Search Results for: future of work

Flexible working the key to attracting female talent

Flexible working the key to attracting female talent

Flexible working is the key to make construction a more attractive and progressive career choice for female talent, according to a RICS poll which claims the top recommendations industry professionals believe will help employers encourage more female talent into the property sector. More →

The scale of the problem for workplace design

The scale of the problem for workplace design 0

There is a typically telling and intelligent Pixar moment in the film A Bug’s Life in which an already well-lubricated mosquito goes up to a bar and orders a ‘Bloody Mary, O Positive’. The barman plonks a droplet of blood down on the bar. The mosquito sinks his proboscis into it, sucks it down in one go and promptly falls over. The mosquito doesn’t need a glass because that is for animals who have a problem with gravity. For insects, the major force in their lives isn’t gravity, but surface tension. More →

Google remains most attractive company to work for

Google remains most attractive company to work for

Google remains the most attractive company to work for in the UKUniversum Global has launched the findings for the UK portion of its annual Global Talent Survey (registration) which claims that Google is the UK’s most attractive company to work for by graduates for the seventh consecutive year. Universum studied 39,500 students from 97 British Universities to understand the career aspirations, goals and workplace requirements for graduates.

More →

Volkswagen to apply agile working at new Berlin campus

Volkswagen to apply agile working at new Berlin campus

agile working at VW's We Campus in BerlinVolkswagen has opened its new ‘We Campus’ in Berlin and claims that the agile working principles used in its design will transform the working lives and output of the 900 people at the facility. The campus will bring together about experts from Volkswagen and other firms who have previously worked at different locations. Volkswagen claims that the centre will be an essential part of what it calls the We ecosystem, which includes an electric car sharing service WeShare which has been launched in Berlin with 1,500 e-Golf cars. Volkswagen also plans to create new future-oriented jobs at the campus. More →

New drive to tackle workplace barriers faced by disabled people

New drive to tackle workplace barriers faced by disabled people

Disability in the workplace

The day to day challenges and injustices faced by disabled people in the workplace, at home and in the wider community will be tackled head-on through a new package of measures announced by the UK Government.  Higher accessibility standards for homes and buildings, an overhaul of statutory sick pay, and greater workplace support including the right to request modifications are part of  renewed efforts to ensure disabled people can fully participate in society. More →

Promotion: How a Yorkshire firm is transforming the way we work

Promotion: How a Yorkshire firm is transforming the way we work

What is it that makes (some of) us bound into work, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, in the morning? Is it the promise of a proper coffee from the barista-style machine so many modern offices and studios now boast? Or could it simply be the chance to catch up with a favourite colleague? For many, it may be the lure of work itself that gets them out of bed. Few of us will hum merrily on our morning commute, though, contemplating the comfort of our office chair, or daydreaming about taking five minutes to enjoy the calming ambience of the breakout area. A West Yorkshire-based company specialising in acoustic design is making huge strides to change our attitudes about the workplace, though. After all, why shouldn’t we feel at home in the office? More →

Bosses overwhelmingly in favour of flexible working

Bosses overwhelmingly in favour of flexible working

An illustration of a magnet attracting smiling people to work, illustrating conflicting approaches to flexible workingBusinesses that fail to accommodate staff looking to set their own work schedule in some way will struggle to attract and retain talent, claims new research from Vistage. The research suggests that nearly two-thirds (73 percent) of UK CEOs and business leaders believe organisations that fail to offer flexible working to employees will face a struggle to attract talent. More than half (59 percent) of respondents said they’ve already written flexible working options into standard employment contracts. A further 36 percent say it’s either something they’re looking at or would consider in the future. More →

Tech workers prefer to work for larger corporations

Tech workers prefer to work for larger corporations

Tech workers sharing a jokeUK SMEs are losing out to big tech in the battle to recruit top tech talent, according to Robert Half UK’s new report, Recruiting for the future: The challenges for UK SMEs. The white paper, which was based on an independent study of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) across the UK, found that three quarters (75 percent) of CIOs believe that it is more challenging for SMEs to attract tech workers because they prefer to work for larger technology companies. More →

Coworking is now the key driver of change in property market

Coworking is now the key driver of change in property market

Having disrupted the property sector over the last decade, coworking continues to impact investors, developers and end users as the concept appears to be the dominant force in the commercial sector. Coworking can trace its roots back as far as the 1980s when Regus (now part of IWG) popularised the idea of a serviced office, by taking on leases of office buildings, subdividing the available space and leasing it out to small business, fully furnished and ready to rent. More →

Worker confidence in the UK jobs market falls

Worker confidence in the UK jobs market falls

Confidence in jobs market fallsThe Monster Jobs Confidence Index, published for the first time by jobs board Monster.co.uk and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), claims that workers and job seekers confidence in the UK labour market has dropped by 10 percent, from 77 percent to 67 percent. The report defines confidence as how an individual feels about their ability to find a suitable job in the short-term, realise their career potential and build a better future for themselves.

More →

Over half of US workers offered flexible Fridays

Over half of US workers offered flexible Fridays

Over half of US workers offered flexible Fridays this summer @GenslerThis summer, over half (55 percent) of US employers will offer employees the option to leave work early on Fridays or take the entire day off. The new survey by Gartner claims that so-called flexible Fridays are an example of the sort of perks organisations are offering to gain competitive advantage in attracting and retaining top talent in a labour market which features record low unemployment levels.

More →

On target for a toxic workplace culture

On target for a toxic workplace culture

A young woman using a sextant to illustrate the idea of setting targets to create a good workplace cultureSetting clear and bold targets has become part of leadership 101. We take it for granted that the first action for anyone taking over the helm of a business or team is to state or re-state targets. The rise of “management by objectives” in the 1970s drove the initial focus on target-setting and, in line with shoulder pads and lapel width, the 1990s saw a shift in management culture to ‘bigger is always better’. In 1994 Jim Collins and Jerry Porras wrote their highly influential best seller Built to Last. In it, they memorably wrote of the power of BHAGs – big, hairy, audacious goals. Targets were no longer for hitting but represented something bigger, a longer-term vision of the future.

More →