year. In one of the only places in the world where there is no statutory minimum holiday leave only 44 percent of Americans say they will take their days off this year.