Search Results for: people

July 26, 2013

FM must deliver better value to be perceived as strategic role

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News

Clients and suppliers believe that the FM profession still has some way to go before it achieves the recognition given to other professions. According to Workplace Law’s second annual research study into leadership in facilities management (FM), 91 per cent of client organisations still feel that FM is seen as a supporting, rather than strategic, role – while the same number feel that FM will only achieve a higher ranking within an organisation’s hierarchy when it finds new ways to deliver value. FM suppliers strongly agree with the need to professionalise FM and attract more talent into the profession if FM is to continue as a separate discipline. (more…)

July 25, 2013

Show us the money. Increasing pressure for ROI on talent management initiatives

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Talent management is an integral part of the Human Resource role, but now HR professionals are being asked to provide some financial evidence. Four out of five (82%) of HR professionals are under increasing pressure to clearly demonstrate the financial return on investment of staff development a global study by Right Management has found. Although two thirds (65%) of UK-based senior HR executives believe that they are already highly effective at measuring the impact of their talent management initiatives, 85 per cent said that they are under rising pressure to demonstrate the outcome of these initiatives in monetary terms. (more…)

July 22, 2013

Active Building Design initiatives announced by New York Mayor

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace

The Mayor of New York Michael Bloomburg has announced a series of initiatives to promote physical activity through the design of buildings and public spaces to encourage architects, planners and urban designers help combat obesity in the City. The Center for Active Design, a non-profit organization that promotes changes to the built environment to improve wellness is being created, and the Mayor has issued an Executive Order requiring City agencies use active design strategies when performing new construction and major renovation projects. Two pieces of legislation will promote stairway access in all buildings, with measures such as making stairways more visible to encourage use. (more…)

July 22, 2013

Firms turn to flexible working and BYOD to placate mobile workplace rebels

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Knowledge, Technology

A new week and a new raft of surveys. Thankfully some of them throw up some rather interesting juxtapositions. Take the latest from Virgin Media which claims nearly half of UK office workers are now significantly free to choose how and where they work with over two thirds of organisations convinced that offering more technological choices and flexible working results in happier and more productive staff. Meanwhile, another survey from tech firm (what else?) VMware claims that over a third of UK employees would consider leaving their jobs if they couldn’t get their own way over using mobile devices at work.

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July 19, 2013

Keep up! new “megatrends” could have dramatic impacts on the world of work

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Workplace

We are all aware to some extent or other of the ways in which work has changed significantly over the past few decades, but are employers sufficiently aware of, or prepared for, the future trends that will shape the way we work and the performance of our organisations and economies into the future? This is the question posed by HR body the CIPD in a major new discussion document Megatrends: The trends shaping work and working lives” as it launches a debate on the “megatrends” that are likely to shape the world of work, the workforce and the culture and organisation of workplaces over the next decade.

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July 19, 2013

Dual source lighting schemes illuminate the way ahead for office design

by Shane Cohen • Comment, Facilities management, Lighting, Workplace design

Too bright, too dull, too much glare – lighting (alongside air conditioning) is often one of the most contentious factors in a workplace. Office workers need illumination to read, write, type and interact. Yet many workplaces get it wrong and fail to consider the downsides of poor lighting, and as such staff will suffer from eye strain, headaches and postural problems, leading to sick days, not to mention lost productivity and mistakes. Eighty per cent of office workers experience at least one negative effect from poor quality lighting, according to researchers Bruskin Goldring, and 68 per cent of employees complain about the light in their offices, according to a study by the American Society of Interior Designers.

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July 18, 2013

Baltimore residents offered a “guns for laptops” exchange

by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Technology

Growing concerns regarding the incursion of connectivity devices into our everyday lives ignores the fact that many people have little or no access to these tools. Access to the Internet may have been ruled as a UN human right, but that doesn’t really help those who can’t afford devices that connect them to the web in the first place. So, while for most Europeans the recent story in the Baltimore Brew that locals could turn in their guns in exchange for a refurbished Dell laptop is pretty jaw-dropping, it’s a good example of the difficulty residents in a deprived area have in, as the organisers describe it, “bridging the digital divide.”

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July 17, 2013

Smartphone presenteeism gives a whole new meaning to BYOD

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

While we may have grown accustomed in many ways to the world’s addiction to connectivity, and even expressed our own frustration that people are more interested in the contents of their phones than us, things are clearly going way too far if you believe the news that nearly 1 in 10 Americans have confessed to using their smartphones while having sex. While that may be extreme, the manifestation of this addiction is now routine with nearly three in four smartphone users surveyed by Harris Interactive for the Jumio 2013 Mobile Consumer Habits survey admitting that they are rarely more than five feet away from their devices.

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July 16, 2013

RSA report claims untapped flexible working benefits of £8bn for the UK

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Knowledge, Workplace

The latest salvo in the battle to get Britain to adopt even more flexible working comes in a report that carries more weight than some because it is not solely the work of a technology company but sponsored by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). True, it’s co-sponsored by Vodafone but that is the way of these things. The RSA study estimates that flexible working practices shaped around the personal circumstances of the individual and designed to minimise the routine grind of commuting could give people around 5 more hours per week in which to work.

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July 16, 2013

Work pressures mean over half of managers plan to work on holiday

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

BYOD are either an aide to productivity or fuel unhealthy levels of presenteeism, depending on which piece of research you believe. In a survey (by mobile comms supplier) Citrix, 24 per cent of managers think that using BYOD while away from the office is the best way to avoid the average 25 per cent drop in productivity suffered by smaller businesses during the holiday period. This is borne out by data from the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) which found an overwhelming 80 per cent of managers check their Blackberries or smartphone on holiday, a third (33%) checking in every day, and 54 per cent feel compelled to work while on leave. (more…)

July 15, 2013

Fall in sickness absence rates, but mental ill health still major cause

by Sara Bean • News, Public Sector, Workplace

Mental health conditions are the single most widespread cause of long-term absence, with more than half (54 per cent) of employers citing non-work related stress, anxiety and depression as a cause of long-term absence. On a more positive note, according to the latest CBI/Pfizer Absence and Workplace Health Survey out today, overall absence from work in the UK has dropped to a new record low. The thirty-year survey found the average absence rate was 5.3 days in 2012, down from 6.5 days in 2010 – saving business £3 billion. However, the report, Fit for Purpose, found overall absences still cost the economy £14 billion a year, according to the ONS. Almost £1.8 billion was lost from an estimated one-in-eight sick days taken for non-genuine reasons, with one in five employers believing employees take “sickies” as an occasional perk. While absence rates in both the public and private sector were down to 6.9 (from 8.1) and 4.9 (from 5.9) days respectively, the report argues more than £1.2 billion a year could be saved if public sector absence levels were brought in line with the private sector average – on top of the £700 million saved from the fall since 2010.

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