May 6, 2020

Organisations think empowering people is the route to success (but only a few act)

Nearly 90 percent of organisations say their success depends on empowering frontline employees to make decisions in real, but only 7 percent offer people the tools they need, according to a new report from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by ThoughtSpot. The report, The New Decision Makers: Equipping Frontline Workers For Success, analyses the sentiments of 464 business executives from 16 industry sectors in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Only one-fifth of organisations say they currently have a truly empowered and digitally equipped workforce while 86 percent agree their frontline workers need better technology and more insight to be able to make good decisions in the moment. (more…)

April 29, 2020

Third of people say they have been bullied at work

by Jayne Smith • News

According to a new study from employment law firm Kew Law a third of people claim to have been bullied at work in the last three years and nearly three quarters say they have either been bullied themselves or witnessed a colleague being bullied. According to the survey of employees of 131 companies in the UK, most of the instances involved unfair treatment, overwork and general undermining of an individual. (more…)

April 17, 2020

Half of people working from home say their mental health has declined

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Half of UK workers (49 percent) say that their mental health has declined since working from home, according to a new survey from Qualtrics. The study also claims that actions taken by companies are having a significant effect on the wellbeing of their employees, with one in five (18 percent) claiming that their organisation’s actions have had a negative impact on their mental health. (more…)

March 26, 2020

Context can shape the ethical decisions people make

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing

When faced with a moral dilemma, people usually respond in one of three ways, and the moral decision changes according to the setting, claims recent research from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, UCL School of Management, and Harvard University. The work by Professors Netta Barak-Corren, Chia-Jung Tsay, Fiery Cushman, and Max Bazerman, suggests that people may tackle an ethical problem by using the utilitarian principle, action principle, or intention principle. (more…)

March 4, 2020

New smart building suite for a people centric workplace experience

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Siemens Smart Infrastructure has launched a smart building suite designed to create more efficient and flexible workplaces where people are at the core. The suite of IoT (Internet of Things) enabled devices, applications and services turn offices into a competitive advantage for companies. (more…)

February 14, 2020

Trends set to improve people’s working lives examined in new report

by Jackie Le Poidevin • News, Working lives

New research has been published aimed at understanding trends, practices and priority areas for improving employees’ experience and creating better places to work. The report, Roundel 2020 (registration required), was commissioned by employee engagement firm Home and asked HR and internal communications professionals about issues such as integrating new employees into the organisation (‘onboarding’), performance management, diversity and inclusion, and health and wellbeing. (more…)

January 29, 2020

People ten times more likely to stay in their job for friendships than a pay rise

by Jackie Le Poidevin • News, Working culture

Following reports that job applications on the first working Monday of the New Year spiked by 89 percent compared to the average Monday in December, many UK businesses may be missing a trick in their efforts to retain staff, new research has suggested. When researchers commissioned by Eko asked 1,000 employees what factors would make them stay in their job for longer, they were ten times more likely to stay put for friendships than for a pay rise. Indeed, only 3 percent of workers cited a pay rise as something that would make them stay with their employer for longer. (more…)

January 8, 2020

From the archives: Is this the missing piece of the facilities management puzzle? ⁰

by Ian Ellison • Facilities management, Features, Premium Content, Work&Place, Workplace design

The IFMA Foundation Workplace Summit of summer 2014 felt like an optimistic time for facilities management and the workspace industry. Heavyweights from the sector were asking searching questions about our organisational contribution, with thankfully less of the internally focused, debate-free hubris typical of much of the industry narrative. The newly announced (and now evidently historical) collaboration between BIFM and CIPD was in full swing, endorsed by social media savvy Twitterati under The Workplace Conversation banner. (more…)

January 6, 2020

Workplace gossip can be good for people – sometimes

by Neil Franklin • News, Working culture

New research from The University of Salford’s Professor Kirk Chang, Professor of Human Resource Management, claims that workplace gossip can sometimes have a positive impact on employees. Published in the January 2020 issue of The Chinese Journal of Psychology, the study involved 307 employees in 24 companies operating in a range of industries in Taiwan. The research suggests that 61 percent of gossip in the workplace is positive, and while the impact is not hugely significant, it could be considered beneficial. Professor Chang concludes that by encouraging a more open attitude towards positive workplace gossip, water cooler chat should not be viewed as wasting time, but as an important mechanism for facilitating interactions and developing relationships. (more…)

December 12, 2019

Occupier priorities are shifting, according to new facilities management trends report

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News

CBRE Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) has published the 2019 edition of their Top Trends in Facilities Management report. The latest version of this annual report claims to highlight how changes in occupier needs are impacting FM strategies. The latest trends are broken down into four broad categories: client relationships; contracts; an increasing focus on people and technology. (more…)

December 4, 2019

Being yourself at work has its downsides for many people

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Being yourself at work has a lot of positive effects. Research supports the hypothesis that authenticity can lead to psychological benefits, including boosting self-esteem, and making people feel happier and more energised at work. But according to new research from academics at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) authenticity can also be a recipe for disaster. The study ‘Being your true self at work’ reviews the extant empirical work across 10 different authenticity constructs. and has been published in the Academy of Management Annals. (more…)

November 29, 2019

People need to feel comfortable about being themselves at work

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Over a quarter of people (28 percent) in the workplace suffer bullying and/or discrimination on issues such as gender, age or sexual orientation, according to a new study. The Workplace Wellbeing Census, conducted by leading healthcare provider Bupa, found that such actions are the most harmful factors influencing workplace wellbeing at work. Women in the workplace face significant challenges with over a third (34 percent) experiencing bullying or discrimination, compared to 22 per cent of men. Women are also more than four times as likely to suffer negatively from workplace gender discrimination than men (13 percent vs 3 percent). (more…)