Search Results for: media

November 25, 2016

Workplace professionals should look to the consumer sector for boosting engagement ⁰

by Jeff Flanagan • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

More and more businesses are recognising the power of the workplace experience to drive employee performance and engagement. Global brand Airbnb, for example, has now renamed its head of human resources as “chief employee experience officer.” This is good news for workplace design and management professionals. We are well placed to capitalise on this shift in business opinion, but if we want to make a tangible impact, we need to bring practical solutions to the table. First and foremost, these need to be backed up by research. There have been few studies specifically into what makes a healthy and productive work environment. However, there are a number of research projects that examine how a human being’s surroundings impact their mood and behaviour, and in particular how consumer environments shape customers’ perception of and engagement with a brand. As workplace professionals, we can learn a great deal from this consumer research and this is why workplace design and management teams should look towards consumer-facing industries for inspiration.

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November 23, 2016

Gender earnings gap in tech sector is significantly higher than national average ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

The high tech sector may pride itself on offering some of the most attractive and modern workplace environments, but when it comes to equal parity between the sexes it seems out of date. New research from Mercer claims that at 25 percent, the gender earnings gap in the UK’s high tech sector is significantly higher than the national average (18 percent). The consultancy also found that small companies have the largest gap, with a 30 percent difference in (median) pay between all male and female employees, and a 26 percent gap when considering mean base salaries. This difference reduces as company sizes grow. Where the data allowed comparison of pay between women and men in equal job roles, the pay gap was much smaller, typically 8 percent. This is comparable to the UK norm of 9 percent for this type of analysis. The reasons for this gap is due on further analysis to a multitude of factors including the reluctance of many women to enter the tech field, not enough effort being put into promoting women and a lack of will in promoting flexible working patterns.

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November 16, 2016

Two thirds of female professionals’ jobs downgraded after career break ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A lack of flexible roles means that two thirds of professional women who return to work after a career break, work fewer hours than they prefer or go into lower-skilled or lower-paid roles, claims new research by PwC, in conjunction with Women Returners and 30% Club. 427,000 UK female professionals are currently estimated to be on a career break and likely to return to the workforce in the future. Of those, three in five (249,000) are likely to enter lower-skilled roles when they return to work. This has serious implications for earnings as this downgrading is associated with an immediate 12-32 percent reduction in hourly earnings, depending on whether the woman remains with the same employer. A further 29,000 women returning to part-time work would prefer to work longer hours but are unable to due to a lack of flexible roles. Altogether, two-thirds of (or around 278,000) women could be working below their potential when they return to the workforce.

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November 15, 2016

‘Western’ millennials rate sense of purpose most important job criterion ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

A sense of purpose remains the top priority among ‘Western’ millennials from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France; but in the largest emerging economies, including China and India, salary and career advancement remain the most important job criteria, according to the Global Shapers Annual Survey for 2016. While the US, UK and Canada lead the list among young people who would like to live abroad to advance their careers, the United Arab Emirates and China are the most preferred emerging-market countries, the survey from the World Economic Forum survey claims. They came in at 11th and 12th place, respectively, ahead of the Scandinavian countries, all other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries and Singapore. One reason for the strong performance of the UAE may be the good prospects for landing a job in the country. While 34 percent of millennials globally identified the lack of economic opportunity and employment as one of the three most serious issues affecting their country – making it the biggest issue of concern after corruption –only one in 10 of the UAE respondents said they see unemployment as a serious issue.

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November 15, 2016

Increased take-up of office space in Manchester as Brexit influences investors ⁰

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

Take-up of prime office space in central Manchester is on course to hit 1 million sq ft in 2016 and could be influenced by the impact of Brexit. The latest research by Colliers International suggests that overseas investors retained an interest in prime Manchester office space partly because of the devaluation of sterling following the Referendum vote for the UK to leave the EU – as proven by the recent £164m acquisition of the 288,000 sq ft One St Peter’s Square by global real estate investor Deka Immobilien. There have been a series of other major deals, including an insurance firm taking 165,000 sq ft of Grade A office scheme, a global law firm moving its global centre into an 80,848 sq ft development; and a government department negotiating a 60,000 sq ft deal. The legal sector accounted for almost 25 percent of total office take-up so far in 2016, followed by media and technology (16 percent) and business services (15 percent). However, all this activity may result in a lack of ready to occupy space in the city by early 2017.

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November 14, 2016

Vast majority of UK employers are against a ‘hard Brexit’ finds CIPD ⁰

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, Legal news, News, Workplace

The implications of Brexit are raising concerns over a reduction in employers’ intentions to invest in their staff and its effects on access to migrant labour. As a result, according to the latest quarterly CIPD/Adecco Group Labour Market Outlook, while employment growth looks set to continue in the UK, there are signs that this is beginning to slow and that real wages are likely to fall during 2017 for many employees. The data shows that the net employment balance, while remaining in positive territory at +22, based on the difference between the share of employers expanding their workforce and the share of employers reducing their workforce, has shown a slight negative decline from the previous quarter’s figure of +27. Although 42 percent of employers believe that future restrictions on EU labour could damage their UK operations, just 15 percent have started to prepare for this eventuality; which is probably why the vast majority are against a ‘hard Brexit’.

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November 9, 2016

Will Brexit mean business as usual for employment law? ⁰

by Michael Farrelly • Comment, Legal news, Workplace

The decision by the UK electorate to leave the European Union has created widespread uncertainty in almost all areas of law, with employment law particularly affected. A large amount of present UK employment law has its base in EU law, which means a withdrawal from the EU could result in UK employment rights no longer being guaranteed by the EU. This leaves both employees and employers in a state of flux and uncertainty, and the approach that has thus far been taken by the government appears to have been driven, to a very large degree, by a desire to create a sense of continuity. Both the Prime Minister Theresa May and Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, have repeatedly sought to offer reassurances that the rights of workers will remain largely unchanged post-Brexit. Given the political situation, however, it is entirely possible that this may end up being simple rhetoric rather than a deliverable result.

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November 4, 2016

Corporate responsibility now essential to attract and retain millennials ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Corporate social responsibility is no longer seen as more than a nice to have, with those working within the built environment for example, appreciating the role it has in reducing greenhouse gases. But it is also being increasingly seen as a positive way of attracting and engaging the right talent. Now according to a new survey carried out in the US, meaningful engagement around CSR is becoming a business – and bottom line – imperative, impacting a company’s ability to appeal to, retain and inspire Millennial talent. Three-quarters (76 percent) of Millennials consider a company’s social and environmental commitments when deciding where to work and nearly two-thirds (64 percent) won’t take a job if a potential employer doesn’t have strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, according to the 2016 Cone Communications Millennial Employee Engagement Study. Because the millennial generation are the most likely to blend their personal and working lives, it’s more important to them than other generations to view their job as a way to make a positive impact on society, the study suggests.

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October 26, 2016

Two-thirds of British workers more productive working in the office ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Despite half (50 percent) of the British workforce saying they are equipped with the right tools and technology to enable them to work anywhere, half (50 percent) of respondents to a new survey stated that remote working can make them feel stressed, isolated or lonely (43 percent) and over half (53 percent) said that working out of the office makes them feel disconnected from colleagues. The survey from Peldon Rose, found that two-thirds (66 percent) of British workers say they work most productively in the office compared with a quarter (26 percent) who work most productively at home. The survey results also underline how vital close working relationships with colleagues are to employees’ happiness, wellbeing and productivity with nine in 10 (91 percent) of office workers stating they value their friendships within the workplace and 80 percent crediting their friendships with colleagues with helping them to be more productive at work – something they feel boosts their productivity even more than personal technology (66 percent).

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October 25, 2016

Millennials have just the same needs for peace and quiet as everybody else ⁰

by Steven Lambert • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Asked for the dream millennial workplace, most people would probably envision a brightly coloured open environment with pool tables, bean bag chairs and maybe a small basketball court. But it turns out that young people in the workplace have the same psychological requirements as the old crowd, and may even be more sensitive to distractions. A recent study by Oxford Economics suggests that distractions in the workplace are seriously hindering people’s ability to concentrate and perform, with little recognition from above. The transition to open offices since the end of the 20th century and the environmental factors they bring into play may be affecting people’s mental health, reducing employee happiness and thereby the bottom line of business performance.

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October 24, 2016

Gartner report identifies the Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2017 ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

A new report from tech analysts Gartner highlights the top technology trends the firm believes will be ‘strategic for most organisations in 2017’. Gartner defines a strategic technology trend as one with substantial disruptive potential that is just beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader impact and use or which are rapidly growing trends with a high degree of volatility reaching tipping points over the next five years. They include artificial intelligence, blockchain, intelligent devices, digital technology platforms and advanced machine learning.

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October 24, 2016

How and why employee fitness became part of the corporate agenda ⁰

by Michael Page • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

As the national obesity crisis worsens and a regular flow of statistics inform us that we’re a nation in trouble, with no demographic escaping the threat, we seem to have become obsessed with how fit or unfit we are. This is reflected in our growing interest in how many calories we consume and how much exercise we manage – right down to how many steps we take a day. No surprise then that this interest has started to manifest itself in the workplace where employee fitness appears to be an issue addressed in the boardroom. Last year, research carried out by The Workforce Institute at Kronos revealed that almost 75 per cent of workers (a total of 9,000 were questioned) believe that wearable technology, designed to capture vast amounts of biometric data and manage health risks, could lead to increased efficiency and productivity in the workplace. Measuring levels of physical activity is but a small part of the obsession with health and well-being which has infiltrated the workplace overall. There is also physical evidence, from the desks that we sit at to issues of bicycle storage and showering facilities, that we are mindful of our health.