Search Results for: people

February 16, 2018

Poor management blamed for low levels of productivity amongst UK workforce

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A third of workers (32 percent) regularly struggle to be productive in their job, and one in six (16 percent) blame their manager – claims a new survey from ADP. This puts bad management ahead of inefficient systems and processes (15 percent) and staff shortages (13 percent) as the biggest drain on productivity in the UK workplace. The UK has been grappling with low productivity levels for a number of years, consistently placed behind other leading economies, such as Germany and the US in official productivity tables. While recent ONS figures suggested a recovery is underway, reporting the biggest jump in productivity levels for six years, the ADP findings suggests that UK PLC isn’t out of the woods just yet. Barriers to productivity also vary significantly based on age, with over 55s the most affected by bad management (20 percent), while 16 to 24-year olds are more affected by social media (22 percent) distractions from colleagues (21 percent) and stress (18 percent).

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February 15, 2018

Neurodiversity not on the agenda for 9 out of 10 UK organisations

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Just 1 in 10 organisations say consideration of neurodiversity is included in their people management practices, despite around 10 percent of the UK population being neurodivergent in some way, according to a poll of HR professionals from the CIPD. Neurodiversity refers to the natural range of differences in human brain function. Amongst employers, it’s used to describe alternative thinking styles including dyslexia, autism, ADHD and dyspraxia as they relate to diversity and inclusion. These can have unique strengths, ranging from data-driven thinking to sustained focus over long periods, an ability to spot patterns and trends, and the capacity to process information at extraordinary speeds. It is estimated that at least 10 percent of the UK population is neurodivergent.

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February 15, 2018

SMEs spend more time searching for private offices than coworking space

by Neil Franklin • Coworking, News, Property

Searches for private offices have become more popular than coworking space among SMEs over the past year, according to new data from commercial property marketplace Hubble. The firm reports that this marks a reversal from the previous year’s results, although searches for coworking space remain disproportionately high compared to the overall office market. According to Hubble, searches for private offices grew an average of 40 percent month-on-month from January 2017 to January 2018, with 43 percent more searches being made for private offices over coworking space, and searches for the category ‘private office’ comprising 62 percent of all searches on the Hubble platform.

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February 12, 2018

Luther, Marx, Engels and a nailed-on manifesto for workplace change

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

In October 1517 Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to a church door in Wittenberg, thereby setting in motion the process that we know now as the Reformation. At least since that time, it has been apparent that a revolutionary manifesto needs to be laid at somebody’s door – or nailed to it – at the right moment for it to achieve its aims. Revolutionary manifestos are easy enough to set out, but the tract is nothing without traction.

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February 12, 2018

New government campaign sets out to increase take up of shared parental leave

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Wellbeing

A new government campaigned launched today encourages more parents to take up the offer of Shared Parental Leave in their child’s first year. The workplace right for eligible parents allows them to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay after having a baby. They can take time off separately or they can be at home together for up to 6 months. Around 285,000 couples every year are eligible but take up could be as low as 2 percent, according to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and around half of the general public are unaware that the option exists for parents.

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February 7, 2018

Extension of rights for gig economy workers are broadly welcomed

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

The government is to give so-called gig economy workers new rights including holiday and sick pay for the first time. Its new Good Work plan is a direct response to last year’s Taylor Review which recommended changes in conditions to reflect modern working practices and extend the rights of workers in the new economy. The government has said it will proceed with almost all the review’s recommendations including giving zero-hour and agency workers the right to request a more stable contract.

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February 6, 2018

HR teams are not sufficiently prepared to meet the fourth industrial revolution

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

Most people who work in HR now recognise how essential technology is for delivering more strategic value to their organisation, but a new report suggests that HR teams are not prepared to meet the fourth industrial revolution. A survey from ADP and IDC across eight countries in Europe found that over a fifth (22 percent) of Human Capital Management (HCM) processes are still inputted manually. Equally alarming, was the lack of communication between HR teams and IT departments, with 28 percent of respondents claiming that IT is only somewhat involved in HCM solution decisions, and 3 percent claiming it plays no role at all. Yet despite a significant number of respondents revealing that IT departments are not closely aligned with HR, the research pointed towards a shift in the attitudes of HR experts. When asked which new technologies they find increasingly important, 68 percent said end-to-end integration of all HR and talent systems and 64 percent said HR dashboard and analytics were very or extremely important. What’s more, 56 percent said social or collaborative features were also very important.

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February 5, 2018

Developing a cultured nose for what makes workplace design great

by Steve Brewer • Comment, Workplace design

Workplace people are at risk of obsessing about productivity. The idea of what is or is not effective and even the notion of wellbeing, has almost been done to death. We overthink stuff. As Neil Usher might say, there are a few bandwagons people are leaping on a little too eagerly. So, let’s keep it simple. Yes, we need a ‘space’ to work in (or just do stuff), but mostly we need a reason for using it in the first place. One thing most people agree on – even the media and flinty-eyed consultants – is that we need a motivation, a reason to do the things asked of us and a belief or intrinsic connection to do those ‘things’ well.

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February 1, 2018

Green buildings provide billions of dollars in additional benefits, claims Harvard study

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Environment, News, Property

A new sponsored study from researchers at Harvard University claims that green buildings deliver billions of dollars of social and health benefits beyond those associated with reduced energy consumption. The researchers examined a subset of green-certified buildings over a 16-year period in six countries: the U.S., China, India, Brazil, Germany and Turkey. The study identified nearly $6 billion in combined health and climate benefits. The results are published in the peer reviewed Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.

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January 31, 2018

Creators of the Edge in Amsterdam to develop new generation of Smart buildings

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The creative team behind the development of the world’s most sustainable building – The Edge in Amsterdam – has announced the launch of a real estate technology company. EDGE Technologies, launched by OVG Real Estate CEO Coen van Oostrom will focus on creating a new generation of buildings which feature the latest innovations in sustainability and wellbeing. Whereas parent company OVG is focussed exclusively on the development of its existing portfolio, EDGE Technologies will focus on both the development and the long-term operations of this new generation of buildings, aiming for a cohesive experience across cities. Each EDGE building will be built and operated on the same technology platform and offer consistent user-centred design, created to serve the needs of today’s fast-changing and demanding workforce. To help achieve this the new company is launching a product that will capture and aggregate data across its properties in order to optimize, measure and inform both the user experience and the building’s environmental performance. (more…)

January 30, 2018

Harnessing serendipity in the workplace is about more than facilitating the unexpected

by Ilkka Kakko • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

What if your company had a great and more frequent ability to discover more valuable things than those for which it were usually looking? How would you then begin to describe your company’s overall level of awareness and sagacity? Does it make your company ’feel lucky’? Inspiring questions and understanding serendipity might give some answers to these and other questions. One of the challenges in answering them lies in the nebulous idea of serendipity in the first place. In many respects the idea of serendipity carries with it a mystical undercurrent and even researchers do not agree about a precise definition. However, serendipity is never a ’happy accident’, it’s much, much more than that. The key elements in the process of serendipity include: 1) a prepared mind 2) an unexpected event, encounter, result or contradiction 3) insight and 4) value creation. Not only is serendipity a process, but it is also a quality of mind.

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January 30, 2018

Millions of UK workers unaware of employer’s policy on statutory sick pay

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

Over 2.5 million UK workers are unaware of their employer’s policy on statutory sick pay and would face a significant salary shortfall if they were unwell and unable to work, claims new research from Direct Line. Just 4 percent of employees know how much they would be paid in statutory sick pay if they fell ill and many mistakenly believe that on average they would receive full salary for three and a half months if they were unable to work due to illness. In fact, 43 percent of firms reduce an employee’s wages to statutory sick pay after two weeks of an employee being off sick and one in six firms reduce wages to statutory sick pay after just four days. It is not only salaries people lose out on if they are off sick; one in five (21 percent) firms that pay bonuses withhold these if an employee has been off work on long term sick leave. More than a third of firms (33 percent) will pay bonuses based on pro-rata analysis of days worked and 14 per cent will pay a discretionary reduced rate.

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