Search Results for: workforce

January 15, 2016

Three quarters of Millennials will change jobs over the next five years ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

It must be the time of year but we are suddenly awash with surveys and reports suggesting that pretty much everybody in the UK is about to change their jobs. Following our report earlier in the week that suggests older workers are perfectly prepared to just give up on work completely, it was inevitable that we were about to hear something from those pesky Millennials. Sure enough, along comes a report from Deloitte that suggests that nearly three quarters of Millennials plans to leave their jobs over the next five years. Millennials and their employers: Can this relationship be saved? found that the UK has a higher than average percentage of Millennials planning to change jobs in the next five years, with the average in developed economies standing at 61 percent. Worldwide, forty-four percent of Millennials say, if given the choice, they expect to leave their current employers in the next two years.

January 13, 2016

Growth in freelance economy, as people seek better work-life balance ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Nearly one in four employees freelance in some capacity, a recent study of office workers in the US claims. Overall, twelve percent of US employees work as freelancers as their primary source of income, and the same percentage freelance in addition to their primary job. The Staples Advantage Workplace Index reveals that employees freelance for a variety of reasons, including the flexibility to make their own hours (37 percent), make more money (39 percent), and achieve a work-life balance (32 percent). Businesses also benefit from this arrangement by getting access to highly skilled workers needed for special projects. Freelance workers need temporary access to IT services and equipment, designated work spaces, open communication with co-workers, and the right supplies to help deliver projects. As a result, finds the report, smart, collaborative technology is becoming more ‘mainstream’, in helping establish efficient team structures and collaboration models.

January 8, 2016

The six things all people need from their workplace ⁰

by Jane Kendall-Bush • Comment, Facilities management, Knowledge, Workplace design

Whether we like it or not, we all have to work for some, or more usually, most of our adult life. During this time, many of us will work in an office, which is a place that has changed immensely – not only in the last ten years or so, but almost entirely since the start of the twentieth century. The management structure and style of companies, the tools available to the workforce, and the places within the office buildings have been changing and evolving. There has been a shift from hierarchical management structures to a more diverse and organic model. The tools of work have changed from the humble typewritten letter and Bakelite telephone to 24/7 access to emails though laptops and smart phones. And finally the workplace itself has evolved from one with enclosed offices for the senior managers, or a sea of cubicles to workplaces that encourage creativity and collaboration.

January 6, 2016

Third of employees did not feel motivated or engaged at work last year ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Just over a third (34 percent) of UK employees could not name a single occasion that motivated them at work last year, new research claims. The ‘Employee motivation: Who came out on top in 2015?’ report suggests that despite a quarter (24 percent) of staff saying ‘yes’ they felt motivated at work in 2015, nearly half of the UK workforce collectively felt neutral or negative feelings towards their job over the course of the whole year. The survey was commissioned by Red Letter Days for Business, to explore one of the building blocks affecting the low engagement and productivity rates in the UK – employee motivation. It found that 25-34 year olds were the most motivated at work last year, as this age group are likely to be working their way up the career ladder. And unsurprisingly, when asked what would be most likely to motivate them at work, nearly half of respondents, whatever the age, suggested a good work/life balance.

December 21, 2015

Jobs growth predicted for next year, along with skills shortages ⁰

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

More than two fifths (43 percent) of firms will grow their workforce next year, with permanent jobs outstripping temporary roles according to the latest CBI/Accenture Employment Trends Survey. Firms identify skills shortages as the top threat, with over half (52 percent) of respondents citing the development and maintenance of digital skills as having a new urgency. More than half intend giving staff a pay award at or above the RPI rate of inflation, but nervousness remains about the impact of the National Living Wage (NLW). Half (51 percent) of service sector respondents indicate they will raise their prices, 27 percent will employ fewer people and 18 percent will make changes to their reward packages as a result. Multi-skilling employees to improve productivity and the capacity to adapt is now the leading form of flexibility, operated by nearly four in five respondents (79 percent), followed by flexibility over location for work (73 percent).

December 16, 2015

Employers failing to exploit positive influence on employee health ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Three-quarters of UK employers believe they are responsible for positively influencing employee health, yet many do not appear to be doing much to ensure this happens. The annual Benefits and Trends Survey by Aon Employee Benefits found that 75 percent of businesses believe they are responsible for changing employee health and wellbeing behaviours, yet 72 percent still do not currently have a specific budget for it and 38 percent do not use any data or analytics to inform their strategy. It found that only 25 percent of employers have a branded health and wellness programme in place. More encouragingly though, a significant minority (14 percent) said that senior leadership acted as advocates of employee health, while 12 percent had location-based wellness champions. Perhaps because it doesn’t directly impact the bottom line, the most popular health and wellbeing tactic is a flexible approach to working, with 53 percent of employers saying this is offered.

December 15, 2015

Seven essential workplace design trends to keep an eye on during 2016 ⁰

by Dan Callegari • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

What has become increasingly apparent over recent years is that the office isn’t just a place to work, but also a driver of competitive advantage. We’ve always known this to a greater or lesser extent, but the dynamic and ever shifting nature of the modern world is presenting organisations with new and evolving challenges that they must address with all of the tools at their disposal. At the heart of this complexity is the physical workspace. Its design touches on every aspect of the changing workplace and the objectives organisations set for themselves and their employees. Although it has lots its primacy as the main place of work, you could also argue that the focus on the office’s key strengths makes it more important than ever within the context of overall working cultures. So, with that in mind, here are ten of the most important current trends in workplace design and management we foresee for 2016.

December 15, 2015

Agile working is increasingly popular way to reduce London office costs ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Property

Rent, rates and service charges for office space in established Greater London office locations such as Croydon, Brentford and Uxbridge are typically over 50 percent lower than the cost of equivalent space in Central London locations such as Victoria, Marylebone, St Paul’s, Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf, Carter Jonas’ latest research claims. Increases in rents and business rates costs over the last five years, and the erosion of the stock of office buildings in some areas of Central London, as a consequence of redevelopment to higher value residential uses is reducing tenant choice and these factors are leading some occupiers to adopt new strategies to reduce their property footprint. Agile working and hot-desking are becoming popular ways to reduce the amount of space required to accommodate an organisation’s business operations the Tenant Advisory and Research Teams at Carter Jonas have found.

December 11, 2015

Global salaries will rise to highest levels for three years in 2016 ⁰

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Workplace

Workers around the world will see real wage increases of 2.5 percent, the highest in three years in 2016, as pay increases combined with historically low inflation leave employees better off. The forecast issued by Korn Ferry Hay Group found that workers across Europe are set to see an average salary increase of 2.8 percent in 2016 and, with inflation at 0.5 percent, will see real wages rise by 2.3 percent. While salary rises will stay at 2.5 percent in the UK (the same as the last two years), low inflation means that real wages are to increase by 2.3 percent in 2016 – above the Western European average. In Asia, salaries are forecast to increase by 6.4 percent – with real wages expected to rise by 4.2 percent – the highest globally. In the United States, with low inflation (0.3 percent), employees will experience real income growth of 2.7 percent.

December 8, 2015

Six human resources costs you might avoid by choosing the right office ⁰

by Darren Bilsborough • Comment, Property, Workplace, Workplace design

According to a report from Colliers International, the majority of commercial office space in Australia and New Zealand is occupied by government departments and firms working in the business services, finance and insurance sectors. Other than government and the Not for Profit (NFP) sector, a prime motivation for every CEO, business owner and manager is the search for increased profitability. In most instances, a business has three pathways to increasing profitability. The first is through increasing turnover or sales (assuming the cost base remains equitable), the second is through reducing costs, and the third is by improving productivity. I have previously written quite a lot about the relationship between office space and productivity increases, but this article will explore one of the most insidious elements associated with any businesses cost base (including government) and that is staff turnover.

December 8, 2015

Linear equations are no longer enough to determine the size of offices

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Furniture, Technology, Workplace design

In 2013, the US Census Bureau announced that the official human population of the Earth had exceeded 7 billion for the first time. This provoked people to raise concerns that were couched in Malthusian pessimism. Although people might have assumed we’d left behind this kind of flawed thinking, there is obviously something appealing about the idea that exponential population growth is unsustainable when resources increase only in arithmetical terms. We’ve got a problem but what we should have learned in the two centuries since Thomas Malthus first popularised the idea is that there are complex factors that can influence the resources we need to survive, not least in terms of greater efficiency in the way we produce them. A similar debate is also apparent in the way in which the commercial property market is able to offer the right sort of buildings for modern organisations.

December 4, 2015

Employees and managers value holidays and flexible working differently ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

It’s become an accepted piece of wisdom that at the top of every employee’s wish list when it comes to their working conditions is more flexible working. That might be not entirely true according to a new study of employees and managers carried out by recruitment firm Robert Half. The report suggest there is a significant mismatch between what employees want and what employers think they would like when it comes to holidays and flexible working and other conditions. Topping the wish list for employees is more holiday and annual leave, ranked most popular perk by almost four in 10 (38 percent) respondents and ahead of more flexible working hours (28 percent), more training or professional development opportunities (16 percent), home working/telecommuting (12 percent) and other corporate services such as ironing services or fitness centre (3 percent).