Search Results for: management

BIFM to change its name to reflect greater focus on workplace issues and pursue chartered status

BIFM to change its name to reflect greater focus on workplace issues and pursue chartered status

by • Facilities management, News

The British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) has today announced plans to embrace ‘workplace’ as a key ‘differentiator’ for its members and to help establish facilities management as a chartered profession. The manifesto for change announced by BIFM Chair Stephen Roots, sets out to ‘reposition facilities management, emphasising its ability to make a real contribution to organisations’ performance’. It sets the Institute the ‘twin tasks of helping members to improve their skills and their status to meet the needs of modern organisations, and to raise the profile of facilities management and the understanding of the value it contributes’. The proposed new name is the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM).

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Prospects for UK commercial property continue to improve, claims report

Prospects for UK commercial property continue to improve, claims report

by • News, Property

facilities managementThe latest edition of the Investment Property Forum’s (IPF) UK commercial real estate consensus report claims that the commercial property sector’s sentiment for the current year continues to improve. In its latest report, IPF said the “outlook for 2018 has improved over the three months since the last survey” was conducted, with average rental and capital value growth rates increasing in virtually all sectors. It claims that the rental value growth average forecast has risen to 0.8 percent from 0.4 percent three months ago. Also, the average capital value growth rate has now increased to -0.2 percent from -0.7 percent in November with industrial growth now expected to be 4.0 percent from 2.7 percent in the last survey.

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Report outlines the impact of universities on regional economies and entrepreneurship

Report outlines the impact of universities on regional economies and entrepreneurship

by • News, Public Sector

Although universities contribute to one in every hundred new business births in the UK, but 35 percent of universities did not contribute to the production of a single graduate start-up last year, according to a new report from Localis. It claims that while there are pockets of excellence in the way universities support enterprise and entrepreneurship across the country, too many of them are doing too little. Published in partnership with University College London (UCL) and the University of Huddersfield (UoH), the report explores what more can be done to encourage university entrepreneurial activity and its role in local economies.

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Modest growth in UK construction activity is driven by commercial office projects

Modest growth in UK construction activity is driven by commercial office projects

by • Facilities management, News, Property

Modest growth in UK construction activity driven by commercial office projects

Construction activity in the UK has stabilised after a prolonged period of decline, according to the latest JLL and Glenigan UK Commercial Construction Activity Index. Key findings for the last quarter of 2017 show an overall increase in construction activity for the second consecutive quarter, driven mainly by commercial office developments. This follows overall growth of 7.9 percent in the third quarter of 2017, halting a sharp decline seen since mid-2015. Highlighting movement across different sectors, growth in office construction was up 11.2 percent to £4.5 billion, education (up 12.0 percent to £3.5 billion) and community (up 19.9 percent to £0.6 billion) sectors.

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Occupiers incorporating third-party agile space into their real estate strategy

Occupiers incorporating third-party agile space into their real estate strategy

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Property, Workplace design

Occupiers increasingly incorporate third-party 'agile space' into their real estate strategyCorporate real estate departments need to become more effective partners in the agile transformation of their broader organizations., claims a new survey conducted by CBRE, in partnership with CoreNet Global. When describing Portfolio Agility, i.e. the ability to rapidly adapt, scale and reposition the organization’s real estate portfolio to support shifting enterprise needs, 67 percent consider portfolio agility as the most important type of agility for business success, yet only 14 percent consider themselves highly agile in this area. The most prevalent portfolio agility practices included negotiating flexible space options in the lease, seeking shorter and/or more flexible lease terms, supporting an enterprise-wide flex-work program and delivering free address work environments. The report states that new workplace guidelines for efficiency have altered the way companies plan for density and more occupiers are incorporating third-party ‘agile space’ into their overall real estate strategy.

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Cities must harness potential of new technology to keep themselves moving

Cities must harness potential of new technology to keep themselves moving

by • AI, Cities, News

The UK Government needs to develop a new transport strategy based on local partnerships to keep up with technological advances in areas such as self-driving cars, claims a new report. Rethinking Urban Mobility has been published by engineering company Arup, in collaboration with the London Transport Museum, law firm Gowling WLG and transport company Thales. The report coincides with the publication of a similar study from the World Economic Forum which claims that autonomous and shared vehicles, digitalisation and decentralisation of energy systems require new approaches to mobility.

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Majority of employers want students to acquire leadership skills but few offer placements

by • News, Workplace

The majority of employers want students to have work experience to help acquire leadership skills, yet not even a third say they actually offer placements. This is according to new research published today by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) which is calling on employers to collaborate with business schools and universities in creating courses to provide future leaders. The Chartered Management Institute’s 21st Century Leaders report found that seven in 10 (70 percent) of prospective employers now want management, enterprise and leadership modules made available to all higher education students to improve their work-ready skills. Two-thirds (66 percent) of employers say they want to see graduates achieve professional qualifications as well as their main degree. The growing emphasis on graduate employability has been driven by employers concerned about skills shortages, with 82 percent of employers reporting problems recruiting managers. A majority of managers (85 percent) said work experience should be embedded into courses to help develop these skills and make students more employable. Yet only 29 percent of businesses work with business schools to offer placements.

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Built environment needs to address the talent gap to make the digital transition says WEF

Built environment needs to address the talent gap to make the digital transition says WEF

by • AI, Architecture, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Built environment needs to address the talent gap to make digital transition says WEFThe construction industry needs new talent and skills to help in the adoption of new technologies to meet the challenges of digital transformation. It must also become more diverse, including increasing the percentage of women in the industry. These are the recommendations of a new report from the World Economic Forum, developed in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Shaping the Future of Construction: An Action Plan to solve the Industry’s Talent Gap. The report argues that the Infrastructure and Urban Development (IU) industry has failed to innovate as quickly as other sectors, resulting in stagnating productivity and negative effects on the economy, society and the environment. An ongoing industry-wide shortage of qualified workers is among the key reasons for this issue. It has undermined project management and execution, adversely affecting cost, timelines and quality. It also has impeded the adoption of new digital technologies, such as building information modelling (BIM), automated equipment and cloud-based collaboration tools, which could improve productivity. The report provides twelve key actions which needs to be implemented to close the structural talent gap of the construction industry.

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Open plan offices are distracting and reduce rather than improve productivity, says report

Open plan offices are distracting and reduce rather than improve productivity, says report

by • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

Open plan offices are distracting and reduce rather than improve productivity says report

Open, collaborative work environments have been hailed as a boost to collaboration and performance, but since individual tasks that require high levels of concentration and minimum disruption still account for over half of the typical working day, noise and distraction within open plan workplaces prevent employees from focusing properly and may reduce productivity, claims a new report. According to research by Unispace, 60 percent of the average working day is devoted to individual task-focused work; 25 percent to collaboration, 7 percent to socialising and the same for learning. The research found that the issue of noise has actually become much worse over the last 12 months, with more workers complaining compared to the same research conducted in 2016. Survey respondents flagged noise (15 percent) as the primary cause of inefficiency during the working week, a number that has risen by four per cent in just 12 months. Second to this was a lack of quiet areas (13 percent), a lack of privacy (9 percent) and 7 percent felt that the temperature and air quality of their office was also a factor. The findings come as part of Unispace’s research of more than 11,000 workers in a global study of working practices and workplace design.

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Neurodiversity not on the agenda for 9 out of 10 UK organisations

Neurodiversity not on the agenda for 9 out of 10 UK organisations

by • News, Wellbeing

Just 1 in 10 organisations say consideration of neurodiversity is included in their people management practices, despite around 10 percent of the UK population being neurodivergent in some way, according to a poll of HR professionals from the CIPD. Neurodiversity refers to the natural range of differences in human brain function. Amongst employers, it’s used to describe alternative thinking styles including dyslexia, autism, ADHD and dyspraxia as they relate to diversity and inclusion. These can have unique strengths, ranging from data-driven thinking to sustained focus over long periods, an ability to spot patterns and trends, and the capacity to process information at extraordinary speeds. It is estimated that at least 10 percent of the UK population is neurodivergent.

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Luther, Marx, Engels and a nailed-on manifesto for workplace change

Luther, Marx, Engels and a nailed-on manifesto for workplace change

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

In October 1517 Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to a church door in Wittenberg, thereby setting in motion the process that we know now as the Reformation. At least since that time, it has been apparent that a revolutionary manifesto needs to be laid at somebody’s door – or nailed to it – at the right moment for it to achieve its aims. Revolutionary manifestos are easy enough to set out, but the tract is nothing without traction.

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Business leaders increasingly optimistic about benefits of artificial intelligence in the workplace

Business leaders increasingly optimistic about benefits of artificial intelligence in the workplace

by • AI, News, Technology

Executives at major organisations increasingly believe that pairing humans alongside machine intelligence will create a more effective, engaged, and meritocratic workplace, according to a new study released by software provider Pegasystems Inc (registration required). The authors surveyed 845 senior executives working globally across industry sectors including financial services, insurance, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and media, and government, on the increased role of automation and artificial intelligence in the workplace of the future. The potential impact in the workplace seems to outweigh any lingering fears, the report claims. Around 69 percent of of respondents say “workforce” will refer to both humans and machine intelligence in the future. Nearly three-quarters of executives said using machines to augment human abilities would lead to increased efficiency. Over 60 percent said it could be used to improve customer service.

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