Search Results for: skills

November 13, 2015

Remote workers endure poor communications and working practices ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Poor communication and working practices among remote teams is widespread, a new report by the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) claims. Organisations are failing to capitalise on the potential for remote working to improve performance and efficiency with 88 percent of remote workers struggling with inconsistent working practices and miscommunication, while 83 percent feel overwhelmed by emails. Although 84 percent of remote workers report improvements to their work-life balance, a lack of team identity can cause isolation and loneliness. The study with over 1,000 remote workers highlighted a range of potential benefits for organisations with a remote or geographically-dispersed workforce, including increased business reach, improved productivity, cost and time savings, and access to a more diverse set of skills and experience.

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November 10, 2015

Employers have dodged UK recruitment crisis threat, claims CIPD ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Salaries are not likely to increase much next year, and despite predictions of a recruitment shortage, vacancies are still relatively easy to fill, the latest Labour Market Outlook from the CIPD claims. The quarterly survey of more than 1,000 employers shows that across all sectors just fifteen percent of current job vacancies are proving difficult to fill. It also reveals that, outside a limited number of industries, UK employers continue to be able to recruit the workers they need without significantly hiking wages and that median basic pay rises of just 2 percent are predicted by employers in the 12 months to September 2016. The research suggests that in general, most businesses are seeing a steady flow of suitable candidates, despite unemployment falling to a seven-year low in October and despite a slight year on year increase (44 percent – 49 percent) in the number of employers reporting any hard to fill vacancies.

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November 5, 2015

Data transforms the roles of offices and the people who manage them

by Philip Ross • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace

The modern workplace creates the physical,technological and cultural point of intersection between a number of abstract or movable facets of the business, including people, technology, culture and creativity. That has always been true to a large extent but with the growing complexity of exactly how, when and where we work, this role of the office as the epicentre of it all has been thrown into sharp relief. With that has come a greater understanding of the intersections that exist between disciplines such as IT, FM and HR. In some areas, the roles already appear indistinguishable and I believe this will only become more apparent. The main driver of that growing convergence of roles will be the availability of data to make informed decisions about interrelated aspects of organisational culture, work practices, office design and management and the development and motivation of individuals.

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November 5, 2015

Lacklustre recruitment processes can lead workers to turn down jobs ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

A third (34 percent) of UK workers have changed their mind in the last two years after accepting a job offer, choosing not to go ahead with the new role. Research from Office Angels, analysing the effectiveness of recruitment processes in the post-recession economy, found that nearly half (48 percent) of workers have received multiple job offers at the same time in the last 24 months. At the point of resignation, half (50 percent) received a counter offer from their existing employer. The research asked both hiring managers and job seekers their views on what makes an effective recruitment process. Almost all (96 percent) of workers view the speed of a job offer as a decisive factor when choosing between job opportunities at competing companies, two-fifths (41 percent) stated the most important part of being successfully recruited was a clearly defined recruitment process and 28 percent of workers consider cultural fit in making a decision.

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November 3, 2015

Almost half of UK employees plan to change jobs within three years ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

UK employees are among the least loyal in Europe, according to new research by ADP, with nearly half of UK workers (47 percent) planning to change jobs within three years, compared to a third (34 percent) in the rest of Europe. Just 17 percent want to spend the rest of their career in their present organisation, whilst 40 percent of German workers see this as an option. The job market is now becoming more competitive as employees are looking for opportunities outside their home country. However, attitudes towards foreign talent are generally positive with 69 percent of UK employees who don’t see foreign talent as a threat. Even though companies may benefit from a global talent pool, losing local workforce is causing a headache for some countries. Employees in Spain (49 percent), Italy (47 percent), and Poland (39 percent) are particularly concerned about a talent drain to other countries.

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November 1, 2015

UK productivity undermined by rule-heavy workplaces, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Events, News, Workplace

Employers can unleash the productivity of their workers by allowing them more scope to use their initiative, create more stimulating work and reduce the burden of unnecessary rules and procedures, according to a new report which considers productivity from the employees’ perspective. The latest Employee Outlook Survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), surveyed over 2,000 UK employees, asking what enabled them to be most productive. The most common responses were interesting work (40 percent), being able to use their own initiative (39 percent) and being given tasks which complement their skills (25 percent). On the other hand, the most common hurdles to employee productivity were unnecessary rules and procedures (28 percent), not having the resources available to do their jobs (28 percent) and office politics (24 percent).

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November 1, 2015

Firms use workplace improvements to invest in their human capital ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace, Workplace design

A survey by CoreNet Global and Cushman & Wakefield claims that 88 percent of EMEA corporate real estate professionals are actively investing in workplace improvements, and 95 percent are addressing workplace technology as part of those upgrades. The results emphasise the importance of human capital, suggesting that factors such as office environment, flexible working and company culture continue to be seen as critical to attracting and retaining talent. The global Talent Agenda Survey, completed by 250 respondents, addresses how occupiers are managing their talent pool against an ever-changing and unpredictable business environment. The survey focused on categories such as the cost of human capital and its value; the key challenges relating to talent access, assembly and retention and the critical role that real estate plays in workplace innovation, efficiency and talent retention.

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October 29, 2015

Facilities management must become more strategic or risk becoming irrelevant ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace design

A new report claims that there are persistent and well-founded perceptions at boardroom level that facilities management is a support function with little or no strategic relevance and that this poses a serious risk to the discipline. While this may raise few eyebrows amongst those who have been aware of the problem for many years, what is startling is that the report comes from the International Facilities Management Association. The report, Redefining the Executive View of Facility Management, authored by Richard Kadzis, highlights the long reported mismatch between this perception and that of facilities managers themselves who believe they represent an industry that continues to adapt to a changing world and add value to the organisation. Conversely, senior executives see FMs as ‘glorified custodians’ whose performance should be measured in terms of the money they save the organisation.

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October 27, 2015

Study links green building design to higher cognitive performance ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

People who work in well-ventilated offices with below-average levels of indoor pollutants and carbon dioxide have significantly higher cognitive functioning scores in crucial areas such as responding to a crisis or developing strategy than those who work in offices with typical levels. That is the headline finding of a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, SUNY Upstate Medical University, and Syracuse University published this week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.The researchers looked at people’s experiences in “green” vs. “non-green” buildings in a double-blind study. The findings suggest that the indoor environments in which many people work daily could be adversely affecting cognitive function-and that, conversely, improved air quality could greatly increase the cognitive function performance of workers.

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October 21, 2015

Small businesses vital for cities, but London SMEs struggle with property costs ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Property

Two new surveys demonstrate that while small firms in creative sectors are essential for the economic success of the UK’s cities, many small businesses are struggling to find appropriate and well-priced office space in London and are now calling on the incoming new Mayor of London to address the issue as a matter of urgency. While a report from the Centre for Cities shows how small businesses in the creative, professional and digital sectors drive job growth, productivity and average wages in ten key UK cities, the study by the Federation of Small Businesses claims that the cost of commercial property remains one of the most pressing concerns for many SMEs based in London. The FSB study also found that the cost of living in London was also a concern for small employers in the capital, with many claiming it makes it incredibly hard to attract and retain employees.

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October 21, 2015

Far fewer working women than men receive an annual bonus ⁰

by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Workplace

Nearly three quarters of the UK’s working women don’t receive any form of annual bonus. Glassdoor’s latest UK Employment Confidence Survey found that only 29 percent of women at work receive a bonus, compared to 44 percent of men, which presumably is one reason why 44 percent of men remain positive about the outlook for their employer as opposed to just one in three women. The survey, which is carried out twice a year, also found that over the last six months, nearly half of all businesses in the UK that had made negative changes in the workplace (49 percent) had made employees redundant/and or communicated plans to implement further redundancies. The result is that nearly a third of employees (32 percent) are concerned that they will be made redundant over the next six months, up from 21 percent from the beginning of last year.

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October 13, 2015

Third of employers admit rise in numbers of staff coming to work when ill ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Nearly a third of employers have reported an increase in people coming to work while they are ill, according to the annual CIPD / Simplyhealth Absence Management Survey. The survey of nearly 600 employers found that 31 percent have seen an increase in ‘presenteeism’ in the last year. It also claims that any increase is likely to be associated with a culture in which working long hours is seen to be the norm and where operational demands take precedence over wellbeing. Employers that have noticed an increase in presenteeism are nearly twice as likely as those that haven’t to report an increase in stress-related absence, and more than twice as likely to report an increase in mental health problems amongst its staff. However, despite this, nearly three-fifths (56 percent) of organisations that have reported an increase in presenteeism haven’t taken any steps in order to discourage it.

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