Search Results for: professionals

March 14, 2013

Regus launches ‘world’s first’ city-wide third space network

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Technology

Serviced office provider Regus has claimed that it has launched the world’s first city-wide network of flexible working hubs in 70 Shell service stations across Berlin. The facilities available for the Regus Card toting road warriors at the ‘Regus Express’ hubs include wifi (surely a given these days), docking stations, business lounges and meeting rooms. It is the most extensive use yet of the Regus approach to ‘third spaces’ which has so far also included the provision of facilities on Shell service station on the autoroutes around Paris, trains on the Dutch rail network and certain UK branches of Staples.

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March 11, 2013

Employers managing multigenerations of staff “in the dark”

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Workplace

GRiD age research

The latest example from a plethora of surveys is published today to add more fuel to the suspicion that “Generation Y NOT ME?” either needs slapping down or is being grossly misrepresented. “The Workplace Revolution”, by recruiter Adecco Group reports that half of those aged 34 and under – Generation Y – (47 per cent) want a promotion every two years, compared to just a fifth (22 per cent) of UK workers as a whole. But the report also warns that employers that fail to engage, motivate and retain their best employees across all ages risk damaging productivity and competitiveness.

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March 5, 2013

Employer confusion despite social media recruitment surge

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

Seventy per cent of recruiters now actively use and support the use of social media and trust has grown significantly in online media over the past two years, according to new research. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the three most used social media channels among HR professionals and recruiters, with occasional use of blogs and videos. However, the research by Global HR Services Group Penna Plc shows that while engagement with social media is increasing, a quarter of employers are still trying to restrict Facebook access at work and have no formal social media policy in place.

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February 27, 2013

Global confusion in managing employee “data deluge”

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

employee data

Over a quarter of employers worldwide do not know how their workforce potential is affecting the company’s bottom line. A new report by talent measurement solutions provider SHL suggests HR managers are overwhelmed by the volume of employee data and struggle to elicit meaningful insight that will help drive businesses forward and deliver results. “Our research shows that even though organisations measure employee performance, they have historically focused on efficiency data, like how well an employee is performing versus data that allows them to make a strategic talent decision,” said Ken Lahti, vice president, Product Development and Innovation, SHL.

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February 22, 2013

US Federal government confirms green-building requirements

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, Property, Public Sector

the_white_house_0

A new study prepared for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) by the National Research Council has given the seal of approval on the importance of green-building certification programs as tools to reduce energy use and other operational costs. “This reaffirmed what we’ve been saying all along – that LEED makes good economic sense,” said Fleming Roberts, Associate, Policy & Advocacy at the US Building Council. “The report recommended that the Department of Defense should require its new buildings or major renovations to be designed to achieve at least LEED Silver certification.” (more…)

February 18, 2013

Model new site announced for BIM aficionados

by Sara Bean • Architecture, News, Property, Technology

BIM

The UK’s BIM (Building Information Modelling) Task Group is launching a Digital Plans of Work site on February 28. The latest phase in the government’s plans to make the UK the world leader in BIM, the site will enable users to keep an online version of their work. BIM is also attracting support worldwide. Today, US construction giant ZMG Construction threw its weight behind the technology saying: “New technological developments continue to revolutionize the construction and design industries — and building information modelling, or BIM, is foremost on the list of these major technological advances.” (more…)

February 14, 2013

Flexible working seen as of more benefit to employers than staff

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

Nine in ten UK professionals think that flexible working will become the dominant employment model – but half think it will be adopted for business reasons rather than to benefit the workforce. According to research from specialist HR recruiter Ortus, just one in ten professionals (12 per cent) actually deem flexible working to be a vital benefit – lower than the proportion who said a free company mobile phone is vital to them. And just 1 in 10 said they thought it was being implemented to help with gender equality. In the survey conducted among 450 professionals across a variety of sectors, 51 one per cent felt the reason behind the growth of flexible working is efficiency and productivity – not to help people manage the number of hours they work. (more…)

February 14, 2013

Global corporates boosting social media engagement

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

The massive rise in prominence of social media has led many major global organisations to increase their so far limited investment into social channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook in order to attract and engage talent. Senior Resourcing and HR directors at a recent roundtable event facilitated by hyphen, the recruitment process outsourcer agreed that social media is fast becoming a critical part of the recruitment and employee engagement tool kit as major organisations adapt to the new digital age – and this investment is starting to drive internal change towards a focus on digital within organisations. (more…)

February 12, 2013

Tech and media companies continue to reshape the world’s cities

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, News, Property, Technology, Workplace design

Tech and media companies continue to shape the world’s cities and local property markets according to a recent report from BNP Paribas. While this is a global phenomenon, some of the most dramatic developments will take place in London, not least a shift of tech firms in the city away from their heartland towards Kings Cross following Google’s $1bn purchase of 2.4 acres of land within a major new development in the area. The new development may become a hothouse for technology companies in spite of the UK Government’s focus on promoting Tech City and surrounding areas in East London. (more…)

February 12, 2013

Whatever the office of the future is, it should be there to serve people

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Furniture, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

Futurology is notoriously a mug’s game. Especially when it comes to making predictions about technology. Just ask Ken Olson, the founder of DEC who in 1977 pronounced that ‘there is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home’. Or Bill Gates himself who once claimed that Microsoft ‘will never make a 32 bit operating system’. But that shouldn’t make us blind to those predictions that we know will largely come true, not least those based on what we know is happening in the present. This is typified by research carried out by Cass Business School and Henley Business School and presented in a book called Future Work: How Businesses Can Adapt and Thrive in the New World of Work. It found that two-thirds of the 360 managers it surveyed believe that there would be a revolution in working practices over the coming decade. Ninety per cent said that staff were more productive when empowered to decide when and where and how to work.

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January 25, 2013

Cost cutting measures are on the agenda, but may prove risky

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News

The latest Office for National Statistics figures released today which show that the UK economy has shrunk might suggest that firms need to cut costs as they try to weather the economic storm. This idea is given credence by a major study into the procurement strategies of organisations which found three quarters doing exactly that. However another study suggests that we may be approaching the point at which further cost-cutting measures will destabilise supply chains, making price reductions counter productive and exposing buyers to a greater degree of risk. (more…)