Search Results for: performance

Property and construction industry calls on government to raise the bar on environmental standards

Property and construction industry calls on government to raise the bar on environmental standards

by • Environment, News, Property

Over 50 influential business leaders from across the construction and property industry have signed an open letter to ministers urging them to introduce policy that will see all new buildings built to net-zero carbon standards by 2030. As a first step towards the 2030 goal, the group calls on the government to swiftly confirm that from 2020 energy performance standards will be significantly improved. Coordinated by the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), the letter asks ministers to give the industry medium and long-term policy certainty, to drive significant investment and catalyse innovation.

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Flexible working has a range of positive benefits for workers, a new report confirms

Flexible working has a range of positive benefits for workers, a new report confirms

by • Flexible working, News

flexible workingFlexibility in where, when and how people work, including remote work, leads to an increase in innovation, as well as improvements in communication, creativity, productivity and engagement, according to a new study from the Flex+Strategy Group (FSG). This is among the key findings from a national probability telephone survey of 595 full-time employed US adults conducted for FSG by ORC International. The report claims that sixty percent of people who have flexible working options feel they’re “more productive and engaged.” Only 4 percent said they are less so, with 34 percent feeling their level of productivity and engagement is consistent. The results suggest major corporations including IBM may have gotten it wrong when they cited remote work as a barrier to innovation and collaboration and asked employees to re-locate back to company offices. The research also found a significant lack of training required for successful flexibility.

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Men and women experience workplace communications anxiety very differently

Men and women experience workplace communications anxiety very differently

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

There is a disparity between the causes of communications anxiety between men and women, claims new research conducted by RADA in business. Male employees are 45 percent more likely than women to feel anxious when socialising with their work colleagues, while women are most scared of giving a presentation. Team building events were also found to be more challenging for men, with almost a fifth (19 percent) reporting feelings of communications anxiety. Work social events followed, with 17 percent reporting the same feelings. In contrast, the report found that female employees experience greater levels of anxiety when giving presentations in front of a group, to colleagues, or to management. The evidence suggests that while men require more help with skills around spontaneous communication, for women it is about standing their ground and getting their voice heard when stepping into the spotlight – often in situations that may have a significant impact on their career path. Notably, the research shows that women are also 39 percent more likely to experience workplace anxiety than men when in a job interview, and 37 percent more likely when negotiating a pay rise.

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Recruitment via artificial intelligence must be monitored to avoid adopting human bias

Recruitment via artificial intelligence must be monitored to avoid adopting human bias

by • AI, News, Technology, Workplace

Recruitment via artificial intelligence must be reviewed to avoid adopting human biasArtificial intelligence systems need to be accountable for human bias at AI becomes more prevalent in recruitment and selection, attendees at the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion’s annual conference have been warned. Hosted by NatWest, the conference, Diversity & Inclusion: The Changing Landscape heard from experts in ethics, psychology and computing. They explained that AIs learnt from existing data, and highlighted how information such as performance review scores and employee grading was being fed in to machines after being subjected to human unconscious bias.  Dr David Snelling, the programme director for artificial intelligence at technology giant Fujitsu, illustrated how artificial intelligence is taught through human feedback. Describing how huge data sets were fed into the program, David explained that humans corrected the AI when it used that data to come to an incorrect conclusion, using this feedback to teach the AI to work correctly. However, as this feedback is subject to human error and bias, this can become embedded in the machine.

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What the Chancellor’s Spring Statement means for the employment landscape

What the Chancellor’s Spring Statement means for the employment landscape

by • Comment, Workplace

It may only have lasted 26 minutes, but chancellor Philip Hammond’s inaugural Spring Statement included a number of very encouraging points. Critics were quick to criticise Philip Hammond’s first Spring Statement. But that is perhaps simply the nature of politics. If an impartial party carefully dissects the 26-minute speech, there are undoubtedly many positives to take away. Yes, growth projections still lag slightly behind those highlighted in March 2016. However, it must be accepted that pre-Brexit forecasts are a different story altogether. On 24 June 2016, very few people would have predicted the growth story that was told in the House of Commons today – one of continued economic development with further growth on the horizon. This story is therefore an extremely encouraging one, and a welcome narrative amidst the doom and gloom that so often dominates the media headlines and political debates.

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About time we simply accepted that coworking and flexible working are the new normal

About time we simply accepted that coworking and flexible working are the new normal

by • Comment, Coworking, Flexible working, Workplace design

Ask someone to list innovative companies which have become notable disruptors in their market and they invariably respond with two names – Uber and Airbnb. That is because both brands are positioned squarely and successfully at the retail consumer: for people who use a taxi or take an occasional short break in a foreign city, they have become the automatic default options. But there is another equally successful business targeting the corporate space, aimed particularly at small businesses and millennial tech start-ups: WeWork. Just like Uber and Airbnb, it is less than a decade old. In that time, WeWork’s ambition of being the world’s leading coworking company has been realised. Championing itself as a disruption revolutionary, it has succeeded more prosaically by ‘creating environments that increase productivity, innovation, and collaboration,’ according to its website. WeWork’s model involves renting office space cheaply via long-term lease contracts. Small units are then re-rented at higher rates to start up companies which are happy to pay a premium because they need very little space.

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UK progress on opportunities for women in the workplace slows

UK progress on opportunities for women in the workplace slows

by • News, Workplace

New PwC research claims that the UK is not making progress fast enough to improve female economic empowerment in the workplace. Despite improvements since 2000, these gains have been outpaced by other countries’ efforts, according to the report. In particular, slow progress in closing the gender pay gap, coupled with a persistent low share of females in full-time employment, has put the brakes on the UK making bigger strides towards gender equality in the workplace. The latest Women in Work Index claims the UK has fallen slightly from 14th to 15th place in a ranking of 33 OECD countries based on five key indicators of female economic empowerment. Although labour market conditions for women improved, the UK was outpaced by better performance from other OECD countries. Since 2000, the UK’s position has improved from 17th place and it compares well to other G7 economies, being second only to Canada. The Nordic countries continue to lead the Index – with Iceland, Sweden and Norway rated as the top three countries for opportunities for women in the workplace.

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Productivity, retention and employee wellbeing improve when there is workplace trust

Productivity, retention and employee wellbeing improve when there is workplace trust

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Quarter of employees have left their jobs because of a lack of trust

Being in a reliable work environment increases retention, productivity and employee wellbeing, while also promoting a better business culture, finds new research from Bupa. An examination of workplace trust and the impact on employee wellbeing reveals that over half (53 per cent) of employees considered it to be a major factor in whether they stayed or left a company. The research found that nearly a quarter of UK employees (24 per cent) have left their company due to issues around trust. Although trust is not a tangible workplace benefits, such as salary and bonuses, it is an essential variable in promoting harmony and productivity within an organisation and the study suggests how important it is within the workplace, and also the contribution it makes to the wellbeing of employees and the overall performance of a company. The study also asked employees how trust compares to other company benefits. Nearly two thirds (62 per cent) believe that trust is more important than a gym membership or company mobile, while over half value it more than a free canteen (56 per cent) and company car (55 per cent).

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BIFM to change its name to reflect greater focus on workplace issues and pursue chartered status

BIFM to change its name to reflect greater focus on workplace issues and pursue chartered status

by • Facilities management, News

The British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) has today announced plans to embrace ‘workplace’ as a key ‘differentiator’ for its members and to help establish facilities management as a chartered profession. The manifesto for change announced by BIFM Chair Stephen Roots, sets out to ‘reposition facilities management, emphasising its ability to make a real contribution to organisations’ performance’. It sets the Institute the ‘twin tasks of helping members to improve their skills and their status to meet the needs of modern organisations, and to raise the profile of facilities management and the understanding of the value it contributes’. The proposed new name is the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM).

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Bisley announces plans to elevate the humble locker

Bisley announces plans to elevate the humble locker

by • Company news, Products

Bisley has launched Bisley LateralFile Lodge, a new range of lockers in response to the increased need within contemporary agile offices for personal, transient and temporary storage space. Bisley’s new range of personal storage provides a timely evolution to this essential element of office design. Key features include:

Power  

Mobile technology is an essential tool for a majority of workers and running out of power can be disruptive. Bisley’s new lockers are powered, making it possible to take a laptop away to a desk, only to be charged again when it goes back in the locker overnight, locked safely away behind a simple barrel lock, digital combination locks or an RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) lock.

Zoning

A range of seamless back and surface material options such as acoustic performance panels or dry-wipe boards, and the absence of tie bars, results in a slick and contemporary finish.

The aesthetic appeal and multi-use of the of these lockers means that they do not need to be located on the perimeter of the floorplate, but become an integral part of the interior design, zoning spaces, enhancing breakout spaces and encouraging movement amongst employees.

Personalisation        

The ‘hard to reach’ bottom section of the locker stack can be modified to include a retractable personal drawer, maximising its capacity and accessible use. There is also the opportunity to further personalise each locker with business card/photo holders included as standard to increase the sense of ownership and belonging.

Choice and versatility

The range is available in a multitude of sizes (single or double height to suit requirements), colours, finishes and lock type. Planting tubs can be integrated on to the top of the storage units, enabling the incorporation of storage in biophillic workplace designs, increasingly popular due to the proven benefits for the wellbeing of employees. The wide range of aesthetics available for the tops and shelves, and the option of wood finish doors, mean the new locker range can be specified in any design scheme.

Helen Owen, Director of Business Development at Bisley says: “We accept that change is the only certainty in business but human nature will always dictate the need for employees to have a space that they can call their own. Lockers are a simple, effective and efficient way to provide this. The resurgence of the locker as the perfect storage solution for agile, dynamic workplaces, as well as supporting the co-working phenomenon is to be welcomed.”

The full range of lockers can be seen here:

https://www.bisley.com/products/storage/personal/lateralfile

The UK needs a new approach to low pay, equality and flexible working

The UK needs a new approach to low pay, equality and flexible working

by • News, Workplace

A new research paper from the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) claims to identify areas where employers and policymakers should act to reinvigorate their pay and rewards practices to improve employee engagement and productivity. According to the IES, with the likely intensification of current recruitment shortages, skills gaps and the fall in living standards as the UK leaves the European Union, the paper argues that both employers and policymakers should act on three key areas – low pay, gender pay and total rewards – to help halt the relative decline of the UK’s already below-par productivity performance.

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Open plan offices are distracting and reduce rather than improve productivity, says report

Open plan offices are distracting and reduce rather than improve productivity, says report

by • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

Open plan offices are distracting and reduce rather than improve productivity says report

Open, collaborative work environments have been hailed as a boost to collaboration and performance, but since individual tasks that require high levels of concentration and minimum disruption still account for over half of the typical working day, noise and distraction within open plan workplaces prevent employees from focusing properly and may reduce productivity, claims a new report. According to research by Unispace, 60 percent of the average working day is devoted to individual task-focused work; 25 percent to collaboration, 7 percent to socialising and the same for learning. The research found that the issue of noise has actually become much worse over the last 12 months, with more workers complaining compared to the same research conducted in 2016. Survey respondents flagged noise (15 percent) as the primary cause of inefficiency during the working week, a number that has risen by four per cent in just 12 months. Second to this was a lack of quiet areas (13 percent), a lack of privacy (9 percent) and 7 percent felt that the temperature and air quality of their office was also a factor. The findings come as part of Unispace’s research of more than 11,000 workers in a global study of working practices and workplace design.

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