Search Results for: workplace

British businesses at risk of creativity crisis, according to new Microsoft research

British businesses at risk of creativity crisis, according to new Microsoft research

by • News, Technology, Workplace design

British businesses are at risk of a creativity crisis due to workplace cultures that stifle innovation, according to new research launched by Microsoft Surface. Uninspiring workplaces (41 per cent), a stressful atmosphere (34 per cent) and a lack of appropriate spaces to focus and think alone (28 per cent) were all identified as major inhibitors to creativity.  Two in five workers surveyed (40 per cent) say that creativity and innovation are neither encouraged nor rewarded within their workplace – despite creativity being one of the top three skills workers will need to thrive by 2020, according to the World Economic Forum. The research, based on the views of more than 1,100 workers, found that whilst almost three quarters of respondents (73 per cent) consider themselves to be creative, demands of the modern workplace need rethinking, with symptoms such as overworking and stress stifling our ability to tackle problems and produce good ideas. Half of workers (50 per cent) feel least creative when tired, 45 per cent when stressed, while existing workloads (39 per cent) and organisational processes (32 per cent) were also cited as barriers to employees being more creative.

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Retaining working mothers in the workforce is a top HR priority this year

Retaining working mothers in the workforce is a top HR priority this year

by • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Nearly three quarters of employers in a recent poll say retaining female talent in the workforce is the most important issue in HR in 2017, as changes to childcare funding could impact on the recruitment and retention of working mothers. The research, which was carried out by My Family Care and recruitment firm Hydrogen, found that most employers thought that flexible working and supporting working parents and carers was important to them but strikingly, nearly three quarters (70 percent) rate the issue of retaining female talent after parental leave as the most important issue. However, 60 percent of HR professionals said their company provided no form of coaching or training support for their employees going through the parental transition. When it comes to the success of their family friendly initiatives, flexible working proved to be the most successful, followed by their Childcare Voucher Scheme and then enhanced maternity or Shared Parental pay.

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Putting people at the centre of building design could provide large boost to the economy

Putting people at the centre of building design could provide large boost to the economy

by • News, Workplace design

More thoughtfully designed workplaces, centred around people’s needs, could improve performance and help tackle the UK’s productivity gap, according to a new report. Applying design thinking to boost workplace productivity by 5-8 per cent could contribute up to £20 billion to GDP. The potential gain in productivity, equivalent to twice the annual contribution to UK GDP made by the aerospace industry, is revealed in research conducted by researchers from Imperial College London in partnership with Atkins. Atkins commissioned the research to better understand and quantify the economic benefit from human centred design. The research claims to examine the ripple down effect on productivity brought about by an human centred focus on health and wellbeing. This in turn has a benefit for future business growth and can enhance the position of the national economy, according to the report. The research claims to support the importance of employees’ experience of the building in which they work and confirms that steps to create the right working environment can have a material impact on staff productivity and wellbeing.

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Higher than average absenteeism rates are impacting on SME’s profitability

Higher than average absenteeism rates are impacting on SME’s profitability

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Nearly three quarters (71 percent) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) say that staff absenteeism is having a big impact on profitability suggests a new survey from Moorepay. The research found that many UK SMEs are experiencing higher than average absenteeism in their business. According to the Office for National Statistics, the average number of sick days for a UK employee is 4.3 days a year and yet almost half (49 percent) of small business owners said staff take more than five days off each year. For 14 percent this figure rises to seven days or more. Yet despite higher than average sick days and the impact on profitability, few firms are taking positive action to reduce absenteeism in their business. This is despite the fact that many feel introducing policies around absences, flexible working, time off for family or medical reasons and return to work programmes can have a positive impact on reducing absenteeism. Almost three-quarters (72 percent) believe the use of such policies could reduce the rate by 11 percent or more.

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Japan introduces new teleworking laws to change work culture in run up to Olympics

Japan introduces new teleworking laws to change work culture in run up to Olympics

by • Cities, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

It’s not just the UK that took time yesterday to reconsider its relationship with work. Japan launched a scheme to promote teleworking in an effort to address the country’s notoriously poor working culture and ease congestion in the build up to the Tokyo Olympics of 2020. Over 900 companies are claimed to have participated in Telework Day, which will be held on July 24 each year from now until the Olympics opening ceremony on July 24, 2020. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has already introduced laws to address Japan’s notorious problems with overwork, raise contract workers’ pay, and curb a general abuse of labour laws. Earlier this year, the Japanese government announced plans to impose a cap on overtime of 100 hours a month to reduce the number of cases of “karoshi”, or death from overwork, among its people. The idea is to restrict overtime to an average of 60 hours a month, with a 100-hour limit in busy periods.

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Other UK cities must rebalance London-centric commercial property market

Other UK cities must rebalance London-centric commercial property market

by • Cities, News, Property

It is up to the UK’s other cities to rebalance the country’s London focussed commercial property market according to a new report, ‘What investors want: a guide for cities’, published by the think tank Centre for Cities with support from Capita. It examines the top priorities for investors when choosing which places to invest in, and offers practical advice for cities on how to make their places as attractive as possible for investors. The report shows that just over half of all investment in Britain’s commercial property market in 2016 – worth over £43bn in total – was spent in London. This was significantly more than the South East, the second most successful region, which secured nearly £5bn of investment, equivalent to 11% of the total share across Britain.

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Flexible working increasingly seen as top option, claims major new study

Flexible working increasingly seen as top option, claims major new study

by • Flexible working, Workplace

A new report from ManpowerGroup Solutions claims that 40 percent of job candidates cite flexible working as one of their three most important career considerations. The firm polled 14,000 people in 19 countries. Among the countries surveyed, the US had the highest percentage of job candidates who want work flexibility (45 percent). A majority (63 percent) of workers said they believe they can work outside the office, and the number of men who want flexibility has significantly increased according to the study. The report, Work, for Me: Understanding Candidate Preferences for Flexibility, Manpower Group Solutions claims to offer ‘both the immediate steps and the long-term actions that companies can take to better meet their prospective employees’ preferences around flexibility’.

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Employers have a growing responsibility to provide staff with cycling facilities

Employers have a growing responsibility to provide staff with cycling facilities

by • Cities, Comment, Property, Wellbeing

This month, the British Council for Offices (BCO) launched a new report looking at the importance of offering better workplace facilities for cyclists in order to support the Government’s ambitious cycling growth targets. The Department for Transport’s £1.2bn cycling and walking investment strategy, published in April, aims to make cycling “the norm” by 2040. It plans to do this by improving cycling infrastructure and expanding cycle routes between city centres, local communities and key employment and retail sites, making improvements to 200 sections of roads for cyclists and providing funding for councils to invest in cycling schemes. In addition, city councils across the UK are making improvements to their cycling infrastructure. Last year, Sadiq Khan announced plans to spend £770m on cycling initiatives in London over the course of his term, in order to make riding a bike “the safe and obvious” transport choice for all Londoners. Birmingham City Council has pledged to invest more than £11m in creating two-way cycle paths, resurfacing canal towpaths, and even offering free bikes, with the aim of doubling the number of trips in the city made by bike from 5 percent to 10 percent by 2033, in order to make the city healthier, greener, safer and less congested.

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Over 200,000 British workers will aim for smarter working on Monday as the Summer holiday season begins

Over 200,000 British workers will aim for smarter working on Monday as the Summer holiday season begins

by • Flexible working, News

On Monday, 24th July, over 200,000 British office workers from 200 different companies will be given the option to work flexibly as part of the Smarter Working Initiative. The campaign claims to encourages companies to give their staff the opportunity to spend one day working from a location that suits them, to show organisations the positive impact of smarter working. Businesses including Purplebricks, RED Driving School, MediaCom and Farfetch are signed up, with Timberyard, Haus and NearDesk offering free coffee and access to over 40 cafes and co-working spaces across London and the UK. The campaign’s own research claims that nearly half of employers (48 percent) do not encourage flexible working, despite 70 percent of workers saying the option would make a job more attractive to them. Over half of workers (53 percent) stated they would be more productive if they could spend some time working out of the office, and the campaign aims to demonstrate how flexible working results in improved wellbeing, increased productivity and faster business growth.

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Job insecurity fears more than double in aftermath of Brexit vote

Job insecurity fears more than double in aftermath of Brexit vote

by • News

A survey of 1,257 British workers claims that job insecurity has more than doubled since the decision to leave the EU, with the percentage of those feeling insecure in their jobs rising from 5 percent to 13 percent. According to the study from Office Genie, for those who felt secure, Brexit has also done considerable damage: job security levels have dipped by 17 percent. Pre-referendum, 70 percent of workers felt secure in their job, now just over half (58 percent) feel secure. Nearly three quarters (70 percent) of the workforce believe it’s an employer’s duty to calm Brexit-related distress. 54 percent of workplaces have experienced such concerns but only 31 percent of these employers chose to comfort staff.

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People who are not economically active should be helped into the gig economy claims think tank

People who are not economically active should be helped into the gig economy claims think tank

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Following last week’s publication of the Taylor Review into modern working practices, a new study from public sector think tank Reform makes recommendations for how government should help people into the gig economy, with a focus on those who are often economically inactive or restricted in the opportunities they have. In the report, Gainful Gigging, older and disabled people are explored as potential winners from recent growth in flexible working. Both groups are significantly less likely than average to be economically active, and many face significant work barriers. Around half of all 50-64 year olds manage at least one long-term health condition. Of the 3 million in this age group that are economically inactive, around 12 per cent spend over 20 hours per week looking after a sick, disabled or elderly person. Greater work flexibility could help them to enter the labour market, according to the report’s authors. In a survey of disability benefit claimants, many indicated that “flexible work, working from home [and] working less than 16 hours per week” would help them sustain employment. A review of the Work Capability Assessment for sickness benefits also found half of those deemed ‘fit for work’ require flexible work hours.

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Average UK worker takes just half an hour for lunch each day

Average UK worker takes just half an hour for lunch each day

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The average worker in Britain now takes just 34 minutes for their lunch break with over half of workers (52 percent) skipping their lunch break completely – a significant shift from the traditional one hour break.  Londoners are most likely to skip their lunch hour altogether, closely followed by Birmingham, Manchester and Norwich. This is according to new research from Workthere, the flexible workspace search service launched by Savills last year. Workthere commissioned a poll of 2,000 full time workers across Britain on their lunchtime habits to find out how long they actually take. The results show that office employees eat at their desk on average four days per week and even when they do take a break, they often don’t step out of the office, with over a third of those polled (37 percent) saying they rarely leave the office at lunch time. Additionally, 12 percent agreed they felt pressure to work through their lunch hour. Workthere also asked how the office environment affects these behaviours and found that over a third (36 percent) of those questioned said that access to outside space at lunchtime would make them more productive at work, with 32 percent confirming a quiet area to escape to would make a difference to the time they spend on their break.

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