October 12, 2020
The City of Edinburgh Council has adopted a new digital strategy to push forward its ambitions for becoming a sustainable Smart City. The Digital and Smart City strategy – which sets out principles for how the Council’s future technology services should be designed, sourced and delivered over the next three years – was unanimously approved by members of the Policy and Sustainability Committee.
October 2, 2020
Employees are proving keen to return to the office, reporting that they miss the human and social interaction that the office facilitates. At the same time, while employees show a strong affinity for the office, they also desire the ability to have the option to work from home 1-2 days per week on average according to a recent JLL global study of 3,000 workers. The trend towards workplace mobility was not created as a result of the pandemic, but it was certainly accelerated by it. As a result, agile work strategies are expected to increase in a post-pandemic world, reinvigorating demand for flexible space. (more…)
September 29, 2020
Following a surge in calls from individuals to domestic abuse helplines during lockdown, the CIPD and EHRC have published new guidance for employers, setting out how to recognise and support staff experiencing domestic abuse. A CIPD survey of UK employees claims that just under a quarter (24 percent) are aware of their employer having a policy or support in place on domestic abuse. (more…)
September 28, 2020
COVID-19 recovery packages that include infrastructure development will influence the relationship between cities, humans and nature for the next 30 to 50 years. With the built environment home to half the world’s population and making up 40 percent of global GDP, cities are an engine of global growth and crucial to the economic recovery. (more…)
September 28, 2020
A new survey from IWG claims that commuting remains the biggest barrier to the return to office life post-Covid, with only 8 percent of British workers now prepared to travel more than an hour to get to work. In the short term, workers are set to follow Government guidance by continuing to work from home, in the longer-term, six in ten (57 percent) want an office that is closer to home and an even greater proportion (77 percent) say that a more conveniently located office is a must-have for their next job move. (more…)
September 25, 2020
Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has published the results of its annual Total Office Costs Survey (TOCS), claiming that the average outlay of occupying office space in the UK fell by 1.3 percent over the 12 months to June 2020 for new build accommodation and 1.6 percent for 20-year old buildings. This is only the second time costs have fallen in the survey since the global financial crisis in 2008 and contrasts sharply with the 3.6 percent increase in costs in 2019. (more…)
September 24, 2020
One in five Britons (19 percent) have become ‘kitchen table entrepreneurs’ during lockdown, either starting a business since March or putting plans in place to do so, claims new research by Direct Line – Business. Of those who haven’t yet started their venture, one in five (19 percent) hope to have it up and running by the beginning of 2021. (more…)
September 24, 2020
In a survey of employees and business leaders across 11 nations, The Workforce Institute at UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group) claims only a fraction of employees (20 percent) felt their organisation met their needs during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. But there is a silver lining: a third of employees globally (33 percent) say they trust their employer more now than before the pandemic began because of how organisations reacted. (more…)
September 21, 2020
Take-up of office and laboratory space in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc has remained resilient during the first half of 2020, according to a new report from property consultants Bidwells. The firm claims that 117,600 sq ft was taken in Oxford between January and July, reaching 85 per cent of the city’s ten-year average despite the Covid-19 pandemic. (more…)
September 18, 2020
More than half of UK workers – 53 percent – plan to make a change to their career in the next 12 months as a direct result of the Coronavirus pandemic according to a new study from Aviva. The How We Live report claims the most popular career aspiration emerging from the crisis is the desire for flexibility. One in 10 (10 percent) UK workers say that in the next 12 months, they aim to find a role that will allow them to work from home. (more…)
September 18, 2020
Cornerstone OnDemand have published a new workforce trends report from the Cornerstone People Research Lab (CPRL) titled A License to Skill: Embracing the Reskilling Revolution. The research report claims that while organisational leaders and employees have rallied around the importance of skills, there remains a confidence gap in the efficacy of skills-based learning programmes that advance careers and innovation in the business. (more…)
September 16, 2020
A survey carried out by mental health organisation,