July 12, 2019

A life after carbon for the built environment

by Peter Plastrik and John Cleveland • Cities, Environment, Features, Technology

A new urban model is emerging worldwide – transforming the way cities design and use physical space, generate economic wealth, consume and dispose of resources, exploit and sustain the natural ecosystems they need, and prepare for the future. This emerging new urban paradigm has profound implications for players who care about and depend on the design of a city’s built infrastructure – including architects, engineers, builders, real estate developers, and office building tenants. (more…)

July 12, 2019

Family firms focus more on corporate social responsibility

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace design

Companies owned by families pay more attention to issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR), such as sustainability and environmental issues, according to research from Vlerick Business School, but the research also found that attention to CSR decreases as the company is handed down to the next generations. Dr. Kerstin Fehre, Professor of Strategy at Vlerick Business School, alongside Dr. Florian Weber from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, studied family firms and the attention they gave to CSR compared to non-family firms. The study, published in the journal Business Ethics: A European Review, used over a hundred of the largest HDAX listed companies in Germany and analysed messages to shareholders published in annual reports. (more…)

July 11, 2019

Tick box attitude to women on boards must stop

by Neil Franklin • Home, News

Although the percentage of women on boards at FTSE 100 firms is on track to reach 33 percent by 2020, a new report claims there are worrying signs that companies are appointing women for symbolic value. The Female FTSE Board Report, produced annually by Cranfield University’s School of Management, claims that women serve shorter tenures than men (on average, female non-executive directors serve 3.8 years – with men serving 5 years) and are less likely to get promoted into senior roles. (more…)

July 11, 2019

Take up of shared parental leave constrained by traditional attitudes

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, Legal news, News

Despite the introduction of shared parental leave rights, more than half of UK adults still think that women be the primary carers of babies and children, according to the latest British Social Attitudes Survey. Despite this, there has been a notable shift in attitudes over the last seven years, according to the researchers from the National Centre for Social Research. (more…)

July 9, 2019

Fifth of people do not last a year in self-employment

by Neil Franklin • News

One-fifth of sole traders in self-employment don’t survive one year, and the majority don’t survive five, according to a new study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The analysis of HMRC tax records by researchers at the IFS was funded by the Office for National Statistics through the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) and the Economic and Social Research Council. (more…)

July 5, 2019

Closing the gender pay gap needs more than final ideas of Theresa May

by Sarah King • Comment, Workplace

Theresa May has spent her final few weeks in office trying to salvage a meaningful prime ministerial legacy from the long shadow of her failed Brexit strategy. Part of this effort is her plan to introduce 12 weeks’ paternity leave for new fathers, as part of her drive to reduce the UK’s gender pay gap. It is proposed that employers would pay fathers for the first four weeks of paternity leave at 90 percent of their normal salary, while the remaining eight weeks would be unpaid. This is intended to reduce the gender pay gap by increasing the sharing of parental responsibilities, and freeing mothers up to return to work earlier. (more…)

July 5, 2019

Four day week makes business sense, claims Henley report

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

A four day working week could save UK businesses an estimated £104 billion annually, while improving productivity and their environmental performance according to new research from Henley Business School. The research claims that a shorter working week on the same pay could add to businesses’ bottom lines through increased staff productivity and an uplift in staff physical and mental health, whilst also resulting in a cleaner environmental footprint. Henley’s ‘Four Better or Four Worse?’ white paper exploring the issue claims that of those businesses who have already adopted a four day week, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) have reported improvements in staff productivity. (more…)

June 26, 2019

Jobs upheaval as world adapts to era of automation

by Mark Eltringham • AI, News, Technology

A new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit and UiPath claims that organisations around the world currently making extensive use of automation technologies, with 67 percent of UK business executives claiming to be satisfied satisfied with the results of their automation initiatives, 48 percent describing their organisation’s progress with automation as advanced, and 73 percent expecting their company’s operating costs to improve as a result of automating business processes. It is published on the same day as another report suggests that up to 20 million manufacturing jobs could be lost to robots across the world’s leading economies by 2030, replaced by a range of new jobs. (more…)

June 26, 2019

Flexible working is the new measure of success

by Ben Chatfield • Comment, Flexible working

Professional bragging rights were once the preserve of top earners. Those with massive salaries, huge bonuses, and in some cases, even bigger egos. Money equals success – technology has shifted that long held view. Today flexible working, in terms of hours, location and role, has become an embraced reality and chief workplace priority. Technology has blurred the lines between work and life. The new “digitally native” workforce now expect a flexibility and access in every aspect of their lives. More than ever, work is seen as an adventure which is to be explored, rather than accepted. (more…)

June 25, 2019

Office furniture firms take their partners

by Colin Watson • Comment, Furniture, Workplace design

The development of products for the workplace follow many trends, generally aiming to provide that ideal setting for maximum effectiveness and fully tuned to the philosophies of the day. The processes involved can occupy a good proportion of time and energy for the workplace specialist and office furniture maker and feature heavily in the media. But, behind all the product cacophony, there are activities, often unseen, that make more difference to what will become available in furnishing the workplace. (more…)

June 25, 2019

Tech laggards face extinction unless they innovate

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Many larger businesses are struggling to implement digital transformation in spite of the dangers to their long term survival, a new joint report from CBI and Oracle claims. According to Bigger, Faster, Stronger, the improved adoption of technology could unlock productivity and wage growth. Research shows that more adoption, coupled with better management practices, could add £100 billion to the UK economy and cut income inequality by 5 per cent. However, only 54 per cent of UK companies believe disruptive technologies play an important role in their organisation, much lower than in countries such as France, Germany, India and Russia. (more…)

June 21, 2019

HSBC strikes 1000 desk deal with WeWork

by Mark Eltringham • Coworking, News, Property

HSBC has agreed a deal to locate more than a thousand members of London staff in a WeWork coworking space in London. WeWork confirmed to the Financial Times that the bank has signed up for 1,135 desks at its new building at 2 Southbank Place. The move is further proof of how coworking has become a mainstream option for large corporations as they seek to get more value our of their property and introduce new working methods. HSBC’s corporate real estate team and other staff already work from coworking spaces, but the new deal marks a step change in its strategy.