The UK government website providing guidance on fire safety in the workplace has understandably been a first port of call for many businesses. It summarises the UK’s approach to regulation in five key areas: Who’s responsible Fire risk assessments Fire safety and evacuation plans Fire safety equipment, drills and training Enforcement, appeals and penalties With regard to fire fighting equipment, it states that it must be properly installed, tested and maintained, and that staff must be trained to use it if necessary. New staff s... Continue reading

Servest, the Bury St Edmunds based FM provider, has launched a company-wide learning and development initiative called The 100 Club, as part of its Hidden Talent programme. The campaign, inspired by the arrival of the apprenticeship levy in April, which exists to help the government achieve its target to fund three million places for apprentices by 2020, has been launched by the company’s L&D team to communicate the benefits, dispel the myths and drive interest in apprenticeships across the Group. The FM company’s 100 Club campaign aims to... Continue reading

The Queen's Speech on 21 June recognised the challenges facing business but failed to deliver concrete proposals to solve fundamental issues, believes Ben Willmott, Head of Public Policy at the CIPD. In its official response, the CIPD set out the following points: “The Queen’s Speech clearly recognised the challenges facing government on Brexit, but fell short of concrete proposals to address the UK’s productivity deficit, which is key to boosting pay, living standards and the ability of UK businesses to rema... Continue reading

A new global reporting series and tool – ‘Workplace powered by Human Experience’ – looking at how workplace experience can help businesses thrive in the new world of work, has been launched by JLL. This ‘unique global research project, to decode the workplace experience, understand its specific impact on business performance and work out how experiences can be shaped by real estate to achieve strategic performance objectives’ is based on interviews with 7,364 employees across 40 corporate clients, from 12 countries in three regions... Continue reading

Diversity and inclusivity should be values that employers pride themselves on, but for many organisations the incorporation of protected characteristics within a legal framework means a ‘diverse’ and ‘inclusive’ workforce has simply become a matter of protocol. Last month, a new British standard was launched, which seeks to go beyond legislation and encourage employers to recognise the intrinsic value of all people. Valuing people through diversity and inclusion (BS76005) stipulates that organisations seeking to meet the standard shoul... Continue reading