Search Results for: people

December 6, 2018

Constant switching between tasks kills productivity

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A new report claims that the modern habit of switching constantly between tasks is draining productivity. In a study of live desktop activity, the results suggest employees are forced to switch between up to 35 job-critical applications nearly once a minute – or more than 1,100 times every day – adding unnecessary complexity that reduces efficiency and frustrates workers. The study from Pegasystems analysed nearly 5 million hours of desktop activity of operational support employees – who primarily perform routine back office, data entry, or contact centre tasks – at Global 2000 companies from January to September 2018.

(more…)

December 6, 2018

Siemens new Swiss campus showcases workplace technology and use of BIM in construction

by Mark Eltringham • Case studies, Company news, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace design

Siemens AG has officially opened its new campus in Zug, Switzerland. The Siemens Zug campus features a new office building with 1,000 work spaces and a newly constructed production building. The investment volume for new buildings, renovations and related measures amounts to CHF 250 million. The campus is the international headquarters of the Siemens Building Technologies (BT) Division, which has 29,000 employees. Construction of the office and production buildings began in May 2016 and was completed in July 2018. The Siemens Zug campus is one of the first new projects to use Building Information Modeling (BIM) for design and construction. The digital twin – a 3D model of the building, enhanced with technical information relevant for later operations – is the foundation for efficient, cost-optimised and forward-looking building management. (more…)

December 5, 2018

Government report calls time on late payments, addresses productivity puzzle

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Property

The culture of late payment by large firms has led to the failure of many small businesses in the UK and prevented even more from thriving and improving their productivity, according to a parliamentary select committee report published today. The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) committee has called on the government to enforce tougher measures on large firms who treat small businesses “disgracefully” by enforcing long payment terms or paying their suppliers late. The Small businesses and productivity report said that, for an SME to succeed, it is crucial they are paid fairly and on time.

(more…)

December 5, 2018

The war for talent is over and we need to face up to new opportunities and challenges

by David Corcoran • Comment, Workplace

The ‘War for Talent’ is a concept which has dominated the industry for the last twenty years and has shaped how many organisations view talent acquisition around the world. But perhaps this war is already over. As initially reported by McKinsey & Company in 1998, the war for talent explored the challenges businesses face when attracting, retaining and developing talent. While talent acquisition is a fundamental foundation for any business looking to grow, after twenty years, recent studies have reported a seismic shift from this ‘War for Talent’ to a ‘War for Skills.’

(more…)

December 5, 2018

Firms and employees need to do more to address climate change

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, News

A new report claims to have found a lack of commitment amongst UK businesses to address their impact on the environment and contribution to climate change, with only 10 percent having set a carbon reduction target, while just under half of companies (49 percent) use even the most basic sustainability measures, such as recycling bins for office waste.

(more…)

December 5, 2018

Government policy is making life increasingly difficult for freelancers

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

Freelancers expect government policy to drive their businesses and the economy into decline over the next year, a report from IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) claims. This quarter, amid widespread speculation about Budget announcements that would harm the self-employed, freelancers’ confidence in their annual business performance dropped nine points, sliding into negative territory. Their confidence in the wider economy – which was already in deep negative territory – fell another two points to near-record lows.

(more…)

December 5, 2018

Third of UK workers believe those who work flexibly create more work for others

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

All the chatter around the growth of flexible working might suggest it has now become the norm, but an academic paper refutes that view by revealing a third of all UK workers believe those who work flexibly create more work for others. A similar proportion believe their career will suffer if they use flexible working arrangements. This is the main finding from Dr Heejung Chung from the University of Kent who set out to analyse data from the 2011 Work-Life Balance Survey conducted by the government. Specifically, she wanted to examine whether stigma against flexible workers exists, who is most likely to hold such beliefs and who is most likely to suffer from it. The research also found that the majority of respondents that held negative views against flexible workers were male, while women and especially mothers were the ones who were most likely to suffer from such stereotypes.

(more…)

December 4, 2018

I’m a designer and I job share with an AI

by Ceilidh Higgins • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Thomas Edison is credited with the phrase “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration” and I believe there is no field where this applies more than architecture and design. So often people assume that interior design is such a fun, creative job – that it’s all about drawing, colours and furniture, something like being paid to colour in and shop – when today being a designer is just as much about people management, psychology, project management, documentation, checking codes and standards and managing contracts. It’s also often about a culture that expects long hours and being always available to the job. “It’s not work when you are passionate about it?” is common. But what if instead we could all work less hours and job share with our computers?

(more…)

December 4, 2018

Majority of UK employees want Britain to adopt French out-of-hours email ban

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

Over a third (35 percent) of UK workers continue to work when then get home from the office, claims research from Insurance2go into whether British workers are struggling to stick to working within their designated office hours. The survey found that a third (35 percent) of continue to answer work email or conduct work tasks on their personal mobile phones when they get home from work, a quarter (25 percent) do the same during their lunch break, and just under a quarter (23 percent) have said they work on their personal handsets on their commute. Meanwhile, across the channel, French employees have been given the legal right to ignore work emails outside of working hours, with companies of over 50 workers providing a charter of good conduct, setting out the hours when staff are not supposed to send or answer emails. When asked if the UK should follow-suit, 65 percent of workers were in favour, implying a strain on British staff and an expectation to be ‘always on’ even in non-working hours.

(more…)

December 4, 2018

Half the UK workforce believes their employer does not understand them

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Fifty percent of UK employees feel their employers don’t understand them or their potential – higher than the European average of 46 percent according to a study of over 2,000 workers across the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands from ADP. The research found that 40 percent of UK workers are unhappy with the quality of leadership, with only France reporting slightly higher figures, where 52 percent saying they feel misunderstood by their employer. This was followed closely by Italy (48 percent) and Germany (46 percent), while the Netherlands reported the most positive results with only a third stating such feelings (35 percent). However, UK and European employees are more likely to feel their direct reports understand them better, with 61 percent reporting that their managers know and support them, and want to see them succeed. This shows that those working more closely together enjoy better relationships, which in turn is likely to lead to better quality of work and greater productivity. The lesson for businesses is that close relations between all staff, regardless of seniority, matter.

(more…)

December 3, 2018

Sociopathic corporations, the office as home, self-promotion anxiety and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Features

There is a theory that when companies talk about issues such as corporate social responsibility they are doing so because it helps them to achieve their business goals. This is the coldly rational thing to do according to people like free market guru Milton Friedman who argues that companies should not actively pursue altruistic ends unless that pursuit is ultimately in the interest of their shareholders. As Friedman puts it: ‘Hypocrisy is virtuous when it serves the bottom line. Moral virtue is immoral when it does not’.

(more…)

November 30, 2018

How the way we interact with technology is changing the way we think

by Charles Marks • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

We are all familiar with the emoticon, the little symbol we use to strengthen whatever it is we really mean or would like to convey in a text, chat, message or email. The symbols have become more important as these forms of communication have supplanted some forms of face to face contact. Researchers have now learned that our brains no longer treat emoticons as a form of punctuation, but have started to respond to it as if it were a real face. A study published in the journal Social Neuroscience found that the part of the brain that is activated when we look at real faces is now triggered by smileys too. It’s yet another example of how our brains are adapting to the changing demands placed on them by technology, a subject that not only has profound implications for the way we relate to technology but also the way we work and the ways we design and manage our surroundings and especially how we maintain focus and interact with our colleagues.