Search Results for: people

Over a quarter of employers are struggling to keep their workforce engaged

Over a quarter of employers are struggling to keep their workforce engaged

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

Nearly one in three (28 percent) of employers are struggling to keep their employees engaged, claims new research from totaljobs, with staff spending too much time internet browsing, being constantly late and chatting with colleagues. Over half of employers said lower productivity (59 percent) and internet browsing (55 percent) were clear signs of lower engagement they were seeing in the workplace. Worryingly, 62 percent said poor performance was a common problem as a result of a lack of engagement. Almost half (48 percent) of employers also report disengaged employees continue to arrive late and leave early, while 41 percent said chatting with colleagues suggested a lack of workplace engagement. The same number again said taking too many breaks during work hours might also indicate disengagement, as well as employees appearing distracted. But when it comes to tackling a lack of employee engagement, one in two employers (51 percent) said clear communication, via email, newsletters and team meetings for example, was an effective strategy to improve engagement. Nearly half (46 percent) of employers said setting out clear objectives for both individuals and teams was also effective.

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New analysis reveals shrinking pool of younger workers in the UK workforce

New analysis reveals shrinking pool of younger workers in the UK workforce

by • Legal news, News, Workplace

New analysis reveals shrinking pool of younger workers in the UK workforceAn increase in the number of UK-born employees leaving the UK’s workforce, either through retirement or emigration is coinciding with a shrinking pool of younger workers, which a fall in immigration can no longer fill, a new report warns. An analysis of the UK’s workforce showed that the UK’s workforce grew in 2016-2017 only because of an increase in EU and non-EU workers. Mercer’s Workforce Monitor showed that retirement, opting out (i.e. due to caring responsibilities) or emigration saw around 143,000 UK-born employees leave the UK workforce with the loss of workers only being offset by the entry of around 147,000 EU-born workers and around 232,000 Non-EU workers.  In sum, the UK’s workforce grew by an estimated 234,000 over 2016-2017. From Q1 2016 to Q1 2017, the number of workers over 50 in the UK economy grew by 230,000, the under 35’s grew by 50,000 while the number of workers aged 35-49 shrunk by 48,000. According to the analysis, if net migration into the UK levels off at 100,000 per year from 2020, the number of under 50s in the workforce will fall by 200,000 by 2025; the over 50s would increase by over 1 million while the number of under-25s in the population would fall by 100,000. This means apprentices and graduates numbers will be less.

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Three in five of UK employees with a disability have experienced bias from employers

Three in five of UK employees with a disability have experienced bias from employers

by • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Three in five of disabled workers have experienced bias from employers

Over half (51 percent) of people with a physical disability say that they had taken pains to hide their condition from employers when applying for a job, with that figure increasing to 60 percent when it came to those suffering from a mental health issue, a new survey has claimed. The reason, suggests the research from Badenoch & Clark – is that three in five (60 percent) UK employees with a disability have experienced bias in the workplace, in comparison to just 35 percent of those without a disability. Worryingly, the report, ‘Inspiring Inclusion in the Workplace’, also found that two thirds of those with a mental disability (65 percent), and 45 percent of those with a physical disability believe that their organisation does not offer an inclusive environment. Unsurprisingly then, the research further revealed that around half (48 percent) of disabled candidates have either left a job or not applied for a role or promotion due to workplace bias, in comparison with just one in five (20 percent) of those without a disability.

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BIFM formally adopts new ISO definition of facilities management

BIFM formally adopts new ISO definition of facilities management

by • Facilities management, News

If you’ve ever wearied of the endless debate about a precise definition of facilities management, and thought the squabbling often seemed like the conflict over the right end to open an egg that led to war in Gulliver’s Travels, then salvation might be here with the news that the British Institute of Facilities Management has formally adopted the definition of facilities management set out in new ISO standards published earlier this year. That definition forms part of ISO 41011:2017 Facility management – Vocabulary, which was published in April this year. The definition finalised in the standards is: Facility management (facilities management, FM) — organizational function which integrates people, place and process within the built environment with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people and the productivity of the core business. In addition to the vocabulary standard, ISO 41012:2017 Facility management– Guidance on strategic sourcing and the development of agreements was also released earlier this year, while the most recently published – ISO/TR 41013:2017 Facility management – Scope, key concepts and benefits – was published in July.

Whatever you might be told, this is not the Office of the Future

Whatever you might be told, this is not the Office of the Future

by • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace design

office of the futureIt seems like we don’t have to wait more than a few days at a time before some or other organisation is making its own prognoses about how we will be working in the future, especially at this time of year. The thing these reports about the office of the future all share in common, other than a standardised variant of a title and a common lexicon of agility, empowerment, collaboration and connectivity, is a narrow focus based on several of their key narratives and assumptions. While these are rarely false per se, and often offer some insights of variable worth, they also usually exhibit a desire to look at only one part of the elephant. The more serious reports invariably make excellent points and identify key trends, it has to be said. However, across them there are routine flaws in their thinking that can lead them to make narrow and sometimes incorrect assumptions and so draw similarly flawed conclusions. Here are just a few.

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Certain staff a ‘major block’ to adoption of new technology in local government

Certain staff a ‘major block’ to adoption of new technology in local government

by • Facilities management, News, Public Sector, Technology

Some individuals within local government are holding back tech to preserve the status quo – a new survey suggests. According to the research, these people feel threatened by new technology and believe it will be disruptive to their ways of working. While the survey by 8×8 of staff working in local government suggested a significant appetite for new technology, more than a fifth (22 percent) say certain individuals are holding back tech adoption to preserve the status quo. This view is more prevalent amongst those in IT procurement, where more than a third (35 percent) believe colleagues are standing in the way of technology because it will disrupt what they already have in place. Only 51 percent of respondents believe senior management understand the importance of new technology and just 21 percent think they invest enough money to stay up to date with the latest developments. This contrasts with the private sector, where over half (56 percent) believe there is sufficient investment in new technology.

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Millennials are no more tech savvy and able to multitask than anybody else, claims review

Millennials are no more tech savvy and able to multitask than anybody else, claims review

by • News, Technology

Last year we reported on the fact that a large number of organisations still think they can solve all their tech and digital transformation issues merely by hiring one of the aliens we’ve come to call Millennials, based on little more than the idea they are ‘digital natives’. Since that time, a growing body of research and a little bit of thought has started to erode many of the stereotypes of this particular demographic. Turns out they’re just people like the rest of us and many of their ‘characteristics’ appear to be not that different to those of young people from other generations. The latest salvo fired at the stereotype comes from researchers Paul Kirschner and Pedro De Bruyckerec who claim the average Millennial is essentially a ‘yeti with a smartphone’ as they colourfully put it, just like everybody else. Millennials are not particularly good at multitasking either, according to the study.

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Being on a temporary or zero-hours contract is bad for your wellbeing, especially if you’re young

Being on a temporary or zero-hours contract is bad for your wellbeing, especially if you’re young

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Two major new studies claim to show the impact of temporary or insecure work on the wellbeing of people, especially younger workers. Research into the lives of 7,700 people from the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) suggests that young adults who are employed on zero-hours contracts are less likely to be in good health, and are at higher risk of poor mental health than workers with stable jobs. Meanwhile, an analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Business in the Community suggests that younger workers (born since 1982) in part-time and temporary work – or who are underemployed and/or overqualified – are more likely to experience poorer mental health and wellbeing, compared to younger workers in more permanent and secure work.

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Near universal access to broadband in OECD countries

Near universal access to broadband in OECD countries

by • News, Technology

High-speed Internet use continues to grow in OECD countries with mobile broadband penetration reaching 99 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in December 2016, up from 91 per 100 inhabitants a year earlier, according to new data released by the OECD. The addition of 113 million new mobile broadband subscriptions in the 35-country OECD area made a year-on-year rise of 9.8 percent, driven by continued growth in the use of smartphone and tablets, and lifted the OECD total to 1.275 billion subscriptions in a population of 1.284 billion people.
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Critical thinking ability is a better predictor of life decisions than intelligence

Critical thinking ability is a better predictor of life decisions than intelligence

by • News, Wellbeing

When it comes to making the most important decisions in our lives, IQ may not be the best tool at our disposal, according to a new study in the journal Thinking Skills and Creativity. The research team led by Heather Butler of California State University claims that “critical thinking” – the ability to make judgements without jumping to false conclusions such as the difference between correlation and causation– is a much better guide to key outcomes than a straightforward measure of intelligence.

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British businesses at risk of creativity crisis, according to new Microsoft research

British businesses at risk of creativity crisis, according to new Microsoft research

by • News, Technology, Workplace design

British businesses are at risk of a creativity crisis due to workplace cultures that stifle innovation, according to new research launched by Microsoft Surface. Uninspiring workplaces (41 per cent), a stressful atmosphere (34 per cent) and a lack of appropriate spaces to focus and think alone (28 per cent) were all identified as major inhibitors to creativity.  Two in five workers surveyed (40 per cent) say that creativity and innovation are neither encouraged nor rewarded within their workplace – despite creativity being one of the top three skills workers will need to thrive by 2020, according to the World Economic Forum. The research, based on the views of more than 1,100 workers, found that whilst almost three quarters of respondents (73 per cent) consider themselves to be creative, demands of the modern workplace need rethinking, with symptoms such as overworking and stress stifling our ability to tackle problems and produce good ideas. Half of workers (50 per cent) feel least creative when tired, 45 per cent when stressed, while existing workloads (39 per cent) and organisational processes (32 per cent) were also cited as barriers to employees being more creative.

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Higher than average absenteeism rates are impacting on SME’s profitability

Higher than average absenteeism rates are impacting on SME’s profitability

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Nearly three quarters (71 percent) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) say that staff absenteeism is having a big impact on profitability suggests a new survey from Moorepay. The research found that many UK SMEs are experiencing higher than average absenteeism in their business. According to the Office for National Statistics, the average number of sick days for a UK employee is 4.3 days a year and yet almost half (49 percent) of small business owners said staff take more than five days off each year. For 14 percent this figure rises to seven days or more. Yet despite higher than average sick days and the impact on profitability, few firms are taking positive action to reduce absenteeism in their business. This is despite the fact that many feel introducing policies around absences, flexible working, time off for family or medical reasons and return to work programmes can have a positive impact on reducing absenteeism. Almost three-quarters (72 percent) believe the use of such policies could reduce the rate by 11 percent or more.

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