Search Results for: media

June 14, 2016

Winning over employees during the great Summer of sport ⁰

by Jamie Mackenzie • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

The summer brings about many challenges for both employers and employees. The longer days, warmer weather, and reduced staff numbers are an annual occurrence that managers need to factor in; 2016 also brings a particularly exciting season of sport. High profile events such as Wimbledon, Euro 2016 and the Olympics are already upon us, with many of the events taking place during working hours. Research from Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services suggests that 1 in 5 people say they typically feel the least motivated during summer or when there is a sporting event taking place. Managers need to combat this in order to maintain productivity levels throughout the summer – but how can this be achieved? And how can they use the opportunity presented by the Summer of sport to build closer relationships with employees that will have longer term benefits for the business than the immediate challenges they present?

(more…)

June 14, 2016

What does Stephen Hawking have to do with office productivity? ⁰

by Darren Bilsborough • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

Whether you are in the business of running a company or even running a country, the words efficiency and productivity are not only frequently used in policy and strategic rhetoric, they also appear to be largely interchangeable. This is frequently problematic. There is no denying the importance of both, but understanding their differences is vital to achieving real success when focusing on financial outcomes. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines efficiency and productivity in the following ways: Efficiency – the ability to do something or produce something without wasting materials, time, or energy. Productivity – the rate at which goods are produced or work is completed. Essentially, increasing efficiency means doing more with less, whereas increasing productivity means producing more with the same, for a business this typically means with the same amount of staff, space, time or materials.

(more…)

June 13, 2016

UK faces digital skills gap … but simply hiring Millennials won’t close it ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Workplace

Although the UK remains a global tech leader, the country remains in the grip of a digital skills crisis which is holding back productivity and costs around £63 billion each year, according to a report published today by the Commons Science and Technology Committee. The report claims that 12.6 million UK adults lack even basic digital skills, and nearly half of these people (5.8 million) have never even used the internet. Meanwhile, a coincidental report published by Cisco claims that those organisations who apparently assume they can close the gap by merely employing so-called Millennials, will be disappointed because there’s no great correlation between age and confidence in using digital technology. The Digital Culture Clash report found the only meaningful correlations were between the type of work an individual does, their level of employment and their competence and confidence in using technology.

(more…)

June 9, 2016

Commercial real estate investment strong despite Brexit-related slowdown ⁰

by Sara Bean • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property

Partly due to the uncertainty leading up to the EU referendum, employment intentions within Financial and Business Services (FBS) have slowed, but rental growth within the commercial property sector should remain healthy, particularly if the ‘remain’ vote prevails, the latest Real Estate investment forecasts from Colliers has revealed. Offices will continue to drive rental growth across the commercial property sector and it’s expected that rents will rise by 6.8 percent this year and average 3.9 percent in 2016-2020. Although it’s slowed a little, Central London will continue to attract demand and push the overall rate up, with a still strong growth of 8.4 percent in 2016. In addition, the artificial barriers between individual London ‘villages’ are increasingly breaking down, creating a fluid market for office occupiers in the capital, with more options for geographical relocations and expansions. This will continue to benefit the Rest of London, which is expected to see rents increase by 8.1 percent this year.

(more…)

June 3, 2016

Commercial real estate failing to meet sustainability standards ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

There is an urgent need for more action and greater leadership in tackling sustainability requirements in commercial real estate. Just a handful of large companies are meeting sustainability challenges, according to Bilfinger GVA’s sixth Green to Gold survey on the risks of rising sustainability pressures and market demands, with the progress being made not as strong as expected. Although 84 percent of respondents acknowledged that they have a sustainability strategy in place, there are still huge gaps that need to be filled in order to meet appropriate standards. Only 50 percent admitted to assessing operational energy efficiency, whilst 63 percent are not assigning specific figures for the costs or benefits of sustainability issues in investment appraisal calculations. Added to this, 43 percent are yet to assess their portfolio’s risk profile with regards to Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards. This means the industry now finds itself with more to achieve in significantly less time.

(more…)

June 2, 2016

European Championships 2016: advice and guidance issued for employers ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Not that I care*, but the UEFA European Championships will apparently take place in France from Friday 10th June 2016 until Sunday 10th July 2016, with the kick off times varying between 2pm and 8pm. The main issues which will affect both employee and employers will be around; requests for annual leave; sickness absence and internet and social media use during working hours. Aside from the irritation felt by those of us who don’t follow the beautiful game, it’s probably best to adhere to advice from workplace experts such as Acas and Sodexo, that flexibility from both employers and employees throughout the championships will ensure a productive business and engaged workforce. Acas counsels that before the start of the tournament or any major sporting event it would be best to have agreements in place regarding such issues as time off, sickness absence or even watching TV during these events.

(more…)

June 1, 2016

Surprising number of people fear they will soon be replaced by a robot ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Workplace

A surprisingly large proportion of the British working population believes it could find its job taken by a robot within the next 10 to 50 years, according to a study from software firm Opentext. The survey of 2,000 people found that 42 percent of them overall believe their jobs will be automated within half a century and around a quarter feel it could happen within the next decade. A surprisingly large number – 7 percent- feel they could be ousted by a robot within the next two years. The results display a strong generational bias with19 per cent of 18-24 year olds claiming that they sometimes or frequently worry about this issue. The older generation on the other hand rarely, if ever, worries about robots taking its jobs with 73 per cent of 45-54 year olds saying that they never worry about being replaced by automation. Even so, 25 percent of those in this age group believe that robots might replace them over the course of the next decade.

(more…)

May 25, 2016

Urban Millennials are worried about the same things as everybody else ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Comment

The acid test for any survey of the attitudes and experiences of Millennials is whether you could replace its findings with those for another generation and come up with broadly the same results. The answer is very often ‘yes’, which can generally be explained by pointing out that, contrary to what you may have heard, Millennials are people too and not the Midwich Cuckoos. So, here we have a survey from an organisation called YouthfulCities which claims that Millennials living in the world’s major cities are concerned about the high cost of housing, employment opportunities, inadequate infrastructure, crime and their personal happiness. Just like everybody else then. Except that the conclusion the survey draws is that cities need to become more ‘youthful’. Presumably in exactly the same way that office occupiers are routinely told that they need to create youthful workplaces, which is not only patronising to Millennials but also ignores the fact they’re not the only people there.

(more…)

May 25, 2016

An out of hours email ban and why we all need the ‘right to disconnect’ ⁰

by Adrian Lewis • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, Work&Place, Workplace

The recent announcement from President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party that they plan to give French employees the “right to disconnect” by pushing through measures for an email ban out of hours has been the subject of great debate. Although many commentators have argued the need for employers to encourage people to ‘switch off’ when they aren’t in work, to date there have been no legal guidelines on this specific issue, despite several negative reports about modern technology blurring the boundaries between home and work, which some claim is creating a stress epidemic. In the UK, the Working Time Regulations specify that no worker should work more than 48 hours per week. However, there has been no case law as to whether or not checking work emails outside working hours would fall within this limit – and many UK staff check and respond to work emails outside work hours, even on holidays.

(more…)

May 23, 2016

Many EU workers clinging to their fax machines and desktops, claims report ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace design

If you think the way people work is probably not quite as glossily portrayed in the media, then you’d probably be right. A lot more European workers than is commonly supposed still believe that fax machines are essential business tools, according to a new report from unified communications business Fuze. In a study of the working habits of 5,000 EU employees, it found that the fax machine is considered ‘essential’ by 30 percent of workers in the UK, 39 percent in Germany and 42 percent in France. The report also found that many also think that desktop computers are still more important in their day-to-day working lives that laptops, tablets or smartphones. Anybody horrified by the report’s findings will be heartened by its claim that the machines will die off in time as a new generation of people who don’t know what the hell a fax machine is supplant those who still cling to their battered, old, paper-based devices.

(more…)

May 23, 2016

Online immersion transforming the way people learn and develop ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

According to a new report from The Open University, the UK’s near universal immersion in online behaviour is having a profound effect on the way employees learn and develop. The Trends in Learning 2016 report claims that businesses can do more to leverage these high rates of internet access, using online training solutions to ensure that they have a fully tech-savvy and highly-skilled workforce. The authors suggest that as individuals in the UK have become more used to accessing information online, demand for this access at work has also increased. According to research conducted by Towards Maturity, 57 per cent of workplace learners like to be able to access learning on-the-go and 18 per cent are now learning at their work desks. Organisations who can take advantage of this demand for mobile-optimised information will be able to develop a culture of learning in their workforces that boosts productivity and engagement.

(more…)

May 18, 2016

Younger working mothers bear the brunt of maternity discrimination ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

As we’ve discussed before, when female workers have children their career prospects and salaries begin to slip. Having kids young and ramping up your career in your late 30s isn’t an option either as many working mothers find it difficult to secure flexible and well paid work with good career prospects while still in the early years of their career. This is one of the reasons why the average age of mothers in this country is now 34 and rather more controversially, why companies such as Apple and Facebook are offering women the chance to have their eggs frozen. More disturbingly though, research by the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found young mothers are significantly more likely to experience pregnancy and maternity discrimination, with six times as many under 25 year olds than average reporting being dismissed from their jobs after they tell their employer they are pregnant.