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 22, 2019

Over a third of workers already consider themselves entrepreneurs

by Neil Franklin • Business, News

Forty percent of workers already consider themselves entrepreneurs according to The Myers-Briggs Company research report, Type and entrepreneurship, which investigates the relationship between personality and entrepreneurship in the workplace. The research suggests that entrepreneurial businesses perform better financially, and thus, creating a work environment where employees of all personality types can embrace their entrepreneurial qualities is beneficial to businesses. (more…)

November 21, 2019

Nearly half of employers need help to implement flexible working

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

Eighty five percent of employers think demand for flexible working is likely to increase, with demand coming from across the board, but over four in 10 would like more support to implement it, according to a workingmums.co.uk survey. The results of the survey of around 200 employers are interesting in light of current policy discussions about flexible working which tend to focus on forcing employers to flex more by advertising jobs that are flexible from day one and enforcing employees’ flexible working rights. (more…)

November 21, 2019

Small coworking providers taking advantage of WeWork woes

by Neil Franklin • Coworking, News

Despite its recent challenges, WeWork remains the most popular coworking space in the US, but smaller, local coworking spaces are catching up, according to a new survey from Clutch. According to the study, 39 percent of coworking employees work in a WeWork space, but local coworking spaces are almost as popular, at 36 percent. (more…)

November 21, 2019

A side hustle the only way for many young people to make ends meet

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

Britain’s graduate debt crisis means that nearly half of current students and recent graduates (42 percent) have taken up a so-called side hustle or joined the gig economy, in order to combat debt, afford rent and the rising cost of living. One in five (22 percent) also cited having two additional jobs, with the next generation of workers concerned about the overwhelming cost of living. (more…)

November 20, 2019

World Green Building council launches case study library of best practice

by Neil Franklin • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, News

The World Green Building Council has launched a new digital case study library showcasing what it claims is excellence in sustainable development globally, featuring buildings that are net zero carbon and/or enhance human health. According to the WGBC, claims are verified by established certification schemes, rating tools or other third-party systems. Buildings and construction together account for 36 percent of global final energy use and 39 percent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions when upstream power generation is included. Additionally, people spend 90 percent of their time in buildings, and there is a consistent association between unhealthy indoor environments and negative human health impacts. (more…)

November 19, 2019

Back of the net – a conversation with Chris Lewis about leadership in the 21st Century

by Mark Eltringham • Podcasts, Premium Content

Is there a crisis of leadership in the 21st Century? And if so, what can we do about it? I had the opportunity to address the issues in conversation with Chris Lewis, the co-author along with Dr Pippa Malmgren of the Business Book of the Year The Leadership Lab, diverting briefly to talk about the golden age of football and its lessons for the modern day leader and how the challenges of leadership are not just evident in organisation, but society as a whole. (more…)

November 19, 2019

Performance management systems still a major drag for HR leaders

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

Fewer than one-fifth of HR leaders believe that performance management is effective at achieving its primary objective, according to a report from Gartner (registration). Though companies have been prioritising performance management improvements for years, 81 percent of HR leaders are still making changes and experimenting with their organisation’s efforts, according to the report. Most efforts to fix the issues are centred on reducing effort with the survey claiming that two-thirds of HR leaders focused on making processes either easier or less time consuming. However, reducing the effort managers and employees must put into the systems has significant negative effects. (more…)

November 19, 2019

Young people mistakenly associate self-employment with more pay and leisure time

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Students and school-leavers see self-employment as a route to a higher income, better work-life balance and more family time and so one in five 16 to 21 year olds think they will self-employed at some point, a new analysis from the Office for National Statistics shows. However, other studies from the UK government paint a different picture with people in self-employment generally earning less and working longer hours than their employed contemporaries, but often happy to forgo the certainties of paid work for greater flexibility and control. (more…)

November 19, 2019

New London office building hits five year low

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

Although occupier demand remains high, the construction of new offices breaking ground in London over the last six months is down by nearly a half (49 percent) – the lowest level of new starts for five years, according to the London Office Crane Survey by Deloitte Real Estate. In the last six months, only 24 new schemes (1.8 million sq ft) commenced construction compared to 37 schemes (3.5 million sq ft) in the previous survey of London office building. (more…)

November 18, 2019

Bad meetings lead to problems away from the meeting itself

by Neil Franklin • News, Working culture

A new report from Dr Steven Rogelberg of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the author of The Surprising Science of Meetings, examines how meetings are conducted and the effect of both good and bad meetings on participants, and to expand on ideas from the academic’s previous research, including meeting leadership, inclusivity, and something called meeting recovery syndrome. (more…)

November 18, 2019

Gulf between the values of businesses and those of employees

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

A new study from The Institute of Leadership & Management claims there is a significant gulf between the organisational values held by UK businesses and the personal values of their workers, and highlights the different values considered important to men and women, younger and older workers and between sectors. (more…)