Search Results for: talent

May 20, 2014

Impact of BYOD is increasingly blurring lines between work and leisure

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Technology

The influence of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) on working life grows, with the line between work and home life increasingly blurred. According to the annual Edenred-Ipsos Barometer of 8,800 workers across Europe two-thirds of employees report that work keeps them busy out of hours. Laptops, smartphones, tablets and other devices are making it easier for people to work from home, with around half (54 per cent) of UK organisations giving employees access to this technology. However, despite these new tools being perceived as having a positive impact on the quality of life at work, respondents were critical of the actions taken by companies: 39 per cent feel that the efforts made to introduce new ways of organising work are insufficient, 36 per cent feel the same about wellbeing at work and 28 per cent about the flexibility of the organisation of working hours.

May 16, 2014

Four million people in UK now work from home, claims TUC

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

Figures released today by the TUC to mark National Work from Home Day show that more than 4 million people now regularly work from home; a rise of more than 62,000 over the course of the last year. The number of people who say they usually work from home increased by 62,000 over the course of last year to reach more than four million for the first time. The findings are from a new TUC analysis published to mark national work from home day, organised by Work Wise UK. The TUC analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics shows that the number of regular home-workers has risen by over a half a million since 2007 – an increase of more than 10 per cent. Millions of workers across the UK occasionally work from home too, says the TUC. More →

May 13, 2014

Employers urged to plan ahead as recruitment prospects rise

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Fresh evidence that the recession is over as the CIPD reports employment intentions are at the highest level for six and half years. However, pay continues to perform well below pre-recession levels, and the HR body warns that with the economy picking up, now is the time for employers to consider both the levels of pay and employment conditions they have to offer; and the reputation and branding of their organisation. Although CIPD’s quarterly Labour Market Outlook finds little evidence that the buoyant jobs market is feeding through into recruitment difficulties for the majority of employers in the short term, in some areas; such as engineering and management/executive there is already a struggle to fill high-skilled vacancies. The CIPD is therefore urging employers in all sectors to start planning ahead to mitigate the risk of widespread skills shortages in the longer term. More →

April 29, 2014

Flexible working practices could help disabled people stay in work, claims report

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

According to a new report from one of the UK’s leading disability charities, one of the main obstacles for disabled people when it comes to finding and remaining in work is a lack of flexible working opportunities. Nearly half of the 700 respondents to a survey carried out by Scope and published yesterday in a new report called ‘A Million Futures’ claimed that flexible working could have helped them to stay in work. The report claims that last year alone some 220,000 more disabled employees left work than found a new job, many of them because they were not allowed to work in ways that would help them to manage significant life changes related to their disability and work around their treatment and meet other demands of their lives. Only around a third felt they had been offered the flexibility they needed.

April 9, 2014

The Wall Street Journal (and others) are wrong about human resources

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace

Everybody ready? Great. Then it’s time for another round of HR bashing and a tipping point for more existential navel-gazing for everyone’s favourite corporate pantomime villain – the human resources department. Or is it? You can choose your own particular moment at which the crowd boos and hisses at the bad guys in HR, but hot on the heels of the Lucy Adams debacle at the Beeb and a report that finds human resources to be the profession with the most “can’t do” attitude comes an article from, of all places, the Wall Street Journal that looks at what it means to do away with your HR function altogether. The restrictions of the word count being what they are, coupled with the way sweeping generalisations provide the quickest way to guarantee a bump in readership, the WSJ takes the broadest of brushes to add another coat to the painting of HR as an ancillary function that, far from oiling the wheels of commerce, is often a distraction at best and, at worst, an active obstruction.

April 4, 2014

RICS issues case studies to celebrate strategic role of facilities management

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Knowledge, News, Property

RICS has published six case studies examining the impact strategic facilities management (FM) can have on business performance. The case studies were devised following the publication of a 2012 research report, Raising the Bar: Enhancing the Strategic Role of FM, which found that over 75 per cent of survey respondents believe that facilities management is a strategic role. This was followed earlier this year by Raising the Bar: City Roundtables Report which made specific recommendations for action, including better promotion of the strategic role played by facilities management within organisations. The case studies were launched at the BBC’s Salford Quays building, featured in one of the studies, which describes the role the BBC’s FM team took in relocating critical services from London to Salford Quays and how the FM strategy was responsible for fostering creativity in the organisation. More →

April 3, 2014

Remove flexible working stigma to improve women’s career chances says report

by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, News, Workplace

Employers need to stop viewing female progression as a diversity issue and see the promotion of women in the workplace as a core business priority. This is according to a major new report by charity Opportunity Now, which surveyed 23,000 women between the ages of 28 and 40 as well as 2,000 men, to try and determine why women tend to be less successful than men at work after the age of 28, The report found a gap between organisational policies and the actual experiences of women at work, particularly women aged 28-40, including real challenges around bullying and harassment. And in a challenge to proposals for female-only programmes, the research found that women actually want better line management and initiatives such as flexible working – without the stigma it can cause which can often be an obstacle to progression.

March 25, 2014

Employers welcome an age-diverse workforce, but need to be prepared

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A recent report by the UKCES that predicted that the workplace of the future will see four generations of employees working side by side is being welcomed, rather than feared by employers, but they need to begin planning for the future now, or risk a skills shortage and being at a competitive disadvantage. The revelation that by 2030 four-generation or “4G” workplaces – will become increasingly common as people delay retiring, even into their 80s, prompted UKCES Commissioner Toby Peyton-Jones to ask whether this emerging multi-generational workplace would spell stress and culture clashes or create positive tension leading to innovation. Now a new study, Managing an age-diverse workforce, from the CIPD, shows that employers and employees see clear benefits from an increasingly age diverse workforce but need to do more to take full advantage. More →

March 14, 2014

Might a lack of joined-up thinking undermine UK high-tech ambitions?

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, News, Property, Technology

Old Street: the UK’s tech epicentre

Over the past week both Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson have offered up visions of economic success founded on new technology. Yet, as the CBI points out in a new report pinpointing the dearth of talent needed to make such dreams a reality, politicians often appear to ignore the realities of a situation. In its new report, Engineering our Future, the CBI calls for significant action to make a career in the key disciplines of science, technology, engineering and maths more attractive and easier to pursue. The report points out that these are the skills needed to underpin the Government’s stated focus on the tech, environmental, engineering and manufacturing industries that will shape the country’s future and is calling for a cut in tuition fees, new courses and inter-disciplinary qualifications to allow those skills to flourish.

March 11, 2014

Building Futures Group announced following merger of FM bodies

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector

The name of the new organisation resulting from the merger of Asset Skills, the CSSA and the FMA is the Building Futures Group. Talks regarding the merger of the groups began last May, and despite the BIFM pulling out of the discussions in August the rest of the groups have gone ahead to form the new representative organisation for the Housing, Property, Planning, Cleaning, Parking and Facilities Management sectors. The new group has also announced Sarah Bentley of Asset Skills as its Chief Executive. She said: “The rationale for the merger was that the industry lacked a consolidated, unified voice. The Building Futures Group will coordinate the sector’s voice and provide a platform that has been so sadly missing. We are fully committed to raising the profile of the industry and transforming the sector”. More →

February 26, 2014

Not just about the money. Higher wages do not improve employee retention

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Employers that take a broader view of the employee experience beyond pay are more likely to retain talented employees. new research suggests. In a study of European economies by Towers Watson, countries with higher GDP growth tend also to have higher levels of employee attrition, The General Industry Compensation Survey Report findings also show little evidence to suggest that countries with high real-wage growth (i.e. salary increases minus inflation) are able to use that to secure higher levels of employee retention. The research proves that with the emergence of a strengthening employment market means employers will have to work harder to ensure that non-pay related benefits such as an attractive working environment and plenty of opportunities for career advancement are available to attract and retain talent. More →