June 20, 2022

Birmingham BT HQ shows road ahead for its offices and the city

by Mike Hills • Cities, Features, Property, Workplace design

In January of 2020, shortly before that thing happened and before we knew much about the UK Government’s ‘levelling up’ programme, Birmingham was already a city on the rise. It had recently been announced that it was to host the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and was riding the crest of a number of high-profile developments and regeneration projects, not least those that arrived on the back of the controversial high speed rail station. More →

June 16, 2022

Employees take a dim view of organisations with poor sustainability records

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Workplace

The fourth research report from the Reward & Employee Benefits Association’s (REBA) Transforming Engagement [registration] series in association with Mercer Marsh Benefits suggests perceptions of a business’s approach to sustainability is influencing employee reward and benefits practices and decisions. However, many businesses are changing business practices, products and services to meet sustainability goals. REBA’s report claims that nearly eight in 10 (78 percent) respondent organisations have made changes to at least some of their products or services to meet sustainability objectives. More →

June 15, 2022

Tech firms now less likely to offer fully remote working

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Fully remote working is no longer viewed as the ‘holy grail’ by tech employers, with hybrid working now viewed as the perfect model for aiding retention and recruitment of talent. That is the main conclusion of Robert Half’s Demand for Tech Talent report, which surveyed 750 tech hiring managers across the UK. The results of the survey suggest that remote working – which the report claims was widely touted as the ‘future of work’ both before and during the pandemic – is now being shunned by companies in favour of a flexible approach. More →

June 13, 2022

One in five people have started a ‘side hustle’ in the last two years

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

One in five (19 percent) adults in the UK have started a ‘side hustle’ since March 2020 and, almost one in six (16 percent) claim to earn upwards of £1,000 a month from their new venture, according to new research from Aviva. Just under two thirds (63 percent) of those who started a side hustle since March 2020, the equivalent of 6.49 million people, are still active in them today. 37 percent have returned to their day jobs being their main source of income now that lockdowns are over and normality has ensued. More →

June 8, 2022

Lack of employer support exacerbates male health inequality

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing

New research from Peppy claims that twenty-five per cent of employers do not offer any male-specific health support in the workplace, despite as many as 81 percent believing that not doing so, risks losing their best talent. As working-age men are 32 percentless likely to visit a GP compared to women, serious issues often go untreated for longer, sometimes until it is too late, the report claims, and as a result of this male health inequality, one in five men do not reach traditional retirement age. More →

June 7, 2022

Offices remain key to hybrid working strategy, claims report

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Property

Hybrid work adoption is growing and becoming a permanent element of the future of work, according to the new Workforce Preferences Barometer report [registration] from real estate firm JLL. However, the report’s authors also conclude that, as employee expectations and reality reach an equilibrium, the continuing use of offices remains pivotal to work routines. More →

June 7, 2022

Recruitment challenges are rooted in geopolitical unrest

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

According to a new poll from SumTotal Systems 60 percent of learning and development professionals think the current wave of recruitment challenges have their roots in wider political and economic upheavals. The report also claims that 65 percent of L&D professionals are concerned about their organisation’s ability to meet skills demand over the next 24 months, given the current UK economic outlook. More →

June 5, 2022

Employers must do more to encourage active travel and cycling to work, says charity

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Wellbeing

New research carried out by YouGov on behalf of Cycling UK claims that 43 percent of young people (18-24-year-olds) are considering changing their method of travel to include more public transport and cycling to work due to expected increases in transport costs. The findings are published as the reduction in disposable income forces households to tighten budgets and workers are forking out a greater proportion of their income simply to get to work. More →

May 31, 2022

Over-50s urged to return to work to deal with staff shortages

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

The British Chambers of Commerce has said employers and the Government need to work together to bring older people back into the workforce. According to ONS data, around 500,000 older people have left the workforce in recent years, many of them prompted to do so by the pandemic. The number of over-50s who aren’t working or currently looking for work rose by 493,000 between October 2019 and December 2021. According to the Office for National Statistics, one in five did so due to stress or other mental health concerns. More →

May 29, 2022

Two-thirds of employees don’t know how, when and where they’re supposed to work

by Freddie Steele • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

A survey of 2,000 employees has revealed that more than half (53 per cent) do not describe their employer as a good communicator, and 70 per cent cannot agree that their employer is clear about the company’s work policy now that Covid-19 restrictions have eased. The research, conducted by Magenta Associates, the integrated communications consultancy for the built environment, also found that two-thirds of employees do not know how, when and where they are supposed to work. More →

May 24, 2022

Disabled workers to get their own mentor programme from World Economic Forum

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

The Valuable 500, which claims to be the largest network of global CEOs committed to disability inclusion, has announced the launch of Generation Valuable, a programme designed to accelerate opportunities for disabled workers to join the boardroom. Generation Valuable plans to connect and incubate C-Suite talent with disabled talent. Over 1.3 billion people across the world live with some form of disability yet, according to Return on Disability, only 4 percent of businesses are focused on making offerings inclusive of disabled people. Moreover, research shows that minority talent faces promotion barricades just below the Executive rung. More →

May 12, 2022

ESG ambitions should top organisational agendas

by Siobhan Byrnes • Comment, Environment, Wellbeing

When the idea of ESG (environmental, social and governance credentials) first surfaced nearly two decades ago in a 2005 United Nations report, it was just an acronym businesses were trying to understand and get to grips with. But in the last few years, ESG strategies have gathered steam – it has become integral to C-Suite strategy and business purpose, and is a deal-breaker not just for investors but also for those considering new roles. In fact, a recent report revealed that job-seekers are turning down job offers by companies showcasing weak ESG credentials, a sure sign of the importance of substantive ESG policies for potential talent. Most of the larger conglomerates (if not all) have set targets to reach net-zero by a set date – ranging from as early as 2025 to anywhere within the next two decades. But is this going far enough for employees, stakeholders, future talent, and more broadly, for society? More →