Search Results for: skills gap

January 11, 2018

Culture shift needed to drive a better gender balance in property and construction

Despite compelling evidence of the bottom line benefits of gender diversity, too many sectors remain stubbornly male dominated. This is certainly the case with the property and construction industry where women still represent only 15 percent of the workforce. The growth of prop-tech, entrepreneurialism amongst women and a growing emphasis on service, demonstrated by the growth of the flexible office and serviced apartment sectors, which tend to have more balanced gender ratios, is helping to address this balance. However, many women in the industry still do not occupy managerial roles, and so the gender pay gap stubbornly remains. For these imbalances to be addressed a cross-industry, cultural shift needs to occur, and individual companies must work to drive change from the top down.

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November 30, 2017

Government targets 50 percent cut in greenhouse gases from the built environment

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

The UK government has set some ambitious targets for construction and the environmental performance of buildings following the announcement of a Sector Deal for the construction sector. The sector deal was an integral part of the Industrial Strategy White Paper published earlier this week. In a statement, Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark revealed more details of the deal supported by £170m of government investment and £250m of match funding from the built environment sector. The announcement sets out ambitious new targets for the built environment and infrastructure including a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gases and a third reduction in the costs of construction and whole life costs of buildings.

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October 30, 2017

Employees are investing their own time and money to remain competitive in the changing workplace

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Capgemini and LinkedIn have published a new global report exploring the ‘digital talent gap’, which analyses the demand and supply of talent with specific digital skills and the availability of digital roles across multiple industries and countries. The report, The Digital Talent Gap—Are Companies Doing Enough? claims to reveal the concerns felt by employees when assessing their own digital skills and the lack of training resources currently available to them within their workplace. Highlights include the fact that nearly 50 percent of employees, rising to close to 60 percent for what the report calls digitally talented employees are investing their own money and additional time beyond office hours to develop digital skills on their own. Capgemini surveyed 753 employees and 501 executives at the director level or above, at large companies with reported revenue of more than $500 million for FY 2016 and more than 1,000 employees. The survey took place from June to July 2017, and covered nine countries – France, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States and seven industry sectors.

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October 17, 2017

Unequal access and usage could hold back potential of global digital economy

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Digital technologies continue to make impressive advances. Internet infrastructure is improving and the usage of digital tools is growing. The social impacts of digital innovation have also become more pronounced in diverse fields. However, progress is uneven across countries, businesses, and within societies. Broadening access to digital opportunities and helping those lagging behind to catch up would increase the benefits of the digital transformation and help ensure they are widely shared across economies and people, according to a new OECD report. The OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2017 says government policy has not kept pace with the digital innovation and transformation of economies and societies led by big technology firms. It calls on countries need to step up their efforts, invest more in education and skills and encourage greater use of advanced technologies like big data analysis and cloud computing, in particular by small businesses, to make the digital shift more productive and inclusive.

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October 11, 2017

UK improves opportunities for young workers, but faces longer term challenges from automation

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

The UK could boost GDP by £43 billion if it reduces the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) to match Germany, the best performing EU country. This is equivalent to a GDP increase of around £7,500 per 18-24 year old, according to estimates in PwC’s latest Young Workers Index. This year, the UK reached its highest position since the Index began in 2006, climbing to 18th out of 35 OECD countries from 20th last year. The UK’s improvement reflects lower youth unemployment and NEET rates as the economic recovery from the financial crisis has continued, but it still lags behind many other OECD countries, with Switzerland, Iceland and Germany leading the pack.

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September 21, 2017

Women struggle to make their voices heard in the workplace, claims RADA report

by Neil Franklin • News

Working women in the UK feel they face a number of challenges to make their voice heard in business environments, according to new research. The study, conducted by RADA in Business, the commercial subsidiary of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art which provides communication skills training for corporate individuals, found that just 8 percent of women find it easy to make their voice heard at work. In comparison, 15 percent of men reported being able to express themselves with ease within a work environment. The research also claims that women are 68 percent more likely than men to say they never feel comfortable when expressing themselves in a work environment (3.7 percent of women compared to 2.2 percent of men). This gap was widest in specific sectors, most notably IT, professional services (such as law and accountancy), retail and education.

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August 7, 2017

New analysis reveals shrinking pool of younger workers in the UK workforce

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

An increase in the number of UK-born employees leaving the UK’s workforce, either through retirement or emigration is coinciding with a shrinking pool of younger workers, which a fall in immigration can no longer fill, a new report warns. An analysis of the UK’s workforce showed that the UK’s workforce grew in 2016-2017 only because of an increase in EU and non-EU workers. Mercer’s Workforce Monitor showed that retirement, opting out (i.e. due to caring responsibilities) or emigration saw around 143,000 UK-born employees leave the UK workforce with the loss of workers only being offset by the entry of around 147,000 EU-born workers and around 232,000 Non-EU workers. In sum, the UK’s workforce grew by an estimated 234,000 over 2016-2017. From Q1 2016 to Q1 2017, the number of workers over 50 in the UK economy grew by 230,000, the under 35’s grew by 50,000 while the number of workers aged 35-49 shrunk by 48,000. According to the analysis, if net migration into the UK levels off at 100,000 per year from 2020, the number of under 50s in the workforce will fall by 200,000 by 2025; the over 50s would increase by over 1 million while the number of under-25s in the population would fall by 100,000. This means apprentices and graduates numbers will be less.

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June 21, 2017

Report sets out costliest cities for mobile workforce of multinationals ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News

In a rapidly changing world, mobility has become a core component of companies’ global talent strategy and as a result, multinational organisations are carefully assessing the cost of packages for their international mobile workforce, claims a new report which sets out the costs of living in the world’s major cities. Mercer’s 23rd annual Cost of Living Survey finds that factors like instability of housing markets and inflation for goods and services contribute to the overall cost of doing business in today’s global environment. Mercer’s 2017 Cost of Living Survey finds Asian and European cities – particularly Hong Kong (2), Tokyo (3), Zurich (4), and Singapore (5) – top the list of most expensive cities for expatriates. The costliest city, driven by cost of goods and security, is Luanda (1), the capital of Angola. Other cities appearing in the top 10 of Mercer’s costliest cities for expatriates are Seoul (6), Geneva (7), Shanghai (8), New York City (9), and Bern (10). The world’s least expensive cities for expatriates, according to Mercer’s survey, are Tunis (209), Bishkek (208), and Skopje (206).

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June 12, 2017

What will the UK General Election mean for the workplace? Some experts respond ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, Flexible working, Property, Workplace, Workplace design

Any residual feelings of certainty that anybody in the UK may have had about the country’s future following last year’s Brexit vote, will have had them pretty much eradicated by last Thursday’s General Election result. However, we must try to make sense of things for society and the wider economy as well as specific facets of it, such as the world of work. The whole thing looks like the pig’s ear that it is, of course. Fortunately, as some experts have already argued, there are some reasons to see some positive outcomes, including a soft (or softer) Brexit and the chance of a more positive approach to workplace rights, now that the Government needs to maintain a broader consensus. The fear or hope that the UK would lighten its already soft touch approach to workplace legislation would seem at least to be less well founded.

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June 7, 2017

Firms remain optimistic despite political uncertainty, Brexit and automation ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Workplace

Britain’s start-up businesses are more optimistic about the future than those in the US, Europe and Asia, despite the uncertainties caused by Brexit, according to research by EY. According to the company’s Growth Barometer, half of UK businesses less than five years old expected to grow by more than 11 per cent this year. Almost a quarter were forecasting growth of more than 26 per cent. The findings are based on a survey of 2,340 middle market executives across 30 countries, reveal that in spite of geopolitical tensions, including Brexit, increasing populism, the rise of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) and skilled talent shortages, 89 percent of executives see today’s uncertainty as grounds for growth opportunities. What’s more, 14 percent of all companies surveyed have current year growth ambitions of more than 16 percent.

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May 26, 2017

An overdue attempt to connect smart buildings with smart people ⁰

by Xenia Kingsley • Comment, Property, Technology

As first events go, the inaugural outing for the Smart Buildings series of conferences succeeded in delivering a full day of insightful presentations and debates, with a highly engaged audience of industry experts. A theme to emerge early on – in the opening remarks by Worktech Academy’s Jeremy Myerson in fact, was that the concept of ‘smart buildings’ is far from new. Depending who you ask, the idea goes back to the 90’s, the 80’s or even the 60’s. So why have we waited until 2017 for a conference on the topic? Many of the presenters agreed this is because we have only recently entered a new technological phase – the ‘plateau of productivity’ of Gartner’s Hype Cycle, as Owen King of Unwork pointed out – the time when widestream adoption of a technology kicks in and its viability becomes more clear. Indeed, the benefits of smart buildings are now widely regarded to fall into six categories; sustainability, productivity, talent, wellbeing, brand and cost control. And, while sustainability was the topic du jour at similar events six or seven years ago, the industry focus has shifted towards productivity and wellbeing.

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May 19, 2017

Only one in four people with a long-term mental health issue are in work ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Only a quarter of people with a long term mental health issue are in work, according to a report published by the TUC to coincide with its Disabled Workers’ Conference yesterday. The report, Mental health and employment, contains new analysis of official employment statistics, which finds that while 4 in 5 (80.4 percent) non-disabled people are in work, people with mental illness, anxiety or depression have substantially lower employment rates. Only one in four (26.2 percent) people with a mental illness lasting (or expected to last) more than a year are in work. Less than half (45.5 percent) of people with depression or anxiety lasting more than 12 months are in work. The TUC is concerned that this suggests employers are failing to make adequate changes in the workplace to enable people with mental illnesses, anxiety or depression to get a job, or stay in work. Mental health problems can often be ‘invisible’ to others, so a lack of mental health awareness amongst managers and employers is also likely to be a factor.