Search Results for: professionals

January 12, 2018

Pointless meetings can result in disengagement and reduced productivity

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

Three in 10 business professionals think most of their meetings are pointless and nearly half (48 percent) of UK business people admit to having dozed off in a meeting claims global research by Barco ClickShare. The study revealed the true extent of our shared dislike for business meetings, which many respondents believe are poorly run at best or, at worst, completely pointless. Nearly a third of respondents globally said they found less than half of their meetings to be useful, while 30 percent also said they had dozed off in a meeting before. The UK, in fact, led the way in the asleep-in-meeting stakes, with nearly half (48 percent) of all UK respondents saying they’d fallen asleep in meetings. Checking emails and social media during meetings was also extremely common and another indication of disengagement and distraction. Over 70 percent of people said they regularly checked emails during meetings, while 37 percent access social media.

January 10, 2018

Bored and needing a challenge are top reasons for seeking a new job in 2018

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

January is the month when employees contemplate moving on to pastures new and being bored and needing a challenge would be the top reasons for seeking a new job in 2018 cited by a third (33 percent) of respondents to global research from Korn Ferry. When asked what their typical first step is when looking for a new job, almost half (44 percent) cited networking. And in terms of the top ways to network, reconnecting with current and former friends/colleagues and LinkedIn came out on top for 33 percent and 31 percent respectively. The research found that while 23 percent of respondents said updating their CV is their first step to landing a new role, 19 percent said their first step is taking an inventory of what kind of job would make them the happiest. The grass isn’t necessarily greener however, as nearly half (46 percent) said they were turned down for a job because the interviewer did not take the time to fully understand their qualifications and more than half (53 percent) of respondents said that people who interviewed them for a job were only “somewhat prepared,” “ill-prepared” or “very ill-prepared.”

January 8, 2018

Employee engagement tops poll as biggest human resources challenge for 2018

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

A study commissioned by Cascade HR claims to reveal the topics most likely to keep Human Resources professionals awake at night in 2018. Employee engagement topped the list of upcoming challenges for 44 percent of the 447 participants, followed by staff retention (36 percent). Absence management and recruitment came in as the joint third biggest worry for 33 percent of respondents, with succession planning in fifth place (26 percent). And it appears the same themes have posed the biggest headache for HR in 2017. When asked to reflect on their toughest encounters from the past 12 months, professionals ranked recruitment as the clear front-runner (52 percent), followed by absence management, (43 percent), employee engagement (39 percent), and retention (37 percent), with learning and development the only difference(20 percent).

January 2, 2018

We need to stop talking about self-employment as a monocultural phenomenon

by Andrea Broughton • Comment, Flexible working

Self-employment has grown considerably in the UK over the past 15 years, now totalling around 4.8 million workers, or 15 per cent of the workforce. There is a debate about the extent to which this growth in self-employment is a positive development: some believe that it is a positive feature of an entrepreneurial and flexible economy, while others fear that it is increasing levels of precariousness. This is a difficult issue to address as there is great heterogeneity among the self-employed workforce. In order to shed light on this, IES undertook research for the Centre for Research on Self-Employment (CRSE) to divide the self-employed workforce into segments. The policy debate on self-employment has often been carried out on the assumption that there is some homogeneity among the self-employed workforce. However, this is far from the case, and it could be argued that diversity is increasing due to the growth of the so-called gig economy. In order to help clarify the debate, IES undertook research for the CRSE that aimed to achieve greater clarity in terms of the size and nature of the different segments of the self-employed workforce. The aim is that if the sector is better segmented, this will help policymakers to avoid taking a broad-brush approach to the treatment of self-employed workers.

December 28, 2017

The most read workplace stories from the last twelve months

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Facilities management, Features, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

One of the greatest joys of online publishing is the opportunity it offers to reflect on the demonstrable preoccupations and interests of an informed audience. We can see what professionals see as the most important issues they face by what they read in the UK’s most widely read publication in its field. It’s especially heartening to see that those do not include the usual glib misdirections about Millennials, gimmicky office design, robots, open plan and ‘trends’ that have been more or less commonplace for years. We can leave those to others. Instead you have been seeking out stories that challenge the lazy mainstream narratives, reflect the reality of the endlessly shifting landscape of work, understand the challenges involved and retain a focus on the human beings at the centre of it all. So, here are the ten most read pieces from Workplace Insight published over the past 365 days. More →

December 13, 2017

Returnship programmes offer parents route back into work, yet only 4 percent of employers offer them

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A totaljobs study of 2,600 jobseekers and nearly 100 employers claims that while a ‘returnship’ initiative can offer a valuable route back into the workforce for anyone taking a break in their career, their success is hindered by a lack of awareness, rather than a lack of interest. The study found that 85 percent of employers are not aware of returnship programmes despite the fact that two thirds of recruiters believe they would offer returnships if they were incentivised by the government and 72 percent of employees would consider a returnship programme if they’d taken a break from the workforce.

December 8, 2017

Reduced hours do not necessarily lead to reduced workloads, study finds

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Professionals who want to work part-time have to do more than renegotiate their working hours; they also have to redesign their jobs to reduce outputs. Research published in the journal Human Relations, by Dr Charlotte Gascoigne from the Timewise Foundation and Professor Clare Kelliher from the Cranfield School of Management, shows that employers often do not reduce workload when professionals transition to part-time. This is not an insignificant problem for employers: one in five professionals and managers in the UK works part-time already, with more than two in five working part-time in the Netherlands. According to previous studies, a quarter of full-timers in the UK would prefer to work part-time, and are prepared to earn less, but don’t believe it’s possible.

December 8, 2017

Employers not doing enough to help staff reach their full potential says HR

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

It appears to have been a challenging year for HR professionals, as a new survey suggests nearly three quarters (72 percent) of participants in a recent survey feel slightly or significantly more over-stretched in their role compared to last year. Forty four percent believe the workforce does not have enough support to thrive, and a further 23 percent don’t feel confident that their organisations are doing enough to address this issue. Research from a survey of HR people conducted by Cascade HR found that 32 percent of HR managers have found employment legislation harder to navigate. However, a reassuring 61 percent of HR professionals now feel ‘somewhat prepared’ for GDPR, which has understandably taken up a lot of preparatory time and resource as 2017 has unfolded. In fact, only 15 percent of HR professionals surveyed feel significantly or slightly underprepared, which seems to contradict national statistics on a business-wide level.

December 8, 2017

Many UK workers believe the time has come to ditch the 9 to 5

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Over half (58.6 percent) of UK workers believe that the traditional 9 to 5 is an outdated concept, with three quarters (77.2 percent) admitting that they work better at certain times of day, according to a recent study from CV-Library. The survey of 1,200 professionals explored how the nation’s workers feel about 9-5 working hours, and whether these are still fit for purpose. The data claims that two thirds (67.6 percent) would prefer to work hours that suited their natural pattern and when they work best. What’s more, the majority (86.5 percent) of professionals believe that all businesses should offer flexible working, and yet only one quarter (27.3 percent) have the opportunity to work from home when they want to. Those who do have the option to work from home were asked where they felt they worked best and interestingly, 17.1 percent said they work better in the office. A further25 percent said they work best at home and the remaining 57.9 percent said they work just as well in either location.

December 7, 2017

What P T Barnum can teach us about the facilities management circus

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, Facilities management, Workplace

Does any of this describe you? “You have a need for other people to like and admire you, yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable yet hidden strengths that you have yet to turn to your advantage. Self-controlled on the outside, you are slightly insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you always make the right decision. You prefer a certain amount of change and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept the statements of others without satisfactory proof. But you also think it can be unwise to be too frank in revealing too much about yourself.” Does this sound familiar? Well it should because that is how most people see themselves.

December 6, 2017

Commercial property sector disconnected from game changing new tech, claims report

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Technology

Executives in the commercial property sector have significant reservations about emerging disruptive technologies such as Big Data and predictive analytics, augmented and virtual reality, Blockchain and driverless vehicles, but see huge potential for process automation according to the Altus Group CRE Innovation Report (registration required). According to the report, which is based on a global survey carried out in September of 400 CRE executives at firms with assets under management of at least US $250 million representing a total of over US $2 trillion, a large majority of executives report their firms have benefited from technology investments made over the past two years. However, when presented with six rapidly emerging disruptive technologies, only a minority of respondents recognised them as having the potential for major disruptive impact.

December 5, 2017

How do you really go about creating a great place to work?

by Jo Sutherland • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The topic of workplace wellbeing is becoming increasingly prevalent. And for good reason. In the UK, 45 million working days are lost due to stress, anxiety and depression and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Absence Management survey reveals that over two fifths of organisations have seen an increase in reported mental health problems over the last year. What’s more, a recent government report found that up to 300,000 people leave their jobs each year due to mental health-related issues. Last month, Symposium hosted the “Workplace Wellness & Stress Forum 2017”, back for its twelfth year, to help employers step up and tackle the greatest inhibitor of growth, innovation and creativity – stress. Medical professionals have their definition of “stress”, health and safety execs have theirs, and the academic community promulgate another. Forum host Neil Shah, chief de-stressing officer of The Stress Management Society, offered a definition that resonated with the entire audience: “where demand placed on an individual exceeds their resources”.