Search Results for: productivity

March 5, 2019

Employees want good tech and flexibility but stick with their own fixed desk

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

Almost two-thirds of those staff (60 percent) say inadequate technology is the biggest productivity blocker at work and by failing to do its job properly it is making life difficult for employees. This frustration trumps unnecessary bureaucracy, inefficient processes and annoying colleagues – other factors that stop employees from being productive, claims research from Cloudbooking. The research suggests that the digital piece of the employee experience puzzle is more prominent and important than expected – it is in fact the single most important factor with 90 percent of UK office workers who said efficient technology is important to their overall experience. Currently fewer than one in ten UK employees are “extremely satisfied” with their workplace experience, indicating there is significant room for employers to improve it by delivering better technological resources. However, despite wanting to embrace more flexible working, staff still prefer their own fixed desk.

March 1, 2019

Businesses pledge to work towards mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

The government is being encouraged to implement mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting when it announces the outcome of its ‘Ethnicity pay reporting’ consultation, which closed in January. Pre-empting that, fifteen companies have signed a commitment today to work towards mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting. Signatories include the Bank of England, Deloitte, KPMG, WPP, Santander and EY. The commitment, driven by membership organisation INvolve, aims to get more businesses voluntarily reporting on their ethnicity pay gap. In 2018 The Resolution Foundation estimated the ethnicity pay gap at £3.2bn. A report from INvolve also showed that white people earn on average between £67 and £209 more per week compared to similarly qualified individuals of a different ethnic background, and that the most ethnically diverse workplaces are 35 percentage points more likely to financially outperform industry averages.

February 28, 2019

Communication skills trump experience as quality employers look for in candidates

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

New research from The University of Law Business School has analysed over 700 keywords from the job specifications of 30 common business roles (across three popular job sites), to reveal what employers are looking for from candidates. The research highlights the crossover in skills and requirements across roles and industries, helping encourage those considering a career move, or just starting out in the world of business by showing how qualified they may already be for a new career. Its key finding is that employers are hugely more interested in people’s interpersonal skills than their work experience.

February 26, 2019

The new issue of Work&Place, the most influential workplace journal in the world, is now available for free download

by Jim Ware • Premium Content

We have published the latest Work&Place issue for Spring 2019. As always, it offers a diverse compilation of timely and provocative perspectives focused on the intersections between and among work, the workplace, technology, culture, and business strategy. You might start with Rob Harris’s call for shooting the messengers in his (highly responsible) rant on the dearth of meaningful research about the business value of open offices and the all-too-frequent unfounded claims about how wonderful open plan is.

February 26, 2019

Digital and mobile tech at work is still not being used to full advantage

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

Just a third of businesses are using mobile technologies for their administration tasks, and as organisations struggle to digitise, many employees admit to finding pen and paper simpler to use. The vast majority (91 percent) of workers still prefer to use a desktop or laptop for administrative tasks, according to the research commissioned by ABBYY, as only one third (35 percent) use mobiles for admin, despite 43 percent of workers wanting to use it for this purpose. Millennials in particular are keen to use mobiles, with 55 percent wanting to use mobiles for admin – yet only 43 percent currently do. Older generations are also open to using mobile for admin, with 35 percent of Gen X currently doing so, and 41 percent wanting to. However, it’s clear that some employees are finding the latest technologies, such as mobile, too difficult to use – 28 percent still want to use pen and paper for admin tasks, as 46 percent find it simpler than other means. Desktop still runs the workplace in the UK, regardless of today’s remote working climate. Almost half of workers (48 percent) use a desktop or laptop because it’s easier, and 41 percent because it’s faster.

February 25, 2019

A four day week, people-watching at work, the art of AI and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • AI, Facilities management, Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

While the recent Finnish pilot of universal basic income had mixed results, a trial of the other most talked about solution to our problem with work – the four day week – has been reported as far more promising. A New Zealand financial services firm called Perpetual Guardian switched its 240 staff from a five-day to a four-day week last November and maintained their pay. The results (registration) included a 20 percent rise in productivity and improved staff wellbeing and engagement.

February 25, 2019

Growth of flexible working locations in London is lowering the costs of office space

by Sara Bean • Cities, Coworking, News, Property

There is a boom in the number of new flexible working locations opening in Central London, which has seen a growth of 42 percent year-on-year. According to the new report by Office Freedom this growth is driving ever more competitive rates and lowering the cost of all kinds of office spaces within the capital. Over the last two years, office prices in Hammersmith have fallen by 29 percent, whilst Paddington is 32 percent cheaper as a direct result of greater flexible space availability. The rates in prestigious Knightsbridge are still amongst the highest in Central London, but have dropped by 38 percent between 2014 and 2018. More →

February 22, 2019

When assessing workplace strategy: we should always test rather than guess

by Franklin Becker • Facilities management, Features, Workplace design

Would an investor plow millions of dollars into a stock and never bother to track how the investment does? Of course not. Nor would they confuse the expected return on investment (ROI) with the actual results. We don’t guess about financial investments. We don’t base investment decisions on what some stranger does or how they say they’ve done. So why then, do many of the largest companies in the world invest millions of dollars in buildings or renovating their workplaces and never even bother to measure results. Why are they so willing to copy the unproven workplace strategy of others? Why are they satisfied with projected results, rather than measuring how their investments actually perform? More →

February 22, 2019

The biggest problem for city centres is a lack of high skilled jobs

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News

The Centre for Cities, in partnership with George Capital, has mapped the UK cities with the strongest city centre economies in the UK, and identified their common features. The report City Centres: Past, Present and Future found that focusing on the struggles of certain high streets ignores the success of well-performing city centres and misdiagnoses the core problem: insufficient footfall in city centres due to a lack of jobs.

February 21, 2019

Why the gender pay gap is an enduring challenge for many organisations

by Heejung Chung • Comment, Workplace

In April of 2018, large companies with over 250 employees were obliged to report their gender pay gap for the first time. Headlines that week were dominated by some of the surprise and shock of the extent to which women were paid less in majority of the companies reported, while for many women it just confirmed our hidden beliefs. There was a slight optimism, however, that there can only be progress. However, many companies who are reporting their new pay gap for this year show that rather than progress, many have increased their gaps. Why is this the case?

February 19, 2019

Cold noses and warm design; a review of the Stockholm Furniture Fair

by John Sacks • Comment, Workplace design

The scene was set when, on the final approach to Stockholm, the Captain announced that the city was ‘enjoying’ heavy snow and a temperature of minus 15 degrees C. Can the fair organisers be persuaded to move future events to balmy June? Probably not. But of course, everything works perfectly despite the weather, and interiors everywhere are beautifully warm.

February 18, 2019

Organisations are overwhelmed by innovation, claims report

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Companies are being overwhelmed by innovation projects, fewer than half of which even make it to market. That is according to a new report from Oracle, based on a poll of more than 5,000 decision makers from 24 countries. Despite what the report claims is a clear link between growth and innovation, organisations are being held back by poor processes and a lack of focus. The report suggests that innovation barriers are particularly pronounced amongst big companies, as well as companies experiencing higher growth rates.