Search Results for: people

May 6, 2016

Management needs to improve opportunities for career progression ⁰

Almost a quarter of employees (24 percent) are intending to move, as job satisfaction in the UK drops to its lowest level for over two years finds the latest CIPD/Halogen Employee Outlook report. The survey reveals that almost a fifth (23 percent) of employees believe their organisation’s performance management processes are unfair (an increase from 20 percent in Autumn 2015). Over a quarter (27 percent) are dissatisfied with the opportunity to develop their skills in their job and this is reflected in the number of employees who say they are unlikely to fulfil their career aspirations in their current organisation, which has also increased to 36 percent (32 percent in Autumn 2015). Opportunities for women in senior roles have slipped as well with separate research by the European Women on Boards (EWoB) showing that Britain has a below-average proportion of women on boards; falling from sixth to eighth place among 12 leading economies since 2011.

May 5, 2016

The problems that come with London’s success need better solutions ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Cities, Comment

We might all welcome London’s success as a thriving centre of commerce and culture, but this comes at a price and we need to look for a better balance than we currently see between London and the rest of the UK. Of course London is often the main victim of its own success. Its thriving tech and creative firms continue to spill out of the incubator districts created for them to find cheaper and more appropriate spaces in which to grow. In doing so they are pushing up rents in such unlikely nearby places as Croydon. In the traditional business districts in the City and Docklands, the capital’s tech giants are now able to compete for the first time for some of the most expensive real estate on the planet. To cope with demand, the Mayor is rubberstamping tall buildings like never before, many of them bloody awful, unloved by Londoners and heritage organisations alike, transforming the skyline and creating windswept, arid tundra at their feet.

May 5, 2016

Pregnancy and maternity discrimination has risen over the past year ⁰

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

There has been a 25 percent rise in people seeking advice on pregnancy and maternity discrimination over the past year; new figures from Citizens Advice have revealed, and it has growing evidence that pregnant women and new mums have had their working hours cut, been put onto zero-hours contracts, pressured to return to work early from maternity leave and, in extreme cases, have been forced out of their jobs. New figures from the national charity also show there has been a 22 percent increase in people seeking online help, with the charity’s web advice viewed 22,000 times over the last 12 months. Between April 2015 and March 2016 almost 2,000 people turned to Citizens Advice for help with pregnancy and maternity discrimination, up from just over 1,500 in the previous 12 months. In 4 out of 5 cases people were also seeking help with problems at work, a third of which were about redundancy or dismissal.

May 5, 2016

Facilities management is about great service, not trying to do everything

by Simon Heath • Comment, Facilities management

An article in The Guardian newspaper once sought to lift the veil on the extent to which Serco is entangled in the running of infrastructure in the UK and overseas. One of the questions posed was: Is there any limit to the fields they work in? Serco’s response was: “We operate in a range of markets and geographies, which means we are well placed to bring a wide range of experiences and knowledge to help customers with the challenges that they face.” Now, that’s the sort of phrase that will be familiar to anyone who has visited the website of a service provider or has written a bid in response to a tender for a contract. It is the way that providers wish to sell themselves. We can do more. We can do everything. We can do it anywhere. And if we can’t, we’ll get someone else to do it in one of our uniforms in the hope you won’t notice. We’ll save money. We’ll do it for less. We’ll do it with fewer people.

May 3, 2016

Remote working may be the answer to the housing crisis, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Flexible working, News, Technology

A new report from techUK and Citrix claims that the UK’s housing crisis is exacerbated by the majority of workers (59 percent) working on the basis that there is greater potential for securing employment by living and working in large cities. The Housing Crisis: a Digital Solution (download) is based on data from YouGov research into the expectations of 1,243 UK knowledge workers with the potential to enjoy remote working. The report claims that the burden that location-dependent work places on large cities could be significantly reduced by allowing workers to work remotely, as over half of British workers (54 per cent) stated they would be likely to relocate to a rural area if they could still perform their role to the same level. However, while many workers would relocate if they could, connectivity, transport and corporate culture were all cited as challenges to achieving this especially when 48 per cent of rural premises don’t have access to high-speed broadband internet.

May 2, 2016

The cocktail party effect and the false narrative of office acoustics

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, Workplace, Workplace design

Ask most people what they find most annoying about modern office life and they’re likely to tell you that it is the sounds of other people. The knee jerk response to this is often to blame the hegemony of open plan design and then find ways to reduce the amount of noise generated within the office. Like many others, this is an enduring narrative and one that many well-informed people continue to challenge. As always, the issues around office acoustics are far more complex and interesting than that and we’ve known it for a long time. Donald Broadbent was a researcher who died twenty years ago. Yet his research into cognitive psychology has never been more pertinent than it is right now as we continue to struggle with the the effects of unwelcome noise in open plan offices. Offices may have changed in the last twenty years, but human beings haven’t. This revealing programme, broadcast by the BBC, explores some of his ideas. There are no visuals so you have to use your ears.

April 29, 2016

9 in 10 UK office workers stressed by meeting room technology ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

Meeting room technology which does not work seamlessly is a hindrance for productivity, with 86 percent experiencing serious “meeting stress” when grappling with it during meetings, according to research from Vanson Bourne and Barco. Among the biggest challenges for UK employees were sharing content and screens, and finding the right cables to connect to devices. In trying to deal with problems, staff are wasting significant amounts of their valuable time: 60 percent try to fix problems themselves, 49 percent call support, 30 percent end up giving up. 15 percent even postpone meetings until technology problems can be fixed. The vast majority (90 percent) actually pre-prepare for failures: preparing handouts as alternatives to tech, coordinating with IT in advance, and 44 percent even do a tech rehearsal. As a result of struggling with technology in meeting rooms, a quarter of UK office workers have missed important deadlines, and some have even missed out on personal opportunities like promotions (7 percent).

April 28, 2016

New partnership to encourage creation of age friendly workplaces ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Between 2005 and 2015 the number of people working over the age of 50 in the UK increased by 2.5 million, while those working over the age of 65 more than doubled. By 2022, there will be 12.5 million job vacancies that need to be replaced due to people leaving the workforce in addition to the two million new vacancies that will be created. However, there are estimated to be just seven million younger people to fill them. Recruiting and retaining older workers will be critical to closing this gap. Now in a major new initiative, the Centre for Ageing Better has gone into partnership with Business in the Community to identify and test what works to recruit, retrain and retain older workers. Through this partnership, it wants to hear from employers across the country who see the benefits of older workers and who are implementing changes to create age friendly workplaces.

April 28, 2016

UK, Germany, Switzerland and Poland lag Europe in flexible working ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace

A new report has verified the value of flexible working by showing a positive correlation between employee happiness and the adoption of flexible working practices. Yet, the research conducted by IDC and sponsored by Cornerstone OnDemand also reveals that flexible working practices have been taken up at different speeds across Europe, where the lowest flexible working maturity appears to be clustered in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the UK. Business managers and HR respondents stated a low level of flexible working adoption in Poland, the UK, Switzerland and Germany – surprising, given the competitive labour market in these regions. The Nordics, Spain, Benelux and Austria were perceived to be the most mature when it came to flexible working options. Among the respondents from Poland, less than 50 percent of those surveyed were allowed to work from home, while the figure for the Nordic countries was 87 percent.

April 27, 2016

The digital future of work is more about humans than machines, claims study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Property, Technology

The claims that robots will render the human species redundant are largely exaggerated suggests a new report from Cognizant’s Centre for the Future of Work and the Economist Intelligence Unit. But we will have to find a new path and it may be one that emphasises human strengths and characteristics working alongside robots. The study of 420 managers in Europe and the US explores the future of the workplace in an increasingly automated world and suggest we will also see the emergence of new jobs involved in the design of augmented reality and avatars as well as a generally greater emphasis on robot-human partnerships in an increasingly digital world. The study claims, unsurprisingly, that the reliance on physical office space will recede, forcing businesses to employ intelligent workplaces which will monitor workers’ environment, needs and even moods.

April 27, 2016

Half of employees say mobile working makes them more productive ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology

Most employees now have access to mobile devices in the workplace and this ability to work anytime anywhere means that 49 percent of respondents in a new global study by the Economist Intelligent Unit (EIU) say mobile working has the greatest impact on productivity, while for 38 percent it determines how satisfied they are with their employer. The study, sponsored by Aruba, claims that companies rated by employees as ‘pioneers’ in how they support mobile technology saw a rise in productivity (16 percent), creativity (18 percent), satisfaction (23 percent), and loyalty (21 percent) when compared to organisations that were poorly rated at supporting mobile tech. While a respondent’s age was not found to be a factor of how mobile technology impacts their performance and engagement, four out of ten Millennials did admit they would never work for a company that didn’t allow them to use their own devices for work, compared to 22 percent of all employees.

April 27, 2016

Lack of pay and support prevents ill or injured UK workers taking time off ⁰

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

More than half of ill or injured property and construction workers still go into work because they can’t afford to take time off, a new survey on 2000 employees within the UK has revealed. The data gathered by First4lawyers on the run up to Brexit on EU employment law and sick pay has revealed how European countries treat their sick or injured workers. The results show that while a UK worker off work for a month would only receive 15 percent of their monthly wage – those in Germany receive 100 percent. This lack of pay forces many UK workers back into the workplace, but nearly three quarters (71 percent) also say they are scared to have time off work because they fear their employers opinion of them; 30 percent say their boss acts different toward them after asking for time off sick, and more than 1 in 3 say their employer does not support them during this time.