Search Results for: health and safety

FUTURE Designs awarded the IMMUNE Building Standard

FUTURE Designs awarded the IMMUNE Building Standard

FUTURE Designs, a UK based designer and manufacturer of luminaires and lighting solutions, obtains the first IMMUNE Building Standard certification in the world for an Industrial Building, awarded by Healthy by Design Building Institute (HDBI). The factory and headquarters achieved the label ‘IMMUNE – Strong’ following the company’s successful implementation of the health and safety set of measures for its employees. More →

‘Healthy buildings’ enjoy a surge in demand worldwide

‘Healthy buildings’ enjoy a surge in demand worldwide

healthy buildings SiemensA new survey of many of the world’s leading real estate investors finds that 92 percent of respondents expect demand for healthy buildings to grow in the next three years. The report claims that this is a compelling signal of the direction the real estate sector is heading. This finding, among others, is captured in a report titled A New Investor Consensus: The Rising Demand for Healthy Buildings (registration) which claims to be a comprehensive health and wellness study of global real estate investment managers and stakeholders representing aggregate AUM of $5.75 trillion and portfolio investments in real estate totalling approximately US$1.03 trillion. More →

Employers need to “catch up” with the mental health crisis

Employers need to “catch up” with the mental health crisis

employersDuring the pandemic, 1 in 4 (25 percent) employees say they’ve had no wellbeing check-ins from their workplace. The research from Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England, of 2,000 employees, claims that almost a third (29 percent) of workers never discuss mental health in meetings with their employers. More →

People working from home hide mental health impact from employers

People working from home hide mental health impact from employers

working from homePeople working from home during the pandemic are experiencing higher levels of stress and withholding mental health conditions from their employer, for fear of a negative impact on career progression, according to a new health and safety at work report by Lloyd’s Register. More →

When business leaders open up about mental health, we all benefit

When business leaders open up about mental health, we all benefit

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on the way in which we work and has brought in to focus the challenges around mental health and wellbeing.  The recognition that we are in the midst of the biggest mental health crisis since the Second World War brings the challenge in to stark focus. Time to Talk Day (today) aims to get the nation talking more openly about mental health, and there could not be a better time for it. Research from Wondrous published this week found that one in six people (17 percent) who have switched to remote working during the pandemic have seen their mental health suffer, rising to 20 percent among women and younger workers. I suspect that the inherent stigma that still surrounds mental health is masking the true percentage of people being affected. More →

Project management firm Bruceshaw London rebrands to Concert

Project management firm Bruceshaw London rebrands to Concert

As of today,  15 October 2020, project management firm Bruceshaw London has changed its name to Concert. The company says the change reflects the increasingly vital role of the Project Manager and Cost Consultant in the construction sector. The rebrand is the result of an extensive engagement programme with clients and employees, as well as an investigation of the wider market in which it operates. The firm says new brand capitalises on over 46 years of industry experience and knowledge, whilst focusing the lens firmly on excellence and future growth. More →

Singapore, Helsinki and Zurich are top of the world`s smart cities

Singapore, Helsinki and Zurich are top of the world`s smart cities

Singapore, Helsinki and Zurich have taken the top three places positions in the 2020 IMD-SUTD Smart City Index Report, a collaboration between IMD and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). The 2020 Index ranked 109 cities, 7 more than in last year’s inaugural edition, by using both economic and technological data, taken together with citizens’ perceptions of how “smart” their cities were. It is published under the aegis of the IMD Smart City Observatory (SCO). More →

No jab, no job? Can employers demand that workers take COVID-19 tests?

No jab, no job? Can employers demand that workers take COVID-19 tests?

As workers’ begin to populate office floors once more, employers must navigate a number of potential risks to ensure they are ‘COVID-19 secure’. As a result, the subject of ‘employee testing’ has made headlines, with the decision over whether employers can, or should, test their employees becoming an area of contention. More →

Frontline and front of mind; communicating with employees away from HQ 

Frontline and front of mind; communicating with employees away from HQ 

It has been a rough year for business. Many organisations have had to evolve their operating models overnight, go to great lengths to keep their people safe and build entirely new ways of working to ensure they can stay afloat. A lot have had to fast forward five years into the future in a few months – and that’s no mean feat.  More →

Employers facing surge of workplace health problems

Employers facing surge of workplace health problems

Doctors are becoming increasingly concerned about a cascade of work-related health problems during the fallout from COVID-19, with some predicting dire consequences for employers and the economy. Whilst many have become used to working at home or have returned to work with social distancing in place, many employers are not aware that the responsibility for managing health issues amongst their employee’s rests firmly on their shoulders. More →

Fifth of firms don’t offer support to employees with drug and alcohol issues

Fifth of firms don’t offer support to employees with drug and alcohol issues

Around one in five (21 percent) employers are failing to offer proactive support to workers to help prevent and provide support on issues of drugs and alcohol misuse, according to newly published research from the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development. More →

Is it time to get rid of all workplace policies and procedures?

Is it time to get rid of all workplace policies and procedures?

workplace policiesAfter twenty-five years of telling employers that their first response to any workplace problem should be ‘draw up a policy’, it pains me to even suggest this; but what if we abolished all workplace policies and procedures? Yes, you heard me correctly – no policies for discipline and grievances, for handling sickness absence, menopause, mental health, flexible working, redundancies, emails, dress codes, discrimination etcetera. More →