Search Results for: government

Investment Association asks major employers to address lack of progress on gender diversity

Investment Association asks major employers to address lack of progress on gender diversity

by • News, Workplace

The investor lobbying group the Investment Association (IA) and the Hampton-Alexander Review have written to 35 FTSE 350 companies with low female representation at leadership level, calling for change. 14 companies in the FTSE 100 have been singled out in the letter. Companies in the FTSE 100 who have all-male Executive Committees, such as BP and Smurfit Kappa Group, and companies whose combined Executive Committees and Direct Reports have low proportions of women, such as Persimmon and TUI, have been asked to explain their poor gender balance and what steps they are taking to move towards the targets as set out in the Hampton-Alexander Review. The Investment Association and the Hampton-Alexander Review have also written to 11 companies in the FTSE 250 who have all-male Boards, including Sports Direct and Stobart Group, and 10 companies who chose not to report their gender diversity data to the Hampton-Alexander Review last year, including The AA, J D Wetherspoon and Wizz Air.

 

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Majority of staff say employers must do more to support their physical and mental wellbeing

Majority of staff say employers must do more to support their physical and mental wellbeing

by • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Majority of staff say employers should do more to support physical and mental wellbeingMore than half of working adults believe that UK businesses are not doing enough to support the physical and mental wellbeing of their employees. The vast majority (86 percent) believe that firms are specifically not doing enough to help employees deal with work-related stress, anxiety and other mental health issues. And with seven out of 10 of those surveyed by Westfield Health saying that the NHS does not have the budget to provide wellbeing services, such as health check-ups and cognitive behavioural therapy, almost three quarters agreed it would be a good idea for a portion of their National Insurance contributions to be redirected towards employee wellbeing programmes. (more…)

Local authorities spend £3.8bn on commercial property in last five years

Local authorities spend £3.8bn on commercial property in last five years

by • News, Property, Public Sector

Local authorities have invested around £3.8 bn in commercial property over the last five years, a new study claims. The report (registration required) from property consultancy Carter Jonas and Revo claims that of the £3.8 bn invested, nearly half was spent on the acquisition of office space. It found that Spelthorne Borough Council in Surrey (pictured)  was the largest local authority investor committing £477.1 m to assets within its domain. This is more than double its nearest rival Warrington Borough Council (£219.5 m) and is largely down to the purchase of BP’s International Centre for Business & Technology in Sunbury for £360 m.

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Quarter of workers say job negatively affects their mental health and a third feel overworked

Quarter of workers say job negatively affects their mental health and a third feel overworked

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Quarter of workers feel work negatively affects their mental health, finds CIPD report

One in four workers (25 percent) feel their job negatively affects their mental health, while nearly a third (30 percent) say their workload is too high, according to a brand new report from the CIPD, the UK Working Lives survey. Although the survey found that two-thirds of workers (64 percent) were satisfied with their job overall, one in ten (11 percent) report regularly feeling miserable at work. More than a quarter (28 percent) of senior leaders say that they find it difficult to fulfil personal commitments because of their job, while over a quarter (27 percent) say that their job does not offer good opportunities to develop their skills, jumping to two in five (43 percent) among unskilled and casual workers. Focusing on the three main groups in the labour market, those at the lower levels are far less likely to have access to skills and training, those in middle management feeling significantly squeezed by their workload and those at the top find it difficult to maintain a work/life balance.

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Rising demand for Grade A office space helps sustain Edinburgh commercial property market

Rising demand for Grade A office space helps sustain Edinburgh commercial property market

by • Cities, Coworking, Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector

State Street Bank at Quartermile 3 EdinburghTechnology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) companies are continuing to play a prominent role within Edinburgh’s office market, accounting for approximately 30 percent of transactions in the city. But rising demand for Grade A office space in Edinburgh by a variety of organisations, including coworking,  private and public sector tenants has fuelled significant occupier demand during the first quarter of 2018, according to analysis by property consultancy, Knight Frank. The latest commercial property figures show approximately 460,000 sq. ft. of new occupier requirements came onto the market in the first three months of the year from companies looking to lease office space in Edinburgh. (more…)

The UK’s incredible shrinking office phenomenon

The UK’s incredible shrinking office phenomenon

by • Cities, News, Property

Apparently prompted by the recent boom of so-called ‘micro-homes’ in Britain, commercial property firms Savoystewart.co.uk has set out to investigate whether the ‘micro-trend’ has also taken root in the office sector as well. The firm analysed office floorspace available relative to the number of active businesses in England and Wales from 2012 to 2016, finding that the office floorspace is shrinking both on regional and local levels.  Results of the research, which is based on the latest GOV data on business floorspace from the Valuation Office Agency and official stats on business demography from ONS, revealed that the change in office floorspace available per business has been downward in all regions. The results reflect trends in the BCO’s specification guide

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Take up of shared parental leave is held back by cultural inertia

Take up of shared parental leave is held back by cultural inertia

by • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

A recent report by the House of Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee, Fathers and the workplace, has brought into sharp focus the problems fathers have juggling participation in family life with their employment obligations. We are moving away from the traditional gender stereotypes of the father being the breadwinner and the mother being responsible for childcare. Today, many families have two parents in either full or part-time work, with dual income households being far more common now than just 30 years ago. The pace of technological change and the growing gig economy have both contributed significantly to this shift in working patterns. As a result, some of the UK’s laws are becoming outdated, as many laws were formulated on the assumption that it would usually be the woman within a family who would have responsibility for childcare.

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UK remains a world leader in technological innovation

UK remains a world leader in technological innovation

by • News, Technology

A new report from KPMG suggests that the UK is the third most dynamic global centre of innovation, disruption and technological development behind the US and China. KPMG’s 2018 Global Technology Innovation Report surveyed almost 800 global business executives to reveal the world’s top technology innovation hubs. Of those surveyed, 19 per cent named the UK as the third most promising market for tech breakthroughs behind China at 26 per cent and the US at 39 per cent.

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With a year to go, occupiers are less concerned than they were about the impact of Brexit

With a year to go, occupiers are less concerned than they were about the impact of Brexit

by • News, Property

Occupiers are less concerned about Brexit than they were a year ago, according to a new CBRE research survey of over 100 major occupiers across Europe, most of whom have pan-European or global operations. By late 2017, the proportion of European occupiers worried about Brexit having a ‘very significant’ impact on their operations in the UK had dropped from 15 percent to 6 percent compared with a year earlier. The proportion of occupiers worried about Brexit having a ‘significant’ effect has also fallen, from 38 percent to 33 percent, meaning that the number of occupiers worried about negative impacts from Brexit has fallen in total from 53 percent to 39 percent. A year to the day on which Britain aims to exit from the EU, global real estate advisor CBRE has published an updated guide unpicking some of the key real estate impacts of Brexit.

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HMRC signs for Manchester HQ as part of nationwide programme of lettings

HMRC signs for Manchester HQ as part of nationwide programme of lettings

by • News, Property, Public Sector

HMRC has completed a 25 year letting of 157,153 sq ft at the English Cities Fund’s New Bailey development in Greater Manchester. HMRC will take over the whole of the seven storey 3 New Bailey development with staff moving in from 2022. The move is part of a nationwide programme of lettings in major cities to deliver HMRC services at local level, overseen by the Government Property Unit. There have already been announcement of new HMRC hubs in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds and Birmingham. The New Bailey move will form the initial phase of the HMRC Manchester Regional Centre. Additional capacity for around 2,500 staff working in the city will be retained at Trinity Bridge House as a transitional site until 2027/8, when the second phase of the regional centre is expected to open. (more…)

Stress and mental health growing priority at board level but bosses struggle to support staff

Stress and mental health growing priority at board level but bosses struggle to support staff

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Stress and mental health growing priority for board level but bosses struggle to support staffTwo new reports published today reflect increasing concerns about stress and mental ill health at work and a lack of understanding by many organisations in how to combat the problem. A new study by Bupa claims that mental health is now a priority at board level for almost two-thirds (65 percent) of businesses, rising to 72 percent among large corporates, while mental health is now a bigger issue than physical illness among employees for nearly a third (29 percent) of businesses. Yet while an overwhelming majority (96 percent) of businesses want to help support their people, many (57 percent) do not know how to best support employees with these challenges. Two in five (39 percent) admit that awareness and understanding of mental health issues is still low across their organisation. These findings are echoed in a report carried out by Perkbox that claims work is by far the most common cause of stress (59 percent). Yet almost one in two (45 percent) of British businesses do not offer anything to help alleviate this, despite the fact that 1 in 4 (25 percent) struggle to be as productive at work when stressed.

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Poor numeracy thought to account for an estimated £3.2 billion annual cost to businesses

Poor numeracy thought to account for an estimated £3.2 billion annual cost to businesses

by • News, Workplace

Poor numeracy thought to account for an estimated £3.2 billion annual cost to businessesAlmost one in two working age adults currently lack numeracy skills and this skills gap is estimated to cost businesses £3.2bn annually, with a cost to the UK economy of up to £20.2billion a year. This is why charity National Numeracy has joined together with founder supporter, KPMG, to establish the first ever UK National Numeracy Day – created to drive a change in recognition of the importance of numbers, as well as improve employee careers. The day, which takes place on the 16th May will be designed to celebrate numbers, and aims to help individuals to check their numeracy levels, and provide free tools to support improvement amongst those who could benefit. Businesses are being called on to get involved in a variety of ways; from becoming an official supporter, to encouraging employees, suppliers and the local community to check their numeracy levels using the free online numeracy assessment tool. 

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