Search Results for: performance

December 5, 2016

Just one percent of UK firms are ready for the digital economy ⁰

A new study by Oxford Economics and SAP claims that just one in every 100 organisations in the UK is capitalising on the digital economy, significantly fewer than in comparable European countries such as Germany where the figure is more than 2 in 5 and Spain (22 percent). According to the study, the benefits of digital readiness include greater workforce diversity. The ‘digital winners’ defined by the report have higher female representation at mid-management level level and slightly more women overall. Four in ten of the study’s digital winners globally reported effective diversity programmes, compared to 36 percent of all companies in France, 33 percent in Russia, 30 percent in the UK and 23 percent in Spain.

November 30, 2016

Germany slides down rankings as one of world’s top employment talent hotspots ⁰

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Workplace

Germany has slipped down the rankings as one of the world’s top employment talent hotspots, with other established economic powers such as the UK and France playing only minor roles in sustaining Europe’s pre-eminence. According to the World Talent Report by IMD Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands occupy the top five places in the rankings – the first two retaining their standings from last year. Finland, Norway, Austria, Luxembourg and Hong Kong complete the top 10, with Germany 11th, Iceland 16th, Ireland 18th, the UK 20th and France down in 28th. The objective of the World Talent Report is to assess how countries sustain the talent pool necessary for businesses to maximize their performances. Austria was one of the biggest movers over the past 12 months, climbing 11 places to break into the top 10, while Belgium rose by six positions to take third spot. By contrast, Germany slipped out of the elite, dropping from 7th to 11th, after being impacted especially heavily by the economic crisis affecting much of Europe.

November 25, 2016

Workplace professionals should look to the consumer sector for boosting engagement ⁰

by Jeff Flanagan • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

More and more businesses are recognising the power of the workplace experience to drive employee performance and engagement. Global brand Airbnb, for example, has now renamed its head of human resources as “chief employee experience officer.” This is good news for workplace design and management professionals. We are well placed to capitalise on this shift in business opinion, but if we want to make a tangible impact, we need to bring practical solutions to the table. First and foremost, these need to be backed up by research. There have been few studies specifically into what makes a healthy and productive work environment. However, there are a number of research projects that examine how a human being’s surroundings impact their mood and behaviour, and in particular how consumer environments shape customers’ perception of and engagement with a brand. As workplace professionals, we can learn a great deal from this consumer research and this is why workplace design and management teams should look towards consumer-facing industries for inspiration.

November 23, 2016

Gender earnings gap in tech sector is significantly higher than national average ⁰

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

The high tech sector may pride itself on offering some of the most attractive and modern workplace environments, but when it comes to equal parity between the sexes it seems out of date. New research from Mercer claims that at 25 percent, the gender earnings gap in the UK’s high tech sector is significantly higher than the national average (18 percent). The consultancy also found that small companies have the largest gap, with a 30 percent difference in (median) pay between all male and female employees, and a 26 percent gap when considering mean base salaries. This difference reduces as company sizes grow. Where the data allowed comparison of pay between women and men in equal job roles, the pay gap was much smaller, typically 8 percent. This is comparable to the UK norm of 9 percent for this type of analysis. The reasons for this gap is due on further analysis to a multitude of factors including the reluctance of many women to enter the tech field, not enough effort being put into promoting women and a lack of will in promoting flexible working patterns.

November 22, 2016

Employers and ambitious employees combine to boost a buoyant job market ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

The job market continues to remain buoyant in the face of economic and political uncertainties, and this is matched by a noticeable enthusiasm among employees to move jobs, suggests new research. The Totaljobs Employment Index, which measures activity across the totaljobs website, has shown that job postings on the site were up 7 percent year-on-year (YoY) in October. But this demand seems to have been outstripped by jobseekers’ needs, with the number of applications on the website up 14 percent YoY. This means that despite an increase in vacancies, the number of applications per job has soared 7 percent. This trend continues when looking at the last three months (Aug-Oct) compared with the same period in 2015, as jobs rose 11 percent and applications increased 12 percent. Broken down across the UK, the best performing regions in terms of growth in jobs posted include the North West (up 17 percent), the East Midlands and Wales (both up 13 percent).

November 16, 2016

Employers as well as workers behind the creation of the gig economy ⁰

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

Employers and workers are both driving the creation of a temporary, independent workforce, but despite the benefits, there are some significant management challenges, claims two new EY surveys focusing on the gig economy. Among large organisations (100,000 employees or more) surveyed, 49 percent said they increased their use of gig workers in the last five years and 40 percent of organisations expect to increase their use of contingent workers in the next five years. One quarter expect 30 percent or more of their workforce to be contingent workers by 2020. On the employee side, the research shows more people are choosing to do contingent work; 73 percent of the 1,008 short-term contingent workers surveyed had positive reasons for their independent work arrangement, with only 20 percent saying they were short-term workers due to a lack of suitable full-time positions. Sixty-six percent believe the benefits of contingent working outweigh the downsides always or most of the time compared to just 6 percent who believe the opposite.

November 15, 2016

‘Western’ millennials rate sense of purpose most important job criterion ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

A sense of purpose remains the top priority among ‘Western’ millennials from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France; but in the largest emerging economies, including China and India, salary and career advancement remain the most important job criteria, according to the Global Shapers Annual Survey for 2016. While the US, UK and Canada lead the list among young people who would like to live abroad to advance their careers, the United Arab Emirates and China are the most preferred emerging-market countries, the survey from the World Economic Forum survey claims. They came in at 11th and 12th place, respectively, ahead of the Scandinavian countries, all other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries and Singapore. One reason for the strong performance of the UAE may be the good prospects for landing a job in the country. While 34 percent of millennials globally identified the lack of economic opportunity and employment as one of the three most serious issues affecting their country – making it the biggest issue of concern after corruption –only one in 10 of the UAE respondents said they see unemployment as a serious issue.

November 12, 2016

Ten countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, India and US announce plans to recognise zero carbon emissions buildings ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, News

The World Green Building Council’s goal to ensure that every building produces zero carbon emissions by 2050 took a major step forward this week as Green Building Councils in 10 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, and the US) made progress on their plans to introduce net zero certification or designation schemes within their own countries, at COP22. Specifically, the Green Building Council of Australia, Canada Green Building Council, the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), India Green Building Council and the US Green Building Council all announced their intention to introduce schemes that recognise and reward net zero carbon buildings, with some announcing target dates by which they will introduce them. These schemes could be either stand alone net zero certification schemes, or a net zero designation within existing certification schemes.

November 8, 2016

UK cities now outperforming pre-crisis peak on key socio-economic indicators ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News

The majority of UK cities and Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas are now outperforming their pre-financial crisis peak, according to the latest 2016 Good Growth for Cities index, produced by PwC and the think-tank, Demos. However, a number of cities that have previously scored highly terms of jobs, incomes and business start-ups are beginning to experience growing pressures on housing affordability, transportation and work-life balance. The report also warns that the elements of the Good Growth index could be impacted by Brexit, with housing, jobs and income potentially seeing the largest effects. However, it also points to post-Brexit opportunities including revised trade relations and regulations and the potential of new markets beyond the EU. Published today, the fifth annual Good Growth for Cities index measures the performance of 42 of the UK’s largest cities, England’s Local Enterprise Partnerships LEPs and the new Combined Authorities against a basket of categories defined by the public and business as key to local socio-economic success.

November 8, 2016

Work-life balance is especially important to millennials, finds US study ⁰

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

Work-life balance is especially crucial to millennials, with nearly six in 10 members of this generation (57 percent) saying that work-life balance and well-being in a job are “very important” to them. What’s more, millennials — whose propensity for technology has the potential to keep them constantly tethered to work emails and projects — care a lot about having a job that actively promotes their well-being. Results from the US-based Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey shows that millennials are more likely than those of other generations to be thriving in physical well-being and are improving in key areas of health. But it also shows that employees who are thriving in all five elements of well-being are 81 percent less likely than those thriving only in physical well-being to seek out a new employer in the next year. These findings are particularly compelling, considering that millennials are the most likely generation to job-hop.

November 7, 2016

Global case for healthy green building provided ‘for first time’ ⁰

by Sara Bean • Company news, Environment, Facilities management

A global business case for healthy green building design and management has been provided ‘for the first time’ in a new report from the World Green Building Council with examples of the benefits to employers, building owners, designers and developers. The new report Building the Business Case: Health, Wellbeing and Productivity in Green Offices highlights ‘the global momentum behind healthy and green office design and operation’ and showcases over 15 buildings from around the world. The research provides further evidence in the ways that green offices keep staff healthy and happy, improves productivity and boosts business’ bottom line. Steps like improving air quality, increasing natural light and introducing greenery – those which typically have environmental benefits such as using less energy – may also have an impact on the bottom line by improving employee productivity and reducing absenteeism, staff turnover and medical costs, according to the report.

November 3, 2016

Employers worldwide are failing to keep senior female managers engaged ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Some of the world’s biggest and best-known companies have lower engagement than they should among senior-level women, claims a new report, which found significant engagement gaps in key areas, including mentorship, appreciation and cooperation with colleagues. Roughly three quarters of those surveyed for the rewards of an Engaged Female Workforce were found to have generated lower levels of employee engagement among female senior managers. The research from BCG looked at factors that contribute to engagement levels for more than 345,000 male and female employees across the world and found that in companies in the bottom three quartiles of overall engagement scores, the scores of women increase by just 4 percent from non-manager to senior manager level while men’s increase by a full 12 percent. The study also found that companies in the top 25% of overall engagement scores had virtually no engagement gap between senior female managers (4.5) and senior male managers (4.4 ) when scores are rated from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied).