Search Results for: office

September 15, 2016

Sick staff pressured to come to work, despite reduced productivity ⁰

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

Over two thirds of employees (68.3 percent) say that they feel guilty for taking sick days despite the fact that they’re vastly less productive when they do show up ill, a new survey suggests. Yet more than two thirds (67.5 percent) still go into work when they are unwell, and over half (54.6 percent) report that their employer does not send them home when they’ve felt ill at work. According to the research from CV-Library, the average employee (66.4 percent) only takes between one to two sick days a year; and of those that do take time off, over a third (34.2 percent) of employees say their managers put pressure on them to return to work early and a further 44.7 percent said their employer questions their sickness when they are ill. Worse still, it seems that over half (52.9 percent) of managers still contact their employees whilst they are off sick, adding extra pressure and not giving staff time, and space, to relax and recover.

(more…)

September 13, 2016

Sensory response to workplace environment influences performance ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Knowledge, News, Workplace, Workplace design

Improving employees’ physical and emotional response to their working environment – from the look and feel of a workplace to non-visual sensory inputs such as smell, noise and temperature – can significantly improve productivity and cognitive performance, a new report suggests. According to Decoding the workplace experience: how the working environment shapes views, behaviours and performance, experience is not just about how well the workplace satisfies functional needs, it is about the overall impression it leaves on the user and the way an employee experiences an environment is emotional and occurs potentially at a subconscious level. Sensory influences such as the smell, noise and temperature of the working environment are among the main factors that influence employees’ experiences of the workplace and impact thier performance. Expectations of the workplace also change depending on personality, background and numerous other factors; which is why understanding your workforce is the key to creating an effective workplace experience.

(more…)

September 13, 2016

The future of London depends on cohesion, flexible working and infrastructure ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Features, News, Products, Technology

The future of London is the subject of a new and wide ranging collection of essays from Think Tank Localis. It includes contributions from the likes of Boris Johnson, Terry Farrell, Peter Bazalgette and Justine Roberts. Its core theme is that while London has established itself as one of the world’s great financial and cultural powerhouses over the last thirty years, it now faces a number of new challenges and intransigent problems that it must address in a new globalised era. These have taken on a new perspective as the UK prepares to negotiate a new relationship with the EU, something which the report repeats was not the choice of Londoners, but which did perhaps reveal a neglect of the rest of the UK as the Government focused too much attention and investment on the capital. So, while the report focuses on London it also tries to create a vision of a London better integrated with the needs of the rest of the UK and based on a new partnership with the EU.

(more…)

September 12, 2016

Overwork and burnout affects all the generations in the workplace ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers are all feeling overworked and burned out, which is motivating many to look for another job; and according to the latest Staples Business Advantage 2016 Workplace Index it’s the older workers who are most motivated at work by a sense of purpose, with Baby Boomers (46 percent) and Generation X (32 percent) having more of a sense of purpose at work than their younger Millennial counterparts (24 percent). Fifty percent of Millennials, 47 percent of Gen X, and 35 percent of Boomers however, say burnout is driving them to look for another job; with Boomers wishing their employer would decrease their workload and provide more time to complete tasks, while Gen X and Millennials are looking for a more flexible schedule and work-life blend. Aesthetics in the office are also key, regardless of age, as 51 percent of Millennials, 44 percent of Gen X, and 33 percent of Boomers would like to see more attention paid to office design.

(more…)

September 10, 2016

Home working myths + Millennial’s needs + Global sustainability ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Newsletter, Property, Workplace, Workplace design

In this week’s Newsletter; Mark Eltringham finds some global patterns in office design, but many local differences; suggests we stop treating Generation Y as an alien species; and shares a new report which suggests that younger people are in fact people after all. A new study finds that the perceived benefits of working from home disappear over time; Germans now work significantly longer hours than twenty years ago; and two thirds of those who have worked as an independent contractor in the US would choose not to do so again. The commercial office sector leads the global property market in sustainability; Mothers with young children are a third less likely to be in work than fathers; and we round up the latest post-Brexit news. Download our new Briefing, produced in partnership with Boss Design on the link between culture and workplace strategy and design; visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

September 8, 2016

What do Millennials and Gen Z want from work? The same as everybody else ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace design

More evidence that younger people are in fact people after all emerges with the publication of a new report from Randstad and Future Workplace. The study of over 4,000 individuals worldwide claims that despite widespread belief, 41 percent of Generation Z employees believe that collaborative, corporate offices combined with a degree of autonomy and flexibility is their preferred way to work. They prefer bosses with strong communication skills, value face to face meetings, are irritated by distractions and believe they will probably have a career focussed oln one specific sector. As a follow-up to a previous study conducted in 2014, the Gen Z & Millennials Collide@Work report focuses on the impact of Gen Z entering the workplace for the first time and how Millennials are engaging with them. Both studies claim that Gen Z and Millennials continue to prefer communicating with co-workers and managers in-person in lieu of email and phone.

(more…)

September 6, 2016

Two thirds of US gig economy workers would choose not to repeat the experience ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

While the number of independent workers in the US gig economy is expected to grow to 54 million people by 2020 and some 40 percent of workers have already experienced it according to MBO Partners: State of Independence in America 2016, a new online poll by Deloitte of nearly 4,000 workers found that 67 percent of those who have worked as an independent contractor would choose not to do so again in future. Additionally, more than 60 percent of employed workers said that their stability would suffer if they moved to independent contract work, and 42 percent worry about sacrificing good compensation and benefits. Four-in-ten respondents (41 percent) recognise that independent contracting offers more flexibility to work where, when, and how they want to as compared to full-time employment. However, respondents cite inconsistent cash flow and lack of employer-paid benefits as drawbacks that discourage them from pursuing independent work.

(more…)

September 6, 2016

Post Brexit business confidence returns but overall uncertainty remains ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Legal news, News, Property

Blink and you’ll miss some news item on Brexit, so here’s just some of the stuff we’ve picked up on the last few days. It’s hard to imagine that any of these stories might be woven into some sort of coherent narrative, especially when the Prime Minister has yet to announce any details or timescales for the UK’s mooted withdrawal from the EU, if not the Single Market. Some of the ifs and buts are laid out in this excellent blog, but the reality is that nobody really knows what will happen and, as the writer suggests, the UK may not have the expertise to deliver a coherent withdrawal anyway. In the meantime, there appears to be some sense that business is returning to normal. The key CIPS/Markit survey of business confidence has bounced back both quickly and strongly and there are other signs that not all is doom and gloom. That said, there are clear signs that overseas partners are spooked amid the uncertainty even though the still low Sterling exchange rate continues to make the UK attractive.

(more…)

September 5, 2016

We’re only just beginning to understand the issue of indoor air quality ⁰

by Paul McLaughlin • Cities, Comment, Facilities management, Wellbeing

Our aim at BESA is to raise awareness about indoor air quality and encourage more people to be mindful of the best solutions for particular buildings and building types to ultimately promote a healthy workplace environment. The BESA revealed the results of a recent YouGov survey (released on 17 August 2016), which looked into views of office workers and their attitudes toward indoor air pollution in office environments across the UK. The aim of the study was to illustrate attitudes, behaviours and perceptions in order to understand how office workers feel, think and act. Our survey, combined with our ongoing research and collaborations, shows us that opening a window isn’t always the most effective solution to accessing ‘fresh air’ in offices. BESA wholeheartedly agree with Mark Eltringham’s comment that clean, fresh air, is the best way to ventilate a workplace environment. Our survey was commissioned to highlight that in the urban, office environment, this is not always possible.

(more…)

September 4, 2016

Bisley release details of The Workification of Home event ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Company news, Events, Flexible working

On 14th September, Bisley is hosting a panel discussion at its showroom led by Professor Jeremy Myerson of the Royal Academy of Art. The event is called The Workification of Home – the future trend for the flexible workforce? Jeremy will be joined by a panel of experts to debate the blurring boundaries between our domestic and professional lives, the rise of the freelance economy, tech start ups, mobile technology and the trend for co-working, The panel will debate how these factors have penetrated the culture, design and expectation of where, when and how we want to work and how workers can manage and maintain a successful work/life blend, by creating effective and conducive spaces in the home. Joining Jeremy are: Kirstin Furber – People Director at BBC Worldwide; Sebastian Conran- Leading product and furniture designer; David Barrett – Buyer of Living, Dining and Home office at John Lewis; Amelia Coward – Founder and Creative Director at Bombus.com. The event takes place at 6pm on the 14th September at the Bisley Showroom, Great Portland Street, London.

September 1, 2016

One sixth of Australians now work from home mainly to keep up with workload ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace

Almost a third (3.5 million) of all employed people in Australia now regularly work from home in their main job or business, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). “42 per cent of those who regularly work from home cited catching up on work as the main reason,” said Jennifer Humphrys, Director of Labour Market Analytics at the ABS. “A further 20 per cent regularly worked from home because they wanted an office or didn’t want to pay rent or overheads.” This means in effect that one in six Australians now feel unable to complete their work in normal office hours. These were some of the results from the Characteristics of Employment survey, conducted in August 2015, which collected information on the distribution of weekly earnings, working arrangements and independent contractors. “Nearly one in five employed persons usually worked shift work. Of these, two-fifths usually worked a rotating shift, which periodically changed,” said Ms Humphrys.

August 30, 2016

Overwork leads to sleeplessness and lower workplace productivity ⁰

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

A new study claims that there is a direct link between sleep and productivity. A survey of more than 97,000 employees in 33 industries and 139 countries from Global Corporate Challenge (GCC), found evidence of a link between sleep and performance. Currently, one in three adults regularly fail to get enough sleep, according to the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and Harvard Medical School estimates that the cost adds up to USD $63.2 billion annually. This includes money lost through absenteeism as well as the accidents, mistakes, and impaired productivity employees suffer when they do show up to work. And the one of the primary causes is working long hours and forms of presenteeism such as checking emails at home. To help combat this problem the report urges those at the top of the organisation to set an example and demonstrate that working long hours in exchange for reduced sleep is counterproductive and won’t be encouraged.