December 2, 2019

What you need to know about paying wages in cryptocurrency

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Promotion

Not all of your employees will prefer to have their hard work rewarded with often volatile cryptocurrencies. However, for those already investing in it, having some or all of their salary given as a digital currency may be more appealing and convenient. Below you can find the details of what you will need, some examples of people already doing it and the obstacles you will face.

To make paying your employees a reality, both you and your workers will need to have some additional things. The first is everyone will need a secure wallet to pay the cryptocurrency in. Making sure the best wallets are chosen is vital because there is no backup to the funds stored in them like there is at a conventional bank. Anyone considering their options should not forget to check out the Luno Bitcoin wallet with exceptional safety and stellar reviews.

The other help you will need as a business is a dedicated team of bookkeepers who know how to track payments in Bitcoin – more on that shortly.

Companies already paying in Bitcoin

There are some firms already making the leap to paying employees in cryptocurrency. Notably, a Japanese firm has started using Bitcoin to pay staff. At the moment, this is rare as most firms find the process difficult due to some legalities and taxation issues.

Another way people have been getting paid in cryptocurrency is through freelancing work via apps. There are many apps on the market that will pay freelance workers to complete projects in exchange for Bitcoin and alike. Earn.com is one of the most established, but many similar apps are available.

Legalities and tax

One of the reasons that some of the most trendy fintech startups are not paying in crypto as of yet is because it is an overly complex procedure. For some, it is just not possible as it is against the law to do so, including in many South American and Asian countries. Even in those that do not make it illegal, the taxation and invoicing practicalities of doing so put them off.

For example, in the USA you can legally pay in crypto, but all forms need to show values in US dollars and sophisticated and specialist accountants and bookkeepers would be required, which adds to business expenses.

Will the rules change?

It is possible that as cryptocurrencies become even more mainstream and accepted – as well as regulations are implemented upon them – the idea of paying in crypto will become not only legal, but more feasible. That day may come, but the wait until it is easy to do may be long.

For now, employees may be better swapping their fiat salaries for crypto with a trusted exchange platform and a reliable wallet.

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November 29, 2019

For the love of workplace art, where have all the walls gone?

by Chloe Adams • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

A survey exploring art in the workplace (‘Making Art Work in the Workplace’) conducted by the British Council for Offices (BCO) found that almost 88 percent of respondents felt that “art is more relevant in the workplace than ever before”. Yet, with the arrival of the generic modern office, full of open plan space and glass partitions, we frequently find ourselves rather short of walls on which to hang any workplace art in the first place. “There are no bloody walls left’ and those that are left are glass,” protests Jack Pringle of architects Perkins+Will, pointing to the fact that traditional hanging space is on the decline.

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November 22, 2019

Office design can be a vehicle for equality and change

by Jeni Durksen • Comment, Workplace design

The way companies design physical environments is a direct reflection of their values and beliefs. Inequality is hardwired into the “standard” office layout, with perimeter offices and fixed desks offering limited settings for unstructured collaboration and recreation, further perpetuating the issue. Modern office design often favours extroversion and emphasises a hierarchy with values that benefit only a small portion of the overall workforce, contributing to organisation-wide imbalance. So how do we create more inclusive workplaces that can be leveraged as vehicles for change? (more…)

November 7, 2019

Real estate set to remain an attractive investment despite challenging environment

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Property

Europe’s property leaders continue to have faith in real estate as an attractive option for investments, despite a number of significant political and economic challenges, according to the latest Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2020 report. With interest rates set to stay lower for longer and bond yields in many European countries in negative territory, real estate income retains its broad appeal to investors, especially in comparison to other asset classes. Equity and debt are expected to remain plentiful for most real estate sectors. The report, published annually by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC, is based on the opinions of over 900 real estate professionals across Europe, including investors, developers, lenders, and advisers. (more…)

November 4, 2019

Brexit continues to dampen UK commercial property market

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

The Brexit impasse is contributing to perceptions that the UK Commercial Property Market is in the downturn phase of the property cycle, according to the Q3 2019 RICS UK Commercial Property Market Survey. The latest results suggest that the highest proportion of respondents sensing the overall market is in the downturn phase of the property cycle since the series began in 2015 (+62 percent up from +53 percent in Q2), with anecdotal evidence suggesting that Brexit is having an increasingly detrimental impact on market activity. (more…)

October 21, 2019

Business rates and employment costs for small firms need overhaul

by Neil Franklin • Business, News, Property

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is calling on the Chancellor Sajid Javid to bring forward radical interventions to address an unprecedented long-term slump in small business confidence, slowing economic growth and a widening trade deficit when he publishes the 2019 Autumn Budget on 6 November. In a letter to the Chancellor, the group calls for a major reduction in business rates bills for small firms, as thousands struggle to stay afloat amid spiralling operating costs. (more…)

October 16, 2019

Women still face broken rungs on the career ladder

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

More women than ever before occupy senior executive positions, but true gender parity hasn’t yet been reached and women continue to face unique challenges in their careers according to the latest Women in the Workplace Report from LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company. This year’s study—which is based on data and insights from 329 companies employing over 13 million people and more than 68,500 employees—identifies a key point on the corporate ladder where women lose the most ground: the first step up to manager. If companies fixed this broken rung, it could add one million more women to management in corporate America over the next 5 years. (more…)

October 16, 2019

Business leaders out of touch and failing to inspire, say employees

by Neil Franklin • Business, News

British businesses are facing a crisis of leadership, according to new research from Tiger Recruitment, which claims that 58 percent of employees are rarely or never inspired by the leader of the company they work for. Furthermore, according to British employees, many business leaders are setting a poor example around the issues that matter to them today, including work-life balance (28 percent), managing stress (29 percent), flexible working (21 percent) and staying mentally healthy (21 percent). (more…)

October 2, 2019

The subtle ways managers sabotage their own teams

by Neil Franklin • Business, News

A new survey new research from The Predictive Index found that psychological safety is a leading factor in employee dissatisfaction with management. While there are overt ways managers undermine their own employees’s feelings of safety with practices such as bad-mouthing people or displaying favouritism, the 2019 People Management Report (registration) also reveals the subtle ways managers sabotage their teams, ultimately causing employees to quit or disengage. (more…)

September 6, 2019

Avoiding burnout and losing the workplace blues

by Christine Congdon • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Stressed at work? Feeling blue at this time of year? Take a breath. You are not alone. While the World Health Organisation (WHO) is just now recognising burnout, a result of stress, as an “occupational phenomenon,” the conversation around wellbeing at work is not new. If we learn anything from this newest designation, it’s that wellbeing cannot be ignored because the need to focus on it continues to intensify.

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August 21, 2019

The office is increasingly able to recognise you, but will you recognise it?

by John Comacchio • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Our lives at work are about to change—again. Just as the addition of PC’s and Wi-Fi re-drew the office blueprint, emerging technologies like robots, virtual agents, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) promise to radically revise the form and the function of work and the workplace. In the near future, your office will know who you are (if it doesn’t yet) and will be ready to greet you with your preferred lighting and the array of digital tools you need to do your job.

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August 16, 2019

Knowledge workers feel out of step with their own organisation

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Working culture

Many knowledge workers don’t feel they share common goals with their employer and colleagues, according to a study of 17,000 people by Slack. The State of Work Report summarises the findings, including the effect of this feeling of a lack of ‘alignment’ on organisational and personal performance and the role of technology in aligning people around shared goals. (more…)