Search Results for: finance

A new era of technology could resolve UK low productivity at last

A new era of technology could resolve UK low productivity at last

by • News, Technology

A new McKinsey study sets out to address the reasons why the United Kingdom experiences chronically low productivity and what can be done to use technology to improve its performance. In the report, Solving the UK’s productivity puzzle in the digital age, the authors argue that “Britain stands out as one of the worst productivity performers among its peers”. They argue that there are four distinct reasons for the weakness since the economic crisis: “boom and bust” in the financial sector, the strength of employment growth, weak investment and uneven “digitisation”.  It claims that the UK is operating at only 17 per cent of its digitisation potential, indicating how much scope for improvement there is.

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Major tech companies continue to acquire new London offices, despite Brexit concerns

Major tech companies continue to acquire new London offices, despite Brexit concerns

by • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property

Major tech firms continue to acquire large London offices, despite Brexit concernsThe repercussions of a no-deal Brexit are being hotly debated but there are some indications that it’s yet to impact the Capital’s commercial property sector. A number of leading tech and creative companies have continued to acquire large volumes of office space across London. According to figures from CBRE, take-up of Central London office space stood at 1.2m sq ft in July 2018, above the 10-year monthly average of 1.0m sq ft. The increase in July was largely down to two Facebook deals at 11/21 Canal Reach, N1 and Building P2 Handyside Street, N1, where in total 600,600 sq ft of office space has been filled. The creative industries sector led July take-up at 679,400 sq ft, representing 61 percent of the space taken; with the business services sector acquiring 17 percent of space, with 133,200 sq ft going to flexible office providers. In the past 12-months, business services has been the principal sector, accounting for 31 percent of take-up ahead of the creative industries (25 percent) and banking and finance sector (16 percent).

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Older workers need more support in the workplace, claims report

Older workers need more support in the workplace, claims report

by • News, Wellbeing

Longer working lives have become a reality for millions, yet a significant number of older workers feel unsupported in the workplace, according to new findings from Aviva which claim to highlight the need for UK businesses to boost support for their older workforce. Almost two thirds (63 percent) of the 10.2 million over-50s in work – equivalent to 6.4 million people – are planning to retire later than they thought they would 10 years ago. Many of them are extending their working lives due to the rising cost of living (40 percent) and insufficient pension savings (38 percent).

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HR offers the key to enhanced employee financial wellbeing, claims report

HR offers the key to enhanced employee financial wellbeing, claims report

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

With poor financial wellbeing impacting on productivity, a new paper claims that, despite growing interest, there remains a lag in employers taking action in this area – and that Human Resources departments are key to building a business case for support. Published by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), the paper, Building the business case for employee financial wellbeing, draws on findings from a Money Advice Service-funded study trialling financial wellbeing guidance from IES and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

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Financial centres in UK cities outside London are set to suffer most from Brexit

by • Cities, News

Although news reports about the impact of Brexit on the UK’s financial services sector have focused almost exclusively on London, a new report from the Centre for Cities claims that the decision to leave the EU will have a disproportionately larger impact on the centres in the UK’s other major cities, which employ two thirds of all people in the sector. The report explores the financial and professional services sectors in cities across the UK, and looks at what the relationships are with London-based firms in these industries. The report by the think tank supported by the City of London Corporation London: The geography of financial services in the capital and beyond looks at how much individual cities across the UK export in services, and what proportion of these services exports came from the financial sector.

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Workers are becoming more concerned about what jobs robots will replace first

Workers are becoming more concerned about what jobs robots will replace first

by • AI, News, Technology, Workplace

Workers are becoming more concerned about what jobs robots will replace firstFears of robots taking workers’ jobs appear to have lessened over the last year, a new report has suggested. Research from Perkbox and SEMrush examined fears of robots at work according to online searches from January 2015 to June 2018 in the UK and found that in just one year, from 2015 to 2016 the phrase ‘will robots take my job?’ increased from zero to 1,600 average monthly searches. In 2017, the phrase was searched 197,800 times/monthly on average. In 2018 so far, the average has dropped but it remains relatively high regardless (57,833 searches). According to online searches with keyword ‘robots’ and ‘work,’ people are gradually becoming more concerned about what jobs robots will replace first. The phrase ‘what jobs will be replaced by robots? was rarely searched in 2015. However, in 2016-17 the number rose from 200 searches/monthly on average (2016) to 2,400 on average in 2017 (a 1,100 percent increase). (more…)

Digital transformation is making it challenging to find qualified employees

Digital transformation is making it challenging to find qualified employees

by • AI, News, Technology, Workplace

Digital transformation making it challenging to find qualified employeesTraditional job roles are becoming more complex due to digital transformation initiatives a new poll claims, with UK businesses having to wait more than five months, on average, for new joiners to get up to speed in their jobs. In the research by Robert Half of almost 5,000 CFOs in 14 countries, CFOs in the UK report that the key skills for finance professionals are changing. With digital transformation a priority for many organisations, there is now more focus on skills such as data analysis (cited by 43 percent of CFOs), financial analysis (35 percent), and data forecasting (34 percent). Finding the right people with these abilities is made even more challenging by the fact that businesses around the world are struggling to find qualified professionals. Almost all (93 percent) UK businesses find it challenging to attract qualified accounting and finance professionals. Globally, the issue is equally pronounced, with 94 percent of businesses also reporting similar challenges.

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Financial stress can impair employee performance and attendance

Financial stress can impair employee performance and attendance

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Financial stress can impair employee performance and attendance

Businesses that fail to tackle their employees’ financial stress are more likely to encounter poor work performance, lack of engagement, mental health issues and staff absenteeism, a new report from Neyber has claimed. Since last year, there has been a significant increase in the number of employees affected by financial worries; up from 58 percent to 63 percent, as well as those with less than one month’s savings; up from 24 percent to 32 percent. This stress on individuals is having a severe business impact. One in four employees said they had lost sleep over money troubles in the last year, one in ten said that they couldn’t focus on work and 6 percent said they had had to take time off work. All this adds up to a substantial cost for employers to bear. Neyber has calculated that the lost productivity and increased absence and employee turnover associated with financial stress costs UK companies in the region of £120.7 billion every year.

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RICS and IFMA launch Procurement of Facilities Management statement to address “race to the bottom”

RICS and IFMA launch Procurement of Facilities Management statement to address “race to the bottom”

by • Facilities management, News, Property

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has today launched its first professional statement to ‘reduce risk, increase transparency and further trust’ in procurement in facilities management. The RICS Procurement of facility management, RICS professional statement, UK 1st edition, was worked on in collaboration with IMFA, and also the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). RICS says it will be looking to make this a global professional statement in due course. All RICS regulated professionals (mandatory from the 1 October 2018) will be expected to follow this guidance, but according to RICS, adoption of the framework would be competitively beneficial for all property professionals involved in the procurement of FM services, including those acting for landlords and occupiers, FM suppliers procuring services from sub-contractors and investors and public and private occupier organisations.

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Half of girls are unenthusiastic about a career in STEM and technology

Half of girls are unenthusiastic about a career in STEM and technology

by • News, Technology

New research suggests that whilst young women are increasingly aware of the availability of careers in technology, half hold a belief that they are ‘unexciting’ and more than two-thirds think that roles in tech are predominately linked to gaming and IT consultancy; according to research commissioned by Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP) as part of their work to support digital education.

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Hong Kong Central remains most expensive office market in the World, according To CBRE

Hong Kong Central remains most expensive office market in the World, according To CBRE

by • News, Property

Hong Kong Central remains the most expensive office market in the world, according to CBRE’s annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs report. Hong Kong Central’s overall prime occupancy costs of US$307 per sq. ft. per year topped the “most expensive” list, followed by London West End (US$235 per sq. ft.), Beijing Finance Street (US$201 per sq. ft.), Hong Kong Kowloon (US$190 per sq. ft.) and Beijing Central Business District (US$189 per sq. ft.).

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Edinburgh is best UK location for growing technology businesses but office space is becoming scarce

by • News, Property, Technology

Scotland’s capital city is the best place for tech companies looking to scale up, access funding, and do business in, according to a new Government backed report examining the UK’s tech landscape. Edinburgh tech companies responded with the highest approval rating in the UK when asked to assess how good their city was for ‘doing business’ – a combination of sub factors including access to finance and talent – as part of The Tech Nation 2018 Report – an annual series that captures the strength, depth and breadth of digital tech activity in the UK which employs over one million people. Although 62 percent of Edinburgh’s tech community are satisfied with local access to affordable office space, commercial property firm JLL, who sponsor the report, said one of the main challenges which now faces a burgeoning tech industry in Edinburgh is the room to accommodate continued growth of the sector.

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